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?
I think that the rule of not harming people not only applies to humans, but originated in humans. As evidenced by Miss Maudie when she says "My shell's not that hard, child, I'm just a Baptist" (Lee, 49). This shows that she is a Christian, and believes in the core moral values of Judeo-Christian-Confucian teachings, the "golden rule." The rule about not killing anyone or anything that doesn't harm you is a very simple implementation of the golden rule. If you don't harm something, you don't want it to harm you.
ReplyDeletePeople consider Boo Radley as dangerous because of all the scary rumors they heard about him. People definitely give it to the street gossip and drama because they have nothing to do with their lives. For all we know, Boo Radley could just not want to come out of his house because of all the scary and harsh things people are saying about him. People definitely peg Boo Radley as a scary and harmful person but no one has really ever seen him or got to know him well enough to say that about him.
ReplyDeleteBoo Radley has rumors about him that are not pleasant. One rumor is, “As Mr. Radley passed by, Boo drove the scissors into his parent’s leg, pulled them out, wiped them on his pants, and resumed his activities.” Considering the rumors that I have heard about Boo I consider him harmful and dangerous. In the book Miss Maudie is talking to Scout. She tells Scout it is a sin to kill a mockingbird because, "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). I think the reason Harper Lee included this part in the book is to tell the reader that someone is going to kill a mockingbird.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your statements, Brooke, but I think that Harper Lee included this part of the book because it relates to other events. Atticus follows the rule of "Don't harm anything that doesn't harm you," when he says, "...stop tormenting that man." (Lee 65). He says this because Boo, despite the rumors, has never done anything to harm anyone in the community so should not be tormented.
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