Picturing Maycomb County, Alabama 11.23.15

                           

         When I first seen this photo, the first thing I observed was the road and the buildings On page 5 of the hardcover book it says, "...the streets turned to red slop..." The road in the picture reminded me of the road in the book because, from what it looks like, it appears to be clay because the road looks smooth and doesn't appear to have the texture cement would have or have the foundation cement would have. Also on page 5, Scout describes to us how the buildings are founded on the ground. She tells us, "...courthouse sagged in the square." From this sentence I can infer that maybe since the courthouse is sagged, if this is even a literal sentence, that the foundation could be failing. This is shown throughout the picture because, some of the poles that are holding up the overhang are starting to shift sideways.

           I also noticed something else about the road. It is almost vacant! This can relate to Maycomb County because Jean Louise tells us, "people moved slowly then. They ambled across the square, shuffled in and out of the stores around it." This  shows in the picture because some people are milling around and are coming in and out of the Grady Lawless & Co. At the edge of the picture, towards the left, there is a cluster of men just standing around, looking as if they are talking.

          While looking at this photo, I began to think that maybe the photographer took this picture to capture the essence of an average day in Greensboro, Alabama. I thought this because, it doesn't look as if it is a big event such as a fair or holiday because the streets are clear of any decorations and the people inside the photo look like they are dresses in regular clothing. After having a possible idea of why the photographer took this picture, I began to compare it to an any day capture of the mainstreets in "*Downtown" Berwyn, Illinois to the 1940's mainstreet in  Greensboro, Alabama. I noticed that in "Downtown" Berwyn, we have cars parked outside the stores on an everyday basis, like the cars in the photo above. However, one thing that was different was that in the photograph, there are people milling in and out of the stores, at this moment you will most likely not see people clustered outside in front of stores like you do above. 

"Go Ask Alice" theme blog for Nov. 8th *MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*

Warning this blog contains sensitive subjects like drugs, and rape. I suggest you not read this if this relates to a personal issue or if you find these topics offensive.

        The theme of Go Ask Alice, by Anonymous is the cause of vulnerability and being taken advantage of. If you have not read, Go Ask Alice, in a brief overview, the book is about this girl who has a low self esteem and in one night, gets sucked into a life of drugs. This is relatable to the theme because, the narrator is feeling very down of herself, and doesn't feel like she is loved after she moves, and her best friend goes away for the summer, so she goes to spend the summer with her grandparents. When she is there, she recalls memories of her and her ex-boyfriend, and is broken down with self-conscience thoughts. According to the book "Alice" recalls, "suddenly I began to feel something strange inside myself like a storm...he [Bill] carressed my face and neck..." This is where she first tries LSD, and she is told to be relaxed and drink her "Coke," as a teenager named Bill tries to make her comfortable. Bill and Jill take advantage of how vulnerable and innocent "Alice" is. 

      

       Another time inside the book, "Alice", was being taken advantage of because of vulnerability and innocence is where Alice believes she found love again after her ex-boyfriend. Really, her new boyfriend is just using her to sell his drugs while he goes to school and works. Alice writes on October 18th, "here I am out peddling drugs for a low class queer...I wonder how many other dumb chicks he's got working for him? Oh, I am so ashamed!" This shows the mood of being taken advantage of because earlier in the paragraph, Alice and Chris catches Richie cheating on Alice. Richie didn't really love Alice, he only used her to sell drugs to grade school kids. Alice was so desperate to find love, she chased after Richie and listened to his orders, no matter what it was, and in one case was to sell drugs to a nine year old. 

       The last example I am going to bring up is when Chris and Alice go to Chris' boss', Sheila, house party. Sheila and her boyfriend Rod drugged up Chris and Alice, and then later rapes the both of them with Rod. According to Alice, "...it wasn't until later that I realized that the dirty s@&$:0-#*%<~+\ had taken turns raping us..." This shows that Alice had been taken advantage of once again becuase, Sheila and Rod had taken advantage of the fact Alice and Chris were willing to take drugs, and then raped them because of their current-vulnerable state.