To Kill a MockingbirdChapter 8

-Cristobal Maldonado-Andres Puig-Ignacio Madinagoitia

IntroductionHarper Lee

American writer, famous for her race relations novel TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1961. The book became an international bestseller and was adapted into screen in 1962. Lee was 34 when the work was published, and it has remained her only novel.

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s.

Segregation

After the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery in America, racial discrimination became regulated by the so called Jim Crow laws, which mandated strict segregation of the races. Though such laws were instituted shortly after fighting ended in many cases, they only became formalized after the end of Republican-enforced Reconstruction in the 1870s and 80s during a period known as the nadir of American race relations. This legalized segregation lasted up to the 1960s, primarily through the deep and extensive power of Southern Democrats.

To Kill a Mockingbird Summary

To Kill a Mockingbird is a coming-of-age story of Scout Finch and her brother, Jem, in 1930's Alabama. Through their neighborhood meanderings and the example of their father, they grow to understand that the world isn't always fair and that prejudice is a very real aspect of their world no matter how subtle it seems.

Chapter 8 Background

In chapter 7, Nathan claimed that the tree was dying, so he cemented it up to save it. Later that evening Jem asked Atticus if the tree looked sick, and he said no. When Jem came in from the porch, Scout could tell he'd been crying…

Chapter 8Characters:- Mr. Avery - Neighbour- Scout – Atticus’ daughter- Jem – Atticus’ son-Atticus – Scout’s and Jem’s father- Miss Maudie - Neighbour- Nathan -That winter it snowed at Maycomb (unusual thing).

- Mr. Avery insisted that this happen because of bad children like Scout and Jem.

- Jem constructed a skeleton of sticks and mud before he plastered the snow over it. It looked suspiciously like Mr. Avery. Q.2

- That night was colder than any other in Maycomb County remembered.

- Atticus woke Scout after what seemed like only a few minutes of sleep because Miss Maudie's house was burning. Q.3 

-Atticus sent Scout and Jem down the street by the Radley place to watch from a safe distance.

- Atticus noticed a brown blanket around Scout's shoulders. She had no idea where it came from and was shocked when Jem and Atticus discovered who covered her up. Q.4

- When Atticus suggested that they return the blanket, Jem refused and then poured out all their secrets about his pants, about the knothole, and how Nathan cemented up the knothole to keep them from having contact with Boo.

- Atticus agreed that they should just keep all of this to themselves and maybe one day Scout could thank the man who covered her with the blanket.

Questions and answers

- Why does Scout quiz Atticus about his visit to the radley house? How much does Atticus tell her?

-What is the “near libel” which Jem puts in front of the yard? How did miss Maudie and Aticus react?

-Why does Atticus save miss Maudie’s oak rocking chair?

-When Atticus asks Scout about the blanket around her shoulders, what does Jem realize?

-Explain what Atticus means by telling Jem not to let his discovery “inspire” him to “further glory”? Is there any reason why Jem might do as his father says?

Analysis –Symbolisms-

The Snow

When Scout sees the snow, a very unusual phenomenon in Alabama and maycomb, she screams, "The world's endin', Atticus! Please do something — !'‘. from this point on in the story, Scout's world as she knows it does end in the way that many things around her tend to uncover and change.

The Snowman

Jem's quest to build a snowman requires some ingenuity on his part. He first constructs a mudman, which made Scout say, "'Jem, I ain't ever heard of a nigger snowman.'" But Jem proceeds to cover the mudman with snow, making him white. In some ways their snowman represented how the black people were treated in Maycomb and the country itself.

The Bird

When Miss Maudie's house catches fire, Scout says, "Just as the birds know where to go when it rains, I knew when there was trouble in our street." Bird imagery continues throughout the novel to be a symbol for sensing, and then doing, the right thing. It also symbolizes serenity innocence.

The season and its change

We see as the change of seasons tends go at the hand of unfortunate events, such as the death of mrs, Radley, the fire at miss Maudies house. In some ways this change in Maycombs weather show the upcoming changes as the ones said before.

Analysis –Theme-

-We know the whole book treats about prejudice and tolerance.

-But to understand this chapter we must know its especific theme and what it’s the the chapter about in few words.

-The chapter is a blend of many points, such as racism itself( the snowman) and the empathy which takes place when miss Maudie’s house was destroyed by the fire and everyone fells the need of helping her get out of those hard times.

-Also, superstition take an important place in this Chapter, as people fears turn around the gossips created around boo Radley grew, Mr Nathan blamed Jem and Scout for believing on such stories, soon enough they discovered that those false statements weren’t as real as they thought-