We spent some time in class watching some of A Christmas Story. You’ll remember that I asked you to pay attention to the tone of Ralph’s voice as an adult. He was excited, boisterous, overly enthusiastic, and easily swooped up into waves of deep emotion (hilarity, tragedy, fear, etc.). In short, Ralph as an adult sounded like Ralphie as a kid. Ralph as a narrator still believed in Santa, still believed in the almost magical power of an air rifle, and still believed in pure Christmas magic. At least, he sounded like he did. This is what made the movie so funny. Triple dog dares just don't exist in the adult world.
So here we are well into To Kill a Mockingbird, and guess what? The same device is used in the novel. Scout as an adult is seeing the events of the novel through her eyes back when she was a little girl. Barely sad moments are full of grief, and tragic adult moments are hardly visible whatsoever. We might, for this reason, consider Scout what we call an “unreliable” narrator. In other words, we can’t always trust what Scout says.
After all, Scout already knows how the book is going to turn out. She lived it, right? She can’t give away the ending! She needs to create drama, suspense, humor.
One such example of Scout-the-adult-narrator mimicking the voice and vision of Scout-the-six-year-old is in Chapter One when she recounts Jem’s description of Boo. According to Jem, Boo “was about six-and-a-half feet tall” judging from the tracks Boo left behind and “dined on raw squirrels, and any cats he could catch” (Lee 16). Scout thinks this is a “reasonable description” (16). The reader, of course, knows Jem’s description is anything but “reasonable.” In fact, it is far from it. Heck, he makes Boo sound like Frankenstein's monster. This is a great example of moment in which the tone (the narrator’s attitude) is contrary to the mood (the reader’s attitude).
Your Task : Find another example of this narrative discord – a moment in which Scout the narrator is being less than straight with the reader and thus creating a chasm between tone and mood. Your comments should be thoughtful and thorough, use correct textual citations (just like my example), and contain correct grammar and punctuation. Remember, we're looking for specific examples, not broad generalizations. Look for short, concise word clusters. Feel free to find your example anywhere within chapters one through fourteen. One more thing: No repeats! (So be sure to read all of the comments posted before yours.)
Extra Credit: Feel free to comment on one another’s responses. Just be sure to move the conversation along. This is a discussion, not a list of repeated ideas. You may agree or disagree with one another as long as you support your claims with evidence.
Note: When you post your comment, be sure to select "name" on the drop down menu and include your first and last name so you can earn credit for your work.
At the very beginning of chapter 12 Scout gets a note from Dill saying he will not be with them this summer. He says he got a new father and was spending the summer with him. Dill also said not to worry he still loves her and will come for her when he gets enough money. Scout did not take this well, she said, " With him, life was routine; without him, life was unbearable. I staying miserable for two days" (Lee 154). Scout obviously has other things to do in the summer, it is not all revolved around Dill. Scout probably forgot about it a couple hours later, she just exaggerated her reaction. Even though they love each other she knows if she can live without him all throughout school she can handle it for another year.
ReplyDeleteAn instance when the adult Scout is seeing the story as the childhood Scout is when Dill and Jem were going to give Boo Radley a note. They were very close to Boo's hous when Scout made very light comment about Jem and Dill's plan to to deliver the note to Boo. "Anybody who is brave enough to go up and touch the house hadn't oughta use a fishin' pole," I said. "Why don't you just knock the front door down?" (Lee 63). This is an example of the tone contrary to the mood because Scout takes the the whole instance of going to Boo's house very lightly while the mood or how the reader reacts to it is completely opposite. Scout thinks that it is no big deal when in reality going to a creepy man's house is horrifying!
ReplyDeleteOne example of Scout seeing someting through the eyes of a child is when Jem starts to go through puberty. Scouts thinks that "Overnight, it seemed, Jem had aquired an alien set of values and was trying to impose them on me: several times he went so far as to tell me what to do" (Lee 153). This proves that Scout is looking at this situation through the eyes of a little kid because the reader knows that Jem is just going through puberty and growing up, while Scout thinks he is being taken over by aliens. This is a perfect example of the tone being told through a young girl.
ReplyDeleteAn example of Scout seeing something through the eyes of a child is when Scout and Dill make a promise that she is going to marry Dill. This shows that she is looking through the eyes of a little kid because the tone is romantic but the mood is silly and unreasonable. That is an example of scout seeing something through the eyes of a child.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 9 when Miss Maudie's house catches on fire and Atticus wakes Scout and Jem to get them out of the house because the fire could easily move to their house, he tells them to stand near the Radley house to keep safe, but during the fire both Jem and Scout are so concentrated on the fire that they do not realize that Boo Radley put a blanket on Scout. After the fire is dealt with Atticus tells Scout she should thank the person who gave it to her. But both Jem and Scout are perplexed because they did not realize that someone put a blanket on her, and when Atticus tells them Boo Radley did it Scout reacts in a very unnecessary way. "My stomach turned to water and I nearly threw up when Jem held out the blanket and crept toward me" (Lee 96). When this can be seen as a very generous thing Scout thinks the total opposite because she thinks Boo Radley is a big scary man.
ReplyDeleteOne example of Scout the adult narrator telling something through the eyes of Scout the six-year-old is in Chapter 7 when they find the things in the tree. The kids found a whole pack of gum, a medal and “two small images carved in soap” and Jem observed that “these are us” which might make the mood of the readers a little suspicious and creepy but Scout is thinking about “Who did ‘em , you reckon?” (Lee 80). Scout does not find these gifts in a tree creepy instead she likes them, and later said “Our biggest prize appeared four days later. It was a pocket watch that wouldn’t run, on a chain with an aluminum knife” (Lee 81). The reader obviously has a different reaction then Scout, they are wondering why and who is doing this, and thinking this is not normal. This is a great example of a moment in the book when the tone is contrary to the mood.
ReplyDeleteOne illustration in which the tone is contrary to the mood is when Scout sees Jem tearing up Mrs. Dubose's flower garden. Jem said that "he'd do it again if he got a chance"(Lee 137), and that "he'd pull every hair out of [Scout's] head (137). The reader's initial perspective, the mood, of Jem's actions show that he is angry that Mrs. Dubose always says something about the attitude or behavior of himself and Scout. But Harper Lee wrote otherwise. The tone, or what Harper Lee meant to convey is that after Jem tore up the garden, he came to a sudden realization of what he had just done. Jem was yelling at Scout to shut up because he did not want Scout telling on him to Atticus about his reckless actions.This is one of the many examples of a moment in the book when the tone is different than the mood.
ReplyDeleteScout as a child views Boo Radley as a horrifying monster. For example, when Bill, Jem, and Scout sneak into the Radley's back yard to take a peek at Boo. Then when they saw "its arm came out from the side" and "put his arms over his head"(Lee 71). Clearly Scout saw this as Boo trying to get them, when looking at it in an adults perspective Boo might have wanted to hug the kids because he has no friends. Other times like when Boo covered Scout with a blanket at the night of the fire was also seen as a horrifying gesture when in reality all Boo wanted was to make new friends.
ReplyDeleteOne example of how Scout is seeing something through the eyes of a child is when Scout notices a jacket over her when the childeren were sent by the Radley's house so they wont get in the way of the other citizens trying to save Mrs. Atkinson's house. Even when the author was writing this novel she told it as she saw it as she was little, even though knowing that it was Boo Radley who put it on her. This is an example of the author seeing something through the eyes of the child.
ReplyDeleteOne example that shows Scout through the eyes of a child is when Scout rolls onto the Radley yard in the tire. She crashes into the house and when she crashes she says she heard that "someone in the house was laughing"(Lee 54). Scout as a child hears that laugh in a villainous manner, and as if Boo is laughing at her pain. In reality Boo is not laughing at them, but with them. As a child, that laugh to Scout was a horrendous gesture at scaring her, not just playing along with her.
ReplyDeleteMichelle Kolkevich
period 4
In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, there are many scenes in the book where the mood is very different than the tone of the book. One example of this is in chapter 10 when Scout and Jem see old Tim Johnson’s dog, which has turned mad, heading toward their neighborhood. Scout and Jem go home and decide to tell Calpurnia about the dog “can you come down the side walk a minute?” (Lee 122). The way Jem says this is very casual and saying it like it is no big deal while in fact it is a very big deal that a dog is mad. The tone of the story at this point is casual while the mood is suspenseful.
ReplyDeleteone example that shows scout through the eyes of a child is a scene when she asks her father Atticus if she can stop going to school and have her father teach and read to her every night. It shows she has the eyes of a child because he does not understand how the school program is supposed to work. It's not that easy to get out of something she does not want to go to. The mood was funny.
ReplyDeletenadia choi
Throughout the book, the Narrator speaks thrrought the mouth of an adult but through the mind of a child. One example of this is when scout explains how distressing it is when Atticus tells them to try to live up to their family name. Even though Atticus says that "Aunt has asked me to try to" explain the ways of the Finch's and "Gentle breeding" (Lee 177). Scout doesn't take into account that Aunt Alexandra puts Atticus up to this. Scout is scared that Atticus is and wont be the same anymore. She even went far enough to say that "He is not my father" (Lee 177). In this example, scout freaks out about a fairly normal conversation Atticus was forced into having.
ReplyDeleteIn the book To Kill a Mocking Bird, the narrator of the story is an adult and tells it with an adult’s vocabulary, but also tells it through the eyes of a child. This means that some things that adults find small seem big to a child and small things that children see are big to adults. One part of the book when she thinks like a child is her thoughts or acts of hate against François, her annoying cousin. One example is when she gets air rifles for Christmas before they go to Finch’s Landing. She says that Atticus “ declined to let us take our air rifles to the Landing” and that she “ had already begun to think of shooting Francois”(Lee 106). This is a very childish thing to think of and that’s why this quotes fits in with here childlike perspective. The tone seems to be serious because that’s what she believes in doing. But the mood is funny because the reader believes what she is thinking is childish.
ReplyDeleteVan Hershey
A point in the story when both the mood and the tone are different in To Kill a Mockingbird can be found at such a simple point like when Jem finds that the tree's "knot-hole" was filled with cement. The tone of the story goes to sadness and hopelessness when Scout "Saw him [Jem] go stark white" (Lee 83). It is then inferred that Scout begins to cry when Jem repeats " 'Don't you cry, now, Scout... don't cry now, don't you worry--" (Lee 83). Although it isn't hysterical, but it is funny in a sense that they would be so bummed about there hole being closed up because as an older person would think, there would be many more places to really exchange things with Boo. This is how the mood is different from the tone... the audience (us) certainly does not feel the same way about the hole being filled with cement.
ReplyDeletejackie cortopassi
Throughout the book, many of the characters use a word which many people take offensive (the word used for negroes). Whenever a person uses the word "n*****", the tone of the audience mostly feels uncomfortable and awkward because we all learned and understand that it is very harsh and unkind to say these words unlike the characters in the novel which use the word constantly. The mood of the person in the novel expressing the word about negroes acts calm and doesn't show a mean or kind expression. The characters use the word in a regular conversation and does not feel uncomfortable or guilty for saying that word. There are many quotes in the book in which something like this happens: "'He's nothin' but a n*****-lover'" (Lee 110).
ReplyDeleteWhen Scout is describing Mrs. Dubose, she is telling the story from her point of view when she was a child. Scout describes her worse then she would if she was an adult. Scout thinks Mrs. Dubose is "horrible" (Lee 106) and that "her face was the color of a dirty pillow case" (Lee 106.)Scout continues by saying, "old-age liver spots dotterd her cheeks,a dn her pale eyels had black pinpoint pupils" (Lee 106).
ReplyDeleteIn the book to kill a mocking bird , the narrators tone and the audience mood differs in many parts of the book. One good example of this from the book is when scout and her uncle jack are having a conversation about what a whore lady was. “ uncle jack plunged into another long tale about an old prime Minster who sat in the house of commons and blew feathers…I guess he was trying to answer my question, but he made no sense whatsoever”(lee115). That quote shows a perfect example of how the narrator scout is acting like a child even though she knows what it really means. This sets the tone of the book as if it is no big problem that a word like “whore lady”(lee115) is not a big deal. But we as mature readers really know what the meaning of that word means and might look at it in a different way. Our mood to that word and scene is much different rather than the tone of the character. That right there shows how tone and mood are different in this book.
ReplyDeleteIn To Kill a Mockingbird the tone and the mode are often similar but change when the story changes. In Chapter 11 Scout had been talking about all the challenges that they had faced in the past and she says “ Jem, having survived Boo Radley , a mad dog, and other terrors , had concluded that it was cowardly to to stop at Miss Rachel’s front steps and wait”(Lee 133). Scout realizes how much trouble they have gone through and thinks that confronting Miss Rachel is no big deal after they have done these things. From the narrator and through the eyes of the character they can still feel some fear of Miss Rachel but through the eyes of the reader it builds confidence and makes them believe that the character is invincible.
ReplyDeleteOne example of Scout the writer narrator using the voice and the vision of Scout when she is a child is when aunt Alexandra came. She came because she said "we decided it would be best for some female influence,"(Lee170) and "it won't be long until the you are interested in clothes and boys."(170) scout as a child thought that she would never be interested in clothes and it would be awhile before she was interested in boys. The adult scout knew that it would be a few years, she would be interested in boys and clothes. That probably happens to a lot of people. They think that will never happen to them, but after a few years, they are interested.
ReplyDeleteOne part in To Kill a Mockingbird that the tone and mood are different is when Reverend Sykes says "Nobody leaves here till we have ten dollers"(Lee 162). The mood in this part of the story was surprised because people are not used to herring their religious leaders force them to give money. While the mood was surprised, the tone was unconvertible. It was that because not everyone had enuff money to give another dime. It was also unconvertible because as Scout discribed it there was a "damp coolness"(Lee 159). This part of the book also shows how Scout some times overlooks things that are kind of a big deal because she does not really questioned haveing the doors closed on them
ReplyDeleteDavis Hianik
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 9 when scouts gets caught in the middle of a fight between Atticus and Cecil she remembers something. “I could take being called a coward for him” and then she says “I felt extremely noble for having remembered, and remained noble for three weeks” (Lee 102). As an adult scout knows that she was not noble and that it was not a big deal but she acts like it is in the story. This example demonstrates narrative discord.
Davis Hianik
Period 8
Comment on Stephens’s blog-
ReplyDeleteIn that passage I feel like when a little girl looks up to someone like her aunt she takes it very seriously. It almost makes it sound like her aunt is talking like she is her age and not to worry about boys and clothes and that you never are going to do these kinds of things for a while. It is almost like her aunt is lying to herself because the aunt knows that this plays a bog role in a girl’s life and that it doesn’t matter. This makes the tone and mood very different.
Period 8
Davis Hianik
A point in the story where the tone and the mood are different in, To Kill A Mocking Bird, is when Miss Maudie's house is burning down. Scout later realizes when he gets back to his house that Boo Radley had placed a blanket on him without Scout even realizing. When Scout comes to the conclusion it was Boo, Jem freaks out. For example, he starts rambling to Atticus saying things like, "Atticus, no sir!" (Lee 96). Scout explains Jem confessing to Atticus as "Jem seemed to have lost his mind" and "He began pouring out secrets right and left.." (96). The tone at this part of the novel is really creepy because Jem and Scout are so freaked out. The mood of this point in the novel is almost up-lifting. The reader is seeing Boo Radley do something nice for Scout and not meaning for his actions to be harmful to anybody.
ReplyDeleteMaggie Goanson
Period 4
A point in the story where Scout the narrator tries to tell us the story through the eyes of a young child is when Scout defies everybody. Whenever people tell her what to do Scout gets angry and attacks them. Instead of listening and trusting what they say, she ignores them and does what she wants. The older Scout knows how childish her decisions were but when she narrates it seems like Scout is fully behind her decisions.
ReplyDeleteIn the book To Kill a Mockingbird, the tone and the mood are different in many parts. For example, the scene when Jem and Dill pushed Scout down the street in the tire. Scout landed in the Radley’s yard, and Scout heard laughing so she ran. To us as the readers we know that Boo is just laughing because he knows the kids are having fun, and he is also trying to have fun with them. But to Scout as the kid she thought it was very scary, and thought it was really scary to go back on the Radley’s lawn to get the tire back. Lastly, the way the author wrote this book is showing that she wrote it like she was writing through the eyes of herself as a little girl.
ReplyDeleteHarper Lee has a variety of making the tones and moods alike or different. An example of when Scout talks in the eyes of a child is when she has the first bad encounter with Miss Caroline. At the end of chapter two, Miss Caroline is done with Scout's behavior and tells her to hold out her hands. Scout, thinking like a child, did not know what was happening. Scout "thought she was going to spit in it, which was the only reason anybody in Maycomb held out his hand: it was a time-honored method of sealing oral contracts" (Lee 28). But instead Miss Caroline takes out a ruler and whips her hands. Then, "a storm of laughter broke loose" (28). The tone is amusing for the classmates, but for the audience the mood is more disbelieving as to why Miss Caroline would need to whip Scout.
ReplyDeleteIn Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee uses the narrator in a different way from most. Usually the mood and the tone are the same in books and movies, but Lee uses Scout, a young girl who is telling the story all ready knowing what happens, to have the tone and mood be different. For example, Scout and Dill are having a conversation about how to get a baby, and Scout thinks that "God drops 'em down the chimney" (Lee 191). For Scout, she is being serious and thinks she is correct, so the tone is serious. The mood, however, is funny because we know that is not what happens. Lee uses this style often, and that makes the book very interesting.
ReplyDeleteThe book to Kill a Mocking bird by Harper Lee has many tones and moods. One of the mood that a character named Scout is one example. In the chapter of nine Francis was yelling "He's nothin' but a nigger lover!"(Lee 110). Franicis was talking about Scout's father Atticus. He was saying that Atticus was a nigger lover because he is a lawyer and defending a black man named Tom Robinson. The way Scout replys to what he said about her father is she starts running after him and yelling at him. Then at one moment Francis yelled out to Aunt Alexandera saying that Scout called him a whore lady. Uncle Jack said "Is that true Scout?" (Lee 112) Scout answeres back saying "I reckon so" (Lee 112). The tone right now is sad and sort of mad because that is what Scout is feeling at the moment. The mood is furious with
ReplyDeleteFrancis because the way he was calling Atticus nigger lover and Scout trying to defend her father. Also being angry with Uncle Jack for not hearing the whole story to the problem all he did was hear Frnacis's story. The mood is what the reader is feeling.
Elizabeth Han Period 4
In Harper Lee's "To Kill A Mockingbird" the mood and the tone vary. One of these instances is when Mrs. Dubose died. Scout and Jem just have this "Oh well" feel to it. Actually, that's exactly what Jem said when Atticus broke the news to him. "'Oh,' Jem said. "Well.' 'Well is right,' said Atticus." Reading this we are kind of in shock, wondering what happened but it seems not to phase Scout or Jem.
ReplyDeleteJessica Barnhisel Period 8
One example of the tone and mood diverging is when Calpurnia takes Scout and Jem to her church. Being that it's the deep south, Cal does not go to a white church. Everyone in her congregation is black. Scout seems oblivious to, or dosen't care about, this fact. As readers, we are on edge during this scene as we know that bad things could result from this. When Scout's Aunt Alexandra says that Scout "may not" go with Cal to church, Scout seems lost as to why (Lee 181).
ReplyDeleteJake Kurtzhalts
Period 8
One example of when Scout tells us something through the eyes of a child is when Aunt Alexandria tell her that babies are "dropped down a chimney"(Lee 191). She tells us this when she and Dill are talking in her bed. We as the readers really know that this is not the case (but that is a whole new topic). Scout hears this and then believes it. She does not really know but she believes it.
ReplyDeleteDaniel Bernstein
Period 4