...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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...Landing, a settlement for all the Finches. Again it has a racial slur that may be offensive to some. Entry 4: “‘Mrs. Dubose was a morphine addict,’ said Atticus. ‘She took it as a pain-killer for years. The doctor put her on it. She’d spent the rest of her life on it and died without so much agony, but she was too contrary--’” (pg. 127) This scene takes place at the protagonist’s (Jean Louise “Scout” Finch) house. It mentions drug use and could be taken as offensive, if not somewhat suggestive. Entry 5: “Mr. Dolphus Raymond lurched by on his thoroughbred. ‘Don’t see how he stays in the saddle,’ murmured Jem. ‘How c’n you stand to get drunk ‘fore eight in the morning?’” (pg. 181) This is right outside of the main character’s house. It has alcoholism suggested and may be seen as offensive. Entry 6: “First Purchase African M.E. Church was in the Quarters outside the southern town limits, across the old sawmill tracks. It was an ancient paint-peeled frame building, the only church in Maycomb with a steeple and bell, called First Purchase because it was paid for from the first earnings of freed slaves. Negroes worshiped in it on Sundays and white men gambled in it on weekdays.” (pg. 134) This takes place at a church for blacks. This scene makes the book challenged because of the segregation laws, and this could have been offensive to some. Final Analysis: In 250 words or less, give an overview of why this book appears on a challenged book list and if you think it is...
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...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 able to admire Mrs. Dubose’s courage...
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...Student Name: Lecturer’s Name: Date: Southern Contemporary Fiction and the Issue of Race Thesis: Southern contemporary fiction contained a lot of truths about the race relations between Black and White Americans in the twentieth century. Introduction Since the beginning of the twentieth century, there has been a significant shift in the focus of southern literature, both fiction and nonfiction. In the nineteenth century, most Southern fiction works were mainly on the Civil War and the Reconstruction. However, as that generation died away, 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...
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