Name: Miss Chun

Date: April 13, 2014

Period: 4

Double-Entry Journal
Ideas from Text
The Radley Place jutted into a sharp curve beyond the house. Walking south, one faced its porch; the sidewalk turned and ran beside the lot. The house was low, was once white with a deep front porch and green shutter, but had long ago darkened to the color the slate-gray yard around it. Rain-rotted shingles drooped over the eaves of the veranda; oak trees kept the sun away. (pg. 8) Summer was on the way; Jem and I awaited it with impatience. Summer was our best season: it was sleeping on the back screened porch in cots, or trying to sleep in the treehouse; summer was everything good to eat; it was a thousand colors in a parched landscape; but most of all, summer was Dill. (pg. 34) Thank who? I asked. Boo Radley. You were so busy looking at the fire you didnt know it when he put the blanket around you. (pg. 72)

Reactions/Connections
The Radley House reminds me of a haunted house. It might have been a beautiful house before, but now it is a dark place--so dark that the sun does not even want to shine on it. It is interesting how the oak trees are personified. The oak trees might be representative of the Radleys themselves. Perhaps they want to keep the outside world away from themselves. I can definitely relate to Jem and Scout here. Whenever school was in session, I wanted it to be summer badly, even though I was always assigned homework to complete by September. This quote clearly shows summer through the eyes of a child. The fact that it is a thousand colors implies that anything is possible in the summer. This is kind of crazy! After all the rumors that were told about Boo Radley, this seems really strange. This goes to show how rumors do not always accurately portray people. Nobody ever knows why people act the way they do. We cannot judge them based on what we merely see and what we hear. Atticus is extremely courageous. Most people only hold their heads high when they get approval from others. Atticus seems to be doing something that goes against what most people thought about race at the time. Yet, he says that if he doesnt go against the norm, he wouldnt be a qualified lawyer and even more importantly, an effective father. Then novel talks about the unfamiliar in terms of gender roles as well. Differences appear not only in the form of Boo Radley and Tom Robinson, but also in how girls and boys are supposed to act. This makes me wonder how children should be taught. Should Aunt Alexandra be imposing her idea of a lady on Scout? What defines a lady and things that require pants?

For a number of reasons, said Atticus. The main one is, if I didnt I couldnt hold up my head in town, I couldnt represent this county in legislature, I couldnt even tell you or Jem not to do something again. (pg. 75)

Aunt Alexandra was fanatical on the subject of my attire. I could not possibly hope to be a lady if I wore breeches; when I said I could do nothing in a dress, she said I wasnt supposed to be doing things that required pants. (pg. 81)