Reading Response #3

"He did not begin to calm down until he had cut the tops off every camellia bush Mrs. Dubose owned" (Lee 118). The consequences of his actions led to Atticus finding out and making him go read to Mrs Dubose every day for 2 hours after school. Jem didn't really have any other options since Atticus knew that Jem made a big mistake for what he did and he wanted to make him learn his lesson for what he did. Jem being a child changes his options because if he were much older then maybe he would of had second thoughts of what he were doing and knew more about Mrs. Dubose and her condition. This moment impacts the story because it teaches both Jem and Scout a lesson that theres not bad in everyone and that their actions can lead to them getting into trouble. Atticus told Jem to think that he was in the Radley house when he went to read since Jem was so scared at first but then he eventually got use to going over everyday and reading to her. So maybe Jem and Scout could eventually try to interact with Mr. Radley at his house. I think the conflict of the story is the people hating on Atticus because of how he is being a lawyer for a African American. Jem and Scout could play a big role in part too because part 2 could involve Jem and Scout helping their father because they understand that not every body is bad and they shouldn't be treated differently for skin color.  

When Jem decided to go on a rampage and basically committed destruction of property on Mrs. Dubose's front yard, and also causing him to make rash decision, which he would regret later on, but he did it out of rage. "He did not begin to calm down until he had cut the tops off every camellia bush Mrs. Dubose owned, until the ground was littered with green buds and leaves. He bent my baton against his knee, snapped it in two and threw it down. By that time I was shrieking. Jem yanked my hair, said he didn't care, he'd do it again if he got a chance, and if I didn't shut up he'd pull every hair out of my head. I didn't shut up and he kicked me. I lost my balance and fell on my face. Jem picked me up roughly but looked like he was sorry. There was nothing to say" (Lee, 118). In this, Jem makes some very big decisions to do stuff, which he will regret later. This is relatable in the sense we have all probably been blinded by rage in a moment and act on impulse, not thinking twice about the outcome, then had to make up for it whether we liked it or not, as the outcome was not thought through before the action was committed. Consequently, Jem had to make up for the destruction he caused to Mrs. Dubose's property. He had to read to her to make up for his actions, whether he liked it or not. And initially, he was not for it in the least degree, but eventually reluctantly, against his will, agreed. And later on, this is said: "'Jeremy Finch, I told you you'd live to regret tearing up my camellias. You regret it now, don't you?' Jem would say he certainly did" (Lee, 126). Of course, being a child, he is learning fairly early in his life to not be impulsive, and I feel that ties into the plot and conflict because I feel Jem and Scout are made black young children being discriminated against by everyone else in the community, and their natural childhood innocence is kind of shielding the true understanding of how cruel people can be. But how long will that last if they continue living like this?

"Francis looked at me carefully, concluded that I had been sufficiently subdued, and crooned softly, 'N*****-Lover...' This time, I split my knuckle to the bone on his front teeth."(Lee 96) There was mostly a negative result out of this choice. Scout beat up her own family and got in a lot of trouble for it. But the positive was she felt better about herself when she did it. I personally think Scout only had one other option and that was to just walk away. The consequence of this option though was she could have been made fun of more and harassed. I think being a child takes away both of their rights into what they can say or express because they could so easily not get in trouble. I also think immaturity plays a role as well and if they were adults they could say how they feel but also say it effectively. This moments choice leads to the talk she has with her uncle and her overhearing the talk her uncle and her dad had. I think the conflict of the story so far is people being rude to Atticus because of who he is defending in court. Jem and Scout I think will countie to try and stick up for there dad and I nthink they will change the way people see colored folks. 

"He did not begin to calm down until he had cut the tops off every
camellia bush Mrs. Dubose owned, until the ground was littered with
green buds and leaves. He bent my baton against his knee, snapped it
in two and threw it down. By that time I was shrieking" (Harper 94) They had a negative consequence in this event they had to go to Mrs. Dubose's house everyday for a month and read to her for 2HRS. The other option could've to just be a 'gentlemen' and walk by and say good afternoon which would've been fine. Being so young they would get a punishment as stated above, but if they were adults they would've probably gotten in trouble with the police instead. This later reveals why Mrs. Dubose was so mean to them and had her fits all the time. I think Them both will not stand down to other people talking down on them and their father.

"...That year, the school buzzed with talk about him defending Tom Robinson, none of which was complimentary."(pg.103 Lee) Some negative consequences they had due to all this was everyone going at them and stuff about how there dad is defending someone that shouldn't be defended. The kids didn't have that big of options but maybe they could have not gone to school or something like that but there negative consequences would be not getting in school learning time so lose a bit of learning and when they come back they probably would also get made fun of about not going to school.  Being a child makes it so there options are a lot smaller then they could be because they cant really do much besides living there life the way they already are.  I think that this moment helps lead the story to show how the family will kinda get treated from here on out by other people in the story.  I think now that the conflict of the story is that there family is gonna be the main point of attack for people by this i mean that there gonna do lots of things that they think is right or that actually is right but are still always gonna get hated on by people.  I think they will have a big role in part 2 because they my not be able to do much but they will definitely show that it doesn't matter what people say or think about them they will be able to just keep living normally.

"This time I split my knuckle to the bone on his front teeth. My left impaired, I sailed with my right, but not for long"(pg 96 Lee). Scout was trying to be the bigger person, but her cousin kept going with the insults about her father until she couldn't take it anymore. The rest of her family came out and only saw her cousin hurt leading to them automatically siding with him, not even giving her the chance to explain herself. Instead of fighting/getting in trouble, she could have walked away or pulled someone aside to tell them what was bothering her. Being a child changes the way things are handled because adults don't always take the time to listen to both sides of the story when you are young. This moment helps to show that not even their family is backing Atticus on his decision to defend this man. This leads to the comments about Atticus and his defendant getting worse as the court date draws closer. I believe that the court date is going to come and the energy is going to be tense, Jem and Scout are going to have to deal with more issues in their town as well. With time I think that they're going to learn that other people's opinions don't matter.

"This time, I split my knuckle to the bone on his front teeth. My left impaired, I sailed in with my right, but not for long. Uncle Jack pinned my arms to my sides and said, "Stand still!" (Lee 96) Scout decided to punch Uncle Jack but it wasn't a good decision because she got caught in the end. I think Scout would've been better off if she had just gotten out of there and not bothered to fight. Scout is a child so she's not as mature in these situations. An adult most likely would've handled it better. I think that later on in the story there will be more conflict between Scout, Atticus, and Uncle Jack because of what happened. I think the conflict of the story is people hating on Atticus because he's a lawyer. I think that Jem and Scout will get involved in the conflict between Atticus and other people because they're around him a lot.

""You gotta make me first!" he yelled. "My folks said your daddy was a disgrace an' that n***** oughta hang from the water-tank!" I drew a bed on him, remembered what Atticus had said, then dropped my fists, and walked away..." (Lee 88) The positive consequence of her choice if Atticus won't be disappointed in her. But, there is also a negative consequence, as she didn't stick up for herself, and now Cecil most likely feels as he can keep getting away with these things. Her other option would've been to fight, but that would've gone against was Atticus had said, and he would have been upset with her. A child changed their options because they are young and don't really understand much. It is easy to just act impulsively, or listen to what others say when you don't completely understand what's going on yet. This moment impacts the story because she didn't stand up for herself, so more bullying will likely follow. I think the conflict of the story is hatred towards people of color and those who support them. I think Jem and Scout will play a big role because they are going to continue to support Tom Robinson, and Atticus, who is defensing him. 

“Francis looked at me carefully, concluded that I had been sufficiently subdued, and crooned softly, “Ni**er-lover…” This time, I split my knuckle to the bone on his front teeth.”(Lee, Pg. 96) Scout’s choice was to punch her Cousin, who called her father a name that she felt was offensive. The result of making this decision was getting reprimanded and getting pushed to the ground by her Uncle Jack. The other option Scout had was to brush off her cousin’s comments and tell her father or Uncle, which probably would’ve left her with no consequences besides her cousin being upset. As a child, Scout's options are limited because she doesn’t have enough respect from her cousin to tell him what’s right. But she also has too much pride to back down and not stick up for her father on her own. This moment leads to the conflict in the story, which is Atticus supporting a black man in court. There are many ignorant, racist folks in Maycomb, who are shaming Atticus for representing the black man. Unfortunately, Scout and Jem have to deal with a lot of this criticism, and need to decide the best way to handle these situations. They’re going to have to deal with the backlash their dad is going to receive, and it’s up to them to silence it without getting into trouble.

I think that chapter 11 was the strongest chapter so far, it taught us important things about the setting and about the characters. After Ms Dubose insults Atticus and Jem gets revenge he is asked to read 2 hours a day for Ms Dubose 6 days a week, for a month, while arguably Jem doesn't have much choice (since his father forces him) the way he and Scout handle and react to it is. Jem resents the notion, it seems he would rather do manual labor to restore the flowers than have to swallow his pride and do something so "intimate" for a person he despises. Despite all the verbal assaults on Atticus's character he continues to be polite and respectful, even during Ms Dubose "fits", Scout does the same. It's interesting because even though she isn't responsible and hates it, she still goes to support Jem everyday. It's a good look into their relationship as siblings and as friends. If Jem had opted out or been rude he probably would have been scolded, but Jem could handle it, he chose to stick around and be polite because he knew what he did was wrong, even if he didn't feel sorry about it. 

I love this chapter and it's conclusion because not only does it develop the setting and their characters (specifically Atticus) but it also gives us an insight as to other opinions within this community, it gives us another perspective we haven't seen before. It fleshes out the context in which both the kids live and gives us a peek into Atticus's intentions and morals.

At first I thought the conflict would be Character x Character but after reading this section I realize that the conflict will be Character vs Society, and the societal expectations people put on others, and Scout specifically. 

In chapter 9, when Scout's cousins come over, her cousin Francis began taunting her. After chasing him around the kitchen they are soon caught. When Francis steps outside, he calls her father one more name, and scout is faced with a decision. To either let him get away like she just did or do something about it. She decides she has enough and, "This time, I split my knuckle to the bone on his front teeth." (Lee 95) She is faced with 2 decisions. She can either hit Francis or let him run free. The consequence of hitting him is getting pinned to the ground by Uncle Jack. The consequences of doing nothing to Francis would be the unrelenting name-calling against her and her father. As a kid, she only really has those two options. Children aren't seen as mature because they are still developing, adults often don't take kids seriously. There's nothing she can do. The conflict of the story is likely going to be the Finch's against the neighborhood. The fact that Atticus defends a black man upsets the street. The kids will have to deal with relentless bullying and name-calling in school. And always seen as the name they are called by many. 

"You're real nice, Uncle Jack, an' I reckon I love you even after what you did, but you don't understand children much."... "And why don't I understand children, Miss Jean Lousie?"... "Well, in the first place you never stopped to gimme a chance to tell you my side of it..."(Lee 97) "I shall never marry, Atticus." This happens right after Scout makes a strong decision on hitting Francis for calling Atticus mean names. But this hear too is also a strong decision to make. Talking to adults and telling them what they did wrong is kinda of scary as a kid. The consequence from Scout previous action was negative in the moment but after the fire has settled she had a conversation with Uncle Jack and made him realize something important about how you have to hear out both sides of the story. So depending on the light you see this in it can have a positive outcome. Another option Scout could have gone with, is, to start she could have never hit Francis but she did, then she could have not even told Uncle Jack what he did wrong and just continue to tell him to go away but she faced her problem. Since Scout is a child her options are lessened because had she continued to tell him to go away or lied to him even, she could get in more trouble than she already is, but say if she were an adult she could probably get away with lying or shutting down. After all this talk with Scout and Uncle Jack he talks to Atticus and says "I shall never marry, Atticus" "Why?" "I might have children." (Lee 99) He talks to Atticus about how Scout made him realize that he isn't as good or kind with kids as he thought but its a sweet moment of realization and owning up to his mistake. The conflict of this chapter is definitely that Atticus is defending Tom Robinson and that leads to Francis calling Atticus names and Scout hitting him but how this will play as a conflict in the upcoming chapters is going to have to do something with how Atticus and his case go. So all in all, the conflicts seem to all deal with discrimination and Atticus kids wanting to protect him and such.

"He did not begin to calm down until he had cut the tops off every camellia bush Mrs. Dubose owned" (Lee 118). Jem did not have to act out but instead, he did. He was punished by having to go read to Mrs. Dubose. Not that he wanted to but he had to learn a lesson of self-control. Learning self-control and controlling anger will be important later on because Jem will face a lot of heckling from the town due to Atticus defending Tom Robinson. 

“He did not begin to calm down until he had cut the tops off every camellia bush Mrs. Dubose owned”.

There is a negative consequence Jem went every day for one month to read a book for Mrs. Dubose, Jem couldn’t do nothing after that Atticus knew that, i think that if Jem was adult probably he knew how controls himself, this happen because Mrs. Dubose said bad things about Atticus.

“This time, I split my knuckle to the bone on his front teeth. My left impaired, I sailed in with my right, but not for long. Uncle Jack pinned my arms to my sides and said, “Stand still!”’ (Lee 96) Francis kept taunting Scout about her father. And while she tried to keep her promise, of not fighting, the words she felt condescending got to her, punching her cousin in the face. In this instance she didn’t have much of a consequence, just a bit of a talking to by her uncle, before she told her side of the story. I think that when being a child, she doesn’t have too much of a consequence. Calling names back only, probably wouldn’t have as much of a consequence. While if she didn’t do anything, if her uncle and father heard her out, she probably wouldn’t get in any trouble. I feel like this just shows that even though she had succeeded before, when provoked enough, she will do what she feels is right. Maybe because it was a family member saying these things, it was worse. I do think the main conflict in this story is about race. About discrimination against people who aren’t white, or against people (like Atticus) who didn’t openly discriminate against people who weren’t white. Telling from this situation, and Jem’s situation with Ms. Dubose, we can tell that both are provoked when it comes to Atticus. And seeing as people are going to keep saying these things about Atticus, we can only assume that Scout and Jem might get even angrier, or more defensive, whether in the process, they are also discriminating against people who are black or not.

"This time, I split my knuckle to the bone on his front teeth. My left impaired, I sailed in with my right, but not for long. Uncle Jack pinned my arms to my sides and said, "stand still"."( Lee 96) Instead of having a mature conversation to Uncle Jack about why he was upset and scout could have kept it together and not go right into fighting him, scout was trying too hold back but they kept saying things about her father until she couldn't take it anymore, But even then there is way better ways to handle conflict. Because she chose to punch Uncle Jack there is going to be negative consequences. Being a child she didn't have very many options because even if she tried to speak up to her uncle, her uncle might not listen to her because shes just a child but if she was an adult I feel like the options would be different. This moment int he story could definitely lead the story because in the future of the story there could be more conflict between scout and Uncle Jack. I think the biggest conflict of the story is that  people are hating on Atticus because he is a laywer for an African american. In part 2 the role I think that Scout and jem have is to help Atticus to help people understand that not everyone bad and that is not all one skin color and they shouldn't be treated differently because of that.

"He did not begin to calm down until he had cut the tops off every camellia bush Mrs. Dubose owned" (Lee 118) After Jem did this Atticus found out and told Jem that he need to read to Mrs. Dubose everyday after school. I don't think that Jem didn't have many other options than to read to her because she was so ill. I think if Jem was older he would know how to better control how he feels and not let things get to him. This moment teaches Jem that some mistake could lead to him getting in trouble. 

"He didn't calm down until he had cut the tops off every camellia bush Mrs. Dubose owned" (Lee 118) This was a negative impact on jem because he then had to read to Mrs.Dubose for two hours after school each day. In jems opinion, he was just getting back at her for calling Atticus a Ni**er lover. But in the real world that would be considered damage to personal property

"He did not begin to calm down until he had cut the tops off every camellia bush Mrs. Dubose owned." (Lee 118).

This quote shows that he has no self-control and is incapable of controlling his feelings.  If he had been older and more mature, I do not think he would have cut the tops off every camellia bush- he would have done the responsible thing and walked away from the situation, not letting things get to him.  The consequence of his actions is that he had to go read to Mrs. Dubose for 2 hours a day, 6 days a week.