Wednesday, September 26, 2012
How does Scout end up with a blanket across her shoulders? Why would Harper Lee include this moment in the book?
Boo Radley placed the blanket that Atticus later found upon Scout's shoulders further allows Harper Lee to make Boo appear to be more of a human than a monster. Just slightly past one in the morning, Atticus Finch shakes Scout awake so that she can evacuate the house due to a fire. He tells Jem and her to stay still in front of the house of the Radleys so that they will be out of harm's way of the fire. The two children watch in awe of the fire destroying Miss Maudie's home and of everyone running out of their homes. Due to the fire, Nathan Radley is securing a mattress; this removes the wall blocking communication between Scout/Jem and Boo, effectively allowing Boo to communicate with the children. Once the fire is dealt with and Atticus is retrieving the children so that they can do home, he notices a brown blanket draped over Scout's shoulders that isn't theirs. This leads Jem to blindly spew out all the secrets of theirs to which Atticus responds, "...'Scout can thank him for covering her up.''Thank who?" I ask, "Boo Radley. You were so busy looking at the fire you didn’t know it when he put the blanket around you." (72).
This shatters the misconception that Boo Radley is a bad person. During all of this commotion and chaos, Boo opens the window of opportunity and comes out. Nathan was out of the way so this proved to be the perfect moment. The novel states that it was the coldest night in Atticus' memory. It is implied that while Scout was watching the fire from in front of the Radley house, Boo sneaked up behind her and placed the blanked across her shoulders so that she wouldn't shiver anymore. Thanks to the fire, the ever growing bond between Boo and the kids is strengthened. Nathan was too busy with his own problems to suppress Boo. This shows that Nathan is the one who should be feared; he is the one forcing the image of Boo being a person. Harper Lee pokes out the idea that possibly, just possibly Boo might be a sort of a benevolent figure.
Do you think Nathan Radley might actually be the one who all should hate? Will this further provoke the children to attempt communication with Boo?
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I also agree that it was Boo Radley who put the blanket on Scout, but I don't think that Nathan Radley should be hated from trying to conceal Boo in the house. Nathan Radley is just trying to do whats best for Boo because if he came back into the society of Maycomb then he would cause a lot of commotion and stress. Since Jem saw Boo Radley, him and Scout will want to try and actually have a conversation with him and try to get the "Maycomb way" to accept him. If Nathan Radley does another action to try and keep Boo contained in the house then the children should start hating him, but I don't think he will.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think Boo Radley's next move will be to come back to society and communicate with the children?
Answering Gautam's Questions first, then Ross:
ReplyDeleteNathan Radley shouldn't exactly be hated on, but not admired either. He might be doing what's best for Boo, but blocking off communication, separating Boo from the only people who might talk to him. All of these things show Nathan Radley as a bad person, but not to be hated.
Jem knows full and well that there is no more reason to poke at Boo Radley. As for Scout, as long as she sticks with Jem, she won't brew up anything. However, with Dill around, you never know. Scout is living a fine line between being a child and being an adult. When she is with Jem, she acts older, but when with younger less mature characters, such as Francis or Dill, she can be triggered to do stupid things.
I think Boo Radley is not going to make to many moves out into society. He is more of a passive character, waiting for something to happen for him to appear silently.
What do you guys think about Scout controlling her anger? It is a big step forward for sure.
In response to Geoffrey's question, I agree that for Scout, controlling her anger is going to be a big step forward. This is because Scout is still young, and younger children tend to take a longer time to process what adults say to them. For instance, earlier in the book Scout got into a fight at school, and Atticus had to teach her that she needs to keep her hands to herself and use her words and not her body when she is trying to stick up for herself or someone. Yet more recently for example, Scout got into a fight Francis, her relative. The book quotes, "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." As you can see, the advice Atticus gave Scout before, had not yet processed in young Scout's mind.
DeleteI think that it is going to be hard for Scout to think before she acts and keep her hands to herself because she has that tomboy act going for her, but if everyone helps, step by step she might start acting more and more like a proper, young lady.
I understand that Nathan Radley might want the best for Boo,which is why he has locked Boo up in the house as a punishment for the trouble he had caused years ago. But then again, should someone be locked up and be isolated from their community just by making a simple mistake? Yes, it would create a lot of commotion and stress if Boo came back into the society, but that's only because Nathan Radley had locked Boo up for that many years,which would spark more gossip than if he was punished for a few days. I believe that people assuming how inhuman Boo is, is due to Nathan Radley's punishment. This almost makes Nathan Radley more of an alien to Maycomb's ways and more inhuman than Boo.
ReplyDeleteAnswering Jeffrey's question I think Scout will tone down and start acting a little bit more lady like, after she had a conversation with Atticus, she decided not to fight Cecil Jacobs. " Remembering what Atticus had said, I dropped my fists and walked away. Scout's a coward ringing in my ears. It was the first time I even walked away from a fight." (102) She explains how she noble she felt for backing down. I feel like Scout will finally grow up and the feeling of nobility would be more important to her than the satisfaction of beating someone up. What do you guys think? Will Scout start to become more ladylike after all the conversations with her father and uncle? When do you guys think Boo will make another appearance? And will Scout ever thank him for what's he's done?
No, I don't feel that Scout will become more "lady like" Angela. The main reason I feel this way is because she still wants to beat them up, I think that if she was a real "lady like" person in her day then she wouldn't even want to beat these people up. I also think that she has reason to beat them up because of what they are saying about her family, her father and her. Answering Angela's questions about will Boo come back and will she thank him, I feel that yes defiantly he will be back. One day she will thank him and I think that it might be be the best way to thank someone when she does, but it will work.
DeleteQuestions for further talk are Why do you think that Scout feels sick when she finds Boo put the blanket on her? Lee uses an elliptical writing when telling Boo's part of the story, did you feel that this brought you farther into the book? why?