Comment

Journal #4
Chapters 10-12
Perspective of Scout

Dear Journal,
The last few days have been very tough on the family. This whole thing with Atticus's case and the whole family being called "Nigger Lovers" is really starting to contradict me. I am so annoyed with everyone calling Atticus names and telling me things that i have no clue about. It is really getting on my last nerve. I don't think that I will ever be able to understand Atticus. Just the other day he told us to shoot the tin cans but he said that he knew we would go for the blue jays and he said that was okay but to never kill a mockingbird. He was very strict in saying that it was a sin to kill one. He said that it's not right to hurt something that has never done anything to you. For some reason, I thought that this might be directed more towards Arthur than the birds themselves. Ever since the farm, he has been trying real hard to raise us right. I don't know what to say to him. So much is happening and it's hard to not question what it all means or why it is happening now. The other day, me and Jem went out exploring in town with our rifles. We went to the crossroads and suddenly, in the distance, we saw Tim Johnson limping from down yonder. Tim is the town's beloved dog who now looked as if he had a disease. He was walkin' real slow and Jem suggested we go and get Calpurnia. And so we did and it seemed as if that was the smart thing to do because it turns out Tim was sick and we called the sheriff. Cal then went around the neighborhood knocking on doors and shouting "Stay in your house! There's a mad dog!" What I didn't understand was that it was February and this usually only happened in August. Atticus arrived with the sheriff just in time when Tim was on the street in front of our house. He was walking real slow now and was looking for a place where he could die. I know from past experience that it's important that you stay away from the animals otherwise you could get sick and die just like them. They were talking about what to do with the dog and they realized that putting it out now would be the safest thing they could do. So they decided to take the shot but then realized that they didn't know who could shoot. The Sheriff gave Atticus the gun and my dad said that he hadn't shot in ten years. I didn't know what he was talking about because he never told us that he had shot before. They went back and forth cantankerous about who was best. Soon enough, Atticus held the gun and soon enough, we found out about his secret. He had the best shot in the town. Mr. Tate, the sheriff told about his younger days and how he was called "One Shot Finch" and how he could shout 15 birds with 15 shots and call it a waste of bullets. After this, I reevaluated the way I looked at my father. Maybe he wasn't so useless after all he was sure better than his contemporaries that was for sure. Maybe even cooler than the other kid's young parents with the cool jobs. Later that week, we started going to town more often. the only way there was to go through Mrs. Dubose's path. We would have to walk in front of one of the meanest people's houses in the world everyday. Every time, she would say something about Atticus that we wished was inaudible. Jem couldn't stand it and one day, he got so mad, he broke my baton and trashed her yard. I was sad about the baton but he bought it for me so I was more sad for him. On top of this, his punishment was reading to he for a month. this turned out to be an extra week and shortly after, she passed away. We found out that she died because aof a morphine addiction. It was her painkiller and luckily she died with out any pain. She left Jem a box which I found was quite nice and depressing as well. Luckily she didn't die in peril. Then, when Atticus was away, we accompanied Calpurnia to church and the one that she goes to. At first, I was really excited to be going to church and be the man of the family but when we got there, we found trouble with a tall black lady who Calpurnia talked to in a very strange way. I then realized that she was trying to talk like the rest of them but I didn't ask her until Scout brought it up afterwards. I was worried about the girl but then she left us alone. We then met Reverend Skykes who was the first reverend of the church. The service was very different from the one that I'm used to. There were no books or anything. We later learned that Cal was the only one there that could read. Instead, all of them would repeat the words of Cal's son Zeebo. It was a very nice experience that was later ruined by the visit of Aunt Alexandra.

-Hunter

Comment
I really liked it. But there was a lot of things happening with no break. Make sure to have different paragraphs instead of one huge one.
-Marea