Reading Response #1

"He ain't company, Cal he's just a Cunningham" (Lee 27). This quote in my own words is that Scout is describing Walter as a Cunningham because that's what he's know to be because of his family's history and that is what she knows them for. She doesn't fully understand things like the other kids and seems to be a lot smarter then the other first graders. But she also doesn't have a good relationship with her teacher because she talks so much. She's saying a lot in this quote because it shows how she sees people and how she characterizes them for how they are know just like how she knows Mr. Radley for being an old mean man but she hasn't really gotten to know him so she just makes assumptions. I predict that Scout will probably end up having more problems with talking to much that might get her in trouble and eventually the Radley house will probably get put into play. 

"Bought three slaves and with there aid established a homestead on the banks of the Alabama River some forty miles above Saint Stephens."(4)Scout is describing the towns past and where it came from and how it was made. In the beginning of the story we can read between the lines that this was an old plantation. This was a plantation that was built up off of one slave owner and three slaves and later turned into a town all by itself.

That there adventurous and dead devils. Dill said " You're too even scared to put your big toe in the front yard" (14 Harper). It wound become a challenge eventually. 

"I rose graciously on Walter's behalf: "Ah-Miss Caroline?"  "What is it, Jean Louise?"  "Miss Caroline, he's a Cunningham.' I sat back down. "What, Jean Louise?"'(pg.22 Lee) This quote helps enplane scouts neighbor hood because it talks about Cunningham's and by what we can assume and by what they have also said in a way that Cunningham is a name that they call the kinds of people that don't have much money if any at all.  I predict that the conflict of the text is that Miss Caroline will soon figure this kinda stuff out but until she does she will just assuming and get frustrated and mad at the kids for being dirty and hungry.

"...as I read the alphabet a faint line appeared between her eyebrows and after making me read most of My First Reader and the stock-market quotations from The Mobile Register aloud, she discovered that I was literate and looked at me with more than faint distaste"(19 Harper). It was not a common/a good thing for girls to have an education/be smarter than the others in the class it was frowned upon.

"When Miss Caroline threatened it with a similar fate the first grade exploded again, becoming cold sober only when the shadow of Miss Blount fell over them" (Lee, 24). The first graders turned things into chaos, as expected with kids, but everything becomes "cold sober" or dead silent, no one daring to speak in front of the feared authority figure, a.k.a Miss Blount.

"Are we as poor as the Cunninghams?"(Lee 23) This quote helped me understand the setting of the book and the town more because it talks about the families living in it. This quote started a open conversation with her father and they got to talking about the jobs of the Cunninghams and the differences between them.

"Of all days Sunday was the day for formal afternoon visiting ... But to climb the Radley front steps and Call "He-y," of a Sunday afternoon was something their neighbors never did." (Lee 10) It feels like in general, their neighborhood is fairly friendly among each other, and it's implied that it would be welcome to knock on anyone else's door to visit. The Radley's seem to be only one of a few exceptions to this though.

“The Radley Place was enough to make us behave for days on end; Mrs. Dubose was plain hell” He describes his neighbors as bad families without even knowing them and relies only on what he has probably heard around

"Before the first morning was over, Miss Caroline Fisher, our teacher, hauled me up to the front of the room and patted the palm of my hand with a ruler, then made me stand in a corner until noon." (Lee 18) They are in a time/place where punishments like this are acceptable, as classrooms nowadays do not allow this. At least the ones I've been in. 

"Being Southerners, it was a source of shame to some members of the family that we had no recorded ancestors on either side of Battle of Hastings." This tells me a little bit of the setting of Scout's neighborhood and about Scout living in the south and there lack of knowledge of ancestory that took place in the Battle in Hastings. 

I am really sorry if this was a crappy answer. I ended up being really busy tonight and I am doing the best I can to get this done in the most accurate way I possibly can!!!

".....he's a cunningham"(Lee 22) ....... "It was clear enough to the rest of us"(Lee 22)

This proves to me that scout lives and a ver small rural town. The quote, "It was clear to the rest of us" (Lee22) proves that the cunningham's are well known in the town for being poor

"There's some folks who don't eat like us," (Lee 27) "...That boys yo' comp'ny..." (Lee 27) "He ain't company, Cal, he's a Cunningham." (Lee 27) This conversation between Scout and Calpurnia show us some of the true naiveness of Scouts actions. Seeing as shes only six or so she only picks up what she hears, she doesn't have a single thought of her own. Even though her father has said they're good people and repay their debt she still has the mindset that Cunningham's are bad news since they're so poor. A community has a larger effect on a person than per say one person. (Ex: The whole of Maycomb will have a larger impact on Scout than just Atticus's word alone)

"He ain't company, Cal he's a Cunningham." (Lee 27) "It was clear enough to the rest of us." (Lee 22)

The cunninghams arent a very wealthy family and that's what their community views them as poor everyone else is better than them for that reason.

"There's some folks who don't eat like us," (Lee 27). "He ain't company, Cal he's a Cunningham." (Lee 27) This shows that they are in a small town where everyone knows each other and their families. Not everyone is well off.

"There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with"(Lee 6) I think that this quote means that scout lives in a small old southern town. With not a lot of money and no where to go. It sounds like a small sad town just trying to get by to stay alive. 

"The house was low, was once white with a deep front porch and
green shutters, but had long ago darkened to the color of the slate-gray
yard around it. Rain-rotted shingles drooped over the eaves of the
veranda; oak trees kept the sun away." (Lee 6) This gives a down south poor hue to the place she lives. Old worn down houses, sun-faded and falling apart gives a good backdrop to whats really going on. Provides an idea of the town financially as well.

"He had probably never seen 3 quarters together at the same time in his life" (Lee 22) "'Walter's one of the Cunninghams, Miss Caroline."' (Lee 22) When miss Caroline gives Walter quarters for lunch, he refuses them because he will never be able to pay her back (Cunninghams are very poor). Scout tried to hint at this but miss caroline failed to see the point. 

 “Everybody did; most of the first grade had failed it last year.”(Lee, Harper. “To Kill a Mockingbird.” 1960. Pg. 19.) In this quote, Scout talks about how everyone in her class has no problem understanding the alphabet because most of the first graders in her class had already taken first grade. From this, we can infer that education isn’t a major focus for the parents in Scout's neighborhood. Parents in the neighborhood aren’t pushing their kids to learn and do their school work. Allowing kids to do what they want, or giving their kids a different purpose. The conflict of this text might be person vs. society. Scout is trapped in a failed society, and her dad helps push her to become successful and overcome the norms of her neighborhood.