In these chapters, The characters are introduced and are given personalities. The author goes in depth to describe how the characters live and interact with each other. I found it interesting that the people who lived in Maycomb County were very stereotypical and brutally honest about all that occupy the County. For example, Burris Ewell was from the poor part of town. He didn't have much money to his name but was a gentleman and all the town knew it. Burris wasn't ashamed of where he comes from of his financial situation but kids at school talked about him and no one found it weird.
One thing that I found interesting about this book is how people spoke in this time period. The characters all have southern accents like on page 29 when Calpurnia, the maid, is speaking to the kids. She says, "But one of you's always in callin' distance. I wonder how much of the day I spend just callin' after you. Well, it's enough time to make a pan of cracklin bread, I reckon. You run along now and let me get supper on the table." This was one of the few times that Calpurnia was ever nice to Scout but it shows the type of grammar that people used during this time period in the south. I found it surprising that women used southern slang. In a time period when women were expected to be prim and proper you hear women that slur their words and talk like the uneducated.
On page 33 is my favorite passage in the book so far. "Two live oaks stood at the edge of the Radley lot; their roots reached out into the side-road and made it bumpy. Something about one of the trees attracted my attention. Some tinfoil was sticking in a knot-hole just above my eye level, winking at me in the afternoon sun. I stood on tiptoe, hastily looked around once more, reached into the hole, and withdrew two pieces of chewing gum minus their outer wrappers. My first impulse was to get it into my mouth as quickly as possible, but I remembered where I was. I ran home, and on our front porch I examined my loot. The gum looked fresh. I sniffed it and it smelled all right. I licked it and waited for a while. When I did not di I crammed it into my mouth: Wrigley's Double-Mint."
Do you remember the joy of having chewing gum as a child? It was like a form of currency in my elementary school years. Pull out a piece of gum and everyone was instantly your best friend. The only catch in this story is that if I found two pieces of gum in a tree, I wouldn't eat them. Who knows where they came from or how long they have been there? Any kid now-a-days would question weather it was safe to eat. I think that Boo put the gum in the tree as a sort of peace treaty or to trick the kids.
If I could ask the author a question, I would want answers as to why she chose to make the characters personalities as they are. I noticed that Jem is more responsible and grown up than his sister Scout, like how he is the one that tells her to spit out the gum because it might be tainted, and I would want to know why she chose to make him that way. It is different than any book Ive read because it is stereotypical that most girls are more mature than guys.
Overall, I believe that chapters one through five do a good job at introducing the setting of Maycomb. The characters are also thoroughly described in their beliefs and personalities.
