Monday, October 8, 2018
Explain the Mrs. Merriweather’s quote "I tell you there are some good but misguided people in this town.”What is she talking about? (Ja'Niya)
When Mrs. Merriweather says “There are some good but misguided people in this town,” she is showing her disapproval of Atticus. She feels that Atticus is “misguided” because he believes in Tom’s innocence. This was during Aunt Alexander's missionary circle tea party that she was hosting at Atticus's house. Mrs. Merriweather felt that Atticus stirred up the black community by defending Tom. "Folks in this town who think they're doing right, I mean... but all they did was stir them up."(Lee 311). Since Tom's trial, the black community was grieving, including Mrs. Merriweather cook Sophy. Mrs. Merriweather felt that Atticus stirred the African-Americans up because now they are all sulky and "Dissatisfied". Mrs. Merriweather sees herself as this wonderful generous Christian woman, so she thinks she's being generous because she didn't fire Sophy for grieving. "I tell you if my Sophy's kept it up another day I'd have to let her go...only reason I keep her is that this depression's on..." (Lee 312) Mrs. Merriweather feels that Sophy shouldn't be grieving around her because she is doing a huge favor for giving her money but yet isn't allowing her to grieve about the trail. Overall, Mrs. Merriweather was referring to how Atticus stood up for Tom and ended up making the black community "sulky".
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I think its interesting that the ladies think that Tom's family should go to church more often because they dont tend to associate themselves with the black community in Macomb. When Scout asked Mrs. Merriweather who she was talking about, she said "May-? No, child. That darky's wife. Tom's wife, Tom-" (Lee 310). Scout was confused because usually, the ladies would talk about what is happening in the white community and now that they were talking about Tom and his wife, Scout couldnt tell who they were talking about.
ReplyDeleteP.S: the first quote is also from page 311.
I agree, Mrs. Merriweather believes that Atticus and his supporters are ultimately good people, who have just been misled by African American people. When the ladies are all talking about the effect that the outcome of Tom Robinson's trial had on their various black housekeeping staff, Mrs. Merriweather told Sophy, "You simply are not being a Christian today'...she took her eyes off that floor and said, 'Nome, Miz Merriweather, Jesus never went around grumblin'." (Lee 310) Mrs. Merriweather doesn't think the African Americans of her community deserve to be emotional over the outcome of the trial, and she thinks going to church and acting more Christian will "fix" them, connecting to what Rohan said.
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