Essay --

Chapter 11 How does Atticus advise Jem to react to Mrs. Dubose’s taunts? Atticus says to Jem, â€Å"You just hold your head high and be a gentleman. Whatever she says to you, it’s your job not to let her make you mad.† (pg 111) What does Mrs. Dubose say about the children’s mother? How does Jem feel about this? Mrs. Dubose said that, â€Å"†¦ it was heartbreaking the way Atticus Finch let her (their mother’s) children run wild.† (pg 111) Jem obviously didn’t like this and the novel describes his expression as â€Å"livid†. What request does Mrs. Dubose make of Jem? Is this a fair punishment for his ‘crime’? Mrs. Dubose asks that Jem reads to her every day for a month. I think this is a fair punishment because he ruined some of her joy- he should do something to make up for it. Explain in your own words what Atticus thinks of insults like ‘nigger-lover’. How far do you agree with him? Atticus thinks that the name has no meaning. He thinks he shouldn’t take it as an insult because it’s simply a derogatory description of what he really is. I do agree with him, but it’s still insulting, even if it’s true. Why, in Atticus’ view, was Mrs. Dubose a ‘great lady’? Atticus thinks that Mrs. Dubose was a ‘great lady’ because she didn’t mindlessly accept the views of others and had her own opinions- even if they didn’t correspond with his own. Atticus says that Mrs. Dubose is a model of real courage rather than ‘a man with a gun in his hand’. What does he mean? Do you think he’s right? Mrs. Dubose was a ‘model of real courage’ because she confronted her problems herself and didn’t hide behind anyone else. I think he’s right because she definitely got over her morphine addiction and didn’t complain. Chapters ten and eleven are the last two ... ... verdict to be? Does Atticus think the same? Jem expects that Tom Robinson will be declared ‘innocent’, but Atticus doesn’t want to be too optimistic. What is unusual about how long it takes the jury to reach a verdict? Is the verdict predictable or not? It unusual that it takes the jury so long to reach a verdict because normally the black person would have been immediately announced guilty. Because of Atticus’ convincing case, it was taking them much longer to decide, and the verdict was quite unpredictable. As Scout waits for the verdict, she thinks of earlier events. What are these and how do they remind us of the novel’s central themes? While Scout waits, she remembers what Jem had told her about the power of human concentration, which can suggest how she and many of the other characters in this novel have the power to change what happens, even slightly.