This year in sophomore English we completed the book To Kill A Mockingbird. One of the famous quotes from the book talks about seeing things from another persons perspective. To get a better understanding of that quote we each drew a character and were told to make/ design a pair of shoes that represent that character. We also had to write an essay further explaining the character and our shoes. This is what the final project looked like.
In To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Scout and Jem learn many lessons. Most of lessons begin to take place after Scout begins school. Scout’s first day starts of rough, she´s ¨…starting of on the wrong foot in every way…¨ in the words of Miss Caroline Fisher. Scout’s 1st grade teacher is new to Maycomb and is fresh out of college. Throughout the day Scout kept trying to explain Maycomb ways to Miss Caroline but Miss Caroline miss understood and Scout would in trouble. When Scout came home from school that evening she tried to convince her father that she was sick and she didn’t need to go back to school. Atticus saw right through the lie. After Scout was done explaining why she didn’t want to go back to school Atticus gave Scout and every reader the best advice a person can learn; ¨You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view– –until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.¨ What I noticed when I walked around in Miss Caroline´s skin was that she is a young hardworking women just trying to get a grasp on her life.
Miss Caroline was beautiful. You didn’t need to see to be inside her skin to see that. ¨Miss Caroline was no more than twenty-one. She had bright auburn hair, pink cheeks, and wore crimson fingernail polish. She wore high-heeled pumps and a red-and-white-striped dress.¨ (page 21) This would be why the pedestal is red and white striped and a bottle of nail polish sitting on top of it. l¨She looked and smelled like a peppermint drop.¨ (page 21) Hopefully you can still smell the drop of peppermint extract I put on the shoes, if not maybe the smell of the peppermint candy will be strong enough. ¨She boarded across the street one door down from us in Miss Maudie Atkinson´s upstairs front room, and when Miss Maudie introduced us to her Jem was in a haze for days.¨ (page 21) Jem was awfully fond of Miss Caroline, however, Scout was not as thrilled about her.
Scout wasn’t pleased with Miss Caroline because she wanted Atticus and her to stop reading. Miss Caroline was trying to teach with hands-on learning, not out of the book. Miss Caroline was afraid that if Scout and Atticus continued to read Scout wouldn’t be able to learn the proper way. During the school day Scout and Miss Caroline have multiple quarrels about various subjects. These quarrels are represented by a cootie bug, a quarter and a ruler on edge of the pedestal because Miss Caroline becomes exhausted with dealing with Scout and ¨whips¨ her with a ruler. The quarrel that set Miss Caroline off was when Scout tried explaining to Miss Caroline why Walter Cunningham did not have a lunch and why he would not accept her quarter. The quarter on the box represents the first piece of Maycomb knowledge Miss Fisher received. Custom number one was that the Cunninghams didn’t take anything from anybody if they couldn’t repay them. Custom two she learned was that the Ewells only come to school for the first day and that they are a force to be reckoned with. She learn that after a cootie crawled out of Burris´ hair and she commanded him to go home and wash his hair. While Burris was leaving the school he said some very hurtful words to Miss Caroline who began to cry for the second time that day. The first time Miss Caroline cried was when Miss Blount came to the 1st grade room to tell them they needed to keep it down because they were laughing. The bell rang and the kids left for lunch. Scout was the last one to leave and she saw Miss Caroline bury her head in defeat.
Luckily Miss Caroline´s second year of teaching was better than her first. Her second year of teaching was full of laughter. Miss Caroline was finally able to get a grasp on her new life at Maycomb and now hopefully you have a grasp on who Miss Caroline is.
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