Journal #8 from the perspective of Atticus

It is September and the sun still rages from noon until well into the evening. The kids still sleep on the back porch, their summer tradition. From time to time, I hear them talking at night. Jem is at a weird age right now and I must say Scout is too. Jem seems to be more sensitive than ever contrary to the fact that he tries to convince us he’s a man now. Well, Scout just seems to be curious about anything, she wants answers. Sometimes, I wonder how much Scout really knows. The night I went with Cal to the Robinson’s, Scout and Dill went too. It happened in plain view, she simply fainted and they both saw. I reckon Dill told Scout since he’s been fancying her all these years. But as the school year returns, so do the usual questions about Boo Radley. Although now, I think they are more sensible. Jem has entered High School and him and Scout are in separate buildings. Now that the Tom Robinson case has blown over, I am happy that they will witness no more ridicule and persecution from the other children.

One night, I overheard Jem and Scout talking. It was about her teacher, Miss Gates. She did not understand how her teacher could teach one thing and demonstrate another. Then, she brought up the case. Jem yelled at her so loud I am surprised she did not cry. He told her never to bring up that court case again. I almost went in there but decided against it as I watched Scout walk out the door. She was silent and crawled into my lap. I thought it fit to let her know she was getting pretty big herself. I told her as simply as I could. Jem was just putting the situation away from him. From my assessment, it is just human nature, it is what Mayella did as well.

Bob Ewell most definitely has not faded away yet. He seems to be giving the town some trouble nowadays and it only leads to his inconveniences. He obtained a job only to lose it a few days after for being too lazy. When Helen Robinson got a job, she passed by his house and on occasion he would follow her. She complained to Link Deas, her employer, and he threatened Bob himself. Moreover, Judge Taylor heard a man in his house when he was all alone one night who is allegedly thought to by Bob Ewell. The pauper is still causing trouble.

Journal #3 from the perspective of Jem

I woke up to a cold morning. I looked outside to see something I never thought that I would see, snow! I rushed down stairs to tell Atticus about the snow outside. We then got a call from Eula May, saying that their was no school today because of the weather. Whenever something happened we would always get a call from Eula May. She was entrusted with informing everyone any important news. Scout woke up soonly after me and we went outside to play in the snow. There was hardly any snow on the ground and what was there was watery hard to play with. So Scout and myself went outside to try and build ourselfs a snowman. We went over to Miss. Maudie's to collect any snow that we didn't want. When we were walking over to Miss Maudie's house we saw Mr. Avery, when we saw us he started yelling at us. He was saying that this sudden weather change was our fault because of our recent bad havior. When we got over to Miss. Maudie house she was outside putting bags over her flowers. We then gathered all her snow and moved it into our yard. Scout and I then got busying working on our snowman. I had a sudden idea to create our snowman to look like Mr. Avery and when we were done it looked very much like him. When Atticus saw, he made up change our snowman from Mr. Avery to Miss. Maudie because we knew that she would not mind us making something that looked like her.We went to bed that night frozen. All of our fireplaces where going but it was still as cold as every. That night I went to sleep very easily but woke up to Atticus shaking me. He gave me my coat and robe and while I put everything on he went and got Scout. He moved us outside and made us stand in front of the Radley's place. I looked around to see Miss. Maudies house on fire. Everything in her house was in flames and her house was bright red and orange. Scout and I stood in front of the Radley house while we watched Miss. Maudies and the adjacent house go up in smoke. I was holding Scout for warmth until it got so cold she just couldn't stand it. She started dancing in the streets, but all I could see was Miss. Maudies house burn.Finally the house fire had been stopped and Scout, Atticus and me went inside our house. Atticus made us all some hot chocolate while we talked about what happened. Suddenly I saw that Atticus was looking at Scout strangly. I looked over and saw nothing wrong until Atticus asked whos blankets she was wearing was. I thought back and remembered that she wasn't wearing that blacket when we first went out of the house. I thwn realized that Boo Radley must have drapped the blacknet over Scout when we were watching the fire. I was debating weather to I should be scared for my sister or be mad at her for not turning around to see Boo Radley.Scout, Atticus and I made our trip up to Finch's landing, a place that we always went for Christmas. I looked going up to see Uncle Jack but I hated going to see Aunt Alexandra and her grandson Francis. He was always to mean to me and Scout and he didn't respect us at all. When we were up there the first thing that happened was that Aunt Alexandra became fanatical with Scout's outfit. She kept on saying that she didn't dree ladylike and she shouldn't be wearing pants, but dresses. I couldn't imagien what Scout would look like in dress, I wanted to find out but knew that I never would. When we were at Finchs landing, I saw that Aunt Alexandra had began to isolate Scout from Francis and myself ever since we moved to the big table. I was somewhat happy to be away from Scout, but then at the same time I missed her. Then one night Francis was talking to Scout about Dill and Atticus, calling them mean names. Then Scout went over and beat Francis. Then Francis tells Uncle Jack that Scout hit him, and without hearing Scout, he slaps her.

Journal #2 from the perspective of Dill

The school year for me was coming to an end. And it was time to go back to my Aunt Rachel's. I was very excited to see my friends, Jem and Scout. Wonder how this school year went for Scout. Wonder if that tyrant, Mrs. Dubose is still being a rotten egg. I am on my way from Mississippi to Maycomb County, Alabama. I can't wait to see Jem and Scout. When i got there Scout was graduated from the second grade, and Jem from the sixth. Scout told me how there is a tree by the Radley Place that had little secret treasures hidden inside it. She told me all about how there a a piece of gum inside it and another time there were two Indian head pennies inside it as well. Jem and Scout both thought that there was a person who hid in there or that someone knew they walked by the tree and left them something every time. I thought this whole thing was rather awkward. When i got there we played games and had a lot of fun. We all played in the tire and and when it was Scout's turn, she rolled in front of the Radley Place. Scout was a little freaked out about it. This event sparked an idea for Jem. Jem thought it would be a good idea to play the tales of Boo Radley. It was fun after a while. The more we played the more the play got better and soon we came up with a full blown drama about the Boo Radley story. Atticus wondered about the play, but Jem lied and said we were not involving the Radleys in any way.Jem and i were spending a lot of time together. He was a great person to hang out with, and he did a lot of quibbling. We became great friends. I noticed that Scout was spending a lot of her time at Miss Maudie's place. After Scout came home one day, she told us that Miss Maudie knew Boo Radley, and that in her opinion, he should be left alone minding his own business. She told Scout that Boo is still alive and that he was a victim to his father. She told us that his father was very religious, but said most people go to hell. Jem and I decide to come up with a plan where we will leave a note for Boo Radley to read. We went to the Radley Place and we used a fishing pole to get the note on the window sill. Atticus caught us doing our plan, and told us to "stop tormenting the man."It was my last day until I would go home to Mississippi, and Jem wanted more to do with the Radley Place. He and I went over there late at night to peek through the windows. The curtains were in the way, but we could see a little light through them. Suddenly I saw a shadow! It was a figure with a hat! In this time of great panic, me and Jem were unanimous to the fact of running, but we heard a gunshot behind us! Now we were really freaking out. We escape through the schoolyard and Jem's pants rip off from the fence. When they get home, everyone is there talking. They said that Mr. Nathan shot a Negro. Atticus asked where Jem's pants were. I quickly answer the question for Jem saying that I had won them in a game of strip poker. Jem was evasive. Later that night I found out that Jem went back there and found his pants lying neatly over the fence, stitched in a awful matter. Someone knew he was coming back.Well, it is time for me to go back to my home. Mississippi, here I come. I told Jem and Scout goodbye, and said my goodbye's to my Aunt Rachel. I would see Jem and Scout next summer, hope the year will go by fast.

Journal #1 from the perspective of Walter Cunningham

The summer of 1933 was a long and boring one. “There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County. But it was a time of vague optimism for some of the people: Maycomb County had recently been told that it had nothing to fear but fear itself”. It was the Great Depression, and being a member of the even poorer family living on the outskirts of town did not help me get by. I was constantly ridiculed by those around me as if I was even less of a person. On some level, I felt I understood what was going on to a great extent, but the truth was I was only 6 years old. Whenever, I opened my mouth to mama and ranted about our situation, she just hushed me and told me I was too little to understand. As the breeze of the autumn nights grew closer, it came to me that I would be beginning the 1st grade…the very thought of it made me clutch my stomach in sickness. I already had created everything it would be in my mind, and I truly loathed it. It seemed that the next time the sun raised itself, there I was walking towards my new school. I fingered a strap sewed onto a potato sack, or in other words, my book bag. My plan was to go about merely unnoticed and hope for little interaction with my fellow classmates and teacher. I walked in the door and they all stared at me like a cockroach scurrying on the floor. In the back of my mind, I prayed someone was standing behind me and they saw right through me, but that was a silly thought. So, I scurried to a desk that read “Walter Cunningham” in thick black letters. I was dazing out the window when I heard the sound of a lady’s heels walk through the desk. She stopped at my desk and as I looked up, a sweet and rather innocent face peered down at me, Miss Caroline. I knew that she was an unfamiliar face even before she said she was from a sketchy part of Alabama. She wasn’t like the rest of us, quite eccentric actually. She simply asked where my lunch was and I replied that I haven’t got one. Of course, sitting in rows of students with neatly folded paper bags, I most definitely stood out. I could have predicted what was going to come next, because she knew nothing about the families in Maycomb. She walked towards her purse and retrieved a quarter that reflected the light beams from the window. She told me she would lend it to me and her peppermint red lips swept into a smile. My heard stopped and my brain did a back flip. I felt an unimplied sense of intimidation thrust upon me. One thousand million thoughts raced through my tiny pea brain. I didn’t know to take it or to leave it. But, before my thoughts spilled from my mouth, Scout’s voice came from the back of the room with some strange pronouncement. That poor soul was trying to explain my lack of money but Miss Caroline stared at her like a chicken mooing. For about the third time that day, the only thing Scot had done was get herself in all kinds of trouble from the teacher. The bell rang, and the next instant I found myself inhaling dirt plagued by the hands of little children. Scouts hand was gripped firmly behind by neck and she was using all her force to lower my face as far down as possible until I was almost staring into the depths of hell. I’m not sure what I could have done that irked her so much. I could not see, but I felt the presence of other students encircling the scene she had created. I heard footsteps come near and then the faint sound of Jem’s voice. I prayed that he had come to save me from this malevolent little girl…and then her hand released.

Journal #7 from the perspective of Atticus

The morning after the case, I went to the kitchen for breakfast as usual. I see that Calpurnia had layed out a big breakfast with chicken and all sorts of different foods. I asked what all of this was for and she they're all comin' down and leavin' all this food because they want to thank you for all you have done and tried to do for Tom and his family. I was very grateful and told Cal to tell them that and to stop the nonsence. Cal said she would and I looked around the kitchen and everything was covered in a whole bunch off different foods. I was surprised how grateful they were and even though it's a depression they still try to thank me. I then decided to take a walk to the post office and just think about everything and have some quiet time. I was on the street corner and all of a sudden Mr. Ewell comes up and has this digusted look on his face. I knew he was going to do something because he is after all an Ewell. He started calling me horrible names and how dare I defend a negro, especially one that hurt hid daughter. I just stood there silently and waited for him to finish. He then spat in my face, which I have to say I did not expect and then he said he would get me back, no matter what. I just pulled my hankerchief out and wiped my face. I then thought to myself whatever he does to me, I will not do anything back because I took this case for my children and after it's over I'm not going to lose them because of some Ewell.

Journal #6 Chapters 16-19 from the perspective of Tom Robinson

I walked in the court room, very nervous. Atticus persecuted Heck Tate first. He told a brief story. It went like this; I see Mr. Ewell and he says he needs me fast. I got to his house and Mayella was laying on the floor terrified. She was beat up really badly and says Tom Robinson raped her. Strangely they did not feel the need to call the doctor. Then Atticus persectued Mr. Ewell, Mayellas dad. He was asking for the story in his words and Mr. Ewell gave one along the same lines as Heck Tate. Although there were some slight additions. Mr. Ewell said she had a black eye on her right eye which means that the person that probably hit her was left handed. He also said she had fingerprint bruises around her neck like someone was choking her. Mr. Ewell also confirmed he had seen Tom Robinson run out as soon as he got to the house and that is why they know for sure who it was. Then Attticus asked Mr. Ewell a strange questions. He said can you read and write? Mr. Ewell said yes. So Atticus asked him to write his name on a piece of paper. Mr. Ewell did so and it turned out he was left handed. Then Atticus was done. He asked for Mayella next and she told her story of how she invited me in to her gate because she needed some little work done. She was going to get a nickel and she says I followed her then tackled her and raped her in her house. That was not at all true. She couldn't remember everything perfectly but she supposedly said I overturned furniture and made lots of messes and I would not let her go. Then when her dad got there she said I reaced out the door. She then said Mr. Ewell turned and asked her who did it? Who did it? As of when Atticus asked Mr. Ewell his story, he said he had seen who it was. Mayella is a very different person. The Ewells have not so good of reputation and al their kids only go to school for the longest time being 3 years. They are pretty trashy whites and they like to hang around and with the black community. Mr. Ewell as well had mixed children who fit in anywhere and he is always drunk or drinking, ever since his ex-fiance killed herself right before their wedding. Now it was my turn to go tell my story. The real story, the truth. I stood up and Mr. Ewell was definately shocked, Mayella, and all the people in the court room that didn't know me were too. See when I was a boy I was working on a field by the cotton gin and my arm got stuck and ripped tissue and muscle so my arm didn't grow anymore and I have no ability or strength whatsoever in my left arm. I got to the stand and this is my story; I was walking along Mayellas street when she invited me in because she needed a chore done. Although this time she needed it in her house. To do so I needed to stand on the top of the chair. While I was standing there Mayella grabbed my ankles and I fell off and the chair overturned. She grabbed me and kissed me and told me to kiss her and wouldn't let me leave. She was holding me in very much and I do not have that much strength to let go because of my handicap. Everyone seemed intrigued and the story went on. I then said Mr. Ewell walked up and immediately saw me and I ran. Now all of the furniture they were complaining about being overturned was just the chair and I just explained ehy that happened. I ran because I was scared. I was scared because if you were a nigger to you would be scared to be amongst white people in that kind of situation. Atticus then asked me multiple questions about Mayella and our relationship. I went on about how I have been to her property many of times but that was the first time I ever was in her house. I was on her property before because she asked me come and help with little chores and things that I was happy to do, she seemed like a nice young lady. Every time I was on her property it was from an invitation, never once did I enter without being invited. I pass by the Ewells house everyday on my way to work. Atticus then said thank you and he had no further questions.

Journal #5 chapter 13-15 from the perspective of Aunt Alexandra

I arrived at my brothers door in the afternoon one day with luggage and all. Scout and Jem and their nanny was home. Scout and Jem apparently didn't know I was coming to stay with them for a while because they were shocked to see me. I explained why I was staying and it was because Atticus called me asking if I would come live with them for a while because the two of them were growing up and they needed a female influence. During the days when I was home I about the neighborhood and trying to fit in as much as possible, which I think is going pretty well. I had coffee with some of the neighbors and got together with some of the ladies. Since the family had no mom and Calpurnia certainly wasn't a good fit, I tried to take a little more control and be helpful to the family. A few days later Scout asked Atticus if she could go to Calpurnia's house one Sunday because Calpurnia said she would be delighted to have her any time. Before Atticus could answer I yelled NO to Scout. Then like a reflex Scout yelled back, "I didn't ask you!" Atticus made her apologize but I could tell she really wasn't sorry. That night Jem and Scout started fighting because Jem was trying to tell Scout what to do and how if she has to listen to Calpurnia, Atticus and now Aunt Alexandra then she has to listen to him. Atticus and I heard them fighting and we went to their room. Atticus then told Scout she only had to listen to Jem if he could make her. I didn't understand what he meant. When they went to bed a couple minutes later they called Atticus in. I just silently watched the whole thing and Dill was hiding under Scouts bed and he ran away because his parents weren't being respectful to him. Dill wanted to spend the night. Atticus went to tell Miss Rachel he was here, he didn't want him to but Atticus did the right thing and asked her if he could spend the night. Miss Rachel said Dill's parents called to see where he was and that they were worried sick, Miss Rachel was very happy we told her. Dill slept over at our house. Later that week the day came of the Tom Robinson case.

Journal #4 Chapters 10-11 from the perspective of Atticus

It is a sin to kill a mockingbird, Scout. All mockingbirds do is sing for people, they don't mess with your stuff or ruin anything they just create pleasure for people so why kill them? Thta's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird Scout. I had gotten Scout and Jem a gun for Christmas and I was explaining to her what she could shoot and mockingbirds are not allowed. The a couple days later at work i recieve a phone call from Calpurnia explaining that Tim Johnson, "the mad dog" was out about on my street heading down it slowly. I rushed home and along with me was sheriff Heck Tate. Everyone in the neighborhood was locked up in their houses watching Tim to see what would happen next. He was inching closer so we had to act fast and I told Heck to shoot him already but he just wouldn't, then he told me he couldn't shoot that far so he gave me the gun and told me to do it, to kill Tim Johnson. I had no choice so I jumped in the middle of the street and then Tim noticed me with the most peril eyes, I shot. Everyone looked contemporarily. Mad dog was lying in the street, dead. I then go inside and Scout and Jem come out to meet me, they were very surprised but happy that I shot him, almost like they were surprised I could do something. Later that week, Jem had saved up his money so him and Scout walked into town to buy something, Jem was kind enough to but Scout a baton she had been eyeing for a while. On their way to town, Ms. Dubos a some what crotchety lady lived on the street and when the kids passed her she was always mean. Although this time she complained about how I am a "nigger lover" and Jem got pretty mad. On the way back from town Ms. Dubos was not on her porch, Jem grabbed Scout's baton from her and snapped it in half. Jem then furiously ripped up lots of her flowers and her whole from yard. Scout didn't know what had overcome Jem and she started screaming at him. Jem wanted her to be quiet so he threw her on the floor and kicked her. They went home in silence. When I got home that evening I walked in holding the dirt covered broken baton and some flower pedals. I asked Jem if he was responsible for it and he said yes. I made him go over to Ms. Dubos and apologize. Ms. Dubos gave him a punishment of having to go over to her house every day for a month and read to her. A month after his reading days were over I got a phone call after work one day saying if I could please go over to Ms. Dubos's house. When I arrived Ms. Dubos had a candy box for me. It was for Jem and it had the flowers he tore up in it. The thing was, that Ms. Dubos was dying. She is a morphine addict and it was killing her. That night she died. I gave Jem the box and when he opened it he was furious. He was furious that he could not believe she still thought of that day Jem did that. A second later after being mad Jem ran into my arms and had great sympathy for her because she was a great lady. The only reason Ms. Dubos sent him that stuff was to show that she finally forgave him.