To Kill A Mockingbird - Second Entry

After having read the second part of "To kill a mockingbird", I finally came across the part where the title of this book is mentioned. On page 99, Atticus had explained for his children that they should not shoot birds with their new air rifles. "I'd rather you shot at tin cans in the back yard, but I know you'll go after birds. Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." Jem and Scout's neighbour, miss Maudie, makes the statement even more clear when she says with her Southern accent: "Mockingbirds don't do one thing but music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." (Page 100) I think all this means that of all horrible things a man can do, it is always worst to hurt somebody or something who never does something bad.

On page 102, a dog comes to the street where the Finch family lives. At that moment Scout and Jem find out something about their father that they never could have guessed before. When the inhabitants on the street decide that they have to shoot the dog, because it is dying, Atticus is the one who makes the deed. Scout and Jem are very surprised. How can Atticus, who according to himself never liked to shoot, hit the dog right in "bullseye", and in one single shot? But the surprised kids get the information that their father was an excellent shooter when he was young, he was even called "One-Shot Finch". The fact that Atticus has withheld this ability to his children is also a bit strange, and they are rather confused about this.

A quote that I have found interesting, except the explanation about mockingbird, is on page 111. Scout is admiring her father for being so brave because of his way to handle annoying old ladies, in this case a mrs Dubose. Atticus has got a wonderful ability to stay calm and polite when that old lady is treating everybody like trash. Smiling and swinging his hat to mrs Dubose, instead of ignoring her. Scout is thinking: "It was times like these when I thought my father, who hated guns and had never been to any wars, was the bravest man who ever lived." I think this is a cute evidence for the love between Scout, Jem and Atticus.

Another quote I thought was interesting and true, is on page 120. Scout is asking Atticus what it means to be a "niggerlover", because she has heard that people is saying that as a condescending expression. But Atticus says: "I certainly am. I do my best to love everybody... I'm hard put, sometimes - baby, it's never an insult to be called what somebody thinks is a bad name. It just shows you how poor that person is, it doesn't hurt you." This is also a interesting quote, it testifies how important it is to not be hostile to anybody.

When Calpurnia takes Jem and Scout to her church on page 131, you get to know how it could be in a typical black church in the 1930's. One thing that was similar in both white and black churches, is that if a person who had the opposite skin colour compared to the church's, it was weird. When Scout and Jem, who are white, came into the black church, everybody in the church got a bit surprised. Surprised by the fact of having guest who are not supposed to belong there.

Atticus 
My thoughts of Atticus being a responsable and understanding father is even more clear now, after having read the second part of the book. He is very smart and can manage to take good care of his children without a female figure (a mother) in the family. One example is when Dill comes back, after he had run away, on page 155. Scout is afraid that her father will call Dill's family and tell them to come and get him. But instead, he says that the most important thing is that Dill is okay, and to take care of the boy.

Jem
I think that Jem has changed a little through the book. You notice that he really is getting older all the time, he is not as wild and social anymore. He also seems a little more disagreeable now. Even Scout thinks that, as she thinks on page 152: "His maddening superiority was unbearable these days. He didn't want to do anything but read and go off by himself."

Scout
Scout is still the same curious tomboy as in the first part. But I think that she is that person who is not so well understood by others, who will confuse others by going her own way.

There is an evening where Atticus is about to be attacked by some men. It has to do with the case that Atticus is working with, a black man who's accused of raping a girl. But Scout is kind of saving everything by starting to talk about one of the men's son, and Atticus later walks away with the kids unhurt.


I am not very sure of what I think will happen later in the book. After the first part, I was sure that Boo Radley would have a big role in the rest of the story, but in this part his name almost did not figure at all. Instead, Atticus's case with Tom Robinson, who is accused for having raped a girl, is more actual. In the last chapters I have read about the trial, and it is actually getting rather exciting. Atticus is trying his best to prove that Tom Robinson is innocent, and I am rather curious about what is going to happen.