Jessi Wheeler

I found it ironic at first that when Scout asks Atticus on page 108 what a certain bad word means that his face is "grave" and he asks "Has somebody been calling you that?" He keeps fussing at Scout for fighting at school and at Jem for ruining Mrs. Dubose's flowers when they are standing up for him, and yet when he thinks someone is calling Scout a bad name, he seems to get defensive. This shows that Lee is developing Atticus into a slightly different character than the "courteous" and "detached" father from the first few pages. The audience sees that Atticus dearly loves his children and wants to protect them from all the ugly things that are about to happen. He even says to Jem of Mrs. Dubose's ugly comments that he would "rather she'd have said it to me than to either of you" (105). He knows he cannot protect them from everything, though, which is why he is trying to teach them lessons like the one Jem learned from Mrs. Dubose's courageous triumph over morphine addiction and why he secretly allowed Scout to eavesdrop on page 88. He's not outspoken or obvious with his love, but he does love Jem and Scout.

Courtney Cannon

The season in chapter 8, page 63, is winter. I think that this represents a turning point in the text because as Foster says, seaons are important. Winter usually represents death and many other negative connotations. On page 63, Lee uses words such as "disobeyed," "burdened," "guilt," unhappiness," and she even mentions "death." Scout tells us, "Old Mrs. Radley died that winter..." I definately believe that the repeatition of these negative words represent a shift, and I predict that something bad is about to happen.