To Kill A Mockingbird - Part One Essay

We spent a whole week writing a formal essay about part one of To Kill a Mockingbird. I chose topic 2: What impact does setting have on your understanding of the central ideas or themes presented in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. 

My thesis was that of course, "the setting of the story helps the reader to understand the book in a better way.  We have the Walter Cunninghams issue, racial segregation and the Tom Robinson's case which can be understood in a better way if you know the context and setting.

All these aspects help the reader and that's what my essay is about.

To Kill a Mockingbird Part 1 Analysis Questions

1. What is the reason for the author's choice of a young narrator?

By choosing a young narrator, in this case a 5-9 year old girl, we get an innocent but true point of view. The description sometimes is childish but totally objective.
2. How does Jem and Scout's views of Boo Radley change during part 1 of the book?

At first, they thought Boo was a bad person, scary and crazy, but as the story goes on, they start changing their mind. After founding his trouser nice and tidy when running away from the Radley place, after finding gifts in a knothole and after Scout is helped by Boo during the fire, they start thinking of Boo as a good person, just oppressed by his family.
3. Atticus tells the children several times that they need to walk in someone else's shoes before judging the person. Describe times when Atticus, Scout or Jem walk in someone else's shoes. How does this change how they view the situations? What role does this advice play in sympathy and compassion? 

Among all of the examples we can find in the novel, strictly referring to the first part we have the Walter Cunninghams case. When Jem invited him to have lunch and Walter purred syrup all over his plate, Scout cursed him and then she was punished by Calpurnia. Scout didn't understood the position of Walter at first, but when she stood in his shoes, she knew the situation better. Her life was easy compared to Walter.
4. How do you think Atticus managed his role as a single parent? 

Atticus is a good father in the aspect of teaching values and moral education of his children, although his almost never present and Calpurnia has to take care of the children. Atticus just tries to keep the house and family up.
5. Discuss race issues in part 1 of the book.

Almost everyone in Maycomb was racist and this is represented when Atticus has to defend a Negro, Tom Robinson. People from Maycomb bother Jem and Scout. The finch family is upset too.

6. From your reading of part 1, What does To Kill a Mockingbird teach us about how people cope with issues of race and class? Do you classify people in your world as different "folks?" Do you see those sort of distinctions today? 

Racism was an important issue during the times of the author and before. Now days we still have discrimination but not as a big issue as it was before. the same happens with classes, but the difference is that  it is still an issue now days.
7. Who is your favorite character from part 1 and why?

I would say is Boo, as he is really a good person oppressed by society and misunderstood. He helps people and hopes for the best as we will see later on in part two.

ALABAMA RADIO ONE 

Tom Robinson's Trial.

Weeks 17-18-19-20-21

Language and Gender

Language is strongly related to gender. Men and women communicate in different forms and styles. Men tend to communicate facts, whereas women tend to communicate thoughts and abstract things. It's part of our nature.
With this introduction, we can differentiate between male centered views and feminism. The first one basically says that men are more than women and women are subordinated to men. The second one speaks about women in a good sense, separating them from men and  vindicating women rights.
Media greatly influences gender and communication, by using stereotypes and generalizations.
In class we had to create two ads, a feminist one and a male centered one.
For the first one, along with my group formed by Sebastian Barriga, Martin Macchiavello and me, we "created" a hammer for men, but not any one. It was a special hammer that, if a woman calibrated it, men would stop hitting their fingers. And if the man didn't have a wife, he should call an emergency service, so they send a woman to calibrate it.
For the male centered one, we "created" an energy drink so that women would have energy all day long to clean the dishes, the house, cook and still have energy for more!

Literature: Texts and Contexts

As we already saw on week 5,  Literature is "a highly developed use of language in that is the stylized manipulation of language for larger effect (purpose) and/or affect (emotional response)"
In this unit we will relate literature and contexts, but first of all, What are contexts?
Context can be defined simply as the circumstances that surround a given text and help to specify its meaning.
Context is best expressed as CONTEXTS (plural) because of the wide variety of external forces that affect the general reception or understanding of a work.While studying a text, we will separate to main contexts, context of production ( Author's life and historical issues by the time the book/text was written) and context of reception (Once approach to the text, with our own backgrounds and livings)
We read two difficult texts: The leopard and Notable American Women and to understand them better we wrote some questions about the texts: What is exactly being described? A place, person, context? What was happening in 1860 (setting of the story? Where does this story take place? Who and why is a creature? What harm has he done? What does "Father of distinction" mean? Is he being ironic?
In class we clearly understood what a context is by applying it to the book we are reading, To kill a mockingbird by Harper Lee. We saw how segregation, prejudice, the dust bowl, the economic depression and the unemployment by the time the book was written and the setting of the story, greatly influenced the meaning of the book.

Some questions about the first chapter of the book:
1. What do you learn in this chapter about Maycomb, Atticus Finch and his family?
The narrator tells us that Maycomb "was and old town","the streets turned to red slop when rainy", "grass grew on the sidewalks". It was unusually hot that year. There were not many kids in town. The family was wealthy, Atticus is a lawyer and not very close to Scout and Jem, his children. Atticus wife died when Scout was 2. Atticus ancestors were immigrants and lost everything during the civil war.
2. Describe Calpurnia as scouts describes her in chapter 1.
Calpurnia is all angles and bones, near-sighted, hard and big hands. Always ordering Scout out of the kitchen and comparing her to Jem. She is afroamerican and has a Tyrannical presence.
3. What does Dill dare Jem to do?
Dill dares Jem to get Boo Radley out of his house and he will give The Grey Ghost to Jem.
4. The townspeople of Maycomb have some fears and superstitions about the Radley place. Describe them.
They thought that the house was cursed because they didn't go to church, never crossed the street out of the house and the doors were always closed. "When the younger Radley was in his teens he became acquainted....formed the closest thing to a gang ever seen in Maycomb. They "bought cotton".
5. How important is bravery to Jem?
It is very important as he is the older brother.
6. That do you notice about the narrative voice and viewpoint of the story?
Scout is the narrator, so we have a childish and innocent point of view. She only tells us what she sees.

Literature: Text and Contexts: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Context of production

Nelle Harper Lee was born in 1926 in the town of Monroeville (Alabama, United States), her schoolmate and neighbour was Truman Capote (other important writer), she studied in the Huntingdon College and later she studied laws in the University of Alabama, but she didn’t like it, so she went to New York City to be a writer, but she had to work as ticket agent of an airline, there she receive a gift with money and a message: "You have one year, off from your job to write whatever you please. Merry Christmas".
To Kill a mockingbird was written in 1960. This period was really important for the African-American Civil Rights Movement, reflected in the story and greatly influenced by segregation: Jim Crow Laws, Scottsboro trials, prejudice, among others. Other important influence was the friendship of Lee with Truman Capote and other artist of the period. 

The setting is in Alabama during the 1930s, period influenced by the economic depression, unemployment and the dust bowl.The plot and characters are loosely based on the author's observations of her family and neighbors, as well as on an event that occurred near her hometown in 1936, when she was 10 years old.(en.wikipedia.org)

Context Of Reception: Chile, 2012, by 10th graders.

A Language Without Limits

In this text we can read about language and its variations, in this case, Arabizi, Hinglish and Chinglish in the Greater Toronto Area (first sentence). The purpose of this text is to inform everyone (extracted from the newspaper), especially English Speakers from Toronto about the dynamic changes that language suffers, in this case, English. It is said that this changes are a special and remarkable feature of English as it "has always been a sponge language" because of the "direct consequence of international scope, the fact that English has traveled so far around the world and mixed with so many cultures and has absorbed influences from all those cultures". Many of this changes in English are due to immigrants also, and that affects the way they speak at home and with friends.
At the end of the text there are some examples of these modifications of language: Shoofihada, mezeiwan? (Look at this, it's nice).
As this is a text taken from the Toronto Star of the 19th of August 2008, it is a non-fiction text with just facts expressed in an objective,academic and formal way.
The author supports the ideas in the text with quotes from experts, expressing the point of view about the "creation" of new types of  English due to the facts mentioned before about nationalism, culture and family.

Extract from the Toronto Star Online:

English has always been a sponge language. Since it was written down in the year 700, it has adopted words from Norse, French and Latin, among others. English now has up to 700,000 words – more than almost any other language, according to Chambers.

"That's a direct consequence of international scope, the fact that English has travelled so far around the world and mixed with so many other cultures and has absorbed influences from all those other cultures. It has been an amazingly tolerant language."

Week 16
Politically Correct Language is a term which denotes language, ideas, policies, and behavior seen as seeking to minimize social and institutional offense in occupational, gender, racial, cultural, sexual orientation, certain other religions, beliefs or ideologies, disability, and age-related contexts, and, as purported by the term, doing so to an excessive extent. This is an example in which the man could have used other words to describe the other person.


 Language and Community
Communities are created by people to produce knowledge, authority, and language. This Communities create different types of language by using slang and colloquialisms. When you are part of a community, you get used to speak in a certain way, but what happens if you belong to many different communities?

Ebonics: Black English
In the following video you'll be able to see what Black English is, how it is used and the effect it produces. This language could be considered as part of a community because of the "slang" and words used:

 Online communities: group of people with common interests who use the Internet (web sites, email, instant messaging, etc.) to communicate, work together and purse their interests over time

When being part of an online community, you start using different language that you wouldn't normally use when talking to your friends face to face.

1. What is the issue with identity on the Internet? 

When you are in the internet, you don't always use your real name so when talking to someone you don't really know who that person is.

2. Can you be anyone you want on the Internet?

Yes, you can create a name and use it as you want.

3. Can you be indentified by your use of language?
Many times your friends will know how you write and express yourself, but when you are in the internet, with any name you want, it's easy to change the way you write.

Week 12-13-14-15: NEW ZEALAND, British Week and Winter Holidays

Week 13 was the British week, but as some of us were in New Zealand, we didn't participate in activities such as the trip to Valparaiso, Public Speaking Competition, Literary Fair or Cricket.
During the two last weeks of the first term, and the 2 weeks of winter holidays, we visited New Zealand.
Starting this trip on the 24th of May, we arrived there to Auckland and stayed there for only one day. Next day we went to Wellington, place where we would spend 3 weeks of our lives, living with a host family and immersed in the Kiwi Culture.

I stayed with the Parsonson family and went to school with Will. We visited too many places, like Kapiti Island, Museums, WWII tunnels and guns, the Zoo, Bird Sanctuaries where we saw 3 kiwis, and so many other places that is difficult to name them all.
At first it was difficult to feel comfortable in another house, with another family, but the second and third weeks were the best. It was almost like my own house.
I hope to go back if possible and I hope that Will comes next year to Chile.

Week 10 and 11

Language and knowledge
Some specific types of jargon that we studied in class were:

Scientific Language: It refers to all the words used in medicine,investigation, health care and science in general. It includes Technical words not commonly understandable by everyone.

Legal Language: It is the language used by lawyers and people related to legal processes. It must be precise and detailed, avoiding ambiguities and most of the time, when ambiguity is present, change what was meant to be said to accommodate the language in your favor.
Sports Language: It is composed by different words used in sports, commonly used to explain the training, plays, positions, etc.

This is a video in which you can learn how scientific language is used. Jargon and Slang make it more difficult to understand:
http://youtu.be/r0ov89KPtDQ

To practice this jargon, we had oral presentations. In my case, I was a waterpolo player alongside with Mr Macchiavello and Mr Reynolds interviewed us after loosing the national finals.

Language in cultural context

When analyzing a text you should take into consideration:

Theme:  An idea that recurs in or pervades a work of art or literature.

Topic

Main Idea

Author's purpose: Ex: Inform, persuade, entertain.

Genre: Fiction, Non Fiction

Source

Target Audience

Register

Vocabulary

Tone

To practise this we had reading comprehension activities in which we had to find the different aspects mentioned before and give an example from the text that supports our point of view.

Week 8 and 9
During these two weeks we studied about eBooks and we ha to debate: "The raise of eBook: are paper books getting obsolete?".
With my group (Mr. Reynolds and Mr: Kitzing) we had to defend the motion that paper books are not getting obsolete. To do this we focused on the price, the portability, the damage of the eyes a kindle or iPad can make and the sensation of a paper book, which is different and special compared to the one of an eBook. We didn't really debate on the motion because we focused on which is better, not if paper books are getting obsolete. I can now continue saying that paper books are not getting obsolete because we still use them, specially in school.

Then we studied jargon and slang, their differences and limitations. Jargon is used to communicate with job mates, it's very technical and very formal. It can be used world wide with people that work in the same area and they will understand it. On the other hand we have slang: a very informal way to speak that is only understood by people living in the same geographic space.

Finally we saw a video of Alex, a 21 years old man from London who's a polyglot. Polyglotism is the ability to speak, several languages with a high degree of proficiency. A bilingual person can speak two languages fluently, whereas a trilingual three; above that the term multilingual or polylingual may be used.

From this video we had to answer some questions: 

1. How many languages does Alex speak?

Alex Speaks eleven languages and he'll probably continue learning more.

2. Does context help in the process of acquiring a new language?

Yes, if you are immersed in a society that speaks the language that you want to learn, it'll be much easier to learn it. Alex told his personal experience and said that learning a language in the country was much easier than learning it from a piece of paper.

3. Are there any languages that have similiar pronunciation?

Alex mentioned that Spanish and Greek were very similar, and also Dutch with Afrikaans. I was had the opportunity to speak with a Romanian and told me that Romanian language was very similar to Spanish, French and Italian because it was a mix of them plus some Latin and Slavic words.

4. Which of the languages spoken by Alex seem more colloquial?

For Alex, Afrikaans is very colloquial.

5. Is class a more important factor in language variation than geography?

No, the class only changes the language to a more formal or informal tone and may include some slang, whereas geography changes the language completely.

4. Do you think, the ability of learning a language is innate or learned?

I think that the ability is learned, because not everyone speaks a lot of languages and some people have problems learning a second language. You must learn the language, practice it and repeat the process over and over again to learn more languages. To learn a language you must pay attention to the pronunciations and all. 

5. According to you, are some languages more or less difficult to learn than others? Talk about your own experience.

Of course some languages are more difficult, it just depends on the roots of your "mother language" and the experience you have with other languages. For example I know Spanish, English and some French and Portuguese, and English was easier to learn than French because of the structure, although, Spanish and French have the same Latin roots. Portuguese is much more easier.