We recently read the play, 12 Angry Men written by Reginald Rose. We read this book because of the morals and to practice paying close attention to the details of what you're reading. We had to fill out a packet that encouraged us to thoroughly read through the book. In terms of morals, the book encourages you to see all different perspectives before jumping to a conclusion. We get to take a look at what could happen if you don't make an attempt to empathize with the people around you. I really enjoyed the book! I think my favorite part would have to be when Juror 3 lashed out and said he would kill another Juror right after he said people only say "I'll kill you!" if they mean it (and of course he didn't mean it). Juror 3 was the last one to vote not guilty and I think you really needed to try and connect with and empathize fro this character the most. He just had a lot of stored up anger and a troubling relationship with his son that caused him to have a prejudice against kids. I would absolutely recommend the play to someone else. I think it can say a lot about different types of people and the general suspense was wonderfully captivating.
House on Mango Street
In class, we read the book, House on Mango Street. It is a book consisting of many vignettes about our main character, Esperanza's, life. This book was written by Sandra Cisneros and touches on a lot of serious issues among youth and growing up as a person of color. This book comes with many morals and how a person grows to be who they are. I had a lot of fun reading most of it and I'm curious about this author's other writing pieces. A segment of the book where I see responsibility is Esperanza's realization that she needs to revisit Mango street despite the negative memories it may hold. Bad memories like, being sexually harassed and/or raped, attempted suicide in the monkey garden, seeing other people crumble before her, loosing friends, and fearing what is expected of her and what could what could possibly be her future. It takes a lot of responsibility to not just run from your problems and I don't know if I could do it. While reading this book, I'm not so sure I would have recommended it to others but looking back on it, I definitely would have. It's difficult to see it in the moment but when you take a step back and see all the vignettes come together, it was truly an empowering and eye opening piece that everyone should at least give a chance.
My Adventure Book
In addition to my House on Mango Street segment, we were assigned to create or own vignette books and tell tales from our own life. I personally, am very proud of my work. Especially the art work included. I worked extremely hard on all of it and persevered when it was stressing me out. I definitely believe I exceeded in the final product. My book is called Bad Rap. Click the button below to find the writing!
Quite recently, the class has started reading the classic, To Kill A Mockingbird. In this first chapter we learn a lot about a lot of characters, including the main character, Scout, a very smart and brave young girl who isn't afraid to speak her mind. She has an older brother, Jem and a cook, Calpurnia. They recently met, Charles Baker Harris, also known as "Dill". The book takes place in Maycomb, Alabama but Dill lives Meridian, Mississippi and visits in the summer. Jem and Scout were never really close to their father, Atticus and their mother died when Scout was only two. The kids are all telling stories of their mysterious neighbor, Boo Radley, who lives in dark, rotting, and old house at the corner of the street. Dill's family member tells the eery story of Boo Radley stabbing his father in the leg with scissors at the age of thirty-three which led to Boo's isolation in the Radley home for life.
Pt 1: Chapter 2
Dill has since left Maycomb to go back to his hometown, Meridian, Mississippi. Scout is starting school and Jem asked her not to talk to him there. She didn't get off on a a good foot after being yelled at for knowing how to read and write and later getting smacked on the hands with a ruler for trying to inform the teacher about a fellow student, Walter Cunningham's financial situation and why he wouldn't be able to pay her back if she bought him lunch.
Pt 1: Chapter 3
Scout is upset and gets in a fight with Walter because she felt like he is the reason she got in trouble. Jem pulls them apart and invites the young boy to their house for dinner. Walter puts molasses all over his food and it absolutely disgusts Scout. So much that she expresses her discomfort with Walter's odd eating habits. Calpurnia calls Scout into the kitchen and chews Scout up and down for her judgments towards Walter. Scout's teacher starts crying when she gets called out by Borris Ewell, a rotten kid who only shows up to school on the first day. After school, Scout talks to Atticus about her day and mentions her teachers disapproval on her intelligence. Atticus leaves her with the well known quote, "You never really understand someone until you... climb into his skin and walk around it.".
Pt 1: Chapter 4
When Scout is walking home home school one day, she spots something in one of the Radley's trees. She discovered two pieces of gum and happily started chewing them. After telling Jem, he makes her spit them out. Later, on the last day of school, they find a tin box with two shiny pennies carefully stored inside in the same spot the gum was found. They waited to see if anyone was going to come back for them but when no one did, they claimed them as their own. When playing the "Boo Radley game", Scout is rolled down the hill in a tire by Jem and Dill, who has returned for the summer. She accidentally roles into the Radley's yard and panics when she hears laughing coming from inside the spooky home. Scout doesn't feel comfortable playing the game anymore.
Pt 1: Chapter 5
Jem and Dill grow closer together and even more interested in seeing Boo Radley. Scout feels excluded and goes to her neighbor, Miss Maudie's house. Miss Maudie takes her gardening very seriously and bakes wonderful cakes. She was also a childhood friend of Scout's uncle, Jack Finch. She tells Scout all about Boo Radley and good of a boy he was when he was growing up, no matter what people said about him. She said he simply fell victim to a very harsh father. Meanwhile, Jem and Dill are planning to put a note on the Radley Place inviting Boo Radley out to ice cream.
Pt 1: Chapter 6
It's Dill's last day in Maycomb so they decides to sneak into the Radley Place's backyard. When they get caught, they hear a shotgun blasting in their direction. As they scramble away, Jem gets him pants caught in the fence and is forced to leave them behind. The next morning, Jem revisits the fence to find them stitched back together and neatly folded waiting for Jem.
Pt 1: Chapter 7
A new school year starts and the kids start finding mysterious gifts. One day it was a ball of twine, a pocket watch, a spelling bee medal, and more chewing gum. Finally, the kids get a bit frightened when they find a portrait of the two of them carved into soap. The next day, the hole is filled and they confront Mr. Nathan Radley, Boo's brother, about the whole and he explains that he did fill the whole.
Pt 1: Chapter 8
For the first time in a long time, Maycomb is snowing and Jem and Scout are very excited. They build a snowman with the little snow they have and mud. They decorate the snowman as their neighbor, Mr. Avery and Atticus gets very upset with them over this. The next morning, Scout is awakened very early by Atticus. They get outside and Miss. Maudie's house in flames. Although, it seems like a unfortunate thing, Miss. Maudie is happy about it. She said that it will give her more room to garden and less house to take care of.
Pt 1: Chapter 9
Atticus is defending a black man in court and it feels as if the whole town is against him. Kids in school are starting to pick fights with her about the situation. One specific kid yelled racial slurs at her and her dad defending them. Atticus tells her to have self respect and not let these kids get under her skin. She stands her ground and doesn't fight the boy. It leads to even more teasing. Uncle Jack and cousin Francis visit around Christmas and Scout has started swearing. Francis insults Atticus for defending a black man and Scout finally snaps and she beats him up. She gets spanked for it. Uncle Jack and Atticus talk and say that the client is innocent but doomed with an all white jury.
Pt 1: Chapter 10
Scout and Jem fail to see how special and interesting their father is. All the other fathers in Maycomb go fishing and hunting but Atticus is only a boring lawyer. But one day, a rapid dog is roaming through the neighborhood and Atticus is given the job of shooting it. That's when the kids are informed about Atticus' crazy history of being nicknamed "One-shot Finch" for his deadly aim as a child.
Pt 1: Chapter 11
Everyday, Mrs. Dubose, a mean old lady, antagonizes Jem and Scout about every little thing. Jem stays strong after being told by Atticus to remain calm and not let her upset you. Jem buys a pretty twirling baton for Scout but one day Mrs. Dubose stepped over the line and insulted Atticus. Later, Jem came back and smashed Scout's new baton on Mrs. Dubose's front yard, smashing her flowers with it. As a punishment, Jem has to read to her everyday for a month.
Pt 2: Chapters 12-14
Jem is getting older and going through puberty. With this, he has gotten a lot more mood swings and snappy with Scout. He even yelled at her to be more like a girl like all the other closed minded people who don't approve of the way Scout dresses, acts. or talks. This makes Scout very upset and can't wait to see Dill. Unfortunately, she receives a postcard saying he won't make it to Maycomb this summer. He's got a new step-dad who has promised to work on a new boat with him. Later, Calpurnia takes Jem and Scout to her colored church. Cal gets them all dressed up and is very very excited. The people there are very excited to have them too. Except for one woman, Luna who get's upset with Cal for bringing two white kids to the church. In chapter 13, we find out that Aunt Alexandra, Atticus's sister, is moving in with the Finches in order to help raise the kids. Scout isn't happy about it though when she see's that her Aunt is only trying to change them and bring justice to the past generations. Atticus doesn't agree with his sister but doesn't speak up about her either. Scout ends up crying, saying she doesn't recognize or like who her Dad is turning into. In chapter 14, Jem and Scout start getting odd glances from people because Atticus has taken on a job to defend Tom Robinson, a black man, in court against the Ewell's, a white family. Meanwhile, Aunt Alexandra tries to talk Atticus into getting rid of Calpurnia because now that they have her, they won't need Cal anymore when in reality, it's most likely because she's a woman of color. Atticus gets very offended by this because Cal has contributed an enormous amount in raising the kids. Jem and Scout get very scared when they think a snake is hiding under their bed in the middle of the night. When they go to investigate, they find Dill. He reveals that he felt neglected at his home and that he never actually got to build a boat with his new dad.
Pt 2: Chapters 15-17
Men have come to the Finch's house to warn Atticus about a possible lynch mob coming for Tom Robinson and that he should be put in jail for safety reasons. Aunt Alexandra thinks Atticus is disgracing the family by defending Tom. Later, Jem, Scout, and Dill secretly follow Atticus to the Maycomb jail where a group of intimidating men approach Atticus. after a few moments, Scout runs up to Atticus and jumps into the center of the circle. Atticus tells Jem to take the rest of the kids home with him and Jem refuses. One of intimidating men try to grab Jem in order to lead him out of the jail. This makes Scout furious. She yells at the man and kicks him in the groin. Scout then finds one of the men to be a familiar face and starts talking to him about his son who Scout happens to be friends with. The man is ashamed and tells his group to head out. The next day, the trial has begun. Scout learns about Dolphus Raymond from Jem. He is a rich drunkard with a black wife and mixed children. Jem and Scout are sat next to Reverend Skyes in the balcony for people of color and Atticus has no idea they're there. Atticus get's to question Bob Ewell, Mayella's father and Mr. Heck Tate, who claims to have been with the beaten, distraught Mayella Ewell right after she was raped by Tom. Throughout the questioning, Atticus reveals to the court that a doctor was not called to help Mayella even though she was severely hurt. It is also reveal that Mayella was beaten across the right side of the face, meaning the rapist has to have been left handed. This detail is very important because Tom's left arm was in a terrible accident while working for cotton farm when he a young boy, rendering it disabled.
Pt 2: Chapters 18-20
Atticus is now able to question the victim, Miss Mayella Ewell. She is very scared and starts crying. She is nervous that Atticus will be mean to her or twist her words. She even gets upset when he refers to her as "Miss". She isn't used to people treating her with such respect. She claims she went to get a nickle for Mr. Robinson after he broke apart a dresser for her and that's when he grabbed her, beat her, and raped her. Though, through further questioning her find out that her father, Bob, also happens to be quite violent with her and are reminded that he is left handed. This strongly implies that he was the one who beat her, Moments later, Mayella decides this is all too much and that will no longer be answering any questions. Atticus calls up his only other witness, Tom Robinson. Tom walks up to the witness stand and has to prop his limp arm on the bible before raising his other hand. Later, he claims he walks by the Ewell's house frequently and Mayella always has something for him to do. One day, she lead him in the house to fix a door. Mayella then kissed Tom and told him she never kissed a man so it might as well be a "n-word". She told him that "what her papa do to her don't count." Bob Ewell walked in and started yelling so Tom ran away. At this point, you start to feel pretty bad for Mayella and so did Tom. People got very upset when he expressed this because "How dare a black man feel sorry for a white woman?". Meanwhile, Dill and Scout are talking to Dolphus Rayond and feel very uncomfortable because they know about about "his way" and his mixed children. He offers Dill a drink from the bottle in his brown, paper and Scout obviously assumes it's alcohol but Dill said it was only coca-cola. He says he acts drunk to give other white people an explanation for the way he is.
Pt 2: Chapters 21-22
Jem is absolutely positive Tom will be found innocent and Atticus will win. The jury, who is made up of all white men, takes a painfully long time to find their verdict. Unfortunately, when the time comes, Mr. Robinson is found guilty. As the court is flooding out, the people in the colored balcony stand for Atticus out of respect. They knew he tried his best and that most lawyers wouldn't even try to defend a black man. Later that night, Jem is crying about the verdict. The kids saw that there was no good reason Tom was found guilty. The next morning, the black community within Maycomb have left a feast for the Finches because of Atticus's hard work defending Tom. Later that day, he kids find out that Bob Ewell spat on Atticus, and said "he'd get him if it took the rest of his life".
Pt 2: Chapters 23-25
Atticus seems to be completely calm about Bob Ewell's threats and looks at as a way Bob getting his vengeful habits after Atticus made a fool out of him in the courtroom. Tom Robinson has been sent away to a prison very far away. Atticus feels like they have a very, very good chance of Tom's sentence being pardoned. But, if Tom loses, he will be sent to the electric chair. Atticus states that a white man's word will always beat a black man's and that they were lucky the jury took as long as it did to come to a verdict. One man even tried to acquit and suprisingly, it was one of the Cunninghams. After hearing this, Scout wants to invite Walter Jr. over for dinner but Aunt Alexandra said they don't associate with those kind of people. She said they're dirty and poor. Scout gets very upset at these comments and Jem takes her up to their room. He explains to Scout who despises who and they are both very confused why people go out of the way to hate others. All that thinking lead Jem to the thought that Boo Radley doesn't come out of the Radley Place simply because he doesn't want to. In chapter twenty-four, Scout is trapped into one of Aunt Alexandra's club lunch parties. She has to wear a dress and act like a lady which she isn't the biggest fan of. During the midst of their lunch party, Atticus comes in to announce something to Aunt Alexandra. Scout, Calpurnia, and Miss Maudie tag along into the kitchen. Atticus gives the terrible news that Tom Robinson has been killed. He tried to escape during exercise time. He was shot seventeen times by a guard. Atticus tells Cal that she need to come with him to tell Helen Robinson. It's September now. Jem and Scout are hanging out in the porch and Scout comes across a roly-poly. Jem stops her from crushing because, much like the Mockingbird, it doesn't do anyone any harm. Scout think it isn't her that's turning more and more into a girl- it's Jem.She started thinking about Dill and when her, Jem, Atticus, and Calpurnia went to tell Helen what had happened to her husband. Before anyone said anything, Helen knew. She collapsed to the ground. Meanwhile, Mr. Underwood, owner of the local paper, writes a long article about Tom's death being an unjust murder of an innocent man.
Pt 2: Chapters 26-28
Jem and Scout pass by the Radley place everyday now that school has begun but it doesn't seem to affect them anymore. They are too old. It doesn't scare them at all anymore now that they've seen so much of the real world now. Although, Scout does still wish to see Arthur Radley some day. She's in third grade now and while listening to lecture from her teacher about the unfair brutality of the Holocaust and persecution of the Jews. Scout later approaches Jem, asking how she can preach equality when Scout had overheard her walking out of the courtroom saying it was about time someone taught the blacks in this town a lesson. Jem became very flustered and upset at this question and tells her to never bring up the trial again. In chapter twenty-seven, Bob Ewell is getting into a lot of trouble. He's broken into Judge Taylor's house and harassed Helen Robinson until her boss had to threaten him to stay away. Meanwhile, the town is planning a party and play for Halloween that will take place at the school. This is all an attempt to stop the crime and harassment. One year, some kids pulled a prank on two elderly sisters by hiding all their furniture in their basement. Atticus and Alexandra say they wont be able to make it. Scout and Jem are walking to the school and Cecil Jacobs jumps out from the Radley Place and scares them. The three kids make their way to the school and have a lot of fun while their there. They go through haunted houses and get cotton candy. Unfortunately, Scout misses her queue in the show, gets accused of ruining it, and spends the rest of the event backstage with Jem. They are making their way back home and hear a eerie noises around them. They assume it was just Cecil Jacobs trying to freak them out again. But it's very clear to the reader that it isn't just anyone messing around. The attacker jumps into them and starts beating them up. Jem yells at Scout to run but Scout falls to the group and can't see or get up. Finally, someone rushes in to free them from the drunk attacker, Bob Ewell. Scout is finally able to get free. As she starts making her way home, she sees someone carrying Jem home because Jem has been knocked unconscious. After getting home, Scout hears from Officer Heck Tate that Bob Ewell was found dead
Pt 2: Chapters 29-31
In the final stretch of the novel, Scout is telling Mr. Tate what happened according to her. When we starts talking about Jem being carried home, she points out the man in the corner of the room. He is described to be tall and pale with torn clothes and dull eyes. Scout realizes she is meeting Arthur "Boo" Radley. Atticus and Heck are talking outside and Atticus assumes Jem is the one who killed Bob in order to save Scout and himself. Mr. Tate hushes him and reassures him that Jem was not the killer. He insists Bob fell on his knife. It's made clear to the reader that Jem really didn't kill him but that it was actually Boo. Atticus thanks Arthur for saving the kids. In the final chapter of this book, Scout takes Boo back into the bedroom to say goodnight to Jem. Arthur seems a bit overwhelmed and Scout offers to walk home with him. Just before they step out to leave, Scout grabs a hold of his arm to be more lady-like and walks with him all the way to the front door of the Radley Place. That was the first and last time Scout ever saw Boo Radley.