Chapters 9/10 In chapters nine and ten, Scout is teased by the kids in school because her dad is defending a black man. Preventing her from fighting, Atticus tells her to keep her head up high. When Christmas comes along, all the Finches gather at aunt Alexandra's. During the visit, Scout is stuck playing with her boring cousin Francis. Francis eventually rattles her by calling her daddy a "nigger-lover." This caused Scout to punch Francis' teeth. Unfortunatley, Scout got in trouble and went home with Atticus and Jem. Later that night, Scout told her side of the story to Uncle Jack and resolved everything. The next day, Jem and Scout fuss about how their dad isn't as fascinating as the other dads in town, but when Atticus saves the neighborhhood from the "mad dog", they change their perspective. I think it's inspiring how Atticus is willing to defend a black man, especially since African Americans were symbolized as dirt back then. Atticus also said, " This time we aren't fighting the Yankees, we are fighting our friends. But remember this no matter how bitter things get, they're still our friends and this is still our home." I think the author is forshadowing conflicts amongst neighbors about the trial of Tom Robinson. After the Finch's went home from Christmas dinner, Scout had kept Uncle Jack from telling Atticus why she punched Francis. She loathed disappointing her father so much she was willing to take full responsibility for her action, even though Francis had
This is shown in the scene where Scout is being teased by Cecil Jacobs because Atticus is defending Tom, Scout states in this scene that "My fists were clenched and I was ready to let fly" (Lee 74). Although Scout was tempted to fight Cecil she did not because she made a promise to Atticus that she would stop fighting. Scout 's actions throughout these scenes show how she is beginning to mature. Although Scout shows development in her maturity she is still lacking in it. This is seen all throughout the scene of her cousin Francis stating "If Uncle Atticus lets you run around with stray dogs, that’s his own business, like Grandma says, so it ain 't your fault if Uncle Atticus is a nigger-lover besides, but I 'm here to tell you it certainly does mortify the rest of the family--" (Lee 83). Scouts loses all sense of her actions in this point in time and pounce on Francis but he just manages to escape her grasp and escape to the kitchen, so Scout sits on the steps and waits for him. A few moments later Aunt Alexandra comes in and asks what is going on, and Francis says that Scout is holding him hostage and says that she beat him up, but Scout shows a lot of maturity by owning up to her actions and not lying to Aunt Alexandra. Scout 's maturity has really started to develop as she is faced with the judgements of others during the Robinson case.
As a child, Scout experienced injustice. Since she was just a child, it was very easy for others to treat her unjustly. Her classmates, Mrs. Caroline, and Mr. Ewell criticized and harmed her for unjust reasons. Cecil Jacobs, one of Scout 's classmates, said, “Scout Finch 's daddy defended niggers.” (Lee 99). Cecil insulted Scout, making her upset. Scout wanted to start a fight, but was stopped by her brother, Jem Finch. Even as a child,
In this scene, Scout gets in a fight with Francis, who calls Atticus mean and derogatory names, which offends Scout. She then punches him, resulting in a punishment by Uncle Jack, who did not bother to listen to both sides of the store. In this scene, the Finch family spend their holiday at Finch’s Landing, an old country house where Atticus’s sister, Alexandra, and her husband live. Scout is forced to spend time with Francis, Alexandra’s boring grandson. Francis, after calling Dill a runt and Atticus a “nigger-lover”, is cursed and beaten up by Scout. Francis immediately told Uncle Jack and Aunt Alexandra that Scout hit him, and Uncle Jack, without hearing Scout’s side of the story, spanked her anyway (Lee 110). Scout decides to tell Uncle Jack what Francis said when they came back to Maycomb and Jack becomes very angry at Francis and himself. Because Scout does not want Atticus to find out about why she actually beat up Francis, she makes promises Jack not to tell Atticus about the whole situation. Scout did not want Uncle Jack to tell Francis because “ he asked me one time not to let anything I heard about him make me mad, an’ I’d ruther him think we were fightin’ about somethin’ else instead” (Lee 114).
Halfway through the novel, Scout encounters complications when she visits her relatives at Christmas and becomes entangled in a fistfight with her cousin over Atticus defending Tom Robinson. This is where Scout gets the first inklings of the idea that she, Atticus and Jem, do not belong with the social standards that the rest of the family follows. Further obstacles arise when Aunt Alexandra starts living with the Finch’s. Aunt Alexandra, more of a hassle than a help to Scout, attempts to bring her up to be a ‘proper young lady’, much to Scout’s displeasure. Scout does not feel as though she belongs to the societal standard of growing up to become a lady. The Finch’s family life is then juxtaposed with the life of the black population of the town. The black community has a lower social class than the white
Scout is a very strong and independent character who believes in who she is. She does not allow anyone to push her around even if that means she has to settle an argument in an immature way such as fist fights. Scout is unlike many girls in her town. She likes to play outside,wear pants and she doesn’t like to play with teasets or dolls. This appalls many adults who are not understanding of why Scout is different from the other girls. Many neighbors and relatives put the blame on Atticus for “not raising her right”. Atticus is often criticized because he took a different role in life than his siblings and left the Finch landing. The Finch Landing is a huge farm run by workers paid slim to none. Atticus’s siblings, Alexandra and Jack stayed at the farm and took in the money and watched the workers work. Generations and generations of Finches had done this with the exception of Atticus. Instead he felt there was more to life and decided to go to school and become a lawyer. He is now raising Scout and Jem. With Scout’s mom dead, many people feel they need to intervene with Atticus’s parenting to play a mother figure. Alexandra plays a big part in this and sits Scout down to chat. Alexandra tells Scout that she
Though later in chapter 9 Scout is visiting her Uncle Jack at Finch’s landing. Though Francis her cousin begins saying how Atticus is a nigger lover (Lee 83). Causing Scout to fight with her cousin because of what he said; having her in stage 5, because she believes it’s not right for him to insult Atticus in any way. Though Scout does get punished by her uncle, having her get spanked. (Lee 84-85). Then Scout gives Uncle Jack her side of the story, of what actually happened between the two cousins. Uncle Jack apologized and Scout then asks him to keep the whole mishap a secret; hoping that Atticus wouldn’t know anything about this (Lee 86). Having Scout be in stage 3, trying to avoid disapproval from Atticus.
She even lets Cecil Jacobs call her a “cow-ward” in order to keep her promise. The situation shows how much respect she has for Atticus. Not only does Scout have to endure such harsh language, she has to keep herself from lashing out. This perseverance demonstrates change from the beginning of the book to at the current point. After Walter Cunningham caused her to be embarrassed in front of the classroom, Scout states, “Catching Walter Cunningham in the schoolyard gave me some pleasure, but when… ‘He made me start off on the wrong foot.’” (Lee, 30) The start of the book shows Scout using revenge to justify her anger. Contrasting to her current situation, she grows and learns to not settle her emotions through physical means. She does unfortunately snap when Francis insults her. “Francis looked at me carefully, concluded that I had been sufficiently subdued, and crooned softly, ‘N****r-lover…” (Lee, 112) The fury clouds her mind and proceeds to harm Francis profusely, where she receives consequences from Uncle Jack. Even so, growth is shown in the situation when Scout requests, “Promise you won’t tell Atticus about this. He-he asked me one time not to let anything I heard about him make me mad, an’ I’d ruther him
The whole community is so dissatisfied by Atticus’ involvement in the Tom Robinson case that they have even passed on their feelings to their children. “Cecil Jacobs made me forget. He had announced in the schoolyard the day before that Scout Finch’s daddy defended niggers.” (99). Young Cecil most likely did not formulate this opinion on his own, but his parents probably put their disapproval of Atticus’ involvement into his head. He later tells Scout that his parents say that Atticus is a disgrace. Atticus has made Scout promise that she will not get into any fights on his behalf. She has been doing well in keeping her promise, but when Cecil says that Atticus “defended niggers” she instantly forgets. Emotions get the best of her and she is prepared to brawl with the boy, but she remembers what her father made her promise. For the first time ever, she walks away from a fight. This shows how much she has grown from dealing with adversity. With the help of Atticus, she begins to understand that a black person is no less significant than a white person. No matter what the people in town say. Scout does come across a few bumps in the roads while figuring this out, like at Christmas when she fights with Francis. “I guess it ain’t your fault if Uncle Atticus is a nigger-lover besides, but I’m here to tell you it certainly does mortify the
Everywhere the Finch children go, they are met with sharp criticism. This could’ve been easily avoided if Atticus had simply thrown the case or not taken it at all. At school, Scout’s peers---especially Cecil Jacobs--- target her and her brother as a result of her father’s poor judgement. Cecil torments Scout in the schoolyard, and calls her father racial slurs. This provokes Scout, and causes her to act out and become violent.
Scout fought Cecil Jacobs because he said her dad defends niggers. When Scout ask Atticus about it he tells her not to say niggers so she says Negros. Atticus tells Scout no matter how bad things get that they are still their friends and that is still their home. Uncle Jack comes for Christmas and gives Scout and Jem guns. They went to Finch’s Landing and Francis was there he called Atticus a “nigger-lover” and said he was saying Atticus would ruin the family and lets Scout and Jem run around with stray dogs (Dill). Scout got mad and punched him and Uncle Jack “Licked” her. At home Uncle Jack listened to Scouts side of the story and didn’t want Francis to get away with what he
Every Christmas day they spend it at Finch’s Landing. Aunt Alexandra has a son named Francis Handcock. Francis liked bothering Scout a lot. In this part of the book Francis brings up Atticus defending Tom. Francis and Scout are fighting about Scout being a tomboy and hanging around with a lot of boys, and then Francis says “If Uncle Atticus lets you run around with stray dogs, that his business, like Grandma says, so it ain’t your fault. I guess it ain’t your fault if Uncle Atticus is a nigger-lover besides, but I’m here to tell you it certainly does mortify the rest of the family— “Scout asks what he means by this and he says “Just what I said. Grandma says it’s bad enough he lets you all run wild, but now he’s turned out a nigger-lover we’ll never be able to walk the streets of Maycomb again. He’s ruinin’ the family, that’s what he’s doin’.” Scout gets mad because he says that Atticus is runnin’ the family name. So now Francis is running from Scout because she is trying to hit him for what he said. One of the Aunts see’s what she is doing and gets mad at Scout and why she won’t let Francis in the house. Scout can’t say why she wants to hit him because she promised Atticus that if someone one said something to her about the case for her not to let it get to
Scout goes over to finches landing, she gets angered when one of her cousins, Francis, talks badly about Atticus from what he's heard from other family members. Scout proceeds to fight him which lands her in trouble with uncle jack. She later explains to uncle jack the situation that happened. “‘uncle jack please promise me somethin’, please sire promise me you won't tell Atticus about this. He-he asked me one time not to let anything I heard about him make me mad…’” (98). Scout is asking her uncle not to tell Atticus what has been said about him, this is kind of her way of protecting him. through Tom Robinsons trial nasty things have been said about Atticus and Scout’s empathy for him has grown, she doesn't fall for the towns twisted thoughts about him. Instead, she continues to fight for him and what she thinks is correct, proving her moral
Scout almost starts a fight after a kid say to Scout that her dad is defending a black man charged with raping a white women. There is no way Atticus can win this case. Scout gets angry about that because Atticus can’t do anything about that. Christmas time, Scout curses in front of her Uncle Jack. Atticus decides to take the whole family to Finch Ranch. Scout did not like the place, and she didn’t have a good time. One night, Francis tells Scout that Dill is a runt and then calls Atticus a “N word-lover.” Scout curses him and beats him up. They get back. Scout is disappointed that her father is older than other fathers and sits inside with his glasses and reads. While the other fathers go in hunt and do fun stuff. One day the sheriff comes, and there is a
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, was written in 1960’s based upon themes from 1930’s about racist and prejudice people. This relevant novel, despite its age still is associated with the English curriculum in contemporary Australian schools.
The sentimental and thought-provoking story begins by establishing the nucleus of the film, the Finch Family, lead by the father Atticus Finch, who is the quintessential father, strong, honest, intuitive, and spoke with wisdom; whose character was consistently imparted to his children through small teachings on life as it unfolds. One such example shows Atticus hugging Scout as they swing back and forth on the front porch, He tells her, "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." In another scene after being teased at school for her father defending a Negro, Scout questions her father as to why he chose to take the case. He states that if he didn't he would be unable to "hold his head up high", or even tell his children what to do anymore. Given the standard of that day, Atticus was risking his reputation and even the safety of his children by defending a black man. These phenomenal displays of impeccable character are so rare that it causes the credibility of the role to come into question; Atticus, at times seems too stoic to be