Happy Thanksgiving!
Several of you, who will be off influencing young minds this week, requested that I let you know what you'd be missing in the intervening days, so here goes. You will ostensibly have finished reading To Kill a Mockingbird, and enjoyed it, I hope. In class, we will be discussing some of the major themes of the book, and particularly focusing our conversation toward three potential persuasive essay topics.
Rather than clutter the minds of those of you who will be working with youngsters this week, I'll take the liberty of assigning you an essay topic, with the completed essay to be submitted upon your return to civilization. You won't, unfortunately, benefit from class discussion, but I know in my heart that you're all capable of giving me something grand on your own. So here it is:
Writing Situation: In April of 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King was arrested and jailed for his role in civil rights demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama. In a thinly-veiled reference to the "outsider" King's activities in the city, eight Christian and Jewish Alabama church leaders published A Call for Unity in a local newspaper, encouraging blacks to allow civil rights matters to be solved in court, rather than on the streets. In reply, King wrote his famous Letter from Birmingham Jail, condemning Southern Whites who supported his cause in word, but not in deed. He suggested that such "moderate whites" would rather have peace than justice.
Some people have said that Atticus Finch is the type of person King was condemning. In Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus is shown to be a reluctant hero whose preference is to avoid conflict if at all possible. Instead of being an active agent working for good in his community, Atticus is a reserved and quiet man who wants peace, not justice.
Writing Directions: Write a multi-paragraph essay in which you disagree or agree with this statement. Use supporting evidence from To Kill a Mockingbird as well as the documents linked above.
53 comments:
well,
I think I look forward to writing this for you. :]
Sorta kinda maybe?
hahaha.
So you want us to compare the two situations?
i think?
Yes, I kind of agree because Atticus Finch seems like the kind of guy who wants peace in his environment and does not care to venture out with the rest of the people in Maycomb. Scout is always mentioning the fact that Atticus loved to sit in his chair and read. He did not like to join in any activities like the rest of the fathers in Maycomb. He always said that people's opinions are their own. When Aunt Alexandra told him that Mr. Ewell would "get him someday", Atticus is not concerned and carries on without worrying. If it was any other citizen who cared for justice, he/she would march immediately to the police and request an immediate action. Even in the scene where all the men were gathered around at the jail ready to kill Tom Robinson, Atticus was there to break up any trouble taking place.
"Sometimes I think I'm a total failure as a parent, but I'm all they've got... I don't want to lose him and Scout, because they're all I've got." (273)
"Most people are[nice],Scout, when you finally see them" (281).
"I'd rather you shot at tin cans in the back yard, but I know you'll go after birds. Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird" (90).
"We know all men are not created equal in the sense some people would have us believe" (205).
"... in this country our courts are the great levelers, and in our courts all men are created equal" (205).
This is my quote:
"You tell Cecil that I'm about as radical as Cotton Tom Heflin" (Ch.27,Pg.250).
"A mob's always made up of people, no matter what. Mr. Cunningham was part of a mob last night, but he was still a man. Every mob in every little Southern town is always made up of people you know - doesn't say much for them does it?" (157).
"We were surprised one morning to see a cartoon in the Montogomery Advertiser above the caption 'Maycomb's Finch'. It showed Atticus barefooted and in short pants \, chained to a desk:he was diligently writting on a state while some frivolous-looking girls yelled, "Yoo-hoo!" at him" (116)
"Link that boy might go to the chair, but he's not going until the truth's told. And you know what the truth is" (146).
" So you did,so you did ma'am. You'll have to bear with me,Miss Mayella"(181)
"Go home with Calpurnia and get your supper -- and stay home." (207)
"I cetainly am. I do my best to love everybody...I'm hard put, sometimes-baby, it's never an insult to be called what somebody thinks is to be a bad name. It just shows you how poor that peson is, it doesnt hurt you. So don't let Mrs. Dubose get you down. She has enough troubles of her own." (108)
"Jem was becoming almost as good as Atticus at making you feel right when things went wrong" (pg 259)
"I never heard Atticus raise his voice in my life, except to a deaf witness." (172).
"Don't you ever let me catch you pointing that gun at anydbody again"(91)
" 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"(P.112).
"Not yet son. Do as I tell you. Run now. Take care of Scout, you hear? Don't let her out of your sight" (69).
"Give me those scissors," Atticus said, "They're no thing to play with" (40).
"I just hope that Jem and Scout come to me for their answers instead of listen to the town. I hope they trust me enough"(88)
"If I didn't I couldn't hold up my head in town, I couldn't represent this county in the legislature, I couldn't even tell you or Jem not to do something again"(75)
"Alexandra, Calpurnia's not leaving this house until she wants to. You may think otherwise, but I couldn't have got along without her all these years. She's a faithful member of this family and you'll simply have to accept things the way they are. Besides, sister, I don't want you working your head off for us-you've no reason to do that. We still need Cal as much as we ever did," (137).
"Atticus ain't ever whipped me since I can remember. I wanta keep it that way" (56).
"I don't ant you to remember [everything Finches are supposed to do]. Forget it (134)."
"It's not okay to hate anybody" (Page246).
"But there is one way in this country in which all men are created equal" (205)
"Gentlemen, a court is no better than each man of you sitting before me on this jury. A court is only as sound as its jury, and a jury is only as sound as the men who make it up." (205)
"'Watcha readin'?' [asked Scout], 'Something of Jem's', [replied Atticus]" 280.
"Atticus told [Calpurnia] that the day they took Tom to prison he just gave up hope"(234).
"Well maybe it is. I'm sure Mr.Radley knows more about his trees than we do"(63).
"Atticus said that Jem was trying hard to forget something, but what he was really doing was storing it away for a while, until enough time passed. Then he would be able to think about it and sort things out. When he was able to think about it, Jem would be himself again."(273)
" Why, Atticus said they were absolute trash- I never heard Atticus talk about folks the way he talked about the Ewells" (124).
"Atticus was proceeding amiably, as if he were involved in a title dispute. With his infinite capacity fro calming turbulent seas, he could make a rape case as dry as a sermon." Scout (pg. 169).
"A little girl came to the cabin door and stood looking at Atticus ... She grinned from ear to ear and walked toward our father, but she was too small to navigate the steps. Dill said Atticus went to her, took off his hat, and offered her his finger. She grabbed it and he eased her down the steps" (240).
"and that you should try to live up your name" (133).
"If Atticus could blandly introduce me to Boo Radley at a time like this, well-that was Atticus" (271).
"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" (30).
"Their are things you don't understand" (p.g 210)
"Jem stayed moody and silent for a week. As Atticus had once advised me to do, I tried to climb into Jem's skin and walk around in it" (Pg.57).
"I don't know of any law that says [black people] can't talk. Maybe if we didn't give them so much to talk about they'd be quiet" (157).
"That proves something- that a gang of wild animals can be stopped, simply because they're still human" (157).
"you cant go around making caricatures of the neighbors"(67).
"I don't think anybody in Maycomb'll begrudge me a client,
with times this hard"(147).
"But remember this, no matter how bitter things get, they're still our friends and this is still our home"(76).
"Atticus said professional people were poor because the farmers were poor" (21).
"As the Cunninghams had no money to pay a lawyer, they simply paid us with what they had" (21).
"'Mr. Cunningham,' said Atticus, 'came from a set breed of men'" (21).
"I thought he got it all out of him the day he threatened me. Even if he hadn't, I thought he'd come after me" (269).
"I have nothing but pity in my heart for the chief witness for the state, but my pity does not extend so far as to her putting a man's like at stake which she has done in an effort to get rid of her own guilt."(page 203, Chapter 20)
"Did you find anything?i can't conceive of anyone low-down enough to do a thing like this, but hope you find him"(266)
"Do you really think you want to move there, Scout" (146)
Obviously there was some kind of other assignment to go along with this blog...
cause everyone commented.
lol.
:D
oh, and I totally have half of this essay done.
I really hope I'm doing it right.
:/
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