Skip to main content

What are three specific scenes in the novel where Scout and Jem come to understand and value Atticus?

Early on in the novel, Cecil Jacobs criticizes Scout's father on the playground for "defending niggers." Scout gets upset and wishes to fight Cecil. That night, Scout comes home and asks Atticus if it's true that he defends Negroes. Atticus explains to Scout that he will be defending an African American named Tom Robinson and challenges her to hold her head high and keep her fists down. The next day, Cecil Jacobs continues to criticize Atticus, but Scout remembers Atticus's comments about keeping her cool. Scout applies his lesson and calmly walks away while Cecil Jacobs calls her a coward.


At Tom Robinson's trial, Jem witnesses his father defend an innocent, harmless man. In Chapter 25, Jem applies Atticus's lesson about not harming mockingbirds when Scout attempts to squash a rolly-polly bug. Jem tells Scout, "Don't do that, Scout. Set him out on the back steps" (146). Jem understands the importance of protecting innocent beings by stopping Scout from squashing the harmless bug.


At the beginning of the novel, Atticus teaches Scout a lesson in perspective. He tells her that in order to understand someone, she must stand in their shoes and walk around in them. In Chapter 31, Scout stands on Boo Radley's stoop and views the neighborhood from his perspective. She applies Atticus's lesson and is able to understand Boo Radley as an individual.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is 'efficate' a word in English?

I routinely hear the word "efficate" being used. For example, "The most powerful way to efficate a change in the system is to participate." I do not find entries for this word in common English dictionaries, but I do not have an unabridged dictionary. I have checked the OED (I'm not sure if it is considered unabridged), and it has no entry for "efficate". It does have an entry for "efficiate", which is used in the same way. Wordnik has an entry for "efficate" with over 1800 hits, thus providing some evidence for the frequency of use. I personally like the word and find the meaning very clear and obvious when others use it. If it's not currently an "officially documented" word, perhaps its continued use will result in it being better documented.
Post a Comment
Read more