Jem for the most part is wrong. There are more than four types of people in Maycomb. Jem doesn't realize how good of a person Atticus is. Here Jem explains to us what he thinks the four groups are, "there are four kinds of folks in the world. There's the ordinary kind like us and the neighbors, there's the kind like the Cunningham's out in the woods, the kind like the Ewell's down at the dump, and the Negroes."(302) Jem is wrong because he doesn't understand or want to understand that people like the Finches are their own group who respect Negroes. He also doesn't take account for Dolphus Raymond and the half white half black group. It isn't just by chance though, that Jem forgot those two groups, he doesn't want to be his own group he wants to be normal just like everyone else. He also forgets the mixed people because they are so little acknowledged and rejected that people forget about them.
When Jem says this Scout gets mad at him. She gets mad because in this moment he is thinking like Aunt Alexandra and everyone else, and she knows that they are different and that is why she gets mad. She knows that everyone doesn't have to be in there own groups and she doesn't like to be isolated like that.
Is Jem right about the groups? Does scout get mad because of what Aunt Alexandra said about Walter Cunningham or about her? What happened to Dill? Is Dolphus Raymond and his family their own group? Do you think this is the conclusion of Boo Radley?
The ending of chapter 23 was very interesting, and I developed two theories about it's possible meaning.
ReplyDeleteJem's theory, in short, is that there are educated whites, respected poor whites, trashy poor whites, and blacks (the order in which he presents this theory is important and correlates to class and acceptance in the community). This theory is very flawed. Having a separate category for blacks is ridiculous, though very "Maycomb".
Harper Lee shows that Scout disagrees with Jem's speculation when she proposes that maybe all people were in one category: people. This is amazingly mature of her, and though physically she has not matured as rapidly as Jem, she is certainly more rational in this matter then he is.
Throughout the book Lee has thrown the reader hints that Jem is entering adolescence and Scout feels distanced from him becuase of this. Maybe Lee is allowing Scout to be more sensible then Jem on this topic to show that Scout is ready to be a teenager as well.
I don't think Scout is angry with Jem becuase she feels he needs MORE groups, but rather that he needs FEWER groups. She does think he's acting much too "Maycomb" by saying what he said, because she is innocent enough to disregard racism, which leads to my second theory (and the polar opposite of the first).
Atticus says children are not affected and defined by the racism (hence the jury would have been fair if comprised of them) and Scout isn't. Before this incident, we had reason to believe Jem didn't either. However, his conduct in this situation makes him seem like he is in fact racist, and this might be an elaborate way for Lee is show that Jem is becoming a Maycomb man while Scout keeps her childish innocence.
Answering Lasso 5th question. Yes, Scout gets extremely upset with Aunt Alexandra's comments about Walter Cunningham and his family, and reasonably so. Aunt Alexandra states that the Cunningham's are trash and that Scout should not hang out with them and that she would not approve of having them over for dinner. Scout reacts to this comment by arguing/proving her point about why she believes that Walter Cunningham and his family is not trash. Walter Cunningham turns out to be a good person. Although he considered killing Tom Robinson he quickly realized his terrible error and the next day he strongly supported a quitting Tom Robinson of all charges. I believe that Walter Cunningham deserves a second chance and I believe that he is a good person who was in a bad way.
ReplyDeleteDo you believe Walter Cunningham deserves a 2nd chance? Also can you treat Cunningham's children unfairly because of what he did?
I think that Jem is trying to figure out the world to hard which is leading him to think false thoughts such as "There are four types of folks in this world." I think Jem is also growing up very well though, but I think he should really think about a lot of things before he jump to conclusions. Atticus will help Jem find his way in the sense of how Jem wants to live and what Jem wants to believe. Atticus is almost a perfect father figure. He know how people think and analyzes it almost perfectly, because of this he can show Jem things that may seem dangerous but, he knows that won't turn out to be, for example the Cunminghams coming to the prison.
ReplyDeleteDo you think Jem will find his "way" before the book ends or will Harper Lee leave it for you to think about.