In chapter
eight, Miss Maudie's house burns down and the whole neighborhood goes out in the middle of the
night to see if they can help her with anything and the children witness it. Jem andlove Miss
Maudie and worry about her well-being and how she will recover from such a devastating loss.
When the children ask her about it, though--just like the good-natured person that she is--she
doesn't let the children worry about her. She gives them the most positive response she
has:
"Always wanted a smaller house, . Gives me more
yard. Just think, I'll have more room for my azaleas now!" (73).
Scout is surprised at Miss Maudie's answer and asks why she's not
grieving. Maudie calls her house an old cow barn and thought she should have set fire to it
before this happened. She continues to tell Scout not to worry because she'll build a small
house, take on some roomers, and she'll have "the finest yard in Alabama"
(73).
Miss Maudie values looking on the bright side of things. She is always
the one who identifies the positive in every situation and she's not naive, either. She can
critically analyze a situation and diagnose the truth in it; but, she won't let that keep her
away from seeing the best possibilities in a difficult situation. She also thinks about other
people's feelings as seen how she calms the children's concerns with her upbeat attitude. The
children are lucky to have such a good role model in their neighborhood to learn good values
from.
No comments:
Post a Comment