This semester I get to teach a writing and reading class to
two middle school boys. (There are really three guys in the class but the third
student is a hybrid of Disney dwarves Sleepy and Dopey. He either doesn’t show
up to class or is sleeping). We’ve been reading
To Kill a Mockingbird. [Frustratingly, I chose that book because
the narcoleptic student has to read it for his English class so I thought it
would be beneficial that he get extra exposure to it. Yet he has no clue what
is going on…] I remember struggling through the book myself as a 7
th
grader in Mrs. Pyka’s class. The book is much funnier and significant for me
this second time around. I also admire Atticus much more now then when I was a
13-year-old chillin. It is difficult explaining the cultural context of the
story at times. We usually have our computers up if they need to translate a
word or ‘image search’ something. Last week I was with my two faithful middle
schoolers (the snoozing senior was MIA) and we were at the start of the trial.
Scout describes the scene outside the courthouse comparing the congregation of
white audience members versus black. Before they enter the courthouse Scout
observes the whites massed together picnicking and remarks
“Greasy-faced children popped-the-whip through the crowd, and babies
lunched at their mother’s breast.”
It was about break time for me and I was feeling a bit silly
so I asked the younger of of the two guys what ‘breast’ meant and he didn’t
know. As a hint I asked him again and gently pinched his nipple through his
shirt a couple times. He didn’t catch the hint, just giggled. I turned to the
other boy and he appeared slightly uncertain he leaned forward to do a Google
search. But I embarrassingly rushed to cover his keyboard. Lord knows what he
would have turned up.
Not relevant to my story but one of my favorite quotes from the whole book.
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