Journal #5, Chapters 13-15, Perspective of Scout

I can’t believe that Aunt Alexandra is going to stay with us, I wouldn’t mind if she came to visit every once in a while. But when she said that she was going to stay with us for a while I got worried. In Maycomb a little while could be anywhere from 3 days to 3 years. I think that she is coming because she wants to turn me into a lady, that likes clothes and boys and I think that she is trying to turn Jem into an older adult.

Aunt Alexandra has adapted extremely well to Maycomb. She talks to people like she has known them for her whole life, she treats us like she is our mom, and she is trying to get rid of Cal. I heard Atticus talking with Aunt Alexandra and she thinks that Cal should leave because she can take the place of her. I have gotten a lot closer to Cal, and I think of her more then a cook, I think of her as a really good friend. Aunt Alexandra has also brought strange cousins that I have never met before into our house for tea over the summer. I think that Aunt Alexandra needs to go back to her home with Uncle Jack, because we were doing just fine without her and I don’t think that she is needed her at all.

Another problem has occurred. One night I was talking with Jem for a little and then we got into a fight and Atticus told us both to go and get in bed. When I was walking in my dark room I stepped on something, but I had no clue what it was. Jem went downstairs to get a broom and to really see if there was anything under my bed, and there was, it was Dill. I had a feeling he was going to have some fantastic story for me about how he escaped a prison where his father put him or something else like that. He didn’t though, he stole 30 dollars from his mom and rode on a train to get here, just as simple as that, no escaping or anything along with his story. After a pleading letter to his mother he was allowed to stay one week before having to go back home. The time that Dill spent with me was great, we stayed out of Aunt Alexandra’s way, and Jem was to old to play with us but he did help us put a new ladder on the tree house.

One evening Atticus was called outside by a whole bunch of men from town and they were all standing around him in a circle. I could hear the conversation but I had no clue what they were talking about. I think it had to do something with the court case, and Tom. Something scares me about them and I don’t know what is going to happen to Atticus or Tom. Later that night Atticus told us that he was going to town and won’t be back till were asleep. I don’t know what to think of that but I have a feeling that it isn’t a good thing. Jem awoke me with the light in his room and I asked him what he was doing and he said that he was going into town to go and look for Atticus and I told him that I was coming with him no madder what. He gave up and said that I could come and on the way we stopped by Dill’s house and asked if he wanted to come. We entered town and saw Atticus leaning against the jailhouse. We waited there hiding and saw many cars coming all in a row, they parked right in front of the court house and got out in pairs of two or three. They were talking for a while when I decide to run to him. When I got there I realized that I didn’t know any of them besides Mr. Cunningham and he didn’t seem to know me. I stood quiet for a while when they all left the same way that they came. I didn’t know what to think of that night or what to expect from those men but I know that everything will turn out all right in the end.

Journal #4, Chapters 10-12, Perspective of Mrs. Dubose

I am not very fond of the Finches, and for that matter, everyone else on the block. I am an old woman that lives by myself and many people contradict me for who I actually am. I don’t like to be thought as a mean person I just say what I believe is wrong and what is right. I fell that I am inconspicuous with everyone in this whole stupid town.

I hate the Finches, Scout, Jeremy and Atticus for everything that they have done to me and to this town. I hate Scout because she is a lady that shouldn’t be wearing overalls, she should be wearing a dress and playing with dolls. Scout also acts like her contemporaries are the same as Jem even though she is way younger. Scout doesn’t respect me or mostly anyone else and another thing, is that she calls her father Atticus and not dad. I dislike Jem because he is a snotty little boy who doesn’t understand most things, and he acts like he knows it all, but the worst of them all is Atticus. He is a lawyer and he defends people but he shouldn’t be defending a Negro in a court case against a white person. I am not the only one that thinks this and I don’t think I will ever be when Atticus loses that court case. This just shows how bad the Finches are.

One afternoon I see Jem and Scout walking past my house and I start telling them about their dad and other things about them. They are walking past me like I am inaudible, and that they don’t even care what I am saying. Till they stop and they are yelling at me and I am an old women trying to defend myself. When Scout and Jem walk away I can see the peril in Jem’s eyes. I decide to go back into my house and take a nap. An hour and a half pass when I hear a ruckus outside and I wonder if Jem had come back to mess with me, so I waited inside my house till he was out of sight.

I stepped out onto my porch and all of my flowers have been destroyed, pots were lying on the floor and I could see the flower petals scattered on my porch. I didn’t know what to say to this but on Atticus trip down to his house I stopped him and told Jem everything that he had done. Atticus had assured me that he was going to send Jem back here and I can think of a punishment. Day after day I have the same stupid routine, and I wanted to mix it up a little bit. I don’t know how to read because I just never learned how to, and that is when I came up with the perfect punishment for Jem.

Everyday since a month ago I have been making Jem come and read to me for the afternoon. I zone out whenever he is here and I don’t listen to the things that he is reading or any other things that he might of said all of those afternoons. The month had come to an end when I still wanted at least one more week, with him reading to me. He did and when his time had come I knew that it was going to get very lonely in this place again.

A month later I knew my days were over, one thing that I did hope though was that the world kept moving when I had passed away, I felt that the world was coming to an end. I called Atticus over to tell him some of my finial words and then…