English 11 blog

I thought the trial took a long time. I knew that it wouldn’t be fair. Just because he was a black person! If he would have been white he would have probably innocent. When Scout said, “I hope reverend Sykes would save our seat for us.” You can tell that the kids are getting into how the court room works. I think of this like watching your sport you don’t want the commercials to come on at all. “It was Jem’s turn to cry.” You can see that Jem was upset. He was mad at how the Jury said that Tom was guilty. He thought the jury would think of it different. Jem thought that it was obvious how the outcome of the trial would be. But he was wrong. You can tell that there are a lot of racist people in the County of Maycomb County. You can tell this by how Mr. Underwood said, “They’re right up yonder in the colored balcony, been there since precisely one-eighteen P.M.” This was when Atticus started to look for the kids. He didn’t know that they were watching the trial the whole time. But it wasn’t right that Tom was guilty.

 I liked bloging this year!  Bloging is way better then normal writing even thought you are typing the same thing you will be writing.  My favorite thing that I did a blog about was the Boise State game.  I like sports and it is easy for me to right a lot about it.  I didn’t like all the blogs that we had to do during the books we read.  I would have rather just read the whole book right away.  At the beginning of the year I didn’t like to blog.  I didn’t understand how it worked and things like that.  Now it feels normal to me.  It doesn’t feel like I am doing it for my English class.  I think it is fun when I get on a subject that I like.  So yes, now I feel comfortable. 

 I am finding important lines by finding things what I can imagine.  I can see them in court because I like to watch CSI and those different crime shows.  I have seen movies on how the whites treated the African Americans.  Some times it gets me mad at how they treat Tom.  I like to recognize the different passages while I read the chapters.  I can remember them better.  I am also looking for passages then when I read the book.  I am not just skimming thought the book.  I get bored while I read other books in class.  But this book can get boring but I am reading the whole thing.  These are my different reading strategies. 

 I am finding important lines by finding things what I can imagine.  I can see them in court because I like to watch CSI and those different crime shows.  I have seen movies on how the whites treated the African Americans.  Some times it gets me mad at how they treat Tom.  I like to recognize the different passages while I read the chapters.  I can remember them better.  I am also looking for passages then when I read the book.  I am not just skimming thought the book.  I get bored while I read other books in class.  But this book can get boring but I am reading the whole thing.  These are my different reading strategies. 

 I thought something was going to happen to the kids when they were alone.  But it surprised me that it was Boo who saved them.  That was really nice of him since he never goes out of his house.  “Arther, didn’t notice you the first time I was here.”  She didn’t notice him because he was never outside.  But that was really nice to save them.  “Mr. Tate said stolidly, Bob Ewell fell on his knife.   He killed himself.”  After Tate said that you could tell that they didn’t want this going to court because of what happened to Tom.  “Arther you don’t know the house real well” Scout was being nice to Boo since he saved her and Jem.  She took him out to where Atticus and Mr. Tate were at.  Then she let him sit in the nice chair.  “Mr. Tate flicked open the knife” This was nice of him to say to Atticus because they don’t want Boo to get in trouble and Atticus doesn’t want Jem to get in trouble.  So I thought it was a good ending by how they said Bob killed himself. 

 I thought something was going to happen to the kids when they were alone.  But it surprised me that it was Boo who saved them.  That was really nice of him since he never goes out of his house.  “Arther, didn’t notice you the first time I was here.”  She didn’t notice him because he was never outside.  But that was really nice to save them.  “Mr. Tate said stolidly, Bob Ewell fell on his knife.   He killed himself.”  After Tate said that you could tell that they didn’t want this going to court because of what happened to Tom.  “Arther you don’t know the house real well” Scout was being nice to Boo since he saved her and Jem.  She took him out to where Atticus and Mr. Tate were at.  Then she let him sit in the nice chair.  “Mr. Tate flicked open the knife” This was nice of him to say to Atticus because they don’t want Boo to get in trouble and Atticus doesn’t want Jem to get in trouble.  So I thought it was a good ending by how they said Bob killed himself. 

In the book right now there are a lot of racial things going on right now.  There have been a couple of groups trying to get to Tom.  They have tom in the county jail right now.  But Jem and Scout don’t know that there will be a lot going on because of this trial.  One of the themes you can see is anger.  There are a lot of people mad at what he did and things like that.  But Atticus thinks that he is innocent that is why he is going to defend him.  I have seen things like this when someone is convicted of a crime and a lot of people want him to die,  then you will see anger groups at the courthouse and things like that. 

In these chapters Jem and Scout go to town and they always pass Mrs. Dubose’s house.  Then she says something about how there dad is defending Tom Robinson.  She doesn’t like that Atticus, Jem and Scout’s dad is going to defend him in court.  She doesn’t think that a white person should defend an African American.  You can tell that she is old by the way she doesn’t like African Americans.  So Jem and Scout get in trouble and so they have to go and read to Mrs. Dubose.  They don’t like it at all and they don’t know that they are staying at her house longer and longer.  But they don’t know that she isn’t listening to them because she is addicted to something.  So when the alarm clock goes off she knows that is the time she gets it.  Mrs. Dubose ends up dieing in these chapters.

For symbols we talked about how the Radley house was dark like a haunted house.  When they made the snowman, they didn’t know what one looked like but they just had fun and made one with what they thought was a snowman.  There were some changes that they didn’t like.  When the house burned to the ground.  That was a bad change that they had to deal with.  You can tell that they don’t like changes.  Even though Miss Mandie wanted it to happen because she needed a new house.  So it was a good thing too.

Well do you remember when Scout and I would walk by the Radley’s house on our way to school and from school.  On our way back we would see different things in the hole in the tree.  One of the first things we found as a piece of gum.  Then we found some money.  Then we found some soap that was caved like Scout and I.  Then we found a big ball of yarn.  We first waited to take the ball of gray yarn.  We left it there for three days and then we figured it could be ours.  We thought that it was someone else.  But then that night when we went to the Radley’s back yard.  It was so spooky.  We entered the gate and we were moving up to the house and it was dark and the moon was out.  Then we looked through the window and there were curtains on the window.  So we moved to the front and we walked on the deck.  We were about ready to go and I about fell on the deck and when I put my foot out the board on the deck squeaked.  It was so scary.  Then we saw a light go on by the side of the house.  Then we stopped moving because we saw a shadow and it was moving toward us.  Then it stopped and then it went back inside the house.  We just got out of there and when we went through the gate we heard a shotgun go off.  He was shooting at us.  So we booked out of there as fast as we could go.  Then I got stuck in the fence that we had to go under so I left my pants there and went home.  When we got home everyone was over at the Radley’s house.  When us kids went over there I forgot that I just had my shorts on and they were wondering what happened since I didn’t have my pants.  So I said that we were playing strip poker.  That was a fun time.  Then it got cold outside and it was snowing and that night we were trying to stay warm since it doesn’t get all that cold down in Alabama.  But it was so cold that night and we had our fireplaces going to keep it warm.  I fell asleep and then Atticus came in and woke me up at one in the morning.  Here Miss Maundie’s house was burning down.  So while we were outside Boo Radley put a blanket on Scout without her knowing it.  That was a couple of good memories. 

When you think of the word prejudice what do you think?  I know I think of what the South did to the African Americans.  I also think of when they white people would get made an African American they would lynch the person.  I think that was wrong because some innocent people died for things they didn’t do.  Now in “To Kill a Mockingbird” Mrs. Dubose is prejudice because Atticus is going to defend Tom Robinson.  So she doesn’t think that is right, so she made fun of the kids as they walk by.  In Rapid City you see a lot of prejudice against Native Americans.  There are some people who just can’t stand them.  “They should just go to the Res where they belong” I have heard people say.   But there are some that are nice and are trying to make a living like everyone else in this town.   Some people just don’t see that at all.  I just don’t like the way the government gives them money for different things.  This is some things that I think of when I think of prejudice.  

We started to talk about why Miss Maudie’s house burned down.  I was saying that it started because it was so cold and the fireplace started it.  I thought it was funny to hear that Jem and Scout have never seen the snow.  But it would be nice to live in a place were they would not have the winter.  I don’t really like the snow unless I am up nowboarding.  Then we were talking about how they built the snow man.  Why did they need the mud from there backyard?  That would be a weird-looking snowman.