Rabid Dog
“For God’s sake, Mr. Finch, look where he is! Miss and you’ll go straight into the Radley house! I can’t shoot that well and you know it!”
“I haven’t shot a gun in thirty years-“ Mr. Tate almost threw the rifle at Atticus.
“I’d feel mighty comfortable if you did now,” he said.
. . . When Atticus raised his glasses Calpurnia murmured, “Sweet Jesus help him,” and put her hands to her cheeks. Atticus pushed his glasses to his forehead; they slipped down, and he dropped them in the street. In the silence, I heard them crack. Atticus rubbed his eyes and chin; we saw him blink hard. The rifle cracked. Tim Johnson leaped, flopped over and crumpled on the sidewalk in a brown-and-white heap. He didn’t know what hit him.
A.) In this part of the novel there is a mad dog loose in Scout’s neighborhood and Atticus is really the only one who has a chance to hit him. Atticus is anxious because he hasn’t handled a gun in a long time. But he knows, as well as everyone else that this is all on him.
B.) This passage has major symbolism in it. I think that the mad dog; (Tim Johnson) represents an important motif; racism, or prejudice in Maycomb. In both circumstances Atticus is the only one who can rid this town of its disease; he is the only one who has a good chance of hitting Tim in one shot. Both the rabid dog and prejudice are dangerous, intimidating, and very contagious. And in each situation Atticus is looked to to execute, to exterminate.
Lisa Ellis
“I haven’t shot a gun in thirty years-“ Mr. Tate almost threw the rifle at Atticus.
“I’d feel mighty comfortable if you did now,” he said.
. . . When Atticus raised his glasses Calpurnia murmured, “Sweet Jesus help him,” and put her hands to her cheeks. Atticus pushed his glasses to his forehead; they slipped down, and he dropped them in the street. In the silence, I heard them crack. Atticus rubbed his eyes and chin; we saw him blink hard. The rifle cracked. Tim Johnson leaped, flopped over and crumpled on the sidewalk in a brown-and-white heap. He didn’t know what hit him.
A.) In this part of the novel there is a mad dog loose in Scout’s neighborhood and Atticus is really the only one who has a chance to hit him. Atticus is anxious because he hasn’t handled a gun in a long time. But he knows, as well as everyone else that this is all on him.
B.) This passage has major symbolism in it. I think that the mad dog; (Tim Johnson) represents an important motif; racism, or prejudice in Maycomb. In both circumstances Atticus is the only one who can rid this town of its disease; he is the only one who has a good chance of hitting Tim in one shot. Both the rabid dog and prejudice are dangerous, intimidating, and very contagious. And in each situation Atticus is looked to to execute, to exterminate.
Lisa Ellis