To Kill a Mockingbird Part I Text Analysis

Transcription

1 To Kill a Mockingbird Part I Text Analysis Name: 1. Review the context of the given quotation and then write notes for each of the columns, using the example as a model. Text Don t matter who they are, anybody sets foot in this house s yo company, and don t you let me catch you remarkin on their ways like you was so high and mighty! (33). What does it say? Paraphrase/interpret the passage What does it mean? What can you infer? What is revealed about the character(s)? What/Why does it matter? To what larger idea/theme might this connect? What insight into human nature/society do we gain? You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view until you climb into his skin and walk around in it (39). Atticus s arrival was the second reason I wanted to quit the game. The first reason happened the day I rolled into the Radley front yard. Someone inside the house was laughing (54).

2 but sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whiskey bottle in the hand of oh, of your father. There are just some kind of men who who re so busy worrying about the next world they ve never learned to live in this one, and you can look down the street and see the results (60). It was then, I suppose, that Jem and I first began to part company. Sometimes I did not understand him, but my periods of bewilderment were short-lived. This was beyond me (75). He stood there until nightfall, and I waited for him. When we went in the house I saw he had been crying; his face was dirty in the right places, but I though it odd that I had not heard him (84). Jem is upset about the cement in the hole and has been crying but is too proud to do it in front of Scout. Jem realizes Boo has been leaving the gifts and is upset about Nathan Radley s treatment of Boo. He starts to understand the abuse Boo endures and has sympathy for him. He may be feeling sorry for his past treatment of Boo. Importance of sympathy/considering others perspectives Maturity/growth requires shedding ignorance Conscience points to what is right

3 Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win (101). When I begged Atticus to use his influence, he said he had none we were guests, and we sat where she told us to sit (108). she knows I know she tries. That s what makes the difference (116).

4 You know what s going to happen as well as I do, Jack, and I hope and pray I can get Jem and Scout through it without bitterness, and most of all, without catching Maycomb s usual disease (117). Mockingbirds don t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don t eat up people s gardens, don t nest in corncribs, they don t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That s why it s a sin to kill a mockingbird (119). Atticus is a gentleman, just like me! (131). Jem views Atticus as a good person and sees this quality in himself as well Atticus s courage lies in not resorting to guns unless necessary and in not showing off his talents. Jem realizes Atticus avoids violence not because he is weak or old but because he is a gentleman Courage is internal, not external Respect comes from doing what is right, not showing what you know

5 before I can live with other folks I ve got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn t abide my majority rule is a person s conscience (140). n----lover is just one of those terms that don t mean anything-- ignorant, trashy people use it when they think somebody s favoring Negroes over and above themselves. It s slipped into usage with some people like ourselves, when they want a common, ugly term to label somebody (146). I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It s when you know you re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do (149). 2. Look at your notes in the final column. Select three quotes with similar ideas/themes, and on the back of this paper, explain the connection among the three.