Let's talk about TKAM At this point in time, I have finished TKAM and I have had some time to sort out my thoughts on the book. I think that this book is one of the few classic novels that I believe is important for teens today to read. We are often told to read things such as Romeo and Juliet and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. While they are decent pieces of text, none of them have had me as hooked as this novel. I feel like TKAM has interested me in a way that none of the other books have. The plot and characters have kept me invested in the story which in turn helped me see the meaning behind the novel. I think many of my other peers would agree with me about that. MyCharacters If you have read my last few blog posts, you would know that I have been following the characters Boo Radley and Calpurnia. Since I have two characters to discuss today, let's dive right into my thoughts on them. Let's start with Calpurnia. Throughout the book, it is evident that Calpurnia is meant to be the mother figure for Scout and Jem. She treats and cares for the children as if they were her own. She tries to teach them right from wrong and how to act. One example of this can be found in chapter 21. After it is discovered that Scout and Jem were watching the trial, Atticus instructed Calpurnia to take the children home. She tells them," Mister Jem, I thought you was gettin' some kinda head on your shoulders— the very idea, she's your little sister! The very idea, sir! You oughta be perfectly ashamed of yourself—ain't you got any sense at all?" In this moment, it is shown Calpurnia acting as a mother would in a situation like this. She is trying to understand why these kids did this when she taught them not to do such careless things. Now that we have addressed my first character, it is time to talk about Boo Radley. For the majority of the book, we don't see Boo or and he doesn't even speak. He is kept in the back of our minds until the very end of the book. Even when he is actively in the scene, he only has one line of speech. His one line has stuck with me for some reason. His only line is,"Will you take me home?" When I first read it, I was let down by how anticlimactic it was. I expected him to have more to say. However, I soon changed my mind about this line. Boo didn't really need to say anything else. His actions spoke for him. The simplicity of this line showed who he actually was: a simple and kind person who just happened to be misunderstood. He wasn't some scary monster. He is just a guy who happened to be judged for something he did when he was younger. Discussion #1 As always, we had a class discussion about the text that we read. We talked a lot about who the death of Bob Ewell. Someone questioned why Mr. Tate was trying to cover up the killing and why he was trying to hide what happened. We also mentioned who would actually care about his death. One of my classmates said that the people who defended him would care and want justice. However, other people, including myself, said many of those people actually wouldn't care. In the trial, the jury didn't convict Tom because they believed in Bob Ewell. They likely only convicted Tom because he was black and Mr. Ewell was white. Instead of looking for the truth, they probably only came to their conclusion based on the color of their skin. Discussion #2 Two days after the first discussion, we had another one. We based this discussion around an essay by William James. This essay, "On a Certain Blindness in Human Beings", talked about how humans often don't take into account the experiences of others. We are often confined to our own thoughts and opinions without considering those of others. In our discussion, we talked about why children such as Scout, Jem, and Dil are able to see more than others. We believe that it has to do with how they are raised and also their experience with life in general. Children haven't had the chance to decide their opinions completely as they have not had as much experience with life. Because of that, they are able to look past their own thoughts and see the world from different perspectives. As we get older, we become more stuck in our own opinions and ideas that it is harder to look at something in a different way. In the society of Maycomb and the South in the 1930s. the blindness of humans is blatantly caused by racism and a feeling of superiority. Back then, racism was extremely present and even part of the daily lives of some people in the South. Those people saw themselves as better than black people which lead to blindness to their experiences. As for blindness in humans in our modern society, it can be caused by many things. For some, it is still caused by racism and a feeling of superiority for one's race. For others it is caused by a sexism and believing one gender is better than the other. This leads to misunderstandings in our society today and can lead to tension between those who are blind to the thoughts of others. This novel highlights the issue of blindness and how it can impact a society. It shows us how blindness can be damaging to many people.
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Recap Here we are again with another blog post. Since the last blog post, I have now read up to and including chapter 14. I think the book has been getting a lot better. We are starting to get to see the secret lives of the characters and learn new things about them. At this point, readers are able to see the struggles and secrets of the characters. Character Analysis- I've been tracking two characters in this book, Boo Radley and Calpurnia. Last week I mainly focused on my main man Boo Radley. However, this week, I will be talking about Calpurnia. I feel like in these last few chapters we have learned more about her character and her personality. We get a look into her morals and her thoughts. An example of this can be found on page 126 when she states, "You're not gonna change any of them by talking right, they've got to want to learn themselves, and when they don't want to learn there's nothing you can do but keep your mouth shut or talk their language." This shows her viewpoints on interacting with other people. While she was talking about respecting the language people use without trying to change them if they don't want to learn. I feel like this also applies to issues outside of language. For example, I feel like this could apply to political views. With her reasoning, you won't be able to change the way someone sees an issue if they are not willing to think differently. If people are unwilling to look at things for a different perspective, you will not be able to impact their views. As readers, we also learn about Calpurnia through what others say about her. Atticus, for example, talks about her on page 137. He states, "She tried to bring them up according to her lights, and Cal's lights are pretty good." This gives us an insight on what Cal is like, but it also tells us her role in the book. She is there to give the kids moral guidance. In that way, she is somewhat of a mother figure to Scout and Jem. Discussion In class, as always, we had a discussion on the chapters we had read. During this discussion we talked about a couple of different things. We talked about the role of Calpurnia and her role in the story. The class talked about the role of the character Dill and why he was important to the novel. While we talked about those topics, one of them really caught my attention and intrigued me. We talked about what the mockingbird symbolized in the novel. It obviously has some importance as it is included in the title. One person said it represented African Americans and the struggles they were facing in that time. I on the other hand said the mockingbird symbolized the innocent. In the book, Miss Maudie describes the mockingbird as something that only brings joy to people and doesn't harm anyone. That is how I came up with the idea of a mockingbird symbolizing the innocent. Someone else said that maybe the mockingbird could easily represent both the innocent and African Americans. They were innocent, but still treated poorly and falsely accused of crimes. In the next discussion, I hope that we discuss these two questions:
Conclusion In conclusion, I am really enjoying this book. I feel like Scout is an interesting narrator as we get to see things from a child's perspective. I also think that this novel will allow me and my peers to learn more about the issue of racism that could be found in this time. I feel like it is easily shown in this book in comparison to novels such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (which we just finished reading).
One of the most well known pieces of American literature is To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. As we are currently reading this book in my English class, this post is going to involve my reflection on the book so far. I have only read the first 9 chapters, but I am already becoming invested in this novel. I like having Scout, who is a young girl, as a narrator instead of a third person narrator. I feel like it brings us more into the story and shows us the story through the eyes of a child. I think all of the characters are well written and I am intrigued to learn more about them and see them grow. As for the the themes that are seen in the book so far, one main ones is based around the understanding of others. One of the characters, Atticus, mentions how we cannot truly understand a person until we walk a mile in their shoes. This relates to a topic we have addressed in our class which is about the secret lives we live. As Atticus mentions, we do not know the secrets people are hiding and therefore we are unable to fully understand a person. They might be going through things that we have no idea about. As we read this novel, we are supposed to track a character and analyze them. We have to take note of what they say,do, hear, think, and feel. I was assigned the characters Boo Radley and Calpurnia. Today, I'm going to focus more on Boo Radley. In a way, Boo is a very mysterious character. He has been hidden away for many years by his father and uncle and no one from the outside world has been in contact with him. The townspeople do not know much about him so they create these myths about him and make him out to be a monster and someone to be feared. As the story has progressed, we start to learn more about him. We do not learn about him through his words and what he says, however. His actions reveal more about his character than anything else. For example, on page 58 it is discovered that Boo had helped Jem, Scout's older brother, by fixing the pants that he had previously ripped when trying to run away from something. This was the first example of the reader learning who Boo was though his actions. It showed the first glimpse of kindness from him. It makes the children realize that Boo might not be the monster that people say he is. After reading the first couple of chapters, we had a discussion in class about what we had read. I learned some new insight on this one moment in particular. At the end of chapter 7, Jem is said to be crying. I originally thought he was crying because he would not longer be getting the gifts from Boo and he was upset about that. However, someone brought up another reason for his crying. Jem had finally realized how lonely Boo must feel and how important the connection Boo had started to form with the children was. He realized that Boo had lost his only connection to the outside world when Nathan Radley, Boo's uncle, stopped them from communicating. In the next discussion, I hope we discuss the situation Boo is in as well as how Scout and Jem are changing throughout the story. In thinking of these topics, these are two questions I hope to talk about:
Time for the next Haroun update! We just finished reading the book and I think it was very predictable. You expect them to beat Khattam-Shud and for the mom to return home. However, that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the ending. I still liked some aspects such as how sad city became happy and discovered their name. I also liked how they made it so that Gup and Chup are united as one kingdom. Looking back at the lenses of the different groups (satire, allegory, allusion, and the hero's journey), it helped me understand the deeper meaning of the book. By viewing the book in multiple ways, we were able to learn more about the characters, society, and the author. For example, allegory taught us about the author's outlook and experiences with certain types of people. The hero's journey allowed us to first see a basic plot and made it easier to spot unique details about characters. In my opinion, I feel like satire revealed the most and was the most striking. This is because it really highlights the different aspects of our world and the differences in people. In the last section of the book, one quote really stood out to me. It reads as follows, " ...the Grand Panjandrum himself does exactly what he wants to forbid everyone else to do. His followers sew up their lips and he talks and talks like billy-o." (Rushdie 154) I marked this quote because it really brings Rushdie's conflict into the story. The people who put the fatwa on his head tried to silence him, while they continued to speak freely. They wanted to limit others' speech, but they didn't put any restraints on themselves. Since I was unfortunately not here for my class's discussion, let's move onto literary analysis. I think the main concept that this story was trying to teach was figuring out who you are. It is evident that the father in the story was dealing with an identity crisis and the story begins due to this. It is trying to teach us about the journey we must take to find ourselves. While we won't be going off to some magical land, we must follow similar paths. Once we decide to find ourselves, we must learn about the different aspects of our lives and take a journey to determine who we are. We have to be willing to face some challenges in order to do so. When my class first started reading this book, we talked about the idea of stories being morally good lies. The first thing we had to do was look up what exactly is considered a lie (look here to see that definition). Then, we had to use the story to come up with a conclusion to this question of stories being morally good lies. After reading the book, I came to the conclusion that stories are in fact not morally good lies. They are not even lies at all. As Rashid told people, his stories are not meant to be taken as truth. He admits that stories are not real and not meant to be believed. This is different from a lie as lies are meant to be seen as the truth. Another thing we discussed at the beginning of the book was the idea that we are storytelling animals. We watched a TED talk about storytelling and how it impacts us. This relates to the novel because this book is all about stories. Each character is somehow affected by the stories they tell and the stories they hear. Stories are a major aspect of their life and they would not be where they are without them. Overall, I thought the story was decent. It wasn't the worst story I had ever read, but I wouldn't want to read it again. While there were many aspects that I enjoyed, I was not a fan of the book as a whole. I didn't enjoy the style of writing and the general plot. One of the things I did like, however, was that anyone could could possibly enjoy this book. While it is considered a children's novel, I know there are definitely some adults who would love it.
It's time for my second update for Haroun and the Sea of Stories!! Let's get started... My impressions: So far my impressions are the same. I am still getting surprised by the book. For example, *SPOILER ALERT* that Blabbermouth is a girl. Who would have expected that? I am getting a deeper understanding of how the author views the world and the government through his characters. The recurring theme of the self-obsessed political figures is one example. By understanding this, I am given a deeper insight into the book and what its message is. Annotations: One of my annotations dealt with telling stories that aren't even true. This annotation dealt with Blabbermouth. In a way, she was telling stories about herself and her gender. She told a story that she was boy in order to get a job. She told an untruthful story in order to succeed and do what she wanted to do. This is one of the many reasons people tell stories that aren't true. Allegories: I also have continued to annotate the story. Through my lens of allegory, I continued to look for connections the author makes to his own life. One quote really stuck out to me. It reads, "He is the Arch-Enemy of all Stories, even of Language itself. He is the Prince of Silence and the Foe of Speech." This could relate to the leaders of his government that tried to silence him and set rules on his writing. (You can read more about this conflict here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Satanic_Verses_controversy ) Class Discussion: Our discussion this week was very interesting. We had the different lenses all talk about the story this week. One major topic that we discussed was government. Rushdie, the author, puts a spotlight on the government in this novel. He points out the flaws of leaders through his characters. This intrigued me as it relates to my lens of annotations. We had made connections to his political figures in the book to general groups of people in our society. So that is all for today! Now I'm off to finish the book! In my English class, we have been reading Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie. So far it is a little different than would have expected. I didn't expect to have the element of the mom running off with another man. That is one thing you don't expect to see in a children's book. This, however, was a welcome surprise. I enjoyed seeing that the book had some depth to it instead of it being just a lighthearted book. I haven't been confused by anything at this point as it seems to be a pretty straightforward book at this point.
Also, in our class, we were put into groups that indicated how we were to view the story. I was put into the allegory group. This means I had to look for things that could have symbolized a person or event in the author's life and look deeper into the text. One possible symbol could be when the wife left Rashid. This could symbolize the people who no longer supported the author when the Satanic Verses was released and left him behind. We are also annotating sections of the book. One of the ways we are annotating deals with the stories we tell ourselves and reality. Two lines that caught my attention both dealt with this. One quote reads, "When Haroun heard his father say only a story, he understood that the Shah of Blah was very depressed indeed, because only deep despair could have made him say such a terrible thing." The other, which is much too long to quote here, is a paragraph where we see that Rashid is questioning giving everything up because he can no longer tell stories. These two passages show how Rashid is losing his identity because he can no longer tell stories, which is all he knows. This in turn is making him depressed as he feels that he is no longer himself. Finally, we had an discussion in class about the book. I was intrigued by the topic of what state of mind you have to be in when telling a story. We talked about how it is easier to tel stories when we are happier, but the impact of a story can be stronger when a person is upset. We related this to the book as we thought about how the book would be different if it was more focused on Rashid than Haroun. And that's where we are in the book. I will continue to update as we continue to read the book. Emily Hey there!
My name is Emily and I am a high school student in 10th grade. As for this website, this is my digital portfolio. I will be posting work on here from my English class and maybe even work from other classes. I will be putting my work out into the open for all too see. For anyone that wants to know a little more about me, keep on reading. So as you know, my name is Emily. My favorite activities include Netflix. That's it... Okay, there's more to me than my binge watching habits. I'm also really into reading and I also enjoy playing a little volleyball here and there. Now, let's get a little more serious about this. One thing you might want to know is that I have a strong desire to help people. I want to make a difference, even if it is just for a few people. This is why I want to have a career in the medical field. I hope that I can help someone feel better, even if it is just form a moment. In the next few years, I hope this portfolio will continue to grow. It will be very interesting to look back at my old work and see all of my progress. It would be a great learning experience. Okay that's all for now. See you later! Emily |
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