“Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.”
This line in particular struck me as meaningful, because implies not only how naturally reading comes to Scout, but also how necessary she views it to her being. I believe that it also said something about Scout’s character in the fact that, when told that she should not read, she did try to stop. She resented it horribly, wanted to drop out of school even, but she did do what Miss Caroline asked. Just as how when their father forbid them from mocking Boo Radley in their games, it was Jem who thought of a way around that restriction, and it was Scout who felt guilty about the whole thing.
While maybe mislead, I believe that Jean actually liked to read, and that she did not want to quit school because she hated school and the associated reading, but instead for the reason that Miss Caroline was hard on her and told her to basically end a tradition with her father that she seemed to enjoy. I came to this conclusion because when Jean is telling her father about how school went, their compromise would be that they would keep reading together and not tell Miss Caroline, if Jean did not like reading she would want to listen to her teacher more wouldn't she?
ReplyDeleteI don't believe that Scout disliked reading, merely that she- as is stated in the book- didn't know what it meant to her until she had to stop.
ReplyDeleteI didn't really think about how much reading meant to Scout until I read your post. I agree that until it was taken from her, reading was simply something that came naturally to her and made her who she was. She had such a vivid imagination and was extremely smart for her age.
ReplyDeleteOMG I forgot about this quote! I struck me as well when I was reading it. I feel as if now I take being able to read for granted and I made me appreciate with Scout even more. But I'm still puzzled by what Miss Caroline said about Scout's father's teaching. To me reading is just reading and I don't quite understand how Miss Caroline's teachings differ from Atticus.
ReplyDeleteI'm still a little fuzzy on that myself, but we ARE seeing this from Scout's perspective, and in her narrative she may be neglecting some underlying issue.
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