Dialectical Journal For To Kill A Mocking Bird

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I am reading To Kill A Mocking Bird by Harper Lee. The book is about a family that lives in a small town called Maycomb, Alabama and takes place during the great depression. It is a very small town where everyone knows each other. However there is an outsider, Mr. Radley that the kids in town, Jem, Scout, and Dill want to know more about. In this journal I will be predicting and evaluating.
G – kids wont meet Boo
Y – locked up
R – no one has saw him in 15 years
R – they say he was locked up as a child for stabbing his dad with a scissors
R – chained to bed
Y – scared
R – say he only comes out at night to spy on people
R – eats squirrels and cats causing his hands to be bloodstained
R – passing the house
R – any small crimes were his work …show more content…

None of the kids have saw him a day in their life, but they hear countless stories of how terrible he is and that he has been locked up for a very long time. Boo (Arthur) Radley has been getting locked up basically his entire life. Boo drove a scissors into his father’s leg it stated on page 9. This is the start to Boo Radleys life in solitude. After he was tried in court for the stabbing Boo was locked in the courthouse basement because no one had the heart to put him in jail with the Negros. To me it is sick that someone would stab their own parents who have loved them unconditionally for so many years. It also seems really crazy that Boo would stab his dad that is letting Boo live with them at the age of 33 (Lee 9). Before Boo could rot in the courthouse basement the town council told Mr. Radley “Boo would die of mold from the damp and Boo cannot live forever on the bounty of the county” (Lee 9). This to me says a lot that I don’t think …show more content…

It seems obvious that they live just like if not worse then animals. Their hygiene is absolutely terrible. Burris, if that is his real name seems to think there is no problem having “cooties” which is another word for lice. Which is disgusting and I do not see how the other kids are afraid of getting it as well. The teacher Mrs. Caroline shrieked in horror and said “ I walked by and it just crawled out of his hair!” (Lee 24). The Ewells also do not care about how dirty they are, or how disgusting they look. Scout explained how gross Burris looked by saying “ he was the most filthiest human I had ever seen. His neck was dark gray and his hands were rusty and his nails were black deep” (Lee 25). This proves that they obviously do not care about their appearance or how ridiculous they look in public. I find it crazy that the Burris does not want to shower. I would hate looking that grungy and I could only imagine how his skin must feel and if I were to get that dirty I am sure that I would be breaking out like crazy. The Ewells are on the outskirts of the Maycomb County. They may farm, but it would be extremely hard because To Kill A Mockingbird takes place during the great depression, farmers got hit the hardest during it. The outskirts of Maycomb are also a dump. Which means that there could be various varmints, and rodents carrying diseases, like the lice. This could also be the reason that the Ewells look so dirty all