Dead Shots and Long Falls

An Essay Regarding Atticus and My Parents Surprises

By Jennifer Carroll

 Pine Point School

8^th Grade English

10/22/10

My parents, when they were younger, went skydiving in Arizona. I was stunned when I learned of this adventure in their lives. I never thought of my parents as people would even dare go to a Gucci store during a sale, let alone jump out of an airplane. I was shocked and a little happy that they weren’t boring people after all, and I think that this is what Jem and Scout must have been feeling when their dad proved that he wasn’t dull at all.

(TS) Atticus was never described as a dare devil in To Kill A Mockingbird. (CM) He was the solid, dependable, respectable lawyer who came home and read the night away. (CM) He was an old father, a good businessman, a decent pillar of the community…so why was he able to shoot a mad dog dead with just one bullet? (SD) Atticus seems to loath violence. (CM) His children never sport bruises or black eyes, no matter how much trouble they get into and when mad Tim Johnson comes alisting down the street, he is hesitant to kill the dog. (CM) Mockingbirds fly freely in his backyard and he even warns his children away from killing them when he hands them air rifles as Christmas presents. (SD) So imagine what a shock it must have been to poor Scout and Jem when their father turns out to have been nicknamed “Ole One Shot Finch”! (CM) Why, Atticus even “considered it a waste of ammunition when he fired 15 shots and hit 14 birds”. (CM) The only thing that I wonder now is, why did he stop killing things and when did “Ole One Shot Finch” begin to fade from memory? (CS) Atticus is a stubborn, smart and on top of things type of person and I think that the him described in this book could be his alter ego to his younger self.

(TS) I never thought of my parents as adventuresome, or even surprising people. (CM) They were simply Mom and Dad, who got up, slept, ate, went away and came back as much as the rest of us. (CM)  They were the typical American parents and I never really thought of them as daring or flabbergasting people. (SD) To find out that my mother and father had once gone sky diving was a lot like getting a slap in the face. (CM) My first thought was “Huh?” followed by “But they’re my parents!” (CM) I had never thought of them having lives before I was born, let alone dangerous, risk taking lives! (SD) Then I thought about how they must have been completely different people back then. (CM) They had only one child, they were younger than they are now and they still had a spark of verve in them. (CM) This was like their last adventure and I can’t be creeped out by that because I would want them to have happiness before me. (CS) My parents became considerably cooler when I discovered this good surprise about them.

Whether it’s my parents or Scouts father, the point is that all parents pull good surprises on their kids. Sky diving or shooting better then the U.S Army, it’s all the same in the eyes of a child as long as it’s cool. My parents went sky diving and I thought that was awesome, and Scout and Jem probably thought the same thing. Parents are great for pulling stunning facts out of nowhere that shock and amaze their kids, and that’s what both Atticus and my parents did to us.

            Self Assessment: I'm not certain about this essay. I have some good parts, for instance, my introduction paragraph, but also feel that I slack off a little in the end. It is very difficult for me to write a good concluding paragraph. I also think that I need to work on organization in my essays. I would give myself a C+ for this essay.