TKAM Journal #7

Im my opinion, I think this novel is about class. I think that it is about class because if you think about it, everybody is separated. The town is split up, at the bottom are the Ewells and the negroes, next is the Cunninghams, and so on. As we recently found out, the negroes are actually above the Ewells. The Ewells are rude, dirty, and extremely poor. Usually back then, you would think that the black people would be below any one in town, but not in this case. Tom Robinson felt sorry for the Ewells. That made everyone feel different about the negroes in town. But just because they felt sorry for one of the classes, doesn't mean that there was no discrimination. If nobody was split up in this book, and there was no racism, then I think the book would be very different. Atticus and Tom Robinson may have won the court case, and there would be no rude neighbors.

Journal #5 Chapters 13-15 Perspective: Aunt Alexandria

I came over to my dear brother Atticus' house the other day so I could look over the kids, and give them a feminine influence while he was out of town. I wanted to extract the well beings out of the kids. When I first came to Maycomb, everybody was just so pensive, bringing me sweets and making me coffee. But there is one problem at my brothers house. They have a maid who is a nigger, and she antagonizes me! I tried to convince Atticus to get rid of her, but he wouldn't have it. I am always infallible, so I don't think I'll have a problem with getting rid of her later on. I need to be their mother figure, not her! It just makes me so angry that they like that black lady better than me.

A short time ago, a little boy name Dill was found under Scout's bed. Apparently he ran away from home because he felt his parents had no time for him. So he has been talking to Scout and hanging out with her a lot. Almost a week after Dill showed up, a group of men came to our door to tell Atticus that Tom Robinson was going to be moved to a different jail. this frightened Atticus, because he thought that a mob would come and kill him. We soon got into an argument because I thought that him defending a nigger is a disgrace to the Finches. He got upset and the next day her drove downtown. That night, Jem was wondering where Atticus was, so him, Scout, and Dill all went out to find him. They find him outside the jail, and Scout wanted to run after him. Jem said not to bother him, and to leave him alone because he would be upset. A group of men drove up and walked up to Atticus. They tell him to move out of the way but he refuses. Scout emerges from where she was hiding and runs into the group of men.

Journal #4 Chapters 10, 11, & 12 Perspective: Scout

A few days ago, Jem and I were telling Miss Maudie about Atticus. We were telling her how he was older than most parents and he didn't really do much. He usually just read. But Miss Maudie was debating with us and told us that he used to do all sorts of things, that he was one of the best hunters, and that he was the best checker player. We saw that he was a good hunter when he shot that isolate dog walking down the street the other day. The dog was crazy he said, and it was walking all funny. He shot him in the head with one shot! And he wasn't even that close to him. It was a bit perplexing to us that Atticus, being so old, could do something like that.

It was Jem's birthday this week. He got a lot of money, and so he went to buy some toys. He bought himself a steam engine and he got a baton for me. When he was walking home, he passed by Ms. Dubose's house. As he walked by, she yelled to him that Atticus is no better than the niggers he works for! Jem got so upset. He took out the baton he bought for me and fanatically destroyed all of her camellia bushes that were adjacent to her house. They came home, and waited until Atticus arrived. Atticus finally came through the door, and yelled Jem's name. He asked if he was responsible for cutting the plants. Jem said yes, and Atticus made him go and apologize. Jem came back and told us that Ms. Dubose wanted him to read for her every day after school and on Saturdays.

Since Jem has turned 12, he has been acting very differently. He always gets upset with me and tells me that I act like such a girl. He is rude to me, and he eats so weird! I asked Atticus if he had a tapeworm, and he just told me that he didn't, and I should be patient with him. I received a letter from Dill, and he told me he would not be coming to Maycomb this summer because he had found a father and would be doing things like fishing with him. I was so upset, and I had nobody to hang out with. On Sunday, Atticus was gone, and Cal asked me if Jem and I would like to go to church with her. We agreed, and she scrubbed us clean and put me in a dress. Everyone was nice there, except for a lady named Lula. She got mad at Cal for bringing white people to a black church.

Journal #3- Chapters 8 & 9 Perspective: Miss Maudie

Today, it snowed for the first time since 1885. the kids Jem and Scout came to my house and asked me if they could take my snow! I told them to please take it all. the cold weather was tormenting my plants! That cold early morning my house caught fire and teetered to the ground. I am so grateful though that I have such nice neighbors. They all came to my house and helped take the furniture out. Atticus brought out my favorite rocking chair for me. I watched my house burn in shock for a while, but later that morning I felt better. I am staying with Stephanie Crawford until my house is restored, the woman who is famous for her quibbling. Jem and Scout came to my house to visit me and return my hat. They found me standing in my back yard. Jem returned my belongings and told me they were awfully sorry. I just told him about how I always wanted a smaller house. I told him how I always wanted to burn that old house, but I would have gotten locked up. I explained that if I had a smaller house, I would have more room for my flowers to grow malignantly. Then, I would have the nicest yard in Alabama! It wouldn't just blend in like a chameleon with the other yards here. It would put them all to shame! While other folks might have gotten upset with loosing their houses, I think of it as a fresh start.

Journal #2- Chapters 4-7 Perspective: Jem

Finally, summer is here. Scout and I were so excited to be gettin' out of school, and Dill is coming back for the summer from Meridian. The first 2 days of summer we were tired. We walked around wondering what the summer would bring us. Me and Scout were walking around before Dill came, and we found gum! We found the gum, and we also found a small box with gum wrappers. It was a small box, like the kinds that wedding rings come in. We opened that box and found 2 polished Indian-Heads. They were old, one from 1906 and one from 1900. Scout told me we should keep 'em, but I said no. they were somebody's special coins, that why they were all polished and nice. Scout asked me if I thought that was somebody's hidin' place. I told her no. Grown people don't have hiding places! But, i decided to keep them 'till school starts, then we'd ask around to see if they belonged to anybody. Two days later, Dill came. At first, we didn't know what games to play. We rolled around in the tire, then Scout fell out and tumbled into the Radley's gate. We stopped playing with the tire. We couln't think of any more games. All the ones that were suggested seemed boring. So, we all decided to make a new game. Boo Radley. Scout was scared, but we played anyways. We played until Atticus caught us and asked if we were playing the Radleys. I said no.

Me and Dill got closer this summer. We stopped hanging out with Scout that much, she always acted like such a girl! So Scout hung around Miss Maudie. One day, Scout came into the yard where me and Dill were planning. We were going to put a letter in Boo's house, and she had to come with us. I kept trying to get the letter in the blinds, but it kept falling. Soon, Atticus caught us again. He told us not to mess with Mr. Radley anymore. We listened, but we wanted to take a peek to see if Boo really lived in there. On the last day of summer, and the last day that Dill would be with us, we decided to sneak into his backyard and look in the window. We saw a shadow, then we ran. I lost my pants on the way home, and Dill covered for me. He told Atticus and Ms. Rachel that we were playing strip poker by the fishpool and that he won my pants. Very early the next morning, I went back to get my pants. I returned to my bed trembling.

Journal #1 Chapters 1-3 Perspective of Ms. Caroline

Today was a long day. It was the first day of teaching 1st grade, and I already think I bit off more than I can chew. I have this young girl in my classroom, Jean Louise. She was an eccentric little girl. She came in to my class room, and she already knew how to read the alphabet, and she could read books, too. I told her to tell her daddy to stop teaching her. It irked me that he taught her at home, because he is interfering with my teaching! She only denied that her father taught her, but if he did not, then who did?

When lunch came around, I asked the students who went home for their lunches to hold up their hands. Then I asked who brings their lunch, and most kids except for Walter Cunningham brought out their lunches. I said, “Where’s yours?”. He did not reply. I asked him again if he had left his at home, and he said “Yeb’m”. I told him to go down town to eat with one of my quarters, and that he could pay me back tomorrow. He looked intimidated by the sight of the quarter, and he said no, thank you. I compromised with him, but he still would not take that quarter. Finally, Jean Louise stood up. She said to me that Walter was a Cunningham. I did not understand. She then told me that he was a poor boy from a poor family, and he would not have lunch today, tomorrow, or the next day. She told me that he would never be able to pay me back that quarter.

I was shocked at that little girl. I hauled her over to my desk and smacked her 6 times on the palm with my ruler. I then sent her to the corner of the room to stand, and the whole room condescended with laughter.

I hope that tomorrow will be a less stressful day for me.

Weekly Reading Response

NAME: Sierra Stratton DATE: 2-11-10

BOOK: The Lovely Bones

AUTHOR: Alice Sebold PAGES: 188-269

TOTAL PAGES THIS WEEK: 81

Question 1: Which character would you like (or not like) to be your friend? Why?

Response 1: In The Lovely Bones, I would like to be friends with Lindsey Salmon. I would like to be friends with Lindsey because she is very athletic and I like being athletic. I would also like to be friends with her because she went through a lot when her sister was murdered and I would like to have helped her through that. she was also very sweet in the book, but she was also rebellious. that made her unique, and I like hanging out with unique people; people who do their own thing and don't follow other people's paths.

Question 2: What has surprised you in the book? Why?

Response 2: The thing that surprised me the most in this book was how fast in the end everyone grew up. In almost one chapter all of the characters were grown up and they each had their own stories. I got kind of lost in a part of the book because almost out of nowhere Lindsay and her boyfriend were graduating college, and Susie's old friends were all on their own. So those parts were very surprising.

Weekly Reading Response

Weekly Reading Response

NAME: Sierra Stratton DATE: 2-11-10

BOOK: The Lovely Bones

AUTHOR: Alice Sebold PAGES: 78-188

TOTAL PAGES THIS WEEK: 110

QUESTION 1:Do you think you would read another book by this author? Why or why not?

RESPONSE 1: Yes, I would read another book by Alice Sebold. I would read another one of her books because I think she is and interesting writer, and I like her writing style in this book.

Alice Sebold’s writing style in The Lovely Bones is different from other books I’ve read, because she switches the characters around. One character will be talking or thinking, and then next another character’s thought will pop up.

QUESTION 2: If you could change one thing in the book, what would it be? Why would you change it?

RESPONSE 2: If I could change one thing in this book, I would make it more mysterious. It tells you who kills the girl in the first chapter, so you already know who it is in the end.

I wish the book would have more of a hook, so then nearer to the end I could find out who killed the girl. I might also change the story so it talked more about Susie, the girl who was murdered.

Free Choice Reading

For Free choice reading, I chose The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. I chose this book because it seemed interesting, and in 7th grade, I was considering reading it, but never did. I also chose to read this book because the movie was coming out and I wanted to see it, and I told myself I was going to read the book first.

Weekly Reading Response

Name: Sierra Stratton Date: 1-30-10

Book: The Lovely Bones

Author: Alice Sebold Pages 1-78

Total Pages This Week: 78

Question 1: What does this book make you wonder about? Why?

Response 1:

This book makes me wonder about heaven. It makes me wonder about heaven because in The Lovely Bones, it talks about a girl going to heaven, and she is saying what it's like. She said that everyones heaven is different, but you sometimes share certain parts of your heaven with other people.

What I really wonder is if thats true, even if it sounds weird, I do wonder if everyone has their own heavens, or even what heaven is like. This book also makes me wonder about how people can live with themselves after murdering a child. The man in this book that killed the girl (Susie) was pleased with himself after murdering her.

Question 2: What other character beside the main character is really important to the story? How and why?

Response 2:

One character in this book that is important (besides the main character) is Mr. Harvey. Mr. Harvey is very important because he was the murderer in the book, and he holds a lot of information.

He is also very smart, in a horrible way. He had murdered many people, Susie could tell. He planned out exactly when to kill her, right before it rained, so it would wash away most of the evidence. Also to get rid of the evidence, he put her in a bag, then put the bag in the safe, then put the safe in a sinkhole.