In both ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ and ‘A View From the Bridge’, a lawyer is one of the main characters. Explain how Miller and Lee use Alfieri and Atticus respectively to put across their themes

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Antonia Jackson 10Y

In both ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ and ‘A View From the Bridge’, a lawyer is one of the main characters.  Explain how Miller and Lee use Alfieri and Atticus respectively to put across their themes

Alfieri and Atticus are both lawyers which the authors brought into the texts to highlight themes.  Alfieri highlights the themes of justice, social code, social class, immigration and marriage.  Atticus Finch, the lawyer in To Kill a Mockingbird, is brought into the texts to highlight racism, law, social division, prejudice and courage.  The authors, Harper Lee and Arthur Miller have some first hand experience of what they write about.  Harper Lee was born on April 1926 in Alabama, the time the book was set.  She also studied law during 1945-1949.  Later, in 1960, To Kill A Mockingbird was published and she incorporated her knowledge of life in America and law into the book.  The author of A View From the Bridge, Arthur Miller, was born in New York on October 17th 1915.  Both of his parents were immigrants.  This is possibly where he got his inspiration to write the play.

In A View From The Bridge, Miller uses Alfieri to highlight the main themes by introducing a number of scenarios.  These themes are also brought into the play by the central character Eddie.  The first theme, justice and law, is used to show the reader the contrast between the very lawful New York, with no social code, and the Italian-American community which has a social code and sees justice as being more important than the law and that justice is not always lawful.  Alfieri says, “I heard what you told me, and I’m telling you what the answer is… Put it out of your mind!  Eddie!”  In this speech, Alfieri is saying that Eddie will soon be outcast as a result of informing the Immigration Bureau.  This proves how much the social code is valued in this area and also proves that it is stronger than the law itself.  The conversation between Eddie, Catherine and Beatrice also proves this point further:

Beatrice:   But the family had an uncle that the were hidin’ in the house, and he              

                  snitched to the Immigration.

Catherine: The kid snitched?

Eddie:       On his own uncle!

Catherine: What, was he crazy?

Eddie:       He was crazy after that, I tell you that, boy.

This shows that everyone finds it shocking that he ‘snitched’ on the immigrant.  Beatrice goes on to say ‘The whole neighbourhood was cryin’’.  The quotation shows that Red Hook is a very close-knit community and one breach of trust and the social code affects them all.  At the end of the play, Eddie demands justice on Rudolfo for trying to take ‘his’ Catherine and on Marco for abusing his sense of honour.  At the same time, Marco demands justice on Eddie for informing the Immigration Bureau about his and Rudolfo’s residence.  Eddie wouldn’t settle for half and tried to kill Marco but he reverses it and kills Eddie.  As Alfieri is a lawyer, he should be advising Eddie against helping immigrants but instead he advises him not to tell the immigration office about them.  This is because he understands the social code and knows the consequences of not obeying it.  

When Eddie eventually turns to the immigration bureau to tell them about Eddie and Marco, the main thing on his mind is the fact that he is going to lose Catherine.  Alfieri understands this but advises him to let her go:

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Alfieri:“…every man’s got somebody he loves, heh?  But sometimes…there is              

            too much….there is too much love for the daughter, there is too much

            love for the niece.  Do you understand what I’m saying to you? … Let  

            her go.  That’s my advice.  You did your job, now it’s her life; wish her

            luck and let her go.

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