Dtek Industries

Well, I am going slowly, obviously--in fact, I have not read a word this time around without Scout sitting quietly in my arms--and those chances are few and far between. Nevertheless, here are a few great lines from Atticus in Chapter 11:

"Scout,...when summer comes you'll have to keep your head about far worse things . . . it's not fair for you and Jem, I know that, but sometimes we have to make the best of things, and the way we conduct ourselves when the chips are down--well, all I can say is, when you and Jem are grown, maybe you'll look back on this with some compassion and some feeling that I didn't let you down. This case, Tom Robinson's case, is something that goes to the very essence of a man's conscience--Scout, I couldn't go to church and worship God if I didn't try to help that man."

"They're certainly entitled to think that, and they're entitled to full respect for their opinions,...but before I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience."

"I do my best to love everybody. . . I'm hard put, sometimes--baby, it's never an insult to be called what somebody thinks is a bad name. It just shows you how poor that person is, it doesn't hurt you."

"I wanted you to see something about her--I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what."

i'm having a great time with this book, taking it in totally differently than i did as a teenager...

most importantly, the parenting aspects are hitting home hard: Atticus with Scout and Jem.

i just finished the scene where the kids half-wittedly jump to Atticus' defense from the lynching mob outside of the jailhouse. the interaction between Scout and Atticus really tore me up.