Sam

3/4/10

English

Essay 17

Ladies and Gentleman:

An Important Practice

In the world today, simple things like men being curteous to women have almost disappeared in parts of the country. Just a few decades ago, around the time of the book To Kill a Mocking Bird, being curteous to women was part of daily life.

TS-I definitely think that being a lady and gentleman are a major theme all throughout the book To Kill A Mocking Bird. SD- I do think Atticus is a gentleman. Atticus is polite to all ladies, including Ms. Dubose, an old snappy lady. CM-When Jem wrecked all of Ms. Dubose’s camellia buds because she was trash talking Atticus, he made Jem go over to Mr. Dubose’s house and apologize. CM-Mr. Finch could have easily told Jem not to worry about it, but he made his own son pay for his mistake. SD- Jem Finch is definitely in training to become a gentleman. CM- Ruining Ms. Dubose’s flowers was not the gentleman thing to do. However, when Atticus asked Jem if he committed the crime of ruining the camellias, Jem replied, “Yes Sir”. CM-The gentleman thing to do is own up to your mistakes and suffer the consequences.CM-Like his father, Jem is slowly learning the ways of being a gentleman. SD-The biggest gentleman in the whole story is Little Chuck Little.CM- In the class room, Little Chuck Little assists Ms. Cunningham when she saw a cootie. Little Chuck Little really knows how to calm down Ms. Cunningham, “Now don’t you fret , ma’am, he said”. Unlike the other kids he really helped his teacher out. CS-Like a gentleman Little Chuck Little helped Ms. Cunningham, like a gentleman Atticus complements Ms. Dubose, and like a gentleman Jem confessed to wrecking Ms. Dubose camellia’s.

TS- Being a gentleman are some skills that I still need work on. SD- One major area that needs to be improved to be a gentleman are my eating habits and manners at the table. CM- While eating, my family has always been annoyed at how fast and messy I eat. CM- At home I am a complete slob when I eat, but when in public I tend to be more conscious. SD- Another non-gentleman habit of mine is not holding the door for my mother and other women who are outside the Pine Point campus. CM- At school I always put out an extra effort to hold a door, but once outside of school I forget about the simple courtesy of holding a door. CM- Now, Little Chuck Little or Atticus would not be happy with my manners. SD- On the other hand, one of my gentlman characteristics is respect for other people, particularly not being outspoken.CM- I like to keep my opinions about other people to myself, that means not being judgmental of their life. CM- In the book To Kill a Mocking Bird, the character that relates to me in the way of not being outspoken and quiet is Mr. Radley who minds his own business(loose sentence). CS- I think I am a gentleman in a few ways, but still have work ahead of me.

After reading To Kill a Mocking Bird, my eyes have been opened to the importance of gentleman's manners towards a lady, especially in public. When reading about Little Chuck Little's manners toward Ms. Cunningham, I was very impressed. It motivated me to work harder at these gentleman skills.

Self Assessment-

I think this is going to be one of my best essays. I put a lot of time into writing it, and putting effort into my ideas. I also took my time carefully reading over my writing, correcting the many silly mistakes I tend to make. I put out some good ideas and made some good points about being a gentleman. Lastly, I did a good job relating the book To Kill a Mocking Bird to my own life.