To Kill a MockingBird Questions: Journal Entry 3: Part 2 3. As Atticus has explained to Scout many times about this, He is doing this becasue he values equailty and justice. 4.Scout, said Atticus, nigger-lover is just one of those terms that dont mean anything—like snot-nose. Its hard to explain—ignorant, trashy people use it when they think somebodys favoring Negroes over and above themselves. Its slipped into usage with some people like ourselves, when they want a common, ugly term to label somebody. You arent really a nigger-lover, then, are you? I certainly am. I do my best to love everybody... Im hard put, sometimes—baby, its never an insult to be called what somebody thinks is a bad name. It just shows you how poor that person is, it doesnt hurt you. In giving Scout a lesson in How Racism Works 101, Atticus also does the same for the audience. On the syllabus in this conversation: the power of language, not only as a way to shame those who dont toe the racist line, but also to set the terms of the debate. Racists use nigger-lover to suggest that a person is trying to give African-Americans special rights, but Atticus points out that all hes arguing for is equality, loving everybody the same. The end of the quote is basically a grown-up version of Im rubber and youre glue, suggesting that schoolyard taunt actually has some merit—some insults do tell you more about the person hurling them than about their target. (Lol the last question is long but its worthit)
Posted on: Tue, 19 Nov 2013 22:48:09 +0000
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