When Scout asks Aunt Alexandra if she can invite over Walter Cunningham, she responds with, "he will never be in this house unless it is for business... I'll tell you why. Because—he—is—trash" (Lee 301). Aunt Alexandra does not like people like the Cunninghams. She thinks that Scout will learn and do bad things from and with Walter. She thinks that anyone with a bad background is trash. In Walter Cunningham's case, he comes from a family who cannot read and write, so she does not want scout to be friends with him. Atticus on the other hand, likes the Cunninghams. He says once they respect someone, they never forget. He says, "They left that night [when they went to kill Tom] with considerable respect for the Finches" (Lee 298). Atticus does not define a person by their background (family history). People Atticus thinks are trash are people like the Ewells because they do not do what is right. Atticus says to Jem, "as you grow older, you'll see white men cheat on black men every day… that white man is trash" (Lee 295). Atticus is stating here that if a white man cheats a black man because they think they are superior, the white man is trash. The Ewells are a great example of this because they got away charging Tom for rape, even though all that happened was Bob Ewell beating his daughter. These are Atticus's and Aunt Alexandra's definitions of trash.
What is your definition of trash in relation to the scene?
I think Atticus' thought about "Trash" makes way more sense thank Aunt Alexandria's. I disagree with Aunt Alexandria because people change; They do not act the same way as there elders did. Some do, but most learn from the bad there elders have done in the past. Atticus makes a lot more sense. He basically says that "Trash" should be judged on how THEY act, not how anybody else has acted in the past.
ReplyDeleteMy definition, similar to Mitch's, is like a judges perspective. I don't think about the family's reputation, however I think about how the person himself acts. Walter Cunningham doesn't have the nicest family ever, but he himself is not a bad person. Aunty thinks people are bad people by their background, but Atticus thinks of it by how they themselves act.
ReplyDeleteMy definition of trash is much like Atticus' I think it's the way someone treats others. If a person has no sympathy for what others feelings then I don't feel like they're a good person. In my opinion trash is a very harsh word, and the way Aunt Alexandria puts it is bad. Reading the book I've realized that all she does is look down on other people, and try to make the Finch name higher up. She and Atticus are very different in many ways, and in one are the way they view life.
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