Friday, March 9, 2012
Monday, March 5, 2012
Chapters 1-5 Illuminator
In this section of To Kill a Mockingbird, I did not find many symbols. The only thing I found worth noting is Boo Radley. In this section Scout, Jem, and Dill are constantley wondering about the mysterious man (or demon) who lives next door. The children start playing the "Boo Radley game" where they act out an entire Radley family melodrama. This is showing that the naive children are almost judging Boo even though they don't know him. This could symbolize the oppression of black people in America and how they were wrongly judged by almost every white person. The author seems to be comparing the simple-minded children in the book to the upper to middle white class society of the past.
The author does a great job of describing the town of Maycomb in the first chapter. She doesn't really describe how it looks, but how it feels. The town is best described in these quotes; "Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it.", " People moved slow then. They ambled across the square, shuffled in and out of the stores around it, took their time about everything. A day was twenty-four hours long but seemed longer. There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boudries of Maycomb County.", "...Maycomb County had recently been told that it had nothing to fear but fear itself." These quotes show that Maycomb was a quiet, slow place where everything was boring, dull, and almost nothing bad ever happened.
I think it is too early in the book for there to be any major conflict. One of the smaller conflicts I saw was when Scouts teacher, Miss Caroline, got upset with Scout for knowing how to read already. I saw this as a foreshadowing. Because what had happened was Miss Caroline wasn't mad at Scout, but she was mad that Scout's ability to read had messed with her teaching cirriculum. This shows that people can get very upset if their order is disrupted. Also Scout had expierienced how it felt when she was treated poorly when her intetions were good. This could help her relate with other conflicts further in the story.
It did not seem to me that there was an emotion in this first section, it was more of a certain perspective. I think since the story is told by a little girl, we do not get to see exactly what goes on. We must interpret what the the little girl is seeing which can give off a certain feeling of adolescence.
If Miss Caroline was part of my literature circle, I think she would be very strict. She would follow every rule, finish all her work, and be very "matter-of-fact". I don't think she would be mean, just very worried about her work, like if it's done right or not. If someone did not follow the rules, she would not like it and try to correct it, which could be misinterpreted as being mean.
The author does a great job of describing the town of Maycomb in the first chapter. She doesn't really describe how it looks, but how it feels. The town is best described in these quotes; "Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it.", " People moved slow then. They ambled across the square, shuffled in and out of the stores around it, took their time about everything. A day was twenty-four hours long but seemed longer. There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boudries of Maycomb County.", "...Maycomb County had recently been told that it had nothing to fear but fear itself." These quotes show that Maycomb was a quiet, slow place where everything was boring, dull, and almost nothing bad ever happened.
I think it is too early in the book for there to be any major conflict. One of the smaller conflicts I saw was when Scouts teacher, Miss Caroline, got upset with Scout for knowing how to read already. I saw this as a foreshadowing. Because what had happened was Miss Caroline wasn't mad at Scout, but she was mad that Scout's ability to read had messed with her teaching cirriculum. This shows that people can get very upset if their order is disrupted. Also Scout had expierienced how it felt when she was treated poorly when her intetions were good. This could help her relate with other conflicts further in the story.
It did not seem to me that there was an emotion in this first section, it was more of a certain perspective. I think since the story is told by a little girl, we do not get to see exactly what goes on. We must interpret what the the little girl is seeing which can give off a certain feeling of adolescence.
If Miss Caroline was part of my literature circle, I think she would be very strict. She would follow every rule, finish all her work, and be very "matter-of-fact". I don't think she would be mean, just very worried about her work, like if it's done right or not. If someone did not follow the rules, she would not like it and try to correct it, which could be misinterpreted as being mean.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)