17- 21 Summarizer

Well, me again. When I was reading the book this time, a thought crossed my mind. What were the settings of this section? The settings were the inside of the courtroom, and the balcony where all the Negroes sat, and the large oak tree where Dill and Scout found Mr. Dolphus Raymond.Then I thought, what are the important events? Well, There was Mayella's cross- examination and the part where Tom lost the case. These events were important. Mayella's cross-examination is important because it seemed like her cross-examination had clinched the case in Atticus's favor, and when Tom's case had been failed was important because Tom would be hanged for what he "did."  These events affect the plot and characters deeply. Mayella's cross-examination made Jem think that the case was theirs for sure, and everything seemed that there was no way the case can go wrong. Then the other event happened. Tom's case had been failed. Scout could tell, because the jury wouldn't look at Tom as they came in, which means he's been voted guilty. Obviously, Tom would die for this choice, and Jem was angry about how unfair this all was, and Atticus was sad about losing the case after he had fought so hard to win.  The mood in this section is mad, sad, and anxious. The tone was dark and moody.  Our literature circle's discussion was of medium length and deep. We had no arguments about our assigned questions, and when we finished those, we had discussed the book on our own a little bit, about how we felt while reading it. Then we read the white page questions. We had a little more discussion on those questions, but overall we had a 40 minute discussion. As I read, I realized that the court had failed Tom's case. Tom hadn't done anything. That makes him a mockingbird, and he will most likely die because of the juries choice. We still do this today in the courts. They get a black vs. white case, and they pass the white case 95% of the time. So racism is alive and well in the courts, just hidden behind fancy names.