Chapters 10 and 11 - Why is it appropriate to kill a mad dog but not a mockingbird? (Brooke Graves)

        It is appropriate to kill a mad dog but not a mockingbird because mockingbirds are not a threat to the neighborhood, but mad dogs can be very dangerous. One day Jem and Scout went exploring with their new air-rifles to see if they could find anything. They were about five hundred yards past the Radley's house when Jem spotted an old dog named Tim Johnson. The dog was walking lopsided and slow as a snail. He was also shivering and opening and closing his mouth. They raced home, told Calprunia, and Calprunia warned everyone on the street to stay inside. The street was deserted as if crisis had struck. When the sheriff arrived, Atticus told him, "He's within range, Heck. You better get him before he goes down the side street - Lord knows who's around the corner," (Lee 126). Atticus means that the sheriff better shoot the mad dog before it wanders off and harms someone. Ms. Maudie had explained how killing a mockingbird was a sin earlier in this chapter. When Scout asked her why it was a sin, Ms. Maudie explained to her that, "Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens... That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird," (Lee 119). Ms. Maudie means that it is a sin to kill mockingbirds because they don't but anyone in danger. In Scout and Jem's neighborhood, it is a well respected rule that you don't harm anything that doesn't harm you.

Does this "rule" apply to people too? For example, would people in their neighborhood try to harm Boo Radley based on the rumors they have heard about him. Do people consider Boo Radley harmful and dangerous? Do you think this "rule" is foreshadowing any events that could occur in the future?