Is it appropriate to kill a "mad dog" but not a mockingbird, just because killing a dog isn't a written in the bible as a sin? When Jem and Scout are out in the neighborhood with their new air guns, Jem notices a dog walking lopsided. They decide to go tell Calpurnia because a mad dog can be very dangerous. When they show Calpurnia the dog she "stared, then grabbed us by the shoulders and ran us (Scout and Jem) home. She shut the wood door behind us went to the telephone and shouted, gimme Mr. Finches office!" (Lee 123" After Mr. Finch arrives they have no option to kill the mad dog before it causes any damage to anybody or anything.
Earlier in the chapter Atticus says to Jem "Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit em', but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird. When Scout asks Miss Maudi about it she says "Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy". What Miss Maudi is trying to say is that you shouldn't kill anything that cant kill you.
Do you think that this rule would still apply if killing a dog was a sin, even if it was mad? Or does this event have a higher meaning, perhaps foreshadowing on a later event? What significance does this incident have to the book, considering the book is called To Kill A Mocking Bird?
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ReplyDeleteThis scene is foreshadowing a later event. The main reason I believe this is because up until this seen we had not known Atticus could shoot and he asked Uncle Jack to teach the kids to shoot on page 105 "you'll have to teach 'em to shoot. Said Uncle Jack. That's your job. said Atticus". This precise marksmanship will come up again in a scene with Atticus of Jem/Scout. This scene would be pointless if nothing came of knowing marksmanship ran in the Finchs family.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with Marcus in saying that they killed the dog because it wasn't written in the bible as a sin. I believe that they killed it more out of fear than following the bible. They do not kill the mocking birds because they are not afraid of them. Why kill something that doesn't scare you or won't hurt you? They killed the dog because they where afraid of it hurting someone. They acted out to preserve the safety of the public. If the mocking bird became a threat to public safety they would be forced to kill that also.
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