Week 5 homework

Consider the title of the novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird”. 

1.What is the mockingbird a symbol of? 
The mocking bird is a symbol of a person/thing that inflicts no harm onto anyone. The mockingbird has only done good, and therefore, it should be protected and not prosecuted. "mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy... they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it is a sin to kill a mockingbird" [pg 100.]


2.Which characters might this relate to? Justify with evidence. 
In the novel, there are two dominant characters that represent the "mocking bird". 
a) Tom Robinson. Like the mocking bird, Robinson only ever did good, he would help Mayella with whatever she called need for when he passed, as stated in his questioning, "She'd call me in, suh. Seemed like every time I passed by yonder she'd have some little something' for me to do.. I was glad to do it" [pg 211]. However, Tom is killed when he tries to escape his inevitable death via the court. By relating the character of Tom Robinson to the symbol of the mockingbird it shows to the audience that Robinsons death was a sin. 

b) Arthur, aka. "Boo" Radley. Like the mockingbird, Boo had never done any harm to anybody, and, as the mockingbird does only good, Boo has only ever cared for, and looked after the Finch children. Amougst giving them gifts, he cared for them by putting the blanket around Scout in the night of Mrs Maudines fire and he also protected them when they were being Attacked by Mr Ewell. Boo's relevance to the mockingbird is made clear when Atticus asks Scout to say that Mr Ewell fell on the knife, and she replies "Well, it'd be sort of like shootin' a mockingbird..." pg 304

3.Which of the ideas underpinning the novel are explored through the use of this symbol? Write a paragraph in which you discuss one idea and analyse how the use of the mockingbird symbol presents this idea to the reader.

In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, author Harper Lee, uses the symbol of the mockingbird to fully develop the ideas of racial prejudice in the southern United States. Lee positions the reader to think the mockingbird as a symbol for a person who does nothing wrong, but is only there to help, by Miss Maudie explaining to the Finch children "mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy... they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it is a sin to kill a mockingbird" [pg 100.]. With the mockingbird symbolising an innocene that should not be harmed, Lee is then able to realate that symbol to the character of Tom Robinson, a negro who is wrongfully charged with the rape of Mayella Ewell, a white girl. Through Robinson's trial, the reader learns that Robinson would often pass the Ewell's residence and help Mayella with whatever she asked for because Robinson "felt right sorry for her" [pg217]. Robinson's pure and un-harming motives, reflect what Lee was describing as the mockingbird and thus highlights the idea of racial prejudice within the context of the text. Robinson was the mockingbird, he did no harm to anyone, but only helped whenever he could, thus according to Atticus's advice to his children, Robinson should not be prosecuted to any extent. However because of the racial prejudice against the negroes within the white society, Robinson is trailed and convicted by only the word of a white family. By exploring the idea of racial prejudice by the use of the mockingbird symbol, Lee is able to describe to the audience that the negroes should never have been prosecuted because they had done nothing wrong. 

Week 4 homework

A few weeks have passed since Mrs Dubose died and Jem has had some time to think about the events of the last few months. In role as Jem, write a response in which you reflect on these events and what they mean

Huff, what to think. It has been all so confusing over the past months. It started off simple, Mrs Dubose insulted my father and I reacted - how bad was that really?! I was only doing what I sought to be right and she had no right to be calling my father names like that. Reflecting on the situation, like Atticus would want me to do, I know that I reacted harshly and I should have been the better man and not let the old woman get to me. But she is a creep, she may have "true courage" as Atticus says, and I agree (but let me get to that) but I still think that she didn't have to be so... cruel. But no, I must be like Atticus for he is the greatest gentleman in the US!
I guess the times I spent reading to Mrs Dubose did, in fact serve a purpose and I now know that she didn't make me read to her just to punish me beyond necessary, but gee it did feel like it at the time. To be honest - reading to her, was like reading to a mole rat that never showered. I didn't like one moment of it. But you know what they say, "you don't know what ya got till it's gone", I do in fact regret feeling that way. But in no way am I sayin' that I would do it for longer, just.... I wish I knew. I wish I knew that she was sufferin' and then that way, I guess, It wouldn't have been so bad. It's not my fault is it? To believe someone is how they appear to be in every encounter that you would ever have with that person??? Am I not right? But Mrs Dubose fought, she fought to not be reliant on the morphine when she died, even though Mrs Dubose knew that she was going to die either way. She still thought.

I think that's what Atticus is gettin' at when he says that Mrs Dubose was a brave woman. I think that he means that a person is not all defined by their beliefs - but by their courage, cause that's the best thing to have in one's self. Real courage is better than any good shot, and I know that now.

Paragraph on structure (chapters nine-11)

In chapters nine to eleven in the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, the way in which these chapters are structured, allows author, Harper Lee to interweave the ideas of “real courage” and to develop them through the course of the chapters. Through the novel, “real courage’ is described, not a physical courage but it is being able to stand up and fight for something, even if the person believes that they will not succeed. This form of courage is highly regarded in relation to the character of Atticus, therefore it gives importance to the underlying ideas of the novel. Beginning in chapter nine, it describes how the ‘Tom Robinson Case’ that Atticus has taken up, is taking a toll on his life and family. “I guess it ain’t your fault if Uncle Atticus is a nigger-lover, besides, but I’m here to tell you it certainly does mortify the rest of the family-” (page 92) This is what cousin Francis tells Scout, illustrating the idea that even Atticus’ family does not approve that he is willing to defending a black man. Stating that it would bring disgrace to the family for he has no change of winning the case and it wasn’t right to be seen to defend a negro with such compassion. However, Atticus is unchanged and is willing to take the case and fight for Robinson, for as he explains to Scout, “Just because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try and win” (page 84). In chapter 10 it moves onto the realization that Atticus, to his children’s surprise has a skill, but one he is not proud of. When the children discover that Atticus is a ‘great shot’ they question why he is not proud of his talent. It is when Miss Maudine explains to the children that “if your father’s anything, he’s civilized in his heart.. I think maybe he put his gun down when he realized that God had given him an unfair advantage over most living things” (page 109). This is continuing on from the ideas expressed in chapter nine, in which, It depicts Atticus’s civilized, respectful and determined personality, but it is not yet that the reader fully understands the idea of “real courage”. Therefore, chapter eleven works as a conclusion for these three chapters, in which it makes clear what the ideas from the previous two chapters were leading up to. When Atticus reflects on Miss Dubose’s death, he describes her as a great lady and tells his children, “I wanted you to see what real courage is…it is when you know that you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what…. According to her views, she died beholden to nothing and nobody. She was the bravest person I ever knew.” (page 124). This idea of having no chance of ‘winning’ before you start, but trying anyway, is linked together by the structure of the three chapters which allows Lee to show Atticus’s view of “real courage” in three different circumstances, making the idea clear and understandable to the audience.