Personal Response
The ending was quite a surprise for me, especially the appearance of Boo Radley. I totally forgot about him during the court hearing. His sudden appearance at the end left strong impact on the story as it showed a different Boo Radley from all the rumours that was made up. If I was the author, I would probably end the story in the same way. The ending of the story strongly portrays the theme on ‘it was a sin to kill a mockingbird’. The ending shows the consequences of maligning someone innocent. Personally, the story was well concluded and it would be great to keep this ending.
Analysing Literature – Recall and Interpret
The children were pretty much afraid of Bob Ewell’s threat as they did not want their father, Atticus, to be harmed by him. Atticus, however, was not fearful of Mr Ewell as he felt that Mr Ewell was held a grudge on him for hurting his reputation. He believed that Mr Ewell would not harm him in any way. The children were still uncertain as they felt that Bob Ewell would do anything out of grudge.
Scout and Jem were trailed by Mr Ewell on the way home from the school pageant. He attacked them when they were close to the Radley tree. Thankfully, Boo Radley managed to stop Mr Ewell’s attack. It shows that Boo was a kind-hearted and brave man as he saved Jem and Scout from immense danger.
Scout treated Boo Radley warmly after the incident. Initially, her feelings for Boo Radley were fear and curiosity, but her feelings for him changed after the incident. She felt that Boo was really shy, but caring and gentlemanly, and her fears of him seemed to disappeared after the incident.
Analysing Literature – Evaluate and Connect
I actually do believe that Sheriff Tate and Atticus had made the best decision to report the case. By reporting that Mr Ewell killed himself by falling on his own knife, it would not get Jem involved in the case. If they reported that Jem had killed Mr Ewell, Jem would have to face the social stress that may be unbearable for him as only a teenager. It would scar his life. Even though the people in Maycomb might doubt the report, they would understand from the sin which Mr Ewell had committed and treat it as his retribution for maligning Tom Robinson.
In the story, because of Atticus, the White jury took much longer than expected to reach its decision in Tom’s case and Miss Maudie sees this as a “baby step” forward for the community. Even though justice should be achieve as soon as possible. Personally, I feel that the cause of justice should be taken in these “baby steps’. The reason being that time is required to change the mindset of a whole community. These “baby steps’ are signs of the change in people’s thinking, the change has to be achieved progressively as not everyone’s mindset could be change all at once. Time is needed for everyone to accept this change. If the change is rushed, it may cause disputes in the community. Therefore, I agree that the cause of justice is best advanced through such “baby steps”.