Themes

1) The theme that is most prevalent throughout chapter 15 is Honor/Courage and Shame/ Cowardice. This theme illustrated within the chapter because Jem showed honor when he was refusing to Atticus about going home. He had courage to stand there and blatantly say no. Jem did not want to leave Atticus behind with this group of men, he had no clue what was going to happen. Also, Scout had courage to run up in the middle of all the men and yell to Atticus. Dill displays shame/ cowardice when he does not say a word this whole time, he just is there. He was a coward for not doing what Scout did when when the man grabbed Jem by the collar, again, he just stood there and let it happen. I have seen this theme illustrated in earlier text when Jem chopped off Mrs. Dubose's camellia bushes because of what she called Atticus. He was standing up for his father and being courageous to do something like that.

2) This chapter shows that Atticus really cares about Tom Robinson because he was at his jail cell, protecting him from the group of men. Plus, he seems like he doe not want Scout and Jem involved in any part of the Tom Robinson case. He wanted them to immediately go home when Scout appeared, then Jem. This case is his personal case because his family is getting involved, the one man grabbed Jem by the collar, Jem almost falling, and Atticus did not do anything about it, Scout was the one who defended her brother. This chapter shows that Mr. Cunningham does not really care for his son Walter, because Scout recognized Mr. Cunningham and started talking about Walter. He had no interest in this particular topic, he pretty much ignored Scout the whole time while she was going on and on about how much of a nice boy he is.

Atticus' talk

The reasoning behind this situation is that Aunt Alexandra somehow forced Atticus to talk to Jem and Scout about living up to the Finches name. When she showed Jem the book written by his cousin Joshua, he told her that Atticus told him about his cousin, but all the bad things. Aunt Alexandra disapproved of this and said "That's all, we'll see about this." That statement that came out of her mouth seemed like the extra kick that made her fall off the cliff, the last thing that made her confront Atticus about his children. That they have to grow up and be not be from the run-of-the-mill people, and live up to the Finches name. Scout has to act like a real girl, and Jem has to act like a gentleman. But, he is not the kind of person to say all of the things that he was saying to his kids.

When Scout thought, "it takes a women to do that kind of work", she meant it took a women to turn a man into something he is not. Turn against his own blood-related kids by saying cruel, hurtful things to them. Also, a women can do that kind of work that is wrong and she can force people into doing things that is not them, that they would not normally do. Aunt Alexandra laid down the orders for Atticus, and he followed them. The women are in charge in this book.

Stages of Mortality

Universal Ethics: Two characters that fall under the universal ethics
stage are Atticus and Calpurnia. Atticus falls under this stage because he is a lawyer, and the current case he is working on involves Tom Robinson, a negro. At this time, a white lawyer defending a black man, was uncommon. But Atticus is doing this because he knows it is the right thing to do , and if he were a negro, he would probably like it if a white man was defending him, helping him. Calpurnia falls under this stage too because when that mad/crazy dog, Tim Johnson, was slowing inching its way up the street, all the neighbors were warned somehow by the phone, but Cal had to personally warn the Radleys. So she went outside where the dog was, and pounded on their door to warn them. She was doing what was right, but Jem and Scout thought she was crazy doing that. If there was a mad dog on the loose,I would like to be warned, Calpurnia just wanted to make sure they knew about it. Conformity: Two characters that fall under the conformity stage are Jem and Calpurnia. Jem falls under this stage because now that he is twelve years of age, he is maturing and becoming less a boy and more a man each day. Like when Aunt Alexandra first came with her heavy suitcases, Cal was supposed to carry them, but Jem took them from her and carried them himself. In addition, when Atticus came home from Montgomery, Jem seized his briefcase and bag for him. These two acts show that he is getting more mature, and being a gentleman. By doing these things, it also shows that Jem is doing what he has to do to make other people proud and pleased with him. Calpurnia falls under this stage because when she brings Scout and Jem to church, she fixes them all up to make them look very nice, clean and spiffy. She made them dress up and look nice because she didn't want anybody saying she doesn't look after her children. Therefore, she does what she has to do to make others proud of her-she can take care of her children- and pleased with her as well.

Norms

1) Atticus mostly seems to follow the personal norm. The personal norm is standards that we have about our own behavior. I think he follows this specific norm because he raises Scout (and Jem) differently than others would. Also, Scout is like a tomboy, and wears breeches instead of dresses. Which Aunt Alexandra is always nagging about. But when she nags, Atticus just stays calm and has his own way of handling his behavior of them. As well as when Atticus is defending Tom Robinson, a negro, many white people such as Mrs. Dubose disliked his actions and called him a "nigger lover". But again, Atticus handled this situation by his own standards of how his behavior is. By kind of just ignoring it and saying she was old and crazy. He controls his behavior well, and does not let his anger (if he has any) take over. (Like when Jem's anger took control, and made him chop the bushes.)

2) In the first part of To Kill a Mockingbird, an example of someone breaking implicit norm was when Mrs. Dubose called Atticus a "nigger lover", Jem became very angry and decided to chop off the tops of her Camellia bushes. No one ever said, " Now Jem, remember, you can't chop off the top of the neighbors bushes, ya hear?" But of course, you can't just do that and think you are going to get away with it. Everyone knows that you really can't go around doing that because you get mad. Another example of when a person breaks implicit norm is when Jem built a snowman, but it looked very similar to Mr. Avery. Again, it isn't written down saying go can't play in the snow if you make snowman that look like your neighbor. Yet, everyone just knows you should not be doing that, and it is what it is. A third example of a person breaking implicit norm is when Scout rolled into the Radly's yard, in a tire because Jem pushed her. That kind of thing does not happen frequently, so you can say why write down with all the other rules in life. Well, it just so happened now, and you still shouldn't be randomly rolling into someones yard, in a tire, it is a little weird and creepy. All three of these examples, they weren't written down or specifically said, but just because they weren't, doesn't mean you should still do them.