To Kill a Mockingbird: Chapter Sixteen Summary

Chapter Sixteen Summary

 

 

The night after their run-in at the town jail, Scout ends up sleeping in Jem's room after she starts crying in her own.

At breakfast the next morning, no one except Jem has much appetite.

Atticus says he's glad the kids came along, though Aunt Alexandra huffs that Mr. Underwood would have made sure nothing too bad happened.

Atticus comments that Mr. Underwood is a strange man—he "despises Negroes", yet he acted to protect Atticus and Tom Robinson.

Scout wants coffee, but Calpurnia will only give her one tablespoon of the "evil brew" in a cupful of milk.

Alexandra tells Atticus not to make comments like the one he just made about Mr. Underwood in front of "them"...as in Calpurnia...as in African-Americans.

Atticus says that it's nothing Cal doesn't already know, and that anything that can be said in table conversation is fit for Calpurnia's ears.

Alexandra thinks it encourages gossip among the town's African-American residents.

Well, says Atticus, if the white people didn't do so much that was gossip-worthy the African-Americans wouldn't have so much to talk about.

Scout wants to know why, if Mr. Cunningham is a friend of theirs, he wanted to hurt Atticus last night.

Atticus says that Mr. Cunningham is a good man, he just has a few "blind spots".

Then Dill bounces in, saying that the gossip mill is having a field day about how three kids fought off a hundred men with their bare hands.

The kids head out to the porch to watch people passing on their way to the courthouse.

Some of the personalities the kids spot: Mr. Dolphus Raymond, then town drunk who is, not surprisingly, already drunk; a bunch of Mennonites; Mr. Billups, whose first name is simply X; Mr. Jake Slade, who's growing his third mouthful of teeth; and the foot-washing Baptists, who pause to shout Bible verses about vanity to Miss Maudie in her revamped yard. (She responds in kind.)

Finally, Scout, Jem, and Dill join the crowds at the courthouse.

Among the strangers the kids spot Mr. Dolphus Raymond (the town drunk), who's drinking out of a paper sack; Jem says that in the bag is a Coca-Cola bottle full of whiskey!

Dill asks why Mr. Raymond's sitting on the far side of the square with the African-Americans, and Jem says that he likes them better than the whites, and that he has several children by an African-American woman.

Jem tells more about Mr. Raymond's history: he's from an old, respected family; he was engaged to a white woman, but she shot herself after the wedding rehearsal, perhaps because she found out about his African-American mistress; since then Mr. Raymond's been almost constantly tipsy, but is good to his "mixed" children.

Scout asks what a mixed child is, and Jem tells her that they're biracial, and also that they're "real sad", because they don't fully belong on either side of Maycomb's strict racial divide, even when they don't look any different from the other African-Americans.

Scout says that if you can't tell a person's racial heritage from looking at them, how does Jem know that the Finches are 100% white?

Jem says that Uncle Jack says that they can't know for certain what happened centuries ago, but that in Maycomb "once you have a drop of Negro blood, that makes you all black".

If you're thinking this sounds completely ridiculous—you'd be right.

The lunch break ends and everyone lines up to go back into the courthouse, the African-Americans letting the white people be at the front of the line.

Once they get inside the courthouse, Scout gets separated in the rush of people from Jem and Dill.

Scout overhears some old men saying that Atticus was appointed by the court to defend Tom Robinson, and she wonders why Atticus hadn't told them that—it would have been a convenient excuse in schoolyard brawls.

By the time the boys find Scout, there's no room left in the white section.

Reverend Sykes sees them standing in the lobby and offers to take them up to the balcony (where the African-Americans are segregated).

Up in the balcony, four people move so that Scout, Jem, Dill, and the Reverend can have front-row seats.

Scout surveys the scene below her: the jury, made up of farmers (since the townspeople usually got out of jury duty), the lawyers, and the witnesses.

In charge of the court is Judge Taylor, whose sleepy demeanor conceals an eagle eye, and who has a habit of eating (yes, eating, not smoking) cigars during cases.

The trial is already in progress, with Mr. Heck Tate on the witness stand.

 

 

 

Shmoop Editorial Team. "To Kill a Mockingbird Chapter 16 Summary." Shmoop. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 26 Oct. 2015.

So You Want to Know About: The Ku Klux Klan (KKK)

Please be advised that this video contains use of racially offensive language.


For an informative (but short) video overview of the KKK, check out:
History Channel: The Ku Klux Klan

 

Founding of the Ku Klux Klan

A group including many former Confederate veterans founded the first branch of the Ku Klux Klan as a social club in Pulaski, Tennessee, in 1866. The first two words of the organization’s name supposedly derived from the Greek word “kyklos,” meaning circle. In the summer of 1867, local branches of the Klan met in a general organizing convention and established what they called an “Invisible Empire of the South.” Leading Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest was chosen as the first leader, or “grand wizard,” of the Klan; he presided over a hierarchy of grand dragons, grand titans and grand cyclopses.

Did You Know?

At its peak in the 1920s, Klan membership exceeded 4 million people nationwide.

The organization of the Ku Klux Klan coincided with the beginning of the second phase of post-Civil War Reconstruction, put into place by the more radical members of the Republican Party in Congress. After rejecting President Andrew Johnson’s relatively lenient Reconstruction policies, in place from 1865 to 1866, Congress passed the Reconstruction Act over the presidential veto. Under its provisions, the South was divided into five military districts, and each state was required to approve the 14th Amendment, which granted “equal protection” of the Constitution to former slaves and enacted universal male suffrage.

Ku Klux Klan Violence in the South

From 1867 onward, African-American participation in public life in the South became one of the most radical aspects of Reconstruction, as blacks won election to southern state governments and even to the U.S. Congress. For its part, the Ku Klux Klan dedicated itself to an underground campaign of violence against Republican leaders and voters (both black and white) in an effort to reverse the policies of Radical Reconstruction and restore white supremacy in the South. They were joined in this struggle by similar organizations such as the Knights of the White Camelia (launched in Louisiana in 1867) and the White Brotherhood. At least 10 percent of the black legislators elected during the 1867-1868 constitutional conventions became victims of violence during Reconstruction, including seven who were killed. White Republicans (derided as “carpetbaggers” and “scalawags”) and black institutions such as schools and churches—symbols of black autonomy—were also targets for Klan attacks.

By 1870, the Ku Klux Klan had branches in nearly every southern state. Even at its height, the Klan did not boast a well-organized structure or clear leadership. Local Klan members–often wearing masks and dressed in the organization’s signature long white robes and hoods–usually carried out their attacks at night, acting on their own but in support of the common goals of defeating Radical Reconstruction and restoring white supremacy in the South. Klan activity flourished particularly in the regions of the South where blacks were a minority or a small majority of the population, and was relatively limited in others. Among the most notorious zones of Klan activity was South Carolina, where in January 1871 500 masked men attacked the Union county jail and lynched eight black prisoners.
 

The Ku Klux Klan and the End of Reconstruction

Though Democratic leaders would later attribute Ku Klux Klan violence to poorer southern whites, the organization’s membership crossed class lines, from small farmers and laborers to planters, lawyers, merchants, physicians and ministers. In the regions where most Klan activity took place, local law enforcement officials either belonged to the Klan or declined to take action against it, and even those who arrested accused Klansmen found it difficult to find witnesses willing to testify against them. Other leading white citizens in the South declined to speak out against the group’s actions, giving them tacit approval. After 1870, Republican state governments in the South turned to Congress for help, resulting in the passage of three Enforcement Acts, the strongest of which was the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871.

For the first time, the Ku Klux Klan Act designated certain crimes committed by individuals as federal offenses, including conspiracies to deprive citizens of the right to hold office, serve on juries and enjoy the equal protection of the law. The act authorized the president to suspend the writ of habeas corpus and arrest accused individuals without charge, and to send federal forces to suppress Klan violence. This expansion of federal authority–which Ulysses S. Grant promptly used in 1871 to crush Klan activity in South Carolina and other areas of the South–outraged Democrats and even alarmed many Republicans. From the early 1870s onward, white supremacy gradually reasserted its hold on the South as support for Reconstruction waned; by the end of 1876, the entire South was under Democratic control once again.

Revival of the Ku Klux Klan

In 1915, white Protestant nativists organized a revival of the Ku Klux Klan near Atlanta, Georgia, inspired by their romantic view of the Old South as well as Thomas Dixon’s 1905 book “The Clansman” and D.W. Griffith’s 1915 film “Birth of a Nation.” This second generation of the Klan was not only anti-black but also took a stand against Roman Catholics, Jews, foreigners and organized labor. It was fueled by growing hostility to the surge in immigration that America experienced in the early 20th century along with fears of communist revolution akin to the Bolshevik triumph in Russia in 1917. The organization took as its symbol a burning cross and held rallies, parades and marches around the country. At its peak in the 1920s, Klan membership exceeded 4 million people nationwide.

The Great Depression in the 1930s depleted the Klan’s membership ranks, and the organization temporarily disbanded in 1944. The civil rights movement of the 1960s saw a surge of local Klan activity across the South, including the bombings, beatings and shootings of black and white activists. These actions, carried out in secret but apparently the work of local Klansmen, outraged the nation and helped win support for the civil rights cause. In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson delivered a speech publicly condemning the Klan and announcing the arrest of four Klansmen in connection with the murder of a white female civil rights worker in Alabama. The cases of Klan-related violence became more isolated in the decades to come, though fragmented groups became aligned with neo-Nazi or other right-wing extremist organizations from the 1970s onward. In the early 1990s, the Klan was estimated to have between 6,000 and 10,000 active members, mostly in the Deep South.

Information from:

Staff, H. (2009). Ku Klux Klan. Retrieved October 26, 2015, from http://www.history.com/topics/ku-klux-klan

To Kill a Mockingbird: Chapter Fourteen Summary

Chapter Fourteen Summary

 



That incident is enough to make Aunt Alexandra shut up about the Finch Family Pride, just in time for Scout to get some hints that the townspeople are obsessed with the Finch Family Shame.

After overhearing a passerby's cryptic comment, Scout asks Atticus what rape is.

Atticus defines it for her as "carnal knowledge of a female by force and without consent".

Thanks for clearing that up, Dad.

Scout doesn't really get what that means, and asks Atticus why Calpurnia wouldn't explain it to her, leading to the story of how Calpurnia took Scout and Jem to her church.

Aunt Alexandra is none too pleased to find this out, and inserts a resounding "no" into the conversation when Scout asks Atticus if she can visit Calpurnia.

Scout talks back to her aunt and then hides in the bathroom, later returning to overhear her aunt and father quarrelling about an unnamed "her."

Scout is worried that she (Scout) is the "her," and feels "the starched walls of a pink cotton penitentiary closing in on" her.

In other words, she's afraid they're going to make her wear frilly dresses for the rest of her life. Figuratively and literally.

Eventually she figures out with relief that it's Calpurnia they're talking about: Alexandra wants to fire her, but Atticus won't hear of it.

Jem tries to intervene by telling Scout not to get on her aunt's nerves, but little sis doesn't want her bro telling her what to do.

This ends in a fistfight, naturally, until they make up when they overhear Aunt Alexandra launching yet another attack on their way of life.

On the way to bed, Scout steps on something. Snake? Nope. It's Dill. And he's hungry.

Dill tells a story (actually two, mutually contradictory stories) about how he escaped from his cruel father and journeyed to Maycomb.

Scout brings him some food, and Jem breaks the no-tattling rule of childhood to tell Atticus.

Hm, maybe Jem is growing up?

After Scout has been asleep for a while, she wakes up to find Dill joining her in bed.

Don't worry: nothing happens to heat up the G rating. They just talk about families. See, Dill felt like his mom and her new boyfriend weren't paying him any attention and didn't want him around.

Scout's problem is that her family pays her too much attention, but realizes that she would hate it if she didn't feel like they needed her.

Dill says that he and Scout should get themselves a baby, and tells her a story about where babies come from (no sex is involved in his account, fortunately), and they slowly doze off.

Just before they fall asleep, Scout asks Dill why Boo Radley has never run off. Maybe, Dill answers, because he doesn't have a place he can run to.

 

 

Shmoop Editorial Team. "To Kill a Mockingbird Chapter 14 Summary." Shmoop. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.

To Kill a Mockingbird: Chapter Thirteen Summary

Chapter Thirteen

 

Scout asks Aunt Alexandra if she's come for a visit, and aunty says that she and Atticus have decided that it's best if she stays with them for a while, as Scout needs some "feminine influence".

Scout does not agree with this, but keeps quiet about it.

In fact, Scout has trouble making any kind of conversation with her aunt.

That evening Atticus comes home and confirms Aunt Alexandra's reason for her coming to stay, though Scout thinks it's mostly her aunt's doing, part of her long campaign to do "What Is Best For The Family".

Aunt Alexandra is popular in Maycomb and takes a leading role in the feminine social circles, even though she makes obvious her belief that Finches are superior to everyone else (even though, as Jem says, most people in town are related to the Finches anyhow).

Aunt Alexandra is a firm believer in Streaks—each family has one (a Drinking Streak, a Gambling Streak, etc.), though Scout doesn't really understand her aunt's obsession with heredity.

It makes a kind of sense. The town is far enough away from the river that forms the area's main transportation route means that hardly anyone ever moves to Maycomb or away from it. Families have known each other for generations, establishing the reputation for having "streaks."

Scout mostly ignores her aunt, unless she gets called in to make an appearance at a luncheon or tea.

Alexandra also attempts to instill family pride, by, for example, showing them a book their cousin Joshua wrote.

Unfortunately, the kids already know his story from Atticus: he went crazy at college and tried to assassinate the president of the school.

After this Aunt Alexandra sends Atticus to talk to the kids about being proud of their superior heritage, but he just scares them because he doesn't usually talk to them in that way.

Scout ends up crying on his lap, and Atticus tells them both to forget it.

Shmoop Editorial Team. "To Kill a Mockingbird Chapter 13 Summary." Shmoop. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.

So You Want to Know About: The Scottsboro Boys

The Scottsboro Boys

The inspiration for Tom Robinson's trial

in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird




The Nine Scottsboro Boys

In 1931, nine black youths ages 13 to 19 were pulled from a train, arrested and taken to nearby Scottsboro, Alabama, where they were jailed, tried, and declared guilty of raping two white women — a crime that never occurred. All-white, male juries quickly sentenced eight to death. A long-term and ultimately successful campaign to save the youths’ lives and, in time, exonerate them led to one of the most dramatic and revealing civil rights struggles in U.S. history.

 

Ruby Bates & Victoria Price, the boys' accusers

CHECK OUT THESE SITES

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

The Scottsboro Boys Museum and Cultural Center: http://scottsboro-boys.org/


A great website that goes into detail about the trial and its participants:   The Trials of the Scottsboro Boys


The online companion to American Experience's Scottsboro: An American Tragedy (the video we watched in class): American Experience: Scottsboro




To Kill a Mockingbird: Chapter Twelve Summary

Chapter Twelve Summary

Jem's hit the middle school years, and everyone knows what that means: he's angsty, moody, prone to prolonged silences broken by angry outbursts, and he all of a sudden thinks Scout should act like a girl.

Scout asks Atticus and Calpurnia what's up with Jem and whether she can fix it by beating him up, but they say he's just growing up and she should leave him alone.

To make things worse, Dill isn't coming for the summer.

And then to make things the absolute worst, Atticus (who's a member of the state legislature) gets called into a special session and is away for two weeks.

With Atticus away, Calpurnia doesn't trust Jem and Scout to go to church by themselves (there was a past incident involving tying up one of their Sunday School classmates in the furnace room), and decides to take them with her to her church instead.

On Saturday night, Cal scrubs Scout down to her bare skin and makes sure that there's not a thread out of place on the kids' clothes.

Why? As she says, "I don't want anybody sayin' I don't look after my children".

On Sunday, they head over to First Purchase African M.E. Church outside of town.

Everyone's happy to see them, except one: a tall woman named Lula who asks Calpurnia why she's brought white children to the African-American church.

For a minute, things look like they might get ugly, but then the crowd drives Lula off and welcomes the kids.

The church is plain and there aren't any hymn-books, but Cal won't let Scout ask questions.

The priest, Reverend Sykes, begins the service by welcoming the Finches, and then reads some announcements.

One of the announcements is that the day's collection will go to Helen, Tom Robinson's wife.

Zeebo leads the congregation in a hymn by reading out each line of the lyrics, which everyone else sings after him, surprising both Scout and Jem, who had never heard of such a thing before.

Reverend Sykes gives a sermon, which like that of the Finches' usual preacher, focuses on "the Impurity of Women".

Contrary to the Finches' usual church experience, the Reverend names names as to who's been sinning lately, and tells them individually to cut it out.

After the collection, Jem and Scout are again surprised when Reverend Sykes counts the collection money in front of everyone and then announces they don't have enough—they need at least ten dollars to get Helen and her family through the week.

The Reverend goes so far as to lock the doors and hold the congregation hostage until they cough up enough cash.

Jem and Scout put in their dimes from Atticus.

Once the ten dollars is finally collected, the doors are opened and the service is over.

Afterwards, Scout asks Calpurnia why Helen can't find work. She says that Tom's family is being shunned because of his alleged crime.

So, what'd he do? Cal reluctantly tells her that Bob Ewell has accused him of raping Ewell's daughter.

First, Scout wonders why anyone would listen to the Ewells, and then asks Calpurnia what rape is.

Uh, ask Atticus, Cal says.

Now it's Jem's turn to ask questions. Why does the congregation sings their hymns the way they do, instead of saving up for hymn-books?

Well, hymn-books wouldn't do them much good—hardly any people in the church can read.

Cal only can because Miss Maudie's aunt, Miss Buford, taught her to read.

Some other facts about Cal, which Jem and Scout only now think to ask her:

She's older than Atticus though she doesn't know her age exactly, or even her birthday—she just celebrates it on Christmas to make it easy to remember.

She grew up near Finch's Landing, and moved to Maycomb with Atticus when he married.

She taught her oldest son Zeebo to read, too.  Sshe brought out the big guns: the Bible and a book Miss Buford used to teach her—Blackstone's Commentaries, a gift from the Finch kids' grandfather.

Jem's blown away that she learned and taught English out of such a difficult book as the Commentaries. That must be why she doesn't talk like the other African-Americans he knows.

Scout is blown away to think that Calpurnia has a whole other life besides being their cook, much like a child realizing that teachers don't sleep at school.

One last question. Why does Cal talk differently at the African-American church than she does with white people? She says that it makes more sense to fit in.

Okay, this is actually the last question: can Scout visit Calpurnia at her home some time? Sure.

And then they arrive home to find Aunt Alexandra installed on their front porch.

Shmoop Editorial Team. "To Kill a Mockingbird Chapter 12 Summary." Shmoop. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 19 Oct. 2015.

So You Want to Know About: Tapeworms

Ok, ladies, you asked for it....

Tapeworm: The Basics

Tapeworm infection is caused by ingesting food or water contaminated with tapeworm eggs or larvae. If you ingest certain tapeworm eggs, they can migrate outside your intestines and form larval cysts in body tissues and organs (invasive infection). If you ingest tapeworm larvae, however, they develop into adult tapeworms in your intestines (intestinal infection).

An adult tapeworm consists of a head, neck and chain of segments called proglottids. When you have an intestinal tapeworm infection, the tapeworm head adheres to the intestinal wall, and the proglottids grow and produce eggs. Adult tapeworms can live for up to 30 years in a host. Intestinal tapeworm infections are usually mild, but invasive larval infections can cause serious complications.

A tapeworm infection starts after ingestion of tapeworm eggs or larvae.

• Ingestion of eggs. If you eat food or drink water contaminated with feces from a person or animal with tapeworm, you ingest microscopic tapeworm eggs. For example, a pig infected with tapeworm will pass tapeworm eggs in its feces, which gets into the soil. If this same soil comes in contact with a food or water source, it becomes contaminated. You can then be infected when you eat or drink something from the contaminated source. Once inside your intestines, the eggs develop into larvae. At this stage, the larvae become mobile. If they migrate out of your intestines, they form cysts in other tissues, such as your lungs, central nervous system or liver.
• Ingestion of larvae cysts in meat or muscle tissue. When an animal has a tapeworm infection, it has tapeworm larvae in its muscle tissue. If you eat raw or undercooked meat from an infected animal, you ingest the larvae, which then develop into adult tapeworms in your intestines. Adult tapeworms can measure more than 50 feet (15.2 meters) long and can survive as long as 30 years in a host. Some tapeworms attach themselves to the walls of the intestines, where they cause irritation or mild inflammation, while others may pass through to your stool and exit your body.

Factors that may put you at greater risk of tapeworm infection include:

• Poor hygiene. Infrequent washing and bathing increases the risk of accidental transfer of contaminated matter to your mouth.
• Exposure to livestock. This is especially problematic in areas where human and animal feces are not disposed of properly.
• Traveling to developing countries. Infection occurs more frequently in areas with poor sanitation practices.
• Eating raw or undercooked meats. Improper cooking may fail to kill tapeworm eggs and larvae contained in contaminated pork or beef.
• Living in endemic areas. In certain parts of the world, exposure to tapeworm eggs is more likely. For instance, your risk of coming into contact with eggs of the pork tapeworm (Taenia solium) is greater in areas of Latin America, China, sub-Saharan Africa or Southeast Asia where free-range pigs are common.

Many people with intestinal tapeworm infection have no symptoms. If you do feel the effects, your symptoms will depend on the type of tapeworm you have and its location.

Signs and symptoms of intestinal infection include:

• Nausea
• Weakness
• Loss of appetite
• Abdominal pain
• Diarrhea
• Weight loss and inadequate absorption of nutrients from food

Information gathered from The Mayo Clinic.

"Tapeworm Infection." - Mayo Clinic. 2 Dec. 2014. Web. 20 Oct. 2015. <http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/tapeworm/basics/definition/con-20025898>.

 

So You Want to Know About: Morphine Addiction

Check out this video: Drug Addiction in the 1930s

 

Overview of Morphine Abuse

As an opiate, morphine can be both physically and psychologically addictive. This means that

• The body develops a tolerance to the drug and as use continues, it requires more and more to achieve the desired effect.
• Certain reinforcing brain patterns may develop as a person obsesses over the drug and its effects and, in turn, compel the user to compulsively seek it out.

Morphine, like other prescription opiates, can quickly lead to dependency and abuse, even when the user begins taking it for legitimate medical reasons.

Signs and Symptoms

Misuse of morphine can have a number of side effects, including:

• Lowered blood pressure.
• Confusion.
• Dizziness.
• Itchy skin.
• Extreme drowsiness.
• Pinpoint pupils.
• Difficulty breathing (or inability to breathe).
• Loss of consciousness.
• Weak pulse/poor circulation.
• Gastrointestinal disturbances.
• Nausea and vomiting.
• Cyanosis, or blue tint to lips and fingernails.
• Coma and death in overdose situations.

Note that one of the main symptoms of morphine abuse is constipation. This is slows the normal movement of the digestive tract.

A serious complication of morphine abuse is depressed respiratory function. In some situations, this can cause asphyxia and death. Combining morphine with alcohol or other drugs significantly increases this risk.

Effects of Morphine Abuse

Health Effects

• Alternating periods of alertness and unconsciousness.
• Sleep apnea.
• Problems urinating.
• Weakened immune system.
• Hallucinations.
• Collapsed veins or circulatory inflammation (in intravenous users).
• Increased risk of blood-borne disease (especially in intravenous users).

Mental and Social Effects

• Faking injuries or harming oneself in an attempt to see a doctor for a prescription.
• Poor hygiene.
• Inability to concentrate.
• Change in friends/acquaintances.
• Withdrawal from friends and family.

Withdrawal from opiates such as morphine can be quite uncomfortable, and the unpleasant symptoms sometimes diminish one’s resolve to quit using in the first place. Symptoms of withdrawal from morphine may include:

• Anxiety.
• Chills.
• Gastrointestinal problems, such as diarrhea and cramps.
• Fast heartbeat and breathing rate.
• Insomnia.
• Joint or muscle pain.
• Loss of appetite.
• Nausea and vomiting.
• Restlessness.
• Runny nose.
• Sneezing.
• Sweating.
• Weakness.

This information was taken from:

"Morphine Abuse." Symptoms, Signs and Addiction Treatment. Web. 19 Oct. 2015.

http://drugabuse.com/library/morphine-abuse/

So You Want to Know About: Rabies

The Quick Info:

Rabies is a preventable viral disease of mammals most often transmitted through the bite of a rabid animal. The vast majority of rabies cases reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) each year occur in wild animals like raccoons, skunks, bats, and foxes.

The rabies virus infects the central nervous system, ultimately causing disease in the brain and death. The early symptoms of rabies in people are similar to that of many other illnesses, including fever, headache, and general weakness or discomfort. As the disease progresses, more specific symptoms appear and may include insomnia, anxiety, confusion, slight or partial paralysis, excitation, hallucinations, agitation, hypersalivation (increase in saliva), difficulty swallowing, and hydrophobia (fear of water). Death usually occurs within days of the onset of these symptoms.

Over the last 100 years, rabies in the United States has changed dramatically. More than 90% of all animal cases reported annually to CDC now occur in wildlife; before 1960 the majority were in domestic animals. The principal rabies hosts today are wild carnivores and bats.

The number of rabies-related human deaths in the United States has declined from more than 100 annually at the turn of the century (early 1900s) to one or two per year in the 1990's. Modern day prophylaxis has proven nearly 100% successful.

In the United States, human fatalities associated with rabies occur in people who fail to seek medical assistance, usually because they were unaware of their exposure.


VOCAB DEFINITION:
 
PROPHYLAXIS: action taken to prevent disease, especially by specified means or against a specified disease:

How is rabies transmitted?

The Path of the Rabies Virus

All species of mammals are susceptible to rabies virus infection, but only a few species are important as reservoirs for the disease. In the United States, distinct strains of rabies virus have been identified in raccoons, skunks, foxes, and coyotes. Several species of insectivorous bats are also reservoirs for strains of the rabies virus.

Transmission of rabies virus usually begins when infected saliva of a host is passed to an uninfected animal. The most common mode of rabies virus transmission is through the bite and virus-containing saliva of an infected host. Though transmission has been rarely documented via other routes such as contamination of mucous membranes (i.e., eyes, nose, mouth), aerosol transmission, and corneal and organ transplantations.

Exposure to the Virus

People usually get rabies from the bite of a rabid animal. It is also possible, but quite rare, that people may get rabies if infectious material from a rabid animal, such as saliva, gets directly into their eyes, nose, mouth, or a wound.

Scratches, abrasions, open wounds, or mucous membranes contaminated with saliva or other potentially infectious material (such as brain tissue) from a rabid animal constitute non-bite exposures. Occasionally reports of non-bite exposure are such that postexposure prophylaxis is given.
Inhalation of aerosolized rabies virus is also a potential non-bite route of exposure, but except for laboratory workers, most people won't encounter an aerosol of rabies virus.
Other contact, such as petting a rabid animal or contact with the blood, urine or feces of a rabid animal, does not constitute an exposure.

The only well-documented cases of rabies caused by human-to-human transmission occurred among eight recipients of transplanted corneas, and recently among three recipients of solid organs. Guidelines for acceptance of suitable cornea and organ donations, as well as the rarity of human rabies in the United States, reduce this risk.

In addition to transmission from cornea and organ transplants, bite and non-bite exposures inflicted by infected humans could theoretically transmit rabies, but no such cases have been documented. Casual contact, such as touching a person with rabies or contact with non-infectious fluid or tissue (urine, blood, feces) does not constitute an exposure and does not require postexposure prophylaxis. In addition, contact with someone who is receiving rabies vaccination does not constitute rabies exposure and does not require postexposure prophylaxis.

What are the signs and symptoms of rabies?

The first symptoms of rabies may be very similar to those of the flu including general weakness or discomfort, fever, or headache. These symptoms may last for days.

There may be also discomfort or a prickling or itching sensation at the site of bite, progressing within days to symptoms of cerebral dysfunction, anxiety, confusion, agitation. As the disease progresses, the person may experience delirium, abnormal behavior, hallucinations, and insomnia.

The acute period of disease typically ends after 2 to 10 days. Once clinical signs of rabies appear, the disease is nearly always fatal, and treatment is typically supportive.

Disease prevention includes administration of both passive antibody, through an injection of human immune globulin and a round of injections with rabies vaccine.

Once a person begins to exhibit signs of the disease, survival is rare. To date less than 10 documented cases of human survival from clinical rabies have been reported and only two have not had a history of pre- or postexposure prophylaxis.


This information is taken from The Center for Disease Control and Prevention Website:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 21 Sept. 2015. Web. 19 Oct. 2015.
 

To Kill a Mockingbird: Chapter Eleven Summary

Chapter Eleven Summary

Now that Scout's a grown-up second-grader, tormenting Boo Radley seems like little kid stuff. She's setting her sights beyond the neighborhood to the metropolis of downtown Maycomb.

Getting downtown, however, requires getting past the house of Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose.

The old woman hurls insults at them every time they pass her house, no matter how nice they are to her.

But Atticus makes polite conversation with Mrs. Dubose, so Scout think he's incredibly brave.

The day after Jem turns twelve, he's got a load of birthday cash to spend. They head down to town for him to lighten his pockets.

On the list of purchases: a toy steam engine for Jem and a baton for Scout.

As they pass Mrs. Dubose, she accuses them of playing hooky (skipping school), even though it's Saturday.

Jem and Scout can put up with that, but when she insults their father for defending Tom Robinson, Scout has to drag Jem away.

They make their purchases and head home, passing by Mrs. Dubose's house again.

She's not on the front porch, and Jem snaps. He grabs Scout's new baton, and uses it to destroy Mrs. Dubose's camellias, finally breaking the baton over his knee.

Atticus comes home, and he's not happy.

He tells his son that no matter what she said, those poor flowers never did anyone any harm, and Jem needs to go apologize—right now.

Meanwhile, Scout finally speaks her mind. No, her dad says, it's not fair. But things are only going to get worse as the Tom Robinson case gets closer.

When they're older, they'll understand why he's doing what he's doing.

But isn't Atticus wrong, because most of the townspeople think he is?

Nope, Atticus says. Personal conscience isn't a democracy.

Finally, Jem's back. He cleaned up the yard and apologized (even though he didn't mean it), and now Mrs. Dubose wants him to come over every day except Sunday to read to her.

Atticus says he has to do it. There's no point in apologizing unless it's sincere. As a sick old lady Mrs. Dubose can't be held responsible for her actions.

Atticus is a lot more forgiving then we are.

Anyway, Jem heads over to Mrs. Dubose's house for his first round of reading. Scout goes with him.

They find her in bed, and she gets in a few sharp words before Jem starts reading.

Her face is disgusting—wrinkled, spotty, toothless, and drooling—so Scout tries to find something else to look at.

After a while, the kids notice that Mrs. Dubose's frequent corrections of his mistakes had dropped off, and she doesn't even notice when he stops mid-sentence.

Huh. She appears to be in some sort of fit. The kids ask if she's all right, but she doesn't answer.

Then an alarm clock goes off, and Mrs. Dubose's servant Jessie shoos them out of the house, saying it's time for Mrs. Dubose's medicine.

Reading to Mrs. Dubose becomes part of their daily schedule.

One evening Scout asks Atticus what exactly a "n-gger-lover" is, since that's what Mrs. Dubose frequently calls him, and it's also what Francis said.

Is that why she jumped Francis? Yes.

Atticus asks why Scout's asking for a definition if she understood it well enough to make it the reason for a fight, and Scout says that it was the way Francis said it that got on her nerves.

Atticus tells her that the term doesn't mean anything, but it's something "ignorant, trashy people use […] when they think somebody's favoring Negroes over and above themselves", and that even higher-class people use it sometimes when they want to put someone down.

It's not actually an insult; it just shows you how "poor" the person using it is.

One afternoon while Jem is plugging away at reading aloud to Mrs. Dubose, Atticus surprises them by coming in.

It turns out he's just left work—Mrs. Dubose has been setting the alarm clock later and later each day, so Jem and Scout have been staying longer and longer without even realizing it.

Mrs. Dubose says that Jem has to come for a week longer, even though the original month is up, and Atticus says he has to do it.

Finally the last day of reading is over. Hooray! Now Jem can turn to more important things, like college football.

One evening, Mrs. Dubose dies. Atticus comes home with a box and an explanation: Mrs. Dubose was a morphine addict and wanted to kick the habit before she died as a matter of personal pride.

Her fits were caused by withdrawal, and the reading helped keep her mind off the cravings till the alarm clock went off and she could have a dose (which also explains why the reading periods got longer and longer).

By the end of the reading afternoons, she was free of the drug habit.

The box Atticus brought home is for Jem. When he opens it he finds a camellia.

Jem is angry at this needling from beyond the grave, but Atticus tells him that he thinks it's a message that everything's all right.

If Jem hadn't gone on an anti-camellia rampage, Atticus might have made his son go read to Mrs. Dubose anyway, in order "to see what real courage is")—not using a gun, but fighting for a cause you believe in even if you know you probably won't win.

Shmoop Editorial Team. "To Kill a Mockingbird Chapter 11 Summary." Shmoop. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 19 Oct. 2015.

To Kill a Mockingbird: Chapter Ten Summary

Chapter Ten Summary

• Jem and Scout think their father super uncool, not to mention old. He can't even play football, like the other kids' fathers do.
• Plus, kids at school are giving them grief about the Tom Robinson case, and Scout can't even fight now that she's promised her dad not to.
• And Atticus refuses to teach Scout and Jem how to shoot their shiny new air rifles. Luckily, Uncle Jack steps up.
• Atticus tells Jem that "it's a sin to kill a mockingbird".
• Although apparently bluejays are okay.
• Scout grumps about how their neighborhood is all old people, and Miss Maudie acknowledges that there aren't any 20- or 30-somethings around to be role models.
• Miss Maudie tries to defend Atticus (he's a checkers grand master! he can play the mouth harp!), but Scout is not impressed.
• Then Jem is all depressed when his father refuses to join in on the town's Methodists vs. Baptists football game. Seriously, worst dad ever. Right?
• One day Jem and Scout go off to find local wildlife to kill when they see a dog acting kind of strange.
• Calpurnia dashes for the phone to tell Atticus that there's a mad dog (i.e., rabid) on the loose.
• Then she talks to Miss Eula May, the town telephone operator, to tell her to let everyone else on the street know that they should stay out of the way of the rabid animal.
• The Radleys don't have a phone, so Calpurnia runs over to their place, bangs on their front door, and shouts, "Mad dog's comin'!"
• Everyone hunkers down inside to watch the dog.
• The dog finally gets within range of Heck Tate's rifle, but he wants Atticus to make the shot. See, if he misses, the bullet will hit the Radley Place. And Mr. Tate knows he can't shoot that well.
• Atticus reluctantly takes the weapon, walks to the middle of the street, aims, fires, and kills the dog.
• Jem is flabbergasted. This is apparently like all of a sudden seeing your dad make a perfect three-point jump shot or make it through the Expert level of a Guitar Hero song you've been failing.
• Miss Maudie tells Jem and Scout that Atticus "was the deadest shot in Maycomb County in his time" and his nickname was "Ol' One-Shot".
• So why have Scout and Jem never heard their dad talk about it?
• Well, Atticus feels that his marksmanship is a God-given talent that gives him an unfair advantage over other living creatures, and that he shouldn't use it unless he has to.
• Scout wants to brag to everyone at school about her father's shooting skill, but Jem tells her not to, because he thinks Atticus wouldn't want her to, since he's never mentioned it before.
• Jem says that he wouldn't care if Atticus couldn't do anything, because, as he says, "Atticus is a gentleman, just like me!".
• Sounds like someone (Jem) has learned a valuable lesson.

Shmoop Editorial Team. "To Kill a Mockingbird Chapter 10 Summary." Shmoop. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 19 Oct. 2015.

To Kill a Mockingbird: Chapter Nine Summary

Chapter Nine Summary

• Scout is ready to fight Cecil Jacobs on the schoolyard when he says that her father defends "n-ggers". (This is the word the book uses, so we'll use it here, despite its history of offensiveness. See the "Speech and Dialogue" section in "Tools of Characterization" for a fuller explanation of how this term functions in the book.)
• When Scout asks Atticus about it, he tells her not to say "n-gger."
• Scout then asks him if all lawyers defend Negroes, and he says that of course they do.
• So why does Cecil make it sound worse than bootlegging (booze, not music)? Atticus tries to explain to Scout the complexities of race relations in Maycomb.
• See, just because lawyers have black clients doesn't mean they actually do a good job at defending them. But Atticus does.
• For him, it boils down to self-respect: he couldn't hold his head up if he did less than his best.
• Is he going to win the case? No, but they have to try anyway.
• Atticus reassures Scout: "But remember this, no matter how bitter things get, they're [the residents of Maycomb are] still our friends and this is still our home".
• The next day at school, Scout is about to fight Cecil Jacobs when she remembers what Atticus told her and walks away instead, even though she gets called a coward.
• Soon it's Christmas, which means a visit from Uncle Jack (good), but also a visit to Aunt Alexandra (bad).
• Even worse, it means having to spend time with Aunt Alexandra's grandson Francis, who is the yin to Scout’s yang.
• Uncle Jack arrives with two long packages of mysterious contents.
• Scout cusses while Uncle Jack's around, and later he tells her that she shouldn't do that if she wants to grow up to be a lady (which she doesn't).
• The next day is Christmas morning, and they open the mysterious packages to find a pair of long-desired air rifles.
• They head down to Finch's Landing, without their air rifles (to Scout's dismay, as she'd already had fantasies about shooting Francis).
• Jem abandons his sister to schmooze with the adults, leaving Scout to deal with the dreaded Francis—whose main problem so far seems to be liking boring Christmas presents.
• Apparently Aunt Alexandra has strong ideas as to what girls should be and wear (frilly dresses) that are very different from Scout's (overalls).
• Oh, here's the problem: eventually, Francis quotes Aunt Alexandra, calling Atticus a "n-gger-lover" who's "ruinin' the family".
• Scout pounces on Francis, gets in trouble with Uncle Jack, and then heads back home to sulk. Eventually, Uncle Jack asks Scout to explain her side of the story. When she explains, Uncle Jack wants to go beat up the little punk himself, but instead he just bandages her still-bleeding hand.
• Later Scout overhears Uncle Jack and Atticus talking. Atticus tells Uncle Jack some things about children: answer them truthfully, and bad language is less dangerous than hotheadedness.
• Atticus says that Scout needs to learn to control her temper because things are only going to get harder.
• How bad are things are going to get? Really bad.
• He also says that he'd rather not have taken the case, but once it was offered to him he couldn't refuse it in good conscience.
• Atticus hopes he can get his kids through the case without their "catching Maycomb's usual disease"—going "stark raving mad when anything involving a Negro comes up"—and that they will come to him if they have questions.
• Atticus then tells Scout, still lurking around the corner eavesdropping, to go to bed. Years later, an older Scout realizes that her father meant her to overhear the conversation.

Shmoop Editorial Team. "To Kill a Mockingbird Chapter 9 Summary." Shmoop. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 19 Oct. 2015.

To Kill a Mockingbird: Chapter Eight Summary

Chapter Eight Summary

Maycomb gets a season it hadn't seen in a while: winter.

Mr. Avery tells the kids that bad children makes the seasons change — what?

Mrs. Radley dies, and Atticus goes to pay his condolences at the Radleys. When he comes back Jem and Scout pounce on him to ask if he saw Boo in the flesh (he didn't).

Scout is terrified when she wakes up one morning to see white stuff pouring from the sky.

Yep, it's snow.

School is cancelled (for like an inch of snow!!), so Jem and Scout set out to make a snowman, though they don't really know how and there isn't much snow.

That night, it's freezing.

Atticus wakes Scout in the middle of the night because Miss Maudie's house—next door to the Finches'—is on fire!

Once the fire is finally put out (and Miss Maudie's house is reduced to a smoking hole in the ground), the Finches return to their fortunately undamaged home.

And then Atticus notices something: Scout is wrapped in a blanket that she didn't have when she left the house.

Scout swears that she stayed right where Atticus told her to, in front of the Radley Place, but she and Jem saw Mr. Nathan (and pretty much every neighbor they have) fighting the fire so it couldn't have been him who put the blanket on her. So if he wasn't the stealthy blanket-deliverer, it must have been some other occupant of that house.

Hmm...I wonder who that could be?

Jem spills to Atticus all about the knothole and the cement and his mended pants.

Atticus finally says outright that it must have been Boo Radley who brought the blanket, and Scout, who's been late for the clue train, is hit by delayed terror at the thoughtg.

Shmoop Editorial Team. "To Kill a Mockingbird Chapter 8 Summary." Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 9 Oct. 2015.

The Story of Lilith, Adam's First Wife

The Story of Lilith, Adam's First Wife

Excerpts taken from "Eve and the Identity of Women"
by Christopher L.C.E. Witcombe
2000



In an effort to explain inconsistencies in the Old Testament, there developed in Jewish literature a complex interpretive system called the midrash which attempts to reconcile biblical contradictions and bring new meaning to the scriptural text.

Employing both a philological method and often an ingenious imagination, midrashic writings, which reached their height in the 2nd century CE, influenced later Christian interpretations of the Bible. Inconsistencies in the story of Genesis, especially the two separate accounts of creation, received particular attention. Later, beginning in the 13th century CE, such questions were also taken up in Jewish mystical literature known as the Kabbalah.

According to midrashic literature, Adam's first wife was not Eve but a woman named Lilith, who was created in the first Genesis account. Only when Lilith rebelled and abandoned Adam did God create Eve, in the second account, as a replacement. In an important 13th century Kabbalah text, the Sefer ha-Zohar ("The Book of Splendour") written by the Spaniard Moses de Leon (c. 1240-1305), it is explained that:

At the same time Jehovah created Adam, he created a woman, Lilith, who like Adam was taken from the earth. She was given to Adam as his wife. But there was a dispute between them about a matter that when it came before the judges had to be discussed behind closed doors. She spoke the unspeakable name of Jehovah and vanished.

In the Alpha Betha of Ben Sira (Alphabetum Siracidis, or Sepher Ben Sira), an anonymous collection of midrashic proverbs probably compiled in the 11th century C.E., it is explained more explicitly that the conflict arose because Adam, as a way of asserting his authority over Lilith, insisted that she lie beneath him during sexual intercourse (23 A-B). Lilith, however, considering herself to be Adam's equal, refused, and after pronouncing the Ineffable Name (i.e. the magic name of God) flew off into the air.

Adam, distraught and no doubt also angered by her insolent behaviour, wanted her back. On Adam's request, God sent three angels, named Senoy, Sansenoy, and Semangelof, who found her in the Red Sea. Despite the threat from the three angels that if she didn't return to Adam one hundred of her sons would die every day, she refused, claiming that she was created expressly to harm newborn infants. However, she did swear that she would not harm any infant wearing an amulet with the images and/or names of the three angels on it.

 

At this point, the legend of Lilith as the "first Eve" merges with the earlier legend of Sumero-Babylonian origin, dating from around 3,500 BCE, of Lilith as a winged female demon who kills infants and endangers women in childbirth. In this role, she was one of several mazakim or "harmful spirits" known from incantation formulas preserved in Assyrian, Hebrew, and Canaanite inscriptions intended to protect against them. As a female demon, she is closely related to Lamashtu whose evilness included killing children, drinking the blood of men, and eating their flesh. Lamashtu also caused pregnant women to miscarry, disturbed sleep and brought nightmares.

In turn, Lamashtu is like another demonized female called Lamia, a Libyan serpent goddess, whose name is probably a Greek variant of Lamashtu. Like Lamashtu, Lamia also killed children. In the guise of a beautiful woman, she also seduced young men. In the Latin Vulgate Bible, Lamia is given as the translation of the Hebrew Lilith (and in other translations it is given as "screech owl" and "night monster").

It needs to be remembered that these demonic "women" are essentially personifications of unseen forces invented to account for otherwise inexplicable events and phenomena which occur in the real world. Lilith, Lamashtu, Lamia and other female demons like them are all associated with the death of children and especially with the death of newborn infants.

It may be easily imagined that they were held accountable for such things as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS, also called crib death, or cot death) where an apparently healthy infant dies for no obvious reason. Cot death occurs almost always during sleep at night and is the most common cause of death of infants. Its cause still remains unknown.

By inventing evil spirits like Lilith, Lamashtu, and Lamia, parents were not only able to identify the enemy but also to know what they had to guard against. Amulets with the names of the three angels were intended to protect against the power of Lilith.

 

Through the literature of the Kabbalah, Lilith became fixed in Jewish demonology where her primary role is that of strangler of children and a seducer of men. The Kabbalah further enhanced her demonic character by making her the partner of Samael (i.e. Satan) and queen of the realm of the forces of evil.

In this guise, she appears as the antagonistic negative counterpart of the Shekhinah ("Divine Presence"), the mother of the House of Israel. The Zohar repeatedly contrasts Lilith the unholy whorish woman with the Shekhinah as the holy, noble, and capable woman. In much the same way, Eve the disobedient, lustful sinner is contrasted with the obedient and holy Virgin Mary in Christian literature.

 

Through her couplings with the devil (or with Adam, as his succubus), Lilith gave birth to one hundred demonic children a day (the one hundred children threatened with death by the three angels). In this way, Lilith was held responsible for populating the world with evil.

If you ask how Lilith herself, the first wife of Adam, became evil, the answer lies in her insubordination to her husband Adam. It is her independence from Adam, her position beyond the control of a male, that makes her "evil."

She is disobedient and like Eve, and indeed all women who are willful, she is perceived as posing a constant threat to the divinely ordered state of affairs defined by men.

Lilith is represented as a powerfully sexual woman against whom men and babies felt they had few defenses and, except for a few amulets, little protection. Much more so than Eve, Lilith is the personification female sexuality.

Her legend serves to demonstrate how, when unchecked, female sexuality is disruptive and destructive. Lilith highlights how women, beginning with Eve, use their sexuality to seduce men. She provides thereby a necessary sexual dimension, which is otherwise lacking, to the Genesis story which, when read in literal terms, portrays Eve not as some wicked femme fatale but as a naive and largely sexless fool. Only as a Lilith-like character could Eve be seen as a calculating, evil, seductress.

Lilith is referred to only once in the Old Testament. In the Darby translation of Isaiah 34:14 the original Hebrew word is rendered as "lilith"; according to Isaiah, when God's vengeance has turned the land into a wilderness, "there shall the beasts of the desert meet with the jackals, and the wild goat shall cry to his fellow; the lilith also shall settle there, and find for herself a place of rest." The same word is translated elsewhere, however, as "screech owl, "night creatures," "night monsters," and "night hag."

Although it has been suggested that the association with night stems from a similarity between the Sumero-Babylonian demon Lilitu and the Hebrew word laylah meaning "night," Lilith nonetheless seems to have been otherwise associated with darkness and night as a time of fear, vulnerability, and evil.

However, she lurks as a powerful unidentified presence, an unspoken name, in the minds of biblical commentators for whom Eve and Lilith become inextricably intertwined and blended into one person. Importantly, it is this Eve/Lilith amalgam which is used to identify women as the true source of evil in the world.

In the Apocryphal Testament of Reuben (one of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, ostensibly the twelve sons of Jacob), for example, it is explained that:

Women are evil, my children: because they have no power or strength to stand up against man, they use wiles and try to ensnare him by their charms; and man, whom woman cannot subdue by strength, she subdues by guile.
(Testament of Reuben: V, 1-2, 5)

References to Lilith in the Talmud describe her as a night demon with long hair (B. Erubin 100b) and as having a human likeness but with wings (B. Nidda 24b). In Rabbi Isaac ben Jacob ha-Kohen's "Treatise on the Emanations on the Left," written in Spain in the 13th century, she is described as having the form of a beautiful woman from her head to her waist, and "burning fire" from her waist down. Elsewhere, Rabbi Isaac equates her with the primordial serpent Leviathan. 

 

 

 

To Kill a Mockingbird Chapter Seven Summary

Chapter Seven Summary

 

 

After his adventures at the Radley Place, Jem is in a bad mood for a week.

Scout starts second grade. It's just as bad as first grade.

Jem finally tells Scout what happened when he went back to the Radley House: his pants were folded up on top of the fence, and the tear in them had been sloppily mended.

WHOA.

Passing by the knothole tree, they see a ball of twine resting inside it.

Scout wants to take it, but Jem thinks it might be someone's hiding spot.

When the twine is still there after a few days, Jem takes it, and from then on there are no more qualms about taking things found in the knothole.

A few months later, the knothole holds their best find yet: two figures carved out of soap that bear a striking resemblance to Scout and Jem.

Scout throws them on the ground, thinking about voodoo dolls, but Jem rescues them.

Who could have made them?

The knothole haul keeps getting better and better: a whole pack of chewing gum, a spelling bee medal, and a broken pocket watch (which Jem tries but fails to fix).

Scout and Jem decide to write a letter to their secret benefactor.

But the next day, they find that the knothole has been filled with cement by Mr. Nathan Radley (Boo's brother).

Jem stakes out Mr. Nathan and asks why.

Mr. Nathan says that the tree's sick and the cement is an attempt to cure it.

Later, Jem asks Atticus if that's true. Atticus says it looks healthy to him, but Mr. Radley should know his own trees.

Jem hangs out by himself on the porch for a while, staring at the tree and Scout waits for him to come inside. When he finally does come in, Scout can tell that he's been crying.

Shmoop Editorial Team. "To Kill a Mockingbird Chapter 7 Summary." Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 2 Oct. 2015.



To Kill a Mockingbird Chapter Six Summary

Chapter Six Summary

(Aka: One of my favorite chapters!)

 

 

Jem and Scout spend the day with Dill at his aunt's fish pond.

Scout wants to keep an eye out for Mr. Avery, a neighbor who had previously astonished them by peeing in an impressive arc off his front porch, but Dill just wants to go for a walk.

Scout, knowing that no one in Maycomb just goes for a walk, smells a rat.

Oh, you know, they're just going to go to the streetlight by the Radley Place.

And then they just want to peek in the window.

Scout doesn't like this at all, but stops complaining when they accuse her of being a girl about it.

The trio go under the wire fence at the back of the Radley Place and, after dealing with swishy collard greens, a squeaky gate, and clucking chickens, make it up to the house.

Jem and Scout raise Dill up so he can look through the window, but all he sees is curtains.

They're still skulking when Scout sees a shadow—a man's shadow, heading towards Jem.

The shadow (JUST the shadow, remember) goes up to Jem, raises his arm, drops it again, and then leaves.

The kids scram, and Scout trips as she hears a loud noise—someone's shooting at them!

The kids make it home (Jem loses his pants along the way) and see a bunch of neighbors in front of the Radley Place.

Miss Maudie tells them that Mr. Radley has been shooting at a "Negro" in his yard.  (It was really them, but Mr. Radley - and more importantly the adults - don't know that.)

Suddenly everyone notices that Jem doesn't have any pants on.

Dill tries to save the day by saying they were playing strip poker, but playing cards is a big no-no in Maycomb, so Jem says that they were actually playing with matches.

Whatevs, everyone says, and they head off to bed. Scout worries that every sound she hears might be Boo Radley coming to take his revenge. But Jem's off to get his pants. Scout tries to stop him, but Jem heads off anyway.

Scout sits outside on the porch, listening for the dreaded shotgun blast and waiting for Jem to return for what seems like FOREVER.

Finally Jem returns. With the pants.

 

Shmoop Editorial Team. "To Kill a Mockingbird Chapter 6 Summary." Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 2 Oct. 2015.

To Kill a Mockingbird Chapter Five Summary

Chapter Five Summary

 



• Scout convinces Jem to back off on the Radley game, and then Dill asks Scout to marry him.

• Despite this moment of passion, the boys spend most of their time together and neglect Scout.

• So, Scout spends her time hanging out with Miss Maudie Atkinson, a usually stand-off-ish old lady.

• Bonus: Miss Maudie makes the best cakes in the neighborhood, and best of all, shares them with the three kids.

• Flashback: Scout's Uncle Jack has a history of flirting with Miss Maudie, though in a joking way.

• Miss Maudie tells Scout more about the Radleys, including that old Mr. Radley (Boo's father) was a "foot-washing Baptist", which is apparently much more hardcore than just regular Baptists.

• In fact, some of Mr. Radley's fellow foot-washers have told Miss Maudie that she and her flowers are going to burn in Hell because any time spent not reading the Bible is time spent in sin, especially if it involves creating something pleasing to the senses. (No word on whether criticizing one's neighbors counts as a sin with them.)

• Miss Maudie says that the Radleys are "so busy worrying about the next world [Heaven/Hell] they've never learned to live in this one".

• Is Boo crazy? Well, if he wasn't when this whole thing started, he probably is now.

• Scout finally breaks into Jem and Dill's Get Rid Of Slimy Girls Club, and finds out what they've been planning to do: use a fishing pole to put a note to Boo through one of the upper windows of the Radley Place.

• When they put the plan into action, Jem has some difficulty maneuvering the fishing pole, which is too short to reach the window.

• And then Atticus shows up. And he doesn't look pleased.

• Atticus tells the kids to stop bothering Boo, who has a perfect right to stay in his house if he wants to.

• Atticus also tells them to stop playing their stupid game, and Jem says they weren't making fun of Boo, inadvertently revealing to Atticus that they were in fact playing at being the Radleys.

• Jem eventually realizes he's been fooled by the oldest lawyer's trick in the book. Oops.

Gensis: Creation and Adam & Eve

THE CREATION STORY:

 

ADAM & EVE AND THE GARDEN OF EDEN:

 

QUESTION TO ANSWER IN COMMENTS SECTION:

(Make sure to add your name to your comment so you can get credit!)

 

Is Eve to blame for what happens to her and Adam? 

If so, why? 

If not, why not?  And who is then? 

 

Make sure to explain your answers clearly and convincingly!

To Kill a Mockingbird Chapter Four Summary

Chapter Four Summary:

 

 

Every day Scout runs by the Radley Place to get home after school.

One day she notices something, and works up the nerve to go back and look at it.

A tree at the edge of the Radley yard has some tinfoil stuck to a knothole, and inside the hole Scout finds two pieces of chewing gum.

She takes it home, and, after some testing to try to make sure it's not poisoned, she chews it.

Jem's not too pleased with this and makes her spit it out… and then gargle.

Finally, it's summer. Hooray! School's out!

On their way home, they find another piece of tinfoil in the same knothole, and behind it a jewelry box, decorated with more tinfoil, containing two Indian-head pennies.

Should they keep it? Chewing gum is one thing, but money is another entirely.

Soon Dill shows up, full of stories. They're already bored, so Dill kick things up a notch by saying he can smell death, and tells Scout that her end is near.

She tells him to shut it, and Jem mocks both of them for being (or pretending to be) superstitious.

They horse around a little, and Scout ends up flying down the sidewalk in a tire (don't ask), which ends up dumping her in …

The Radleys' front yard.

Thanks to this adventure, Jem invents a new game: acting out the life and times of Boo Radley.

The game starts out simple, but gets more and more complex as the summer goes on.

Atticus gives this game the side-eye, but he doesn't explicitly forbid them from doing it since he doesn't know for sure what they're doing.

But Scout isn't so sure. She's pretty convinced that when she got dumped out of the tire she heard someone laughing inside the Radley house.

Shmoop Editorial Team. "To Kill a Mockingbird Chapter 4 Summary." Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 2 Oct. 2015.