To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee: Summer Reading Assignment Overview
Bryan Bloomfield Mrs. Rivers English III 20 August 2018 To Kill A Mockingbird Summer Reading Assignment Chapter notes: The book starts off with the narrator, a young girl named Jean Louise Finch or Scout, explaining how her older brother got his arm broken. Then she talks a little bit about herself, her family history, family and her county that she lives in Maycomb, small town in Alabama during the great depression. She then says it all started in the summer of 1933 when a boy nicknamed Dill moves in next door. Dill, Scout and her brother Jem spend their summer acting out stories until they get bored. That’s when Dill suggest that they try to lure Boo Radley out of his house, a mysterious neighbor that has not been seen for a long time outside of his house. Scout goes back to school and Dill goes back to his house.
When she gets to calls her teacher is displeased with her because she know how to read. At recess she complains to her brother about it. In the afternoon a poor boy named Walter Cunningham did not bring food for lunch and the teacher gives him a nickel to buy lunch but, his family are proud people that will not accept anything that they can not pay back. But, the teacher did not know this so Scout tried to tell her but the teacher only got more displeased with her. Scout fights Walter for getting her in trouble and when Walter is invited to go to her house to eat she is horrified that he molasses all over his food. She is scolded not to be rude and be respectful. Then back at school the teacher gets frightened because Burris Ewell an even poorer family in Maycomb, that only goes to the first day of school and then does not come after that, had lice in his hair and he said some awful things then left the classroom. Scout goes through the rest of the school year bored, when summer starts she is happy because Dill comes back and they can act as the Radleys again, she also finds some things in one of the trees in the front of the Radley’s house and she keeps them.
Dill and Jem grow closer together and Scout feels left out so she starts to spend time with and an old window named Miss Maudie Atkinson that is her neighbor. Miss. Maudie tells Scout that Boo was a good kid and was alway nice. Dill and Jem planned to invite Boo for some ice cream. Jem’s father Atticus found them trying to put a note in Boo’s window he got mad and said that they should leave Boo alone and to stop acting out stories about Boo. The boys obeyed Atticus command until the last day that Dill was there and including Scout snuck their way to Boo’s house and they saw a man through a window. After seeing this man they ran back to their house. While they were running Jem loses his pants and gunshot comes from Boo’s house. When they get home Atticus asks where were Jem pants and later that night he had to retrieve them. Jem tells Scout that he found his pant mended and fixed on the fence when he came to retrieve them. When school starts up again Scout finds more things left in the hole in the tree.
She and Jem keeping on finding more things in the tree throughout the school year until Boo’s brother Nathan fills the hole with cement and say he did it because the tree was dying. During the winter it snows, this is such a rare event that the school is closed and Jem and Scout make a snowman. That night Miss Maudie house catches on fire and everyone was ok but the house was destroyed Scout did not notice but Boo put a blanket on her when she was outside with everyone else. When she realized this Jem and she both told Atticus everything they did and found concerning Boo including the things in the tree Atticus told them to keep it to themselves. Scout has another fight in school and Atticus has a case that he has to defend an innocent black that was accused of raping a white woman. They go to the family farm and spend Christmas there.
She gets it trouble and goes back home but she really did nothing wrong. Atticus is older than other fathers and does not do as other younger fathers do. A rabid dog comes close to the house and Atticus kills the dog from really far away with one bullet and he used to be called “One-shot Finch.”. Mrs. Dubose is mean to Jem so Jem breaks her bushes so Jem is forced to go to her house every day and read to her. She dies and he realizes that she was battling morphine. Jem is 12 now and Dill did not come for the summer this year. The family maid takes Jem and Scout to church. Atticus’s sister comes for a while to stay and try to teach Scout to act more feminine. Tom Robinson, the man accused of rape, has his trial coming closer. Atticus’s sister tries to get rid of the maid and Jem and Scout fight. Scout discovers Dill hiding under her bed and tells Atticus.
The trial is getting closer and some people try to go to the local jail and kill Tom but Atticus and Scout stop them. The trial starts and people from all over the area come to see and the place is packed. Jem and Scout come in last so that their father would not find them. They start off with asking Heck Tate and Bob Ewell what they saw that night and what happened. Atticus then says how Bob is left handed and how all the bruises on his daughter’s body were on the right side. This mean whoever hit her was left handed. Atticus tries his hardest but he loses the fight and Tom then gets killed trying to escape. Everyone tries to get back to normal and Scout and Jem go to school for a school event. On the way back they get attacked by Mr. Ewell and he gets kill by Boo and Jem breaks his arm. Scout the talks to boo then he leaves and she goes to sleep. Part one: One connection is how naive Scout is about many things throughout the story that but learns later on.
How it connects is how so many young people are naive about how our country is run, what it stands for, and how we are able to change it when we grow up. Racism happens throughout the story mainly on the court case on how the man was accused of something he did not do and was killed. How it relates is there is still a lot of racism in america today but a lot less severe and how so many african american are accused of things they did not do. Another is being different like in Boo’s case he kept to himself and did his own things and he was judged and was made fun of. How this relates is if you don’t follow what everyone else is doing or you are different you are automatically judged. Growing up is another because in Scouts case she was doing a lot of harmful things but after doing them she learned not to do them again.
One example is when she judges Walter for how he eats. How this relates is a lot of kids growing up do a lot of wrong and harmful thing that they do without thinking. Another is human dignity, Atticus had this because he did not judge anyone he met or defended in court. How this relates is that so many people today are so quick to judge and can’t look past each other’s differences. The great depression that happens in the book actually happen in real life and it ended when WW2 happened because the war gave a lot of job to people, one example is making all the weapons and vehicles for the war. Another is wealth because when Jem and Scout started to realize that the only reason they were having a good life while everyone else was experiencing the great depression was because they were rich. This relates because there are a lot of rich Americans and Americans in general have a way better life than people in the rest of the world. When they cancel the school because it was snowing is another connection because when it snows just enough for a thin layer to form on the ground most schools in Dallas are canceled.
When Walter comes over for lunch and Scout scrutinizes him on the way he eats and then is scolded for being rude. This related to me because I was taught that if you had guest over you treat them with respect and will not judge them for anything they do. My last connection is how Scout likes to read so much because like me I love to read all the time and when I first started to read I was reading a book ever three days.
Part two: Part one: Chapters 1-10 Quote 1 “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.” Speaker: Atticus Page 33 Quote 2 “…do you think I could face my children otherwise? …I hope and pray I can get Jem and Scout through it without bitterness, and most of all, without catching Maycomb’s usual disease.” Racial Bias Speaker: Atticus Page 98 Quote 3 “Remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” That was the only time I ever heard Atticus say it was a sin to do something, and I asked Miss Maudie about it. “Your father’s right,” she said. “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy . . . but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” Speaker: Atticus and Miss Maudie Page 99 This quote is important because this is when Scout stopped judging people so harshly and become more thoughtful. Without this she would have became a mean child and because of her niceness the night when the men wanted to kill Tom it was mostly her thinking about other people that saved him and her dad. This shows how much respect and care he has for his children and devotion to do the right thing this is important because Tom would have been killed if it was not for Atticus. This is the only time they talk about mockingbirds and they are talking about how some people do nothing wrong and only do nice thing. They should be left alone and not hurt.
Part two: Chapters 11-16 Quote 1 Lula stopped, but she said, “You ain’t got no business bringin’ white chillun here—they got their church, we got our n. It is our church, ain’t it, Miss Cal?”… When I looked down the pathway again, Lula was gone. In her place was a solid mass of colored people.One of them stepped from the crowd. It was Zeebo, the garbage collector. “Mister Jem,” he said, “we’re mighty glad to have you all here. Don’t pay no ‘tention to Lula, she’s contentious because Reverend Sykes threatened to church her Speaker: Lula Page 129-130 Quote 2 “You know what we want, another man said. Get aside from the door, Mr Finch” Speaker: a man part of the group that wanted to kill Tom Page 167 Quote 3 “I beat him up one time but he was real nice about it. Tell him hey for me, won’t you? … I’ll tell him you said hey little lady” Speaker: Scout and Mr. Cunningham Page 169-170 This is important because it shows how much Atticus care about everyone and not one race because all the blacks were friendly because Atticus was a good person. This shows how they were going to kill Tom and hurt Atticus and they would have if it were not for Scout. This all show how devoted Atticus was. This is signefiget because if Scout was not there to defuse the situation it could have gotten a lot worse than it did. Part three: Chapters 17-31 Quote 1”You’re left-handed, Mr Ewell, said Judge Taylor. Mr. Ewell turned angrily to the judge and said he didn’t see what’s being left-handed had to do with it” Speaker:Judge Taylor and Mr. Ewell Page 196 Quote 2 “As Mr. link came out of his store he saw Mr. Ewell leaning on the fence … Second thing you can do is stay away from my cook or I’ll have you up for assault” Speaker: Mr. Link Page 275 Quote 3 “No. Be real quiet again, Scout. We had not increased our pace.” Speaker: Jem Page 288 This should that he was the only one that could have beat his daughter becomes Tom’s left arm was broken. This is foreshadowing because it seemed Mr. Ewell was mad about being made fun of so he might try to attack Jem or Scout. This is when Mr. Ewell is about to attack the kids this is important because this is when Boo comes out of his house to save the kids.
