...Classical Literature Should Be Widely Read How does a piece of literature become labeled a classic? Classics are works that have received distinction for exemplifying a literary movement or genre. In other words, they started a literary trend by either doing something first or doing it very well. Another way a book can be considered a classic is by rebelling against established beliefs or ethics (Chen). Classical literature challenges readers’ way of thinking, enhances readers’ knowledge, and is an important part of a country’s culture. Reading the classics has many benefits and should be more common. There are many examples of classical literature that pushed the envelope of what was acceptable when they were published, and some of those classics...
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...Jorge Luis Borges once said, “Their books are also different. Works of fiction contain a single plot, with all its imaginable permutations. Those of a philosophical nature invariably include both the thesis and the antithesis, the rigorous pro and con of a doctrine. A book in which does not contain its counter book is considered incomplete.” This saying best applies to the book and movie, To Kill a Mockingbird. Being almost a different story, both, the movie and book, contrast on many different levels, with the novel being far better than the movie. With the plot, characterization of many characters, and the themes shown, it shows that the book is better. It is very apparent, after reading the book, that the scenes are different in the movie....
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...Book Review One: To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee, the author of To Kill a Mockingbird, was the daughter of a lawyer in the early 1900's. Her father served in the Alabama State Legislature and had defended two black men, a father and a son, at one point in his career. The two men were accused of killing a store owner, who was white. Later on into the case, they were found guilty and were hanged. This incident had apparently affected Harper Lee more than it may seem, for this is very similar to the plot line of her novel. To Kill a Mockingbird is about a lawyer who went against society to defend a black man who was wrongly accused of raping a young white lady. At the time of the novel, blacks were almost always charged with the crimes they were accused of even if they were innocent, and this plot was not any different. Society had turned against the black man, everyone else who was associated with the case and was in favor of the black man. The item that makes this story different from others similar is that it is told by the perspective of the daughter of the defending lawyer. This small difference adds a lot of effect to the book. The fact that a young six year old girl knows that story behind such a high class case is atrocious. Also, this proves that people aren’t born racist. They are taught to be racist through what they see and hear. The girl's father taught his daughter that all people are equal no matter their skin color, race, gender, or age. Therefore, the mere six...
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...The American Dream, the archetypal notion that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative, is an ideal that most people strive to achieve. Unfortunately, in the past and in modern day, the population that surrounds us has been propelled by conceptions such as racism and gender roles which avert us from obtaining our visions. Classic works of literature including To Kill a Mockingbird, Of Mice and Men, and A Raisin in the Sun accurately display a lack of equality and fair treatment in the sharing of wealth and opportunities by incorporating racism and gender roles into the lives if the characters in the novels. The authors of To Kill a Mockingbird,...
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...To Kill A Mockingbird A summary of the novel by Harper Lee Doris Griffin Colorado Technical University Online June 23, 2012 Author Note This paper was prepared for LITR240-1202B-09, Phase 5 IP, taught by Professor Daniel Lambert. Abstract Harper Lee wrote only one novel in her life. To Kill A Mockingbird, in a research done by the Book-Of-The-Month Club in 1991 ranked second to the Bible. The novel still draws a million new readers each year. The novel contains two stores, the innocence of childhood as told by Scout and the story of her father who was asked to defend a Negro who was accused of raping a white woman. (Shields, C., 2006) Two of the themes of the novel are justice and tolerance. The two are joined together when Atticus explains to Scout how to understand all kinds of people by walking around in their skin. (Shields, C., 2006) To Kill A Mockingbird is a story to learn a life’s lesson from. The innocence of a child is genuine and they are taught racism and hate by their elders. Children at a young age do not see black or white, rich or poor, or understand what racism means. They are just children who believe that everyone is good and they trust with all their hearts. To Kill a Mockingbird The story is set in and old town in Alabama, Maycomb. The town is described as a quiet and dull town in the 1930’s. Scout is one of the main characters in the story. She is naïve and innocent as children are. She has an older brother, Jem, that...
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...Final Analysis on “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee Jackie Berry Colorado Technical University LITR 240 Prof. Peggy Huey May 9, 2011 Abstract When an author writes novels, short stories, or poems, most of their ideas come from life experiences. The author is trying to send a message that may mirror what the reader can understand. Many writings address conflicts, themes and symbolism. Harper Lee (2006) introduced many of these elements into her novel “To Kill a Mockingbird”. Harper Lee gives accounts of the story as if she was a young child and learns many life lessons that change her life forever. “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (2006), takes place a small populated town in Maycomb, Alabama. The author has taken us back when hatred and prejudice is very common in the 1930s. Atticus, Scout, and Jem Finch are frowned upon because Atticus is defending a black man of allegedly raping a white woman. Atticus uses this opportunity to teach Scout and Jem morals that we teach our children today. Atticus teaches Scout and Jem to not to be judgmental towards anyone, not be afraid to stand up for what is right, and violence does not solve anything. Jem and Scout will also learn the true symbolizing of why it is a sin to kill a mockingbird. Harper Lee described the town of Maycomb as being a very poor and run down. The community is very small and everyone knew each other. The blacks and whites are divided and some that...
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...K Mrs. G ENG2D1 6 January 2015 To Kill a Mockingbird: A Excellent Adaptation To Kill a Mockingbird, according to many people is one of the finest books written in modern American Literature, which spreads the honorable message of racial injustice in the 1930’s in an informative and creative way. By showing a family known as “the Finches” experience and face the trials of living in a small Alabaman Town called Maycomb. The book itself was written by Harper Lee, a Pulitzer Prize winning novelist. When the novel was turned to a movie, there were many challenges that the director had to face while turning this classic novel into life. The director Robert Mulligan had to make sure the movie itself is an excellent adaptation of the book within the restrictions of creating a movie such as time limit, audience restrictions, money, and making sure to not replicate the entire book. This is why a book is better in an aspect as there are not as many restrictions to when creating a book compared to a movie. The film and the novel itself has many similarities and differences, however it is upon whether or not the film is a successful adaptation and portrays the theme of racial injustice. This film is a reasonable adaptation as it demonstrates the message of the film using the same context as the book and brings the characters to life in a creative way. There is great screenplay and dialogue amongst the characters which allows the audience to understand the movie thoroughly. However...
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...The Man in the Moon (1991) Review/Film; A New Boy In Town Captures Her Heart Everything about "The Man in the Moon," Robert Mulligan's effortlessly old-fashioned family drama set in a small Southern town, has a rosy glow. It's a reminder that Mr. Mulligan, a seasoned film maker whose credits include "To Kill a Mockingbird," "Summer of '42" and "The Other," can direct with real tenderness and without fake emotion. His latest film unfolds gently and gracefully, in a climate where the warmth isn't merely a matter of weather. Until its final reel, when it strains badly to accommodate an almost biblical stroke of retribution, "The Man in the Moon" is a small, fond film that achieves a kind of quiet perfection. The story concerns two sisters, and Mr. Mulligan can find something evocative even in the way the elder braids the younger one's hair. The latter, 14-year-old Dani (Reese Witherspoon), is just on the verge of real beauty, while the slightly older Maureen (Emily Warfield) has already gotten there. The girls' family, which is beautifully evoked, exists at all different stages of development, from their toddler sister to their pregnant mother (Tess Harper) and the father (Sam Waterston) who is wary of his daughters' prospective suitors. In his or her own way, each member of this family longs for a boy. When one arrives, in the form of a handsome teen-age neighbor named Court (Jason London), he affects the girls' family in powerful ways. The coltish Dani becomes smitten with...
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...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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...and unity… TEXT COMPARISON Are we always champions of tolerance, courage and receptiveness to others? By the very definition of humanity, we must be. Humanity: benevolence, understanding and kindness towards other people. It is, arguably, our very human nature to feel compassion, courage, understanding, unity and empathy towards our fellow man. Unfortunately, prejudice and judgement also cling to the human condition like tumorous stains – traits which society still finds hard to surmount. Despite the efforts of governments, groups and individuals, humankind still finds it difficult to trust based on the soul of a person; we are more comfortable making judgements based on skin colour. Nelle Harper Lee through her 1960 novel, ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ and Boaz Yakin through his 2000 film, ‘Remember the Titans,’ are text composers who tackle the ill-defined paradigms of ‘prejudice, courage and unity’ by painting a picture of the confronting face of racism. Prejudice, courage and unity are notions that are dealt with differently by both composers and, through their use of structural and linguistic features, each composer presents this concept in a manner which connects (or weakens a connection)...
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...Robert Guzman Ms. Pierce English 1301 22 September 2014 My Life in Isolation Well… not in complete isolation; I grew up in Nome, Texas where there is one stop light, a couple of stop signs, open fields filled with Brahmin, and few sane people. With a ratio of human to cow roughly being 1:400 you could “go out on a limb” and say that Nome has a strong agricultural background with high resistance to change. The few people in Nome consist of ninety-percent elderly, ten-percent youth; and the youth were “hell raisers”, “trouble makers”, or “punks”. The youth, to be considered at least one of those, were judged on three main differences and the judgment spread through the town like the black plague. Before I begin, I am going to give you a brief of Nome. The rushing of people to Nome, Texas for the oil boom was similar to the gold rush in Nome, Alaska; hence the name. Formed when racism was openly accepted into daily life of Americans, Nome was and still is segregated, the “Great Wall of Nome” just so happens to be the railroad originally laid by Texas and New Orleans Railroad Co. when the oil boom first happened, which is why African American Families live on one side of the track and whites on the other. Nome’s agricultural background is solely responsible for the segregation issues, issues brought up with younger generations, and the resistance to change; although, I am not saying an agricultural background is a bad thing because we as humans need agriculture to survive. Nome’s...
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...1821, our country took its first steps towards censorship when the 1748 novel Fanny Hill was banned for containing offensive and vulgar language as well as detailing the less than glamorous life of a prostitute. The tradition of removing books from schools for their questionable content has carried on into the twenty first century with the banning of several extremely popular books such as Harry Potter, for its use of witchcraft as a key plot point, The Hunger Games, for its graphic descriptions of children slaying one another on live television, and even the widespread elementary boy’s books Captain Underpants, for its use of bathroom humor frequently throughout the series. Not only these books, but also beloved classics such as The Scarlett Letter, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Grapes of Wrath, and The Great Gatsby have all been removed from the curriculum of many schools in order to shelter students from the taboo topics they discuss, such as racial prejudice, adultery, and alcoholism. Many concerned Americans have begun to wonder whether or not the government should have the power to control what students read and believe that censorship goes against the very foundations of our nation. While the United States Constitution does clearly state that “Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech or of the press”, does that apply to even the most explicit sexual and racial content? The issue had been consistently justified by courts cases involving racism and violence that...
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...examined works such as Kafka’s The Trial or Dickens novels as sources of legal theory for these same reasons. Professor R.M. Dworkin argued that law is similar to literature in that we seek to find meaning in the same by process of interpretation. He argued that this process is adopted by judges in that they interpret the law. He attacked legal positivists, who simply examine the law in isolation from society, who find only the meaning of the law and not its substance. The debate as to the usefulness of novels sees the creation of the distinction between ‘law in literature’ and ‘law as literature’ . The former thesis examines the worth of literature which tells a legal story. For example, it can be argued that the novel to kill a Mockingbird is a useful source of information about the American legal system at the time the novel is set. Just as The Long Firm is a useful source of information about criminals, their associates and how they operated in 1960’s London. The...
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...A TEACHER’S GUIDE TO THE SIGNET CLASSIC EDITION OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE’S ROMEO AND JULIET By ARTHEA J.S. REED, PH.D. S E R I E S W. GEIGER ELLIS, ED.D., E D I T O R S : UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA, EMERITUS and ARTHEA J. S. REED, PH.D., UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, RETIRED A Teacher’s Guide to the Signet Classic Edition of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet 2 INTRODUCTION William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is an excellent introduction to Shakespearean drama; teenagers can relate to its plot, characters, and themes. The play’s action is easily understood, the character’s motives are clear, and many of the themes are as current today as they were in Shakespeare’s time. Therefore, it can be read on a variety of levels, allowing all students to enjoy it. Less able readers can experience the swash-buckling action and investigate the themes of parent-child conflict, sexuality, friendship, and suicide. Because of the play’s accessibility to teenagers, able readers can view the play from a more literary perspective, examining the themes of hostility ad its effect on the innocent, the use of deception and its consequences, and the effects of faulty decision making. They can study how the characters function within the drama and how Shakespeare uses language to develop plot, characters, and themes. The most able students can develop skills involved in literary criticism by delving into the play’s comic and tragic elements and its classically...
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...to publish their data and conclusions without control or censorship; and to teach in the manner they consider professionally appropriate. For students, the basic elements include the freedom to study subjects that concern them and to form conclusions for themselves and express their opinions. (Enclyclopedia Brittanica. britannica.com) Tenure is a crucial apparatus of academic freedom. Tenure protects teachers from being fired for teaching unpopular, controversial, or otherwise challenged cirricula such as evolutionary biology and controversial literature. According to Edison State College Sunderland 4 teacher David McGrath, tenure "ensures academic freedom to teach important concepts such as evolution, and classic texts such as 'Huckleberry Finn,' 'To Kill a Mockingbird' or 'Catcher in the Rye'" (procon.org). Teachers need the assurance the right to teach such disputed topics without fear of reprisal. Teaching students to become critical thinkers is why they got into the profession in the first place. Tenure has a tremendous ability to attract teachers into the teaching profession. Tenure eliminates the incentive to receive higher pay, so teachers can focus on their primary duties (WIlliam R. Keast pg.16). Reducing risk by granting tenure keeps trained, passionate teachers in the profession for the benefit of students. The promise of a secure and stable job attracts many teachers to the teaching profession, and eliminating teacher tenure would hamper teacher recruitment. Procon...
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