This section of the book we read was mainly just an introduction of characters and places that we would be seeing for the rest of the book. It is set in a small town in Alabama called Maycomb during the great depression. It was a very boring, almost sleepy, tone and it really gave me a good feeling of what it would have been like to live back in those days. Aside from just introducing the setting and some important characters, like Aticus, Dill, Scout, Jem, and Boo Radley, there were also a few important events that happened. Scout, Jem, and Dill are scared of Boo Radley which will probably begin to make more sense what Boo's roll will be. I think since Boo was such a main focus of this first section that he will probably end up playing a main roll in the rest of the book. Scout goes to school for the first time and ends up not getting along with a few people such as her teacher, Ms. Caroline Fisher, and especially a boy named Walter. She ends up getting in a fight with Walter and rubs his face into the ground. He ends up coming over for dinner and Scout learns a valuable life lesson about equality. Another important event is when they find the odd items in the tree. I don't really know why they are there or how they got there but I think this will be important later in the story considering the fact that that is what is depicted on the cover of the book. I think that all of these events will somehow effect the story later. I think that Scouts lesson she has learned will really effect her personality and the way she thinks of people for the rest of the book. Also, as I said before, I think that the items they found in the tree will be an important part of the story later on because it is on the cover.
Our discussion group went pretty well for the first time. I had a little harder time answering my questions for the circle because i played the illuminator even though I was a summarizer. So it was a little hard for me to give very deep answers on the questions because I did the questions for summarizer. But otherwise there were some good points made about the connector's questions. Scott made some really good connections to his life in our school compared to Scout's school. Also Zach made a great comparison of how Kalispell is kind of like Maycomb because they are both boring and don't have much going on.
I still think that the most important part was when Scout learned the lesson about equality that I talked about earlier. This is the biggest part that I think everyone should be able to relate too. I think this even made me think a little deeper than I have before about how people are discriminated and excluded for their race, or religion, or even money. I think this is human nature to think your better than someone and there is no way to completely stop or avoid it. This part could really teach people about how even a little girl can learn these things and it is wrong to discriminate.
