Director:
I found myself thinking about how Atticus must have felt while he had to question people that he had known his whole life and try to pick out the true information that they were saying from what was false. One of the passages that I selected was on page 169, when Atticus was questioning the sheriff. This paragraph was interesting because I thought that you could just sense the tention that must of been in the courtroom that day while Atticus was questioning the sheriff. The other passage I selected was on page 184 when Atticus was questioning Mayella. I thought that that way Atticus asked questions Mayella and how he got information out of her was very interesting and cleaver. After the questioning of Mayella and her answers to the questions led me to think that if Tom really wanted to hurt Mayella, he would have done it on one of the other previous pass bys. The most important idea from this section is when Atticus is questioning the sheriff and most importantly Miss. Mayella and trying to find out what really happened that day. If the author was in our literature circle I would ask her where she came up with all her ideas for the questioning and also how she makes the intensity of the court room come out in her writing.
I was absent the day of the literature circle due to softball.

Movie Review:

The To Kill A Mockingbird movie is different from the book because the movie cut out the whole part about Ms. Dubose and how Jem went and read to her.  Also I didn't feel the Jem matured as he did in the book.  Even though I didn't feel Jem matured as much and they cut the whole part about Ms. Dubose I still feel the movie is better.  I say this because I felt it was hard to get into but with the movie they pretty much got right to the point of things.

I think the character that was best portrayed in the movie was Atticus.  Atticus was portrayed very well in the movie because the way he was decribed in the book was exactly how he came out to be in the movie,  You could just feel the father figure come out, like he came straight out of the book.  I didn't feel Jem's character come out very well.  In the book, I felt Jem changed alot and become more mature and in the movie I just felt like he stayed the same character throughout. 

My favorite scene from the movie was the courtroom when they were questioning Tom Robinson.  I liked this scene because it really drew me into the movie more because it just seemed to get really intense especially when Tom was up on the stand telling the true story even though he knew that nobody was going to believe him, he was still up there telling the truth.

Yes, I have to say I was kind of disappointed in the movie.  I think by leaving out specific parts about the neighbor, Ms Dubois, it didn't feel like Jem grew as a character as much as he did in the book.  Also they left out huge scenes about Dill, like when he ran away and was hiding under Scout's bed.  So you didn't get to see Dill as a character very much either.  I think if I were to do it differently I would add in at least the story about Ms. Dubose.  Also I would have put Dill coming back the way he did in the book at the end.  Lastly, I would have expanded out the season changes a little more because the movie made it seem as though everything happened over the course of one school year, doing this would have also helped with the growing the characters

Connecter:
The connections that I made between the settings in Kalispell and the settings in the book were, the fact that Kalispell and Maycomb are both really small towns. In small towns there is also not much to so and you have to drive a good distance before there is town where there is actually. Also the Radley house reminds me of alot of the houses in Evergreen. The connections that I made between conflicts in my life to the ones in the book are the fact that they had a really cold winter. Also the conflicts that Scout has with her teachers and school in general. Scout reminds me a lot of my younger sister because she always has questions about everything and always wants to hang out with and my friends. I couldn't make a connection to another book because I have never read a book like this before. One connection that I made that nobody else has, is that when the kids were seeing snow for the first time and Scout thought that the world was going to end because of it. This reminds me of when I was in 2nd grade and my friend had just moved up here for Arizona and had never seen snow before so when we went outside one day it was snowing and he freaked out and asked what the "white stuff" falling from the sky was.

An important symbol in these chapters were the two pennies that they found in the tree. This was an important symbol because Jem said the pennies represented good luck. The author describes how the town is sleepy, slow and how there's nothing much to do. One of the conflicts in the book was Man vs Man (aka Scout vs. Her Teacher). The author made this conflict intense by describing what exactly was going on in the class and how things had changed since Jem had been in the first grade. The author solved the conflict by saying how Scout talked bout the problem with Atticus and promised to go on as usual as long as Scout no longer told the teacher that she was reading outside the school. In this section the author used a lot of imagery and made it seem as if you are reading the story through Scouts eyes. Since Scout is so young, some of the parts in the book are almost underdeveloped and immature because she wanted it to seem more like the story was coming from a little girls int of view. I think it would be Calpurina, and she would be smart for the time period and be very wise, but also has the right morals.  The main idea for these chapters is that everyone is different.  For example the children can't go around around like Boo because they do not know what exactly he has been through or walked a day in his skin.  The setting is kind of like Kalispell in the way that it is a sleepy atmosphere with no where to go and not much to do.  The Great Depression is similiar to our recession now in the fact that people do not have the money to travel very far.  The characters that we met in these chapters were Boo, Jem, Atticus, Scout, Dill, and Calpurina.  Boo is gossiped about alot because of things that were said to have happened in his past.  Jem is the older brother to Scout and is at the age where he does not like his sister following him around all the time.  Atticus is very a smart, open-minded person and does not believe in racism.   Scout is the curious younger sister to Jem and is just starting school.  She is loose lipped and does not know when to filter what she says,  Dill is from Meridian, Mississippi who stays with his aunt in Maycomb, Alabama every summer.  Dill is very curious person and seems to like to get himself into troublesome situations.  Calpurina is older boney women and works in the Finch home as a maid.  She is very stongly opinionated and harsh ruling person.  The mood in these chapters in laid back and is foreshadows the rest of the story.  The big question for these chapters is who could possible be putting the items in the knot in the tree.  I predict the person is Boo and though I wonder if the items we placed as an offering or safe keeping.  Jem, Dill and Scout are afraid of Boo because of the rumors of his past that were started by the adults in Maycomb because of the group of people he hung out with.  The kids have not met, seen or talked to Boo but have decided what of person he is merely because of what they have grown up hearing about him.  This reminds me of when I was younger and formed opinions of others because of what my parents or friends had said about them.  This has taught me how influentual adults are on children.  This is important because I think the children in the book will meet Boo and prove the opinions are wrong or right in their own way.