Continuation of Page 245

From the text:
'Reckon you're at the stage now where you don't kill flies and mosquitoes now, I reckon,' I said. 'Lemme know when you change your mind. Tell you one thing, though, I ain't gonna sit around and not scratch a redbug.'

Our interpretation of this:
In the passage, Scout talks back at Jem about the roly-poly issue. If you look at Part 1 of the book, Scout seldom disagrees with Jem and usually obeys what he tells her to do. For eg., she helped Jem and Dill keep a lookout when they were passing Boo Radley a book, even though she knew she shouldn't do it - "Okay, okay, but I don't wanta watch. Jem, somebody was..." Scout always listened to Jem in Part 1 and didn't dare to go against his words. But in Part 2, readers can trace her maturity as she grows up. Now, she has her own way of looking at things now and has the courage to stand up for things she feels are right, without following Jem's opinion. In this passage, Scout is beginning to look at things in her own perspective. Even with her slight maturity, she still is a bit childish because she is unable to look deeper into the roly-poly issue, just like Jem had done.

From the text:
According to Dill, he and Jem had just come to the highway when they saw Atticus driving towards them. He looked like he had not seen them, so they both waved.

Our interpretation of this:
When Atticus drives on the highway going to Tom Robinson's house, he didn't see Jem and Dill at all. We all know that a person must be alert whilst driving. But Atticus was not concentrating on driving at all. He was very troubled and was deep in thought when driving, thinking about how he was going to break the news to Helen, TR's wife. From these 2 sentences, we can see that he has compassion for Helen and everyone around him. He is a lawyer who feels for his victim. Atticus didn't merely take up the case of TR just because he wanted to earn money. In the first place, Tr is not rich enough to even pay the lawyer fee to Atticus. Atticus fought for TR because he believed in justice. He believed that TR was the victim of prejudice of the Whites in Maycomb. Thus, he was willing to fight for TR's innocence.

Character Study
Scout - slightly matured. She is able to defend her views in front of Jem. Although Scout's point of view is wrong in the passage at the top of the page, she feels so strongly for it that she stands up for her ideas. Perhaps she still is childish, but this point where she speaks for herself is a turning point, for the better. In time to come, as the book goes along, Scout will be able to view things in very different manner. And by that time, she would have had fully matured.
Atticus - very just. He is willing to defend TR even though he is a black. Unlike most of the other Whites in Maycomb, Atticus doesn't look at the skin colour but the heart. The fact that the Whites look down on the blacks, makes him seem even braver, as he is able to stand up in front of court and fight for the innocence of TR. Atticus does not just fight for the law, he fights for justice.
           - soft-hearted. When Jem protested and pleaded for Atticus to bring them along to TR's place, Atticus gave in. From the starting until now, Atticus has always been a very positive character. Not surprisingly, Atticus turns out to be a soft-hearted man. He loves his children, and although he finds it hard to say no to them, he sometimes relents to their pleas. This shows that Atticus is a very loving father.

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