Reading Response #1

I didn't even really think about this till now, Scout is very smart but I didn't realize that the community she lived in was a really bad community for school and that they don't care about school. That is why Scouts father will keep reading to her because he knows about how special she is.

"He ain't company, Cal, he's just a Cunningham" (Lee 27) Scout is only 6 years old so she learns a lot from other people and she says what she hears. So know she thinks that Cunningham's are bad just because that thought was ingrained into her mind from other people.

"...he's a cunningham"(Lee 22) ... "It was clear enough to the rest of us"(Lee 22) These quotes show me that scouts neighborhood is small and they have very little to no money.

"Are we poor, Attigus?" Attigus nodded. "We are indeed" Jem's nose wrinkled. "Are we as poor as the Cunningham's?" (Lee 23) This quote was about Jem asking if they were poor. As poor as the Cunningham's because that would mean they are very, very poor. The Cunningham's are known for not having money. I can infer that they are poor but it could be worse because at least they aren't as poor as the Cunningham's. 

“‘Not in money,” Atticus said, “but before the year’s out I’ll have been paid. You watch.”’ (Lee 23) After this sentence, it is explained of the goods that shows up on their doorsteps. While this “payment” is explained, you could read even more into it. Assuming that not only the Cunninghams, and Scouts family are more on the poor side, you can assume that more people use this method as a “payment.” Though it’s not outwardly stated that the Cunninghams had to repay them, for most people it feels like an obligation to somehow give back. It’s also said that Dr. Reynolds does things like this also, we can infer that many people in or near this neighborhood may not be the wealthiest.

"Bit by bit, I told him the day's misfortunes. "--and she said you taught me wrong, so we can't ever read any more, ever. Please don't send me back, please sir."" (Lee, 33) In this scene we see Scout airing her grievances about her new school teacher, and she begs her father to not send her back. She refers to her father as Artemis or in this quote, sir. It's obvious that although they're close in some ways, they generally keep about them a professional relationship. With Scout primarily being raised by the chef. I think this may result in conflict, with Scout not truly having a proper parent figure in her life, she's on her own, in a world that expects her to be reliant on those around her. She might run into conflict with those who expect different of her, whether that's her father or others within her society.

In this story Scout's surroundings and the way she sees them teach us a lot about the place and time she grew up in. She makes it obvious that her community is small, everyone knows everyone, and that when one person has an opinion, everyone does. I think that the school scenes tell us a lot, in one of the earliest encounters with the teacher Scout talks about how the teacher is new to the town, and in turn doesn't understand them. Not only does this establish how different this town is from "city life" but it also shows how quick the people of this town are to judge new comers. This theme of judgement is also is prevalent in how the town treats the Radley's and a lot of other families. 

"" Walter's one of the Cunninghams, Miss Caroline"". (Lee 22) What I infer from this is that the Cunninghams have a name for themselves weather its good or bad I'm not sure still but right now its not sounding to good.  After you read a little further you figure out that it's a good but bad thing because Cunninghams don't take things from others that they can't payback. I think that this could be an issue in the future where something happens and they go against there own name possibly. 

“Why does he pay you like that?” I asked. “Because that’s the only way he can pay me. He has no money.”
“Are we poor, Atticus?” Atticus nodded. “We are indeed.” Jem’s nose wrinkled. “Are we as poor as the Cunninghams?”
“Not exactly. The Cunninghams are country folks, farmers, and the crash hit them hardest.” Atticus said professional people were poor because the farmers were poor. (Lee PDF 18) Comparing themselves to the Cunninghams kind of shows they don't want to end up like them. Jem is concerned about money and they talk about the Cunningham jobs and farming.

"Miss Caroline told me to tell my father not to teach me any more, it would interfere with my reading." The teacher automatically assumed that she wasn't being taught everything by her father and just wasn't a smart child.

"Jem said 'Our daddy's a friend of your daddy's. Scout here, she's crazy---she won't fight you anymore.  I Wouldn't be too certain of that, I said(Lee 26)."  This quote while reading it can describe that Scout might not be done toying and fighting with William.  I believe this is saying that in the future of the book and as of current opinion that William has a current Scout reputation at negative right now and he might not even know.  

"He had probably never seen three quarters together at the same time in his life. '...The Cunninghams never took anything they can't pay back- no church baskets, and no scrip stamps. They don't have much, but they get along on it.'" (Lee 22) "...I asked Atticus if Mr. Cunningham would ever pay us. 'Not in money,' Atticus said, 'but before the year's out I'll have been paid. You watch.' We watched. One morning Jem and I found a load of stovewood in the back yard. Later, a sack of hickory nuts appeared on the back steps." (Lee 23) From these quotes I can infer that there is a big economic divide in the town of Maycomb. Some are poor but can afford a house and food, while others are in extreme poverty and live off of the land, only dealing with what they produce and never take what they can't pay back. From these quotes I can tell that Scout is very informed on the status of people in the town, from Atticus and from what she has inferred about others. The conflict that might happen in the rest of the book would most likely have something to do with the economic divide in the town in some way based on how much they bring up things like how the Cunninghams are extremely impoverished, or how Atticus and the rest are poor, but have enough to feed themselves as well as invite others over.

"They come the first day every year and then leave. The truant lady gets 'em here 'cause she threatens 'em with the sheriff, but she's give up tryin' to hold 'em. She reckons she's carried out the law just gettin' their names, on the roll and runnin' 'em here the first day" (Lee 30). This quote shows that they are not enforcing the Ewell kids to go to school. By them not enforcing education for these kids, shows that her neighborhood is not a very strick neighborhood, also meaning that it is probably not a very safe neighborhood. Because of this information, I predict that someone Scout is close to is going to get hurt, and the town is not going to do anything about it

"Are we as poor as the Cunninghams?"(Lee 23) This helped me understand the setting a little more and more about the families. It started as a conversation with the Father and then it led into a conversation about jobs and who gets paid what and they tall about the differences between them and the Cunninghams. The Cunninghams were regarded as the "royal poor." The Cunninghams are country people and farmers. The Ewells are very poor, they get their money from relief checks. 

The quote that I found where I had to read between the lines to help me understand the setting was when she said " Are we as poor as the Cunninghams" (Lee 23) The reason why I chose this quote was because it helped me know by just straight out saying that there poor jems asking if there as poor as the Cunninghams because the cunninghams are farmers and country people so they have little to no money. Jem asking if they are as poor as them puts a message for the readers that they are poor but not as poor as them.

"Jem said Mr. Nathan Radley "Bought cotton," too."(lee 13) This quote in my own words means that Mr. Nathan Radley does not work or do anything like that he only goes on his walks to the store everyday like his father had done. I predict that we will learn more about Nathan Radley as well as his father and why they act the way they do like how they don't socialize with everyone on sundays like everyone else in maycomb does.

"There's some folks who don't eat like us," (Lee 27). "He ain't company, Cal he's a Cunningham." (Lee 27) this quote inferences that even one somewhat knows each other. 

"Miss Caroline, he's a Cunningham." (pg. 22 Lee) There is an understanding between Scout and the other people in the town and her class, by her saying that he's a "Cunningham" everyone automatically knows what she means.

"The Cunninghams never took anything they can't pay back--no church baskets, no church baskets, no scrip stamps. They never took anything of off anybody, they get along with what they have."(Lee 22) This quote tells me that the Cinningham family doens't do well finacailly, they dont have the money to spare on anything other than basic survival needs even if its only a couple quarters.

 "People moved slowly...There was no hurry..." (Lee 6).  "...he's a Cunningham...It was clear enough to the rest of us." (Lee 22).  

These quotes helped me read between the lines and inference that the Cunninghams are known for being poor.  These quotes also helped me understand more about the town itself- that it seems like a slow town that is in no rush to anything and it seems like they are just fine being that way.

"once the town was terrorized by a series of morbid nocturnal events: peoples chickens and household pets were found mutilated; although the culprit was crazy Addie, who eventually drowned himself in barkers eddy, people still looked at the Radley place, unwilling to discard their initial suspicions." (Lee Harper. "to kill a mocking bird." pg.9) in this quote scout talks about how people in the town don't like the radleys and everyone wants to believe that people are scare because of the radleys and want to get them out of the town?