He then explains that his duty will be to catch any child who starts to go over the cliff. With this in mind, Salinger creates this image of children falling off the cliff to symbolize them losing their innocence; therefore explaining Holden’s desire to save them. In addition to wanting to be the catcher in the rye, Holden displays his appreciation for innocence when he is truly disturbed by profanity on a school wall. He anxiously wonders what Phoebe and the other kids would think if they saw it and fears that its meaning would be unfolded by an older kid. Holden is so enraged by the profanity that he exclaims, “I kept wanting to kill whoever’d written it” (201).
Although Jem fears Boo Radley from all the stories he heard about him, bravery takes place when he ran up and touched Boo’s door. Jem’s bravery fulfills a large amount for him to move past his fears, and his actions do so. Another action of Jems takes place. “Jem refuses to leave Atticus and worries that he will get hurt” (194). Jem decides to defend his father and makes sure nothing bad will happen to him.
Yes sir!” External: Scout agrees with the compromise her father, Atticus and her agreed to. Level C Behavior: Scout is Level C because she follows through with the agreement her and Atticus had made about her staying in school. 6 Pg:”He declined to let us take our air rifles to the Landing (I had already begun to think of shooting Francis) and said if we made one false move he'd take them away from us for good. External: Scout continues to dislike Francis but she remembers what would happen if she attempted to do something. Level B Behavior: Scout is Level B because she wants to hurt Francis badly but then she thinks on what her father, Atticus had told her.
America is moving forward as ‘The Home of The Free’ but is being driven by fear. First, Parents around the country believe that their kids are in danger at every moment. They are sucked into what the media wants. Every day, locally and nationally the news reports different ways that your child may be in trouble or in danger, when actually, the chances of being kidnapped are very, very low. However that is not the greatest fear.
Holden’s most important aim in the novel was his desire to be the catcher in the rye. To him, this meant “catching” children before they fall and lose their innocence, as everyone will eventually do upon growing up. During a visit to his sister Phoebe’s school, Holden sees the worlds, “fuck you” written on the bathroom wall. He becomes infuriated that those children could see it and wipes it off. He tells Phoebe, “...I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff...
As time passes, possibly seeing other more important life event happening around him, his childish pestering gradually subsides. To show his adulthood, Jem, in one instant, happily states his lightly growing chest hair to his sister as in “He unbuttoned his shirt, grinning shyly…‘well it’s hair’” (Lee 225). His intention is to try to get his father’s attention as he slowly becomes an admirer of a lawyer who defends justice. Scout was originally what one may define as a “hothead,” for her unruly temper. Even on the first day of school, having no provocation Scout starts a fight.
Run!" Then scout yelled back "Jem, Jem, help me, Jem!" I ran as quickly as we could toward them, trying to figure out where they were. As I got closer to them I could see Bob Ewell was attacking the poor children. But I could not fight Bob to get him off of the children, because I was not going to get in the middle of it, and get in trouble again.
Jem’s perspective of Boo Radley is defined by society – “malevolent phantom”; “A Negro would not pass the Radley place at night.” “A baseball hit into the Radley yard was a lost ball and no questions asked.”Jem believes that even touching a Radley tree will mean “You’ll get killed if you do.” Deside it would be better for him to come out and join society, to abide by the rules and expectations of society to , Open the door on Sundays, as “closed doors meant illness and cold weather
He has always treated her like his little sister but now he is starting to respect her more and even take care of her. In chapter 3 when Scout starts to beat up Walter Cunningham because he got her in trouble Jem comes along to stop Scout and get her out of trouble (Lee 30). Jem shows that he was being responsible by inviting Water Cunningham over for lunch that day (Lee 30) and he was acting like a young adult by taking responsibility for Scouts actions and for everything that she did and said to Walter Cunningham. Jem also acts similar to this when him, Scout and Dill go to the jail (Lee 202). While at the jail they see Atticus and Jem, Scout and Dill think that they are going to protect Atticus but that is not what happens.
The Cunningham’s were poor, but very polite. The next time he appeared in the novel was when the lynching mob was formed, and Mr. Cunningham was a part of it. His beliefs changed drastically. He went from looking up to Atticus for guidance to being completely against Atticus defending Tom Robinson. When Scout rambled to Mr. Cunningham, it made him stand in Atticus’s shoes for a minute.