Today's focus was the maturation of Scout's older brother ,Jem, and the moral character of Atticus Finch as both are framed by the trial. We first noted that the novel contains a feint of a plot climax and resolution in the trial and its aftermath. Yet, the plot continues with a new series of rising actions, the dispute with the Ewells . We also noted examples of both realism and its absence in the novel.Bobby examined the dialogue between Miss Maudie and Jem wherein Jem learns that the people of Maycomb are not the best people, just the safest. We discussed the significance of this characterization , and the metaphor of Jem living in a cocoon prior to seeing the lurking but inexorable racism in the jury verdict. We examined how Atticus Finch alone stands against this racism, alone decides not to be "safe" and ,as such ,he is like Boo Radley and Mayella Ewell who are also alone but for different reasons. On this topic I placed the first sentence of a paragraph in Bobby's notebook which he will complete for homework by supporting the topic sentence with examples from the text.