The True Meaning

In the book, A Separate Peace by John Knowles, the Butt Room can represent a room of freedom. It first starts out when Brinker makes a joke about injuring Finny purposely to get the room to himself. This then makes Gene worried about what really happened. As he gets nervous, Gene changes the topic by asking Brinker if he wants to go to the Butt Room to have a smoke.  Once there, they start to talk but eventually get into a fight so Brinker leaves without having a smoke. I believe that the Butt Room represents freedom. It's like a high school hangout area where they can do what ever you want. For example, they can smoke without getting in trouble. If you are stressed, you can go down there and cool down with your friends. As you enter the room, it's like entering a whole different place. They can talk about anything and even if they get to arguments. Brinker keeps on going back to talking about Finny's accident. Gene gives up so he makes a joke about Brinker. Then Brinker starts to argue and leaves. When he leaves, it's like nothing has happened when they walk out of the room.


-Michael T

Mockingbirds and Bluejays

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Bob Ewell's death is liken to the death of a blue jay, a creature which only takes from the world.  Mr. Ewell accuses Tom Robinson, an innocent black man, of raping his daughter.  This is not true, but the people of the town chose to believe Mr. Ewell due to their racist views against blacks.  Tom Robinson is seen as guilty by the court and is put in jail, where he is killed for trying to escape.  Mr. Ewell is still not satisfied with how he was treated during the trial, so he decides to go after the people of the town involved.  He stalks Helen, Tom's wife, he uses a knife to rip a hole in Judge Taylor's screen porch, and he attempts to kill Scout and Jem, the children of Atticus, the lawyer for Tom Robinson.  During his attempt to kill Scout and Jem, in the dark he fell onto his kitchen knife and killed himself.  Atticus freaked out after he found out, thinking that Jem killed him, but what Heck Tate, the sheriff, reminds him is that Mr. Ewell was a horrible man attempting to kill two children because of a lie that he made himself to cover up that he abused his eldest daughter.  As Atticus explained in the beginning of the book and reiterated many times throughout, "'Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.'"   I believe that this is relating to Tom Robinson and Bob Ewell.  Robinson helped out throughout the town and always was there for Mayella.  His death should be seen as a horrible misfortune, while Mr. Ewell's death should not be seen at all.  He caused pain and harm to loving, thoughtful, innocent people, and attempted to murder two young children who did nothing at all.  Bob Ewell should be seen as nothing but a harmful bird, while Tom Robinson should be remembered as a beautiful songbird giving music to all who can hear.

- Rachel M.

The Promised Grudge

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Bob Ewell seems to have a grudge against everyone related to the case of Tom Robinson. Atticus was defending Tom Robinson, and Bob Ewell was prosecuting Tom. When Bob loses his job to Atticus, he blames Atticus for 'stealing' his job away. Not only does Bob get angry at Atticus, he also gets angry at Tom's wife, Helen Robinson. He follows her around town and mutters hurtful and offensive things to her. Mr. Link Deas, Helen's boss, stands up for her. "Now hear me Bob Ewell: if I hear one more peep outta my girl Helen about not bein' able to walk this road I'll have you in jail before sundown!" (Lee 334). However, it seems like Bob is the only person who is still angry about the case. Everyone else seems to have moved on. How long will Bob Ewell hold the grudge?

-Jenny

Adolf Ewell

The way Adolf Hitler is described in the book To Kill A Mockingbird shows a resemblance in character between him and Bob Ewell. Both have an extreme excess of anger toward society, which they need to take out on somebody or something. Instead of choosing to control this anger, both men let their emotions completely take them over. They choose a large group of innocent people to exclude from society and persecute in order to cover up their own insecurities about being awkward and unaccepted in their communities. One "maniac" in a community, one person who cannot control his reactions to his own emotions, can bring out the maniac in many others, forming a cult (Lee 329). This cult then uses the power of group psychology to oppress another group of people who are different than them, and who they see as an easy target. Many of the people within the community that do not agree with what is being done are then usually outnumbered, and are socially forced to go along with the actions that are being taken. In the case of Adolf Hitler, the people being persecuted are Jews. In the case of Bob Ewell, it is the black community of Maycomb, as well as his many children. All of these groups had never done anything to harm their oppressors, but were the unfortunate victims of uncontrolled anger taken out on the wrong people. Both Bob Ewell and Adolf Hitler let their feelings of rage towards society drive them to the destruction of other innocent people.

-Jackie

Like Brother Like Sister

         In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout Finch wants to be just like her brother Jem. Scout does not want to be a proper lady like her Aunt Alexandra wants her to be, she wants to be free to life her own life. Scout looking up to Jem is a continuous theme throughout the book. Scout mainly looks up to the men in her life because she never really had a mother figure. Jem and Atticus are mainly Scouts role models. In the book, you never read about Scout looking up to her aunt, who cares more about appearance and social class than he loved ones. An example of this is, "...You've got to do something about her, you've let things go on too long " (Lee, 182) Scout does not want a women in her life to tell her what not to do, she wants everything to go her way. Reading deeper in the book, the reader realizes that   Jem is mature and Scout is learning from him. It is very important for Scout and just kids in general to have role models because every child needs something to aspire too, and Jem is definitely Scouts role model.

~bri

Does growing up mean forgetting about your childhood?

          In the book To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Scout, as she begins to grow older and become the proper lady her Aunt wants her to be, begins to forget about Boo Radley and the previous adventures she, Jem, and Dill made onto the Radley Place, in hope of seeing him once and for all. Over the course of the summer, many important things happened, and Scout's mind is thinking of other things. She no longer finds the place "scary" or "creepy" or gloomy", and does not have the feeling of fright when she paces the house. Still though, at the beginning of September (chapter 26), Scout recalls the multiple small gifts left for her and Jem in the tree by Boo. She imagines, if she were to ever encounter him, how it would go. But, after imagining this scenario in her head, she declares "It was only a fantasy. We [will] never see him" (Lee 325). But, earlier in the book, Dill says "Let's try to make [Boo] come out" (Lee 16). Scout is excited by this idea, but now, she doesn't feel much excitement towards the idea of meeting Boo anymore. She is losing interest as she grows older, and is becoming more and more like a lady. Scout is growing up, just like Jem, and becoming an adult, losing interest in the things she found exciting when she was a child.

-Emory

Whispers of Innocence

Dolphus Raymond is a symbol of an innocent and peace-making mockingbird. Raymond reveals that he isn't actually drunk all the time. He just makes it seem like he has lost his mind to live a life he wants to live. This is only because if the people of Maycomb really knew that he had hung with the negroes, in his right mind, they would call him sinful. Raymond never explains why he prefers black people, and there is no specific reason why the white community hates the black. However, Raymond gives no harm to others, just like the mockingbirds that do no harm but bring peaceful music and serenity to the world; he does not rule and take advantage of other people, and affect others people's lives negatively like a bluejay would. He treats people with respect. "Cry about the simple hell people give other people - without even thinking. Cry about the hell white people give colored folks, without even stopping to think that they're people, too." (Lee 269). Even though he says this, he also accepts that people wouldn't be able to accept him. "They could never, never understand that I live like I do because that's the way I want to live." (Lee 268). He gives the people a reason that is more acceptable than the real one, in order to create a something more peaceful. It was not a setback or a delay to something new. It was to keep them all from judging each other more harsh. Raymond may not seem like a mockingbird. He hurt his wife's heart, having an affair with a black woman. He broke the law. However, because of the general way he sees the world, he is nothing more than a peace maker. He has brought nothing but an idea that will help society and he brought the idea in a way that it was subtle enough to not create any chaos. Dolphus Raymond is a mockingbird, giving peace, and bring goodness to the world.