Carter Liou: Chapter 30, Has justice been served in this novel? (Think about this) Why or why not? To answer this, you must define what ‘justice” is and then provide specific examples to support your stand on this.

   Justice is act of being fair and giving fair treatment to all.  I believe that justice has been served because Bob Ewell beat his own daughter, is responsible for the murder of an innocent man, and tried to kill Scout and Jem.  In my opinion those are the worst kinds of crimes they are just completely unmoral.  On page 369 Sheriff Tate says, “There’s a black boy dead for no reason, and this man is responsible for it’s dead.  Let the dead bury the dead the dead this time. Let the dead bury the dead” (Lee 369).  Here I think Sheriff Tate is trying to tell Atticus that Bob Ewell got what he deserved and that he should just stop worrying about it because justice has been served.  Also on page 366 Sheriff Tate says, "Bob Ewell fell on his own knife.  He killed himself " (Lee 366).  Here Sheriff Tate is trying to show that the kids had nothing to do with Ewell's death and that it was completely his fault that he died the way he did, and that again justice had been served.

Marcus Patalano: Chapter 28- end Look closely at the description of Boo. Why has Harper Lee included these details and why here?

Why do you think Harper Lee included the in depth details about Boo Radley? Look closely at the description of Boo. Why has Harper Lee included these details and why here? 

    Scout thinks that the man on the corner leaning against the wall is just an ordinary Maycomb townsperson. Once scout gets closer he describes the man as having "sickly white hands that had never seen the sun"(Lee 362). She also says "his cheeks where thin to hollowness, and his gray eyes were so colorless I thought he was blind"(Lee 362. the reason Harper Lee included these details to help foreshadow as to who the character might be. Harper Lee didn't want the reader to know that the man was Arthur Radley, she wanted the reader to infer upon whom the character may be. She gives the reader clues by describing the character as a thin, emaciated character who looks as if he had never seen the light of day. Throughout all of scouts life she had always wanted to know what he truly looked like, and throughout the whole book she wanted the reader to share scouts curiosity. By foreshadowing on details about Boo's appearance she helps build up to a climax in which Atticus will reveal that the man is Boo. 

28-end What does Heck Tate mean when he says, “Let the dead bury the dead this time” (369)? Explain what is going on here and what he means.

In this quote Heck Tate is arguing with Atticus about how Mr. Ewell. what he means is since it was Mr. Ewell who caused the death of Tom Robinson that it made it even that Mr. Ewell was now dead. He felt that people would pay less attention to his death because of Toms. One reason I believe he thinks that is because from page 364 to 369 Heck and Atticus are arguing about how Atticus doesn't want to "cover up" the death of Bob Ewell. Heck's response to this is "let the dead bury the dead"(lee, 369). Heck essentially thinks he deserves it. A quote that makes me think this is when he first delivers the news of Bob's death he says "He's good and dead. He won't hurt these children again" (Lee, 358). Heck says nothing about how he was a good man but just that quote.

What does Heck Tate mean when he says, “Let the dead bury the dead this time” (369)? Explain what is going on here and what he means. Tristan Young

            Tate is saying that the "black boy,” is dead and the man who killed him is dead, so there's no point in pursuing the matter. Let the dead bury the dead in a simplified manner is just let it go. Mr. Tate explains his reasoning on page 369, “I’m going on forty-three years old, know every that’s happened here since before I was born” (Lee 369). Mr. Tate has seen many useless cases of white versus black since he was young, being the sheriff of Maycomb. He calls the shots. Mr. Tate’s wisdom is far superior of Atticus’s in the moment because Atticus is flustered at the thought of his boy killing Bob Ewell. The sheriff realizes this and points it out to Atticus, “Mr. Finch, I hate to fight you when you’re like this, You’ve been under strain tonight no man should have to go through” (Lee 368). This time Mr. Tate has decided to take this into his own hands and let it go. There is no point of causing any more trouble in a case that has already solved itself. Bob Ewell was finally brought to justice. Mr. Tate may have been unfair to African American’s in the past, and he acknowledges his wrongs, “ I’m not a very good man, sir, but I am the sheriff of Maycomb County” (Lee 369). It is Mr. Heck Tate’s way of paying his dues and making the right decision for the town of Maycomb. Let the dead bury the dead.

Natalie Madden Chapter 28- end Look closely at the description of Boo. Why has Harper Lee included these details and why here?

Look closely at the description of Boo. Why has Harper Lee included these details and why here? 

Scout thinks that the man in the corner of Jem’s bedroom is just an ordinary townsperson that lives in Maycomb. Scout describes the man as having, “Sickly white hands that had never seen the sun, so white that they stood out garishly against the dull cream wall in the dim light of Jem’s room. His face was as white as his hands. His grey eyes were so colorless I thought he was blind.” (Lee 362) The reason Harper Lee included this description is because she didn’t want to tell the reader that it was Arthur Radley. She wanted the reader to wonder who was the strange man leaning against Jem’s wall? She gives the reader clues about the strange man by saying, “Sickly white hands that had never seen the sun.”(Lee 362) The only person in Maycomb who hasn’t been outside most of his life is Boo, but Harper Lee didn’t want to just reveal that it was Boo in the corner, she wanted to describe what this man really looked like to other people who never met him before. Scout has wondered her whole life what Boo Radley looks like. She was constantly wanting to sneak a glance of him. She finally meets him, but doesn’t realize she has, until Atticus introduces her to him.  All Scout’s life she was curious about what Boo Radley might look like. That night in Jem’s room, she thought she was just looking at an everyday person who lives in Maycomb, but he wasn’t, he is Boo Radley. 

Alex Daly chaps 24-25 Free Response, What is the connection between killing a cripple and killing a mockingbird?

         In the editorial on pages 320-323 there is a connection between killing cripples and songbirds. Mr. B.B. Underwood writes this editorial for the Macomb Tribune and puts much heart and thought into it. In the editorial he expressed lots of strong opinions about this subject. “ He likened Tom’s death to the senseless slaughter of songbirds by hunters and children.”[lee 323] This shows how strongly he feels about Tom’s death because it was a sin to kill a mockingbird (songbird).  It is a sin to kill a mockingbird because they do nothing for us but make beautiful music for our enjoyment. He is saying that cripples are like a songbird, calming and peaceful, as opposed to bluejays, that are known to be violent and bothersome. Also, he is comparing the children and hunters to the jurors and the guards that shot Tom. The jurors are the children that do not change their views in the case and had determined the verdict from the start of the trial. The hunters are the guards that shot Tom. They probably could have run and grabbed Tom from the fence because he was so slow getting up, but instead they decided to shoot him over, and over, and over, again. 

         Aticus once said in the past “shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit’ em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” [lee 119] This connects with the songbird aspect of the article. Mr. Underwood is saying that it is a sin to kill a cripple because they cannot fight back. Cripples are not able to kill you so why would you kill them. Cripples are not a danger to anyone, they are like mockingbirds, they can’t do many things to bother anyone. 

Lauryn Jacobs- Chapter 26&27- Explain the idea of hypocrisy. In thinking about the tea party and the incident with Miss Gates, how are Miss Gates and Mrs. Merriweather hypocrites? Why does Harper Lee do this?

                 Hypocrisy is when someone tells another person not to do something, yet they do it themselves. Miss Gates is a hypocrite because she says, on page 329, " Over here we don't believe in prosecuting anybody. Persecution comes from people who are prejudiced." This shows that Miss Gates doesn't believe in hatred to a specific race or religion. Yet, on page 331, it says, " I heard her say it's time somebody taught 'em a lesson, they were gettin' way above themselves, an' the next thing they think they can do is marry us." Miss Gates is a hypocrite because she doesn't have religious prejudice but she has racial prejudice. She thinks that it is wrong for the germans to treat the Jews harshly, but yet she thinks that it is ok for her to treat the black people harshly because of the color of there skin . Mrs. Merriweather is a hypocrite because on page 309, it says, " the ladies of the Maycomb Alabama Methodist Episcopal Church South are behind you one hundred percent." Then on page 310, it says, " Gertrude, I tell you there's nothing more distracting than a sulky darky. There mouths go down to here. Just ruins your day to have one of 'em in the kitchen." These two quotes shows how much of a hypocrite Mrs. Merriweather is. In the first quote, she's pretending that she would want to help the Mrunas tribe in Africa, yet in the second quote, she is complaining about how one of her black helpers are mad that Tom was convicted. 
                      Harper Lee added the scenes of Miss Gates and Mrs. Merriweather caught in the act of being hypocrites because she wanted to show the difference sides of people and how they act when there with certain people. When Miss Gates was teaching she was saying that being a hypocrite is wrong. Yet when she was talking to Miss Stephanie Crawford, she was being a hypocrite in relations to blacks. When Mrs. Merriweather was talking to J. Grimes Everett, she was saying how she would love to help the Mrunas tribe in Africa, but when she was at the tea party, she was saying how she thinks so little of the emotions that the black people have. 

Why do you think that people act different when they're with two different groups of people?