Thursday, December 13, 2012

In To Kill a Mockingbird, how is Scout affected by the outcome of Tom Robinson's trial? How does Scout change after witnessing Tom Robinson's...

Before the verdict is even read, she has a bad feeling, a lonely, isolated feeling. "The feeling grew until the atmosphere in the courtroom was exactly the same as a cold February morning, when the mockingbirds were still."  She knew it was coming, and when Judge Taylor read it aloud, she shut her eyes.  When she opened them, she was in a daze.  She couldn't understand what the judge was saying after her read the verdict, she slowly saw Atticus make his way to Tom and then make his exit.  And she was confused when Reverend Sykes asked her to stand in Atticus' honor.

Scout wasn't upset enough to cry, but she knew that the jurors were wrong.  Scout wasn't old enough to really understand how unfair the verdict was.  Jem was the character who reacted to it.  Harper Lee used Scout as a lens for us to see what she was learning from the scene.  Scout learned that there were people in the community who did what they could to help out.  She learned that from Miss Maudie.  There was never a lot of reaction from Scout when the verdict or Tom's death was mentioned.  But she saw how her family members each reacted, and she learned through them how unfair the world was/is.

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What is the main function of the fool in "King Lear"? What is the secondly function?

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