This chapter is introducing the novel. It mainly revolves around developing the main characters. We meet Scout, Jem and their friend Charles Baker Harris, aka. Dill. They are discussing something of a local legend, the Radley house which is know for it’s bizarre and mysterious residents most notably: Boo Radley.
The quote I picked was “Jem and I found our father satisfactory”. This statement is something that seems like an evaluation for an employee not a father figure and defienetly not a loved one. This detachment they have towards their own father is something both distressing and fascinating.
Chapter 2
Dill is returning to Meridian as the summer is almost over. Scout is excited about her first day of school but finds out that her intellect is not appreciated by her teacher Miss Caroline who is trying to implement a new method of teaching (as explained to her by Jem). The afternoon does not go well for Scout either as she tries to explain why one of the boys in her class (Walter Cunningham) can’t afford to pay her back when she offers him a quarter for lunch. Miss Caroline, frustrated by the behaviour of Scout hits he hand with a ruler.
The quotation I have picked is “Had her conduct been more friendly toward me, I would have felt sorry for her. She was a pretty little thing.” This quote shows how Scout is influenced by her father. The same courteous detachment that Atticus treats Scout and Jem with is the detachment that Scout has treated Miss Caroline with. This shows how much Scout has emulated her father (consciously or not) and despite her father being detached Atticus still has an influence over the way Scout thinks and the way Jem acts.
Chapter 3
At lunch, Scout rubs Walter’s nose in the dirt for getting her in trouble, but Jem intervenes and invites Walter to lunch. Atticus treats Walter as a grown man and talks to him with the respect and courtesy of one. Later on, Scout scolds Walter for covering his meal in syrup who then gets scolded by Calpurnia to not scold others whoever they might be and however they might be eating, drinking or whatever.
December 4, 2014 at 12:25 am
Aditya,
This appears to only be a summary of chapter one. Please finish and update. You justification of your chosen quotation has some beginnings of analysis, exploring inferences.
Target:
Develop this form of analysis by linking ideas and quotations together. How else does Scout describe her father. How might this develop in Chapter 5 for instance, when we see how other inhabitants of Maycomb look upon Atticus?
What about Scout’s relationship with Calpurnia as a substitute mother?