...Write about the ways that Harper Lee shows the significance of the title To Kill a Mockingbird The title of a novel is a significant asset for the writer to express his/her emotions and how they think the novel should be summed up. However Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” isn’t about “mockingbirds”. The word mockingbird is a metaphorical symbolization of the concept of innocence. This essay will be a critical analysis of the significance of the title “To Kill a Mockingbird”. Firstly Boo Radley is a character who exploits the true meaning of the title. Harper Lee presents Boo as a very controversial character due to him being locked in his house for 25 years, also because of his lack of speech and involvement throughout the whole novel. Through Lee’s vivid descriptions and Scouts narrations the reader firstly acknowledges Boo as a monster that is “six and a half feet tall”. Scout personifies Boo as a very intimidating individual through Lee’s vivid descriptions and linguistic imagery. The words “six and a half” are adjectives that describe the physical stature of Boo. The reader may feel Boo is the complete opposite of the titles reference however other readers may feel that Scout’s lack of education and maturity are the culprit of Boo’s false identifications. However throughout the novel the reader acknowledges the true qualities of Boo as does Scout as well. Lee establishes Boo as a peaceful individual whose love for children never stops. In modern society many individuals...
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...Just Birds - Analysis of Symbolism in To Kill A Mockingbird Most people would think of love when they look at the symbol ‘heart’. A symbol is an important literacy feature that is used to represent larger or abstract ideas. Symbols are often used by authors to deepen and further extend themes. In Harper Lee’s novel ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’, her effective use of symbols and their deep meanings contribute towards the development of some important themes. The uses of symbols, a mockingbird and blue jay, significantly develop the key theme that the coexistence of the good and evil always remain. A mockingbird and blue jay prove that the good and evil coexist by utilizing two characters, Bob Ewell and Boo Radley. First, Bob Ewell...
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...THE GLENCOE LITERATURE LIBRARY Study Guide for To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee i Meet Harper Lee at the same university. In 1949, however, she withdrew and moved to New York City with the goal of becoming a writer. While working at other jobs, Lee submitted stories and essays to publishers. All were rejected. An agent, however, took an interest in one of her short stories and suggested she expand it into a novel. By 1957 she had finished a draft of To Kill a Mockingbird. A publisher to whom she sent the novel saw its potential but thought it needed reworking. With her editor, Lee spent two and a half more years revising the manuscript. By 1960 the novel was published. In a 1961 interview with Newsweek magazine, Lee commented: Writing is the hardest thing in the world, . . . but writing is the only thing that has made me completely happy. To Kill a Mockingbird was an immediate and widespread success. Within a year, the novel sold half a million copies and received the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Within two years, it was turned into a highly acclaimed film. Readers admire the novel’s sensitive and probing treatment of race relations. But, equally, they enjoy its vivid account of childhood in a small rural town. Summing up the novel’s enduring impact in a 1974 review, R. A. Dave called To Kill a Mockingbird . . . a movingly human drama of the jostling worlds—of children and adults, of innocence and experience, of kindness and cruelty, of love and hatred, of humor...
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...To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee The extract under analysis is taken from the Harper Lee’s first novel “To Kill a Mockingbird”. The book published in 1960 was very successful and won great critical acclaim, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for its author. The plot and the characters are slightly based on the author’s thoughts about his family, as well as on events that took place in her hometown. The narration is done from the first person by Jean Louse “Scout” Finch. The scene is a small town Maycomb in the state of Alabama. Atticus Finch, Scout’s father, is appointed by the court to defend Tom Robinson, a good fellow being accused of raping a white girl Mayella Ewell. He has no hope for justice just because he is black. Atticus, a person of very strong moral views, is sure in his defendant's innocence. The article could be logically divided into four parts. The first part, the introduction, begins with Atticus half-way though his speech to the jury. He presents logically organized arguments, showing his experience, knowledge and justifiability. However, after going over the evidence he starts acting unusually and it shows his excitement. His manner of speech changes as he appeals people in the court to give up the prejudices and be just. The development of the plot is the Atticus’ speech when he underlines all the pieces of evidence proving that it’s not Tom Robinson, but Mayella Ewell who is guilty. Mr. Finch quotes Thomas Jefferson’s words – “all men are...
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...In the 1930s bigotry was more accepted than in today’s current society. Since Tom Robinson’s time, the legal system has been taken apart. It is interesting to see how conformity has changed from the 1930s to the 21st century. In the years 2009-2010, a University of Vermont professor looked at a statistics to see how many more times people of color are to be pulled over in a car than white people. The statistics show: “An analysis of traffic stop data from four police departments in Chittenden County shows that blacks are more often stopped by law enforcement than their white and Asian counterparts. Blacks are two times more likely to be to pull over than whites in Burlington and South Burlington.” The forces of conformity are more cultural than legal these days. People of color or who are “different” are covering from racists and prejudice people. A similar instance happened with Tom Robinson, Atticus, Calpurnia, and Mr. Dolphus Raymond being outcasts from society. Since they were outcasts, they were treated with less respect and privilege. Harper Lee wants the reader to take away from this; Take a moment before judging another person or racially profiling someone and, possibly, try walking in their...
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...the new crop of authors who had never experienced the civil war or the Reconstruction became more objective in their writings about the South. Contemporary Southern writers such as Harper Lee, Tennessee Williams and William Faulkner wrote fiction, but the stories written had a lot of truth about the way communities in the American South lived like in the twentieth century. As a result, one cannot fail but notice that there is one recurring issue in almost every novel in contemporary Southern fiction; the issue of race. (Sundquist 1994) Authors usually write stories which are a reflection of the attitudes and the norms of their time and contemporary Southern fiction reflects this. The southern part of the United States has always had a large percentage of people of African descent living there. At the beginning of the twentieth century, two states actually had an African-American majority; South Carolina and Mississippi. However, the White community was, and still is the socially and economically dominant group and this can be seen in much of Southern contemporary. Several aspects of race were explored by various authors and they include: Racist words against blacks Contemporary Southern fiction frequently contained a lot of racist words, lines and dialogue. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird,...
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...Mockingbird‘s Faded Childhood Innocence Irish poet William Butler Yeats once said, “The innocent and the beautiful have no enemy but time.” There is no truer an example in literature than in Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird. In the novel the author uses the perspective of the novel’s storyteller, Miss Jean Louise Finch, more commonly known as Scout, and her brother Jeremy, nicknamed Jem, to highlight the blind innocence that comes as a byproduct of childhood. It is this innocence that also disappears from the children’s perspective in the novel. At least at first the two, blinded by their innocence, are unaware of the more mature and even sometimes ominous events and actions that eventually occur in the novel’s unveiling plot. It is because of their unwearied characters that Lee is able to best show how the events that occur in the lives of young characters causes blind innocence to disappear over time. Throughout the novel, there is a constant turn of events that ultimately leaves the children disillusioned with all their preconceived notions of all that is morally just and good. As Yeats said, time indeed proves to be the enemy for the children’s innocence, and by the novel’s end their worldly perspective is irreversibly changed. In the opening of the novel, Jean Louise Finch is revealed to be a grown woman looking back on her youth. The focal point of the narrative in particular is an innocent period from her childhood when she is six years old, just...
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...The novel To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee in 1960, explores the values and attitudes of America in the 1930's through the portrayal of relationships. Mockingbird was written to portray the period of the Great Depression, the Emancipation Proclamation, Jim Crow Laws and the abolishment of slavery. This is reflected in the text through the representation of individual, social and political relationships, which can be highlighted through further analysis of the morals and values associated with social class, racial inequality and familial bonds within these relationships. Lee's characterisation, themes and setting serves to demonstrate how literature can be used to effectively reflect a particular context in a way that conveys a message or moral. Morals and values are a substantial influence in the relationships that were established in American society in the 1930's. Mockingbird allows us to understand the relationship between parents and children during this period and the associated morals and values. An example of this lies in the relationship based on the values of respect and trust between Atticus and his children. Lee displays this when Atticus reprimands Jem for harassing Boo Radley. He uses direct language, such as "Tell me, to question Jem, to which Jem replies obediently and honestly, "Yes, sir. Atticus uses a tone of authority towards Jem and Jem responds submissively. This dialogue conveys the personal relationships between parents and children in...
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...To Kill a Mockingbird Empathy Literary Analysis “Human morality is unthinkable without empathy” (Frans de Wall). In Harper Lee’s book, To Kill a Mockingbird, the main theme is empathy, and it is exemplified through the different character’s actions and thoughts. Harper Lee believes that many of the characters express this trait which include Atticus, Jem, and Scout. This is clearly shown by the events that take place in the book. Atticus is the character that introduces the theme of empathy to Scout and Jem. He has a very famous line of dialogue that exemplifies empathy, ”You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view...until you climb into his skin and walk around in it” (39). Another event that shows empathy is when Atticus takes the case for Tom Robinson, because he knows that it is not right to condemn an innocent man on the sole intent of racism (99). The statement Atticus makes and the defense of Tom robinson shows the empathy he has toward other people and how he teaches that to his children. Jem is another character that has begun to show empathy throughout the book whilst growing up. During the trial Jem is seen crying and muttering that the verdict of the jury is not right toward Tom...
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...of the protagonists in Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, must endure this evolution with the help of their father. Atticus, an honest and righteous...
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...I’d like to analyze the extract from a book which is entitled “To kill a mockingbird”. The author is Harper Lee, an American author known for her 1960-Pulitzer-Prize-winning and who is considered now by many to be a literary icon. Harper Lee was born in 1926 in the state of Alabama. In 1945-1949 she studied law at the University of Alabama. Her novel ‘To kill a mockingbird’ which deals with the issues of racism that were observed by the author as a child in her hometown was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1961. The book became an international bestseller and was adapted into screen in 1962. The story of “To kill a mockingbird” takes place during a tumultuous time in the South. At that time black people were treated as people of lower level than white people and racial tensions were running high in the South as a whole, especially in Alabama. People all over the US followed events like the Scottsboro incident, 1955 bus boycott and also Martin Luther King’s rise to leadership. Harper Lee is said to have been influenced by these events very much. Though many details of To Kill a Mockingbird are apparently autobiographical she has insisted that the novel is a work of fiction. The text under analysis belongs to the group of fictional texts. The literary trend is realism. The book is brilliant and powerful and it is renowned for its warmth and humor, despite dealing with the serious issues of rape and racial inequality. The story takes place during three years of the Great Depression in...
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...To Kill A Mocking Bird BY HARPER LEE Novel Analysis I.BACKGROUND IN FORMATION ABOUT THE AUTHOR Nelle Harper Lee (born April 28, 1926) is an American author known for her 1960 Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird, which deals with the issues of racism that were observed by the author as a child in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama. Despite being Lee's only published book, it led to Lee being awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom of the United States for her contribution to literature in 2007.Lee has also been the recipient of numerous honorary degrees, but has always declined to make a speech. Other significant contributions of Lee include assisting her close friend, Truman Capote, in his research for the book In Cold Blood. II.INFORMATION ABOUT THE NOVEL Classification- To Kill a Mockingbird is embodied by Atticus Finch, who is virtually unique in the novel in that he has experienced and understood evil without losing his faith in the human capacity for goodness. Atticus understands that, rather than being simply creatures of good or creatures of evil, most people have both good and bad qualities. The important thing is to appreciate the good qualities and understand the bad qualities by treating others with sympathy and trying to see life from their perspective. He tries to teach this ultimate moral lesson to Jem and Scout to show them that it is possible to live with conscience without losing hope or becoming cynical. In this way, Atticus is...
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...versus Ethics ......................................................................................................................... 5 Responsibility and Culpability ............................................................................................................. 6 Atonement .......................................................................................................................................... 9 Law and Legality .................................................................................................................................... 10 Race and Ethnicity................................................................................................................................. 11 To Kill a Mockingbird...
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...Teaching Middle and High School Student Using Literature Outline: I. Short Stories a) Activating Prior Knowledge b) Responding to the Selection c) Short Story Selections 1. Suggested Activities to use with Various Groups II. Oral Tradition Literature – Tall Tales and Folktales a) Analyze characteristics and plots of Folktales and Tall Tales b) Understanding Hyperbole c) Writing a Tall Tale d) Selections of Oral Tradition Literature III. Novel Studies a) Previewing the novel b) Defining and Understanding Elements of c) Character Analysis d) Problems and Solutions of the story IV. Historical Fiction a) Activating background/prior knowledge b) Setting a purpose for reading c) Writing about historical fiction V. Realistic Fiction a) Evaluating Realistic Fiction b) Responding to the selection c) Distinguishing between Fact and Opinion d) Summarizing the Story Chapter 1 – Short Stories: A short story is, like the name says, a short literary composition. The action is compact and every single event is crucial to the development of the plot. The time span covered within the action of a short story could vary from a few...
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...ENGLISH HANDBOOK -“Welcome to my evil lair…” -Mr. Braiman Brooklyn High School of the Arts www.mrbraiman.com http://handbook.mrbraiman.com “EVIL” Welcome to my evil classroom lair. In order to become full-fledged evil “minions,” you need to read this handbook carefully. It explains everything you need to know. “English,” as you may know, is shorthand for “English Language Arts.” Being that we are in an Arts school, but one where academics must and always do come first, it is important that we approach the subject as what it is: an art form. How does one study the arts? What exactly do we do when we study drawing, sculpture, music, or dance? Well, anyone who has studied the arts will tell you that studying the arts essentially involves two things: • Learning about, and developing an awareness of and appreciation for, existing works of art in that particular form; • Developing the skills and techniques associated with the art form, in order to create our own works. In the case of language arts, much like any other art form, we will be studying existing works of art (i.e., reading books, stories and poems), and developing the skills to produce our own (i.e., writing). That’s what English Language Arts is. We will also be preparing ourselves for New York State’s Regents Comprehensive Examination in English, which we’ll all be taking in June. This two-day, six-hour, four-part exam requires no specific knowledge or content, but it does require the skills to listen, read,...
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