When I was reading To Kill A Mocking Bird, I found in the first chapter this analogy about a turtle. I found it rather funny, but I want to know what you thin about it. Here it is:
"Dill, you have to let me think about these things," Jem said. "Lemme think a minute. . . it's sort of like making a turtle come out. . ."
"How's that?" asked Dill.
"Strike a match under him."
I told Jem if he set fire to the Radley house I was going to tell Atticus on him.
Dill said striking a match under a turtle was hateful.
"Ain't hateful, just persuades him- 's not like you'd chuck him in the fire," Jem growled.
"Were you ever a turtle?"
When I read that it just stood out to me. I thought that was a little random but it does help to explain that Jem was afraid or nervous about touching or going up to the house. I dont know about you but I thought it was funny. And does anyone know if turtles can feel things that hit or touch the belly side of their shells? Just a random thought!
"Dill, you have to let me think about these things," Jem said. "Lemme think a minute. . . it's sort of like making a turtle come out. . ."
"How's that?" asked Dill.
"Strike a match under him."
I told Jem if he set fire to the Radley house I was going to tell Atticus on him.
Dill said striking a match under a turtle was hateful.
"Ain't hateful, just persuades him- 's not like you'd chuck him in the fire," Jem growled.
"Were you ever a turtle?"
When I read that it just stood out to me. I thought that was a little random but it does help to explain that Jem was afraid or nervous about touching or going up to the house. I dont know about you but I thought it was funny. And does anyone know if turtles can feel things that hit or touch the belly side of their shells? Just a random thought!
4 comments:
well ill bet that if you light a match under a turtle, hell come out, and bite you. hmmmm...
Poor turtle!!!
I can not imagine that anyone would want to light a match under a turtle. i mean who would think of something like that?
I think out of all of this, my favorite line is, "I told Jem if he set fire to the Radley house I was going to tell Atticus on him." Because, you know, Atticus or the whole block wouldn't be able to tell the house was on fire. :] I don't think that this passage says that he's nervous about going up to the house, but it's talking more about how Dill challenged Jem to make Boo Radley get out of the house. I think that's why they use the turtle example. The boys are talking about how it's difficult to get a turtle out of his shell, so Jem suggest that to get a turtle out of it's shell you have to light a match underneath it which leads to another little boy argument. That's what I think it means, but I would have to go back and look at the paragraph before and after this one to really be able to tell.
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