FINAL DRAFT

Cassy

Mr. Salsich

September 23, 2009

8 English

Pride:
The Positives and Negatives

TS Pride is the motif of chapter two in To Kill A Mockingbird. CM There are negative types of pride, and you are all fortunate enough to hear the positive type of pride that exists in our world. CM There is often too much negative pride in the world. CS Pride is a very powerful word that has a meaning that can either hurt or heal people.

TS In chapter two of To Kill A Mockingbird , pride is a very obvious theme. SD For example, the Cunninghams don't borrow anything when they know that they can't pay it back. CM Walter's teacher tries to help by buying him lunch: " 'Here's a quarter,' she said to Walter. 'Go and eat downtown today. You can pay me back tomorrow.' Walter shook his head. 'Nome thank you ma'am,' he drawled softly" (Lee, page 25). This quote really reflects pride because Walter is showing his family rule to not take what they can't pay back. CM Scout has to make the teacher realize that the Cunninghams do not have enough money and they won't accept money for lunch or anything else: "They never took anything off of anybody, they get along with what they have" (Lee, page 26). SD Walter's family, the Cunninghams, have a lot of pride to be able to turn down money offers. CM If I were in Scout's shoes, I would realize what a very honest family they are to admitting that they are poor by turning down offers of money. CM If I were the Cunninghams, it would be extremely hard for me to turn down someone's offer no matter how hungry I was. SD Finally, if you really want to know how hard it is to be so poor that you can't possibly afford lunch, you would have to be in the Cunningham's shoes to feel hunger. CM Imagine how hard it must have been to starve everyday of the year. It is very depressing to know that other people aren't fortunate enough to have lunch everyday. CM It will never be possible for me to experience what Walter's family felt while they got to see people eat all their meals everyday and when they barely ate one meal a day. CS Because the Cunninghams weren't as eduacated, they had less access to opportunities to earn money, and yet they kept their pride.

TS Most pride is about self-centered people, but mine is more of a positive pride. SD For example, a couple years ago I saved up money in my allowance to contribute to an organization. CM I ended up raising $200 and eventually went to the G.I.V.E. committee at Pine Point and asked if we could have a dress-down day to raise money for the organization I chose. CM The organization that I chose was the Smile Train which is organization that helps raise money to fix cleft lips. SD The dress-down day ended up as a success. CM I had great pride in myself when I found out that we raised enough money to help many kids fix their cleft lips who couldn't afford it. CM It felt good to help children knowing that they would have a more normal life. SD Finally, my pride was not full of smugness, instead it was full of thoughts about helping others. CM I think this was exceedingly similar to the Cunninghams because they don't take anything that they can't pay back. CM It takes an exceptional amount of courage to do both of these things. CS Hopefully people can pick out the bad nuts and look for the good nuts to praise.

TS The world would be a better place if all the pride was positive. CM Some places around the world are very power-hungry and greedy. CM When people are too greedy, they usually become full of themselves. CS The Radleys and I are lucky that we haven't turned greedy in our own integrity.