...inevitable. Lawyers for example. Both lawyers in a criminal case appear to defend their defendant in court. They both occur reflecting on the same situation or problem, but the two have complete diverse interpretations on the committed actions according to their defendant. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, and film adaption,...
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...Prejudice, courage 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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...the understanding and wiser mind of an adult just as the same, Jem is coming to this age event in “Chapter 11” of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Both of these stories are different but are similar in many ways, in that each of the story’s protagonists lash out against its older antagonist characters and their flowers. The protagonists Jem and Lisbeth are both children that live in a poverty stricken town that are going through a period of their life when they are going to be transitioning from a child to a grown up and ended up wiser at the end. The antagonists Miss Lottie and Mrs. Dubose are both women have a garden of flowers whom the main characters doesn't like and ends up having them destroyed for the kids to learn a lesson. Theses outcomes are the consequences of the protagonists’ actions and reactions of the other characters even though the women were not...
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...Coming of Age There comes a time in each person’s life when they reach a point in which they are no longer children, but adults. The phrase coming-of-age is typically associated with this period in a teenager’s life. Some teens reach this point by simply growing older and obtaining a better understanding of the world surrounding them. Others reach this stage by experiencing an event or events that will affect them for the rest of their lives. Examples of coming of age can be found in many stories, books, and magazines throughout literature. Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and “Beautiful Brains” by David Dobbs are excellent examples of literature that contain the trait coming-of-age. Coming-of-age involves recognizing different perspectives....
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...To Kill a Mockingbird is a coming-of-age novel that is set in the early 1930s in a small and sleepy Southern town called Maycomb. It was written by Harper Lee and published in 1960. The novel deals with childhood innocence and the conflict between good and evil in many different situations. Throughout the novel, the reader follows the childhood of a young girl called Jean Louise "Scout" Finch who lived with her family that included her father, Atticus, her brother, Jem, and their black cook, Calpurnia. Scout is the narrator and the protagonist of the novel and the reader is able to perceive, through her narration, a child's perspective of the world and the prejudice that exists within it. One of the themes that is prominent in the novel is black racism. The writer made that notable through the lifestyle of Maycomb, its citizens' notions and the case of Tom Robinson. These cases helped to shape Scout's opinion of the real world and her understanding of the dark and cruel sides of it. The theme also plays an important role in understanding and analyzing the novel as a whole. As the novel is a depiction of the writer's childhood, it elaborates to the reader the various aspects of real life in the United States of America during the 1930s and helps them get a view of the racial discrimination that shaped the American society at that time. That...
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...Coming of Age For many generations, coming-of-age has impacted the perspectives of many perspectives. Coming-of-age occurs in everyone at one point or another. Gaining new perspectives and seeing the world in a different way is an important part of life. Coming-of-age involves recognizing different perspectives. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout is an example of a character whose coming-of-age process involves gaining a different perspective. Scout’s maturity can be proven when To Kill a Mockingbird says, “I carefully picked up the tray and watched myself walk to Mrs. Merriweather. With my best company manners, I asked her if she would have some” (Lee 318). Scout is coming-of-age when realizing how to appropriately react to certain...
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...Losing Innocence As children age and mature, they start to lose their innocence and purity. In her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee demonstrates how children fail to keep their pureness as they grow older. Through the eyes of Scout, the reader sees Maycomb as an angelic town where the residents can do no harm. However, throughout the course of the novel, as Jem and Scout Finch grow and lose innocence, the town of Maycomb does too. Although the loss of purity, especially in children, can break one’s heart, it is human nature and sooner or later, everyone will surrender their sinlessness. To Kill a Mockingbird is a coming-of-age story about how the main characters move from a state of innocence to a mature one after suffering from, but surviving many misadventures. Lee compares many of the characters to a mockingbird, a symbol of pure chastity. Scout and Jem, the main characters of...
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...A mockingbird is a quiet animal that does does a better job at listening than other birds. In Harper Lee’s Coming-Of-Age fictional novel To Kill A Mockingbird, I feel like the mockingbird symbolizes Boo Radley and Tom Robinson the most, who were both peaceful people who never wanted to hurt anybody or anything. To harm an honest person or creature would be a sin. Scout's dad, Atticus, tells Scout and Jem, "Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." The mockingbird symbolizes these two characters because they don’t have their own unique voice; they’re content to follow along. Whereas, the blue jay (representing the people) is loud and obnoxious, the mockingbird just mimics other people’s...
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...Maturity is essential for life and people go through different processes to achieve it. However many people never mature, and they lose themselves in childish worlds of ignorance. Empathy is an essential tool for reaching maturity, which is prevalent through Scout, a character in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. In her novel, Scout matures by following her father’s advice to “climb into his skin and walk around in it.” (39) Examining how Scout treats the Cunninghams, Mayella Ewell and Boo Radley, empathy allowing for maturity is clear. The way Scout treats the Cunninghams shows Scout maturing through empathy. Near the beginning of the novel, Walter Cunningham’s behavior at the dinner table disgusts Scout. Throughout the meal, Scout acts...
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...why a poor man is paying in crops. This may seem like she need to take a step back and see the big picture however these are minor mistakes compared to her other times of ignorance. In Harper Lee’s novel To KIll a Mockingbird, the most dominant character trait displayed by Scout is ignorance.Throughout the book Scout shows ignorance towards her knowledge of angry mobs, proper women educate, and worst of all is when she yells mean words to someone who she can't see. Scout shows her ignorance to an angry mob even when she is told not to be there at all but still manages to stay...
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...Atticus Finch People are ill-minded and sometimes just plain unlikable. Atticus, from Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird, is not one of those people. He is one of the characters who plays a huge role in the coming of age of his daughter, Scout Finch. A lot of people in Maycomb, which is the city he lives in, are very prejudice against black people. Atticus, unlike them, is very respectful, an admirable role model, and tolerant towards the opinions of others. Atticus throughout the book, shows great respect for others views. In the case of when Atticus is walking home and Miss. Dubose is on the porch. Even though she doesn't respect him, he still says "Good evening , Mrs. Dubose! You look like a picture this evening."(Lee 133). This shows even though he know she doesn't like him much for defending Tom, he still says hello like a gentlemen. Another instance is whenever his kids mess up. He always shows them great respect and instead of...
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...Innocence is something everybody has had at one point in time or another but its also something that always fails to stay. Life experiences, as well as presence during times of injustice, will ultimately lead to the shattering of a child's innocence. In Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird, loss of innocence is displayed through Jem's experiences and coming of age. Jem's visitation to Calpurnia's church had introduced him to the many negative qualities of Maycomb and its people. He also takes in the flaws of prejudice and judgment through his time with Boo Radley. Particularly, it was the trial that shattered his innocence entirely. Jem's witnessing of the harsh racism and brutal injustice during Tom Robinson's trial brought it two steps further, and he broke down. Innocence is something many strive to maintain, but life experiences and viewings of racism and injustice as portrayed by Harper Lee prevent just that. Calpurnia’s church had greeted Jem with prejudice, poverty, racism, as well as the birth of Jem’s realization of how Maycomb truly was. Upon arrival to Cal’s...
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...When you read a book do you think to yourself sometimes I would love to do what that person in the book just did or omg that is so me? Or maybe even think that you would have been great at playing that part in the book? Well if you do, then you are very much like Scout Finch from Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird. The character Scout (Atticus's daughter), in “To Kill A Mockingbird “ she doesn’t know much about anything that is going on, but she plays a very important role in the book. In the book no matter what happens it happens according to Scout, so it basically all centers her and has to do with anything that she does. She is known as a lot of things in the book both good and bad but needs to know when and where it is a good time to reveal what she knows. She is from the ages 6-9 when telling this book, but had wrote it as an adult, Scout has some very interesting character traits such as she is very loyal, to whom she cares about, tomboyish, she doesn't mind getting her hands dirty, and...
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...Literature is composed of archetypes and some archetypes are usually taken from the human experience of coming-of-age. Such is the case in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, where Jean Louise “Scout” Finch and her brother Jem live in their ordinary world of Maycomb, Alabama. However, Scout’s ordinary world changes when their father, Atticus Finch, defends a negro named Tom Robinson in court for being accused of raping a white girl named Mayella Ewell. Harper Lee has Scout’s learn about empathy, courage, and standing against prejudiced ideas from her role models in order to build Scout’s character to prepare for the inmost cave. Scout learns how to empathize with other from her roles models to take the first step out of the inmost cave. Early...
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...Movement picked up steam with the activities of notable greats like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., spearheading the March on Washington, supporting the sit-ins at lunch counters in demanding an end to racial discrimination among many other acts of civil disobedience caused a huge uproar in the country. President Kennedy was assassinated and so was Dr. King in very short time span to each other. The discord in the country sowed the seeds to the hippie movement where young people also called “flower children” embraced cultural differences that they reflected in their dress, music and liberal use of drugs. This was a period of affluence. Most of the U.S. population was young. They were the baby boomers who were coming of age. Color tv was born. Harper Lee published To Kill a Mockingbird. The Beatles music was played everywhere. The first man landed on the moon. The 1970s gave women’s rights a huge boost so women started entering the workforce in droves. This was the time of the bell-bottom pants and disco music in the dancehalls. Atari released its first video game. People questioned government actions. The 1980s saw the greatest explosion of illegal drugs. The crack-cocaine epidemic decimated the minority communities as many of the young male users ended up in prison on long sentences. The 1990s saw a period of hope and smaller government with President Reagan. The Berlin Wall came down. “They laugh at me because I’m different; I laugh at them because they’re all the same” - a quote...
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