My Personal Opinion about the film is that it is a very nice film but I would prefer the book because you get a lot more background information about this time and Maycomb.
3.)
"To Kill A Mockingbird takes readers to the roots of human behaviour -to innocence and experience - kindness and cruelty - love and hatred, humour and pathos." What is your view?
Every Child, begins life innocent and without prejudice. It is as they grow and develop that their individual experiences of life sculpt and shape their personality. I think to a child, the world is an amazing place; children are on a constant search for knowledge and are incurably inquisitive. They see adults as figures of authority and generally accept their word as the truth, as their naivety does not allow them to comprehend lies and deception. E.g. If an Adult tells them that Afro Americans are cruel, brutal ruthless and generally stupid the child will take this as the truth. However, children can be equally as cruel and selfish as they are innocent. Material possessions are of great importance to them and they will frequently disregard other people’s feelings in pursuit of their own interest, often acting before considering the consequences. In the Book Atticus said "Maycomb's usual disease", is racism and "reasonable people go stark raving mad when anything involving a Negro comes up." He is eager to avoid arguments with his neighbours about the rights and wrongs of him defending Tom, and is civil to everyone despite what they may have said about him behind his back.
In the end an innocent man was convicted and died in the hands of the criminal justice system because of a few individuals. Guilt is evident throughout all of the character, and maybe even some more can be guilty. At the end I would say this; an innocent man was convicted and died because of the actions of a few individuals, and one lie.
4.)
"Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." Place this extract in context and discuss which characters in the book you consider to be blue jays and which characters you consider to be mockingbirds
I think the main Mockingbirds in the Book are Boo Radley and Tom Robinson; both of them are victims of people's prejudices. Scout's observations of this are particularly effective because she is noticing them for the first time. As a child, she is unable to understand fully why adults behave in such an irrational manner, and this adds a simplistic naivety to her narrative. It is clear to the reader that she sees things from an unbiased viewpoint; we can see this several times when she is describing "the simple hell people give other people. Both 'Boo' and Tom are the Mocking birds of the novels title. Neither had done anything wrong, but they were persecuted because of others ignorance and intolerance.
There is an abundance of characters that could be blue jays, from Mayella and Bob Ewell, Heck Tate, to the jurors. All of these characters play a roll in the story, and a roll in the events that happened to Tom Robinson. The story is an interesting one, but blue jays are found throughout.
Blue jay 1:
The jurors are the single most important people in the court room, and having a clear mind of all prejudices needs to be preset. In this case it was not. The jurors virtually held Tom’s life in their hot little hands and in their prejudicial ways crushed it without thinking twice. The members of the jurors are undoubtedly blue jays because of the fact that there was no hard evidence that Tom did it, rape Mayella. The jurors are blue jays for the simple fact that they convicted an innocent man, their racist views go to them and couldn’t see the truth.
Blue jay 2:
Bob Ewell lived on the out skirts of town and despised Negro’s. He lived with his daughter Mayella and several other siblings. He was a mean spirited human being, and spent all the family’s relief checks on himself buying into his addiction, alcohol. He did see the events in question, but they did not happen they way he said they did, not at all. He heard a commotion in the distance and ran to see what the matter was. He saw Mayella trying to get onto of Tom Robinson, he was mortified. This was a sin, to be with a Negro man if you were white. Bob started screaming, and Tom was scared off. He then was so mad he proceeded to beat Mayella on the right side of her head, later brought into evidence. He knew what he was doing; he knew he was going to blame Tom for the beating and rape of Mayella even though he knew that if did not happen (the rape). Bob Ewell is a blue jay, for costing a man his freedom...and his life.
Blue jay 3:
Mayella Ewell is at the center of the whole case, she is the key to Tom’s guilt of innocent. If she would have had the guts to come forward and confess the lie that brought down an innocent man, the case would have been dismissed. She wanted him so badly because she had no one. She thought she loved him, but love was in a lower position to her urges, she wanted him to love her. She is a blue jay of planning the whole event that in the end would take a man’s life.
5.)
Discuss Harper Lee's presentation of the theme of family life in To Kill A Mockingbird. You should concentrate on the Radley and Ewell families in your discussion.
The Cunningham’s were just as poor as the Ewells, yet they dealt with their poverty in a different manner. They did not suck money from the state through welfare as the Ewells did, and paid for what they could. They would not take handouts. An example of this is when Walter Cunningham was offered lunch money by his teacher. He wouldn't take it because he knew he would never be able to repay it. Poverty reduced the Ewells to an animalistic style of life, where fathers rape their own daughters. The Ewells also never attended school, aside from the first day, whereas the Cunningham’s were faithfully attending school. In addition, the Cunningham’s remained honourable despite their situation, while the Ewells didn't. The Cunningham’s and the Ewells are two examples of how different people deal with the same situation of poverty.
6.)
Discuss, using examples from the book, how Atticus raises his children. What does he teach them and what lessons do they learn in the process?
Atticus gives guidance to Jem and Scout, and he treats them with fairness and honesty. He tries to bring them up as best he can as a single parent.
Atticus is always guiding Jem and Scout with advice so that they will become better people. Atticus sets a good example for the children. E.g. When Mr. Ewell confronts him. Even though he is provoked and insulted, Atticus simply has a “peaceful reaction”. This shows the children never to get into fights with people when they are upset about something. Atticus shows children about courage and all the forms it appears in. When Jem is told to read for Ms Dubose and she dies, Atticus explains to Jem about her morphine addiction, and how she died “free”. This shows Jem that courage isn’t always where you expect to find it, and that if you have some compassion, you see people for who they really are. The most important piece of advice he gives his children is that “you never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” This is important for the children to know, because it helps them to be more caring people, and they use this advice throughout the novel.
Atticus treats everyone with fairness. He always hears both sides of the story. He does this after Scout has gotten into a fight with Francis Hancock. After a time Atticus hears Scout’s side of the story and realizes that it wasn’t totally Scout’s fault. Scout also tells Uncle Jack that when she and Jem get into fights Atticus stops to hear both sides of the argument before placing the blame, if any.
Atticus is a model parent. He loves his children more than anything in the world, and he does as much as he can to bring them up as respectable people. He may not be able to “play football” with all the other fathers, but he has all the qualities a good parent could hope to have.
Atticus often encouraged his children to avoid conflict (Mrs. Dubose is one example). When Atticus killed the rabid dog, his children gained a totally different view of him. The whole town had revealed to them the secret of their father, that he was an excellent marksman and a brave man. Scout and Jem saw the Atticus that was once brave and daring. Thus, they became proud to model themselves after their own father, once shunning him.
The Moral Atticus wants to give his children is the following:
Don't attack something if it hasn't harmed you:
This lesson is taught to Jem and Scout by Atticus when he teaches them about
the mockingbird. He says that the mockingbird is innocent and only sings for
you. It is therefore wrong to kill it. This was after Jem and Scout got their air rifles. Atticus knew that they will also shoot birds that is why he gave them the example of a Mockingbird.
I think Atticus is a great father, he does a good job. He never beat his children for any reason. He is one of the few people in Maycomb which don’t have prejudices against blacks. Atticus wants to teach them that Respect and understanding are the keys to peaceful coexistence. If one can achieve these two factors, then one can safely say that an armistice has been reached.
7.)
The characters of Scout and Jem
Jean Louise Finch (Scout)
Scout is the one of the main characters of the novel. The story takes place during her years of growing up and maturing. As it begins, she is six years old. She is the daughter of Atticus Finch. She is very curious about various topics; school, her frightening neighbour, Boo Radley, and all the strange people living in the town. She does not want to act like a "lady", she will much rather run around and play all day in overalls, and jeans, than sit and do nothing in a dress. She loves to sit on her father's lap and have him read stories to her. She really loves to read, and gets very upset when her teacher tells her to stop reading since she is so far ahead of her classmates.
Jeremy Finch (Jem)
Jem is Scout's older brother. He is 10 as the story begins, and 13 at its end. He is very wise for his age, and also very emotional. He takes after his father Atticus a lot. He is more easy-going and not as adventurous as Scout. Later on though, you could see his personality change from immature to mature. He grew to understand the ways of life, racism, and toleration. His experience with Mrs. Dubose was a learning one. He learned toleration, for by destroying her flowers after mere taunts from her brought him nothing but grief. In addition, after Mrs. Dubose died, he learns of her struggle and looks at her in a new light.
8.)
Write a letter from Mrs Merriweather to J. Grimes Everett. In it, ask him about his work and praise him and encourage him. The main purpose of the letter is to tell him of Tom Robinson's trial and any events (especially the reaction of the Negroes) which take place afterwards. Bear in mind that Mrs. Merriweather holds strong opinions about everything and will not hesitate to pass judgement on all that has occurred.
Dear J. Grimes Everett
We have not seen us for a long time so I thought I am going to write you a to keep you up with that is going on in Maycomb and I want you to ensure that the ladies of the Methodists Episcopal Church are behind you and we support your work.. I hope with this letter I can encourage you to continue your work. So actually I want to tell you what is going on in Maycomb so here are the news.
I will try to mention everything I remember about Tom Robinson’s trial which was the main event in the last few months. Tom Robinson is black man who was accused of raping Mayella Ewell. Maybe you can remember her father Bon Ewell; he is the guy who looks like a drunken animal. In the trial there were four witnesses Mr Tate, Mr Ewell, Mayella Ewell and Tom Robinson. But I think the first three I mentioned were lieing and didn’t say the truth. Mr. Tate’s story was a little bit strange and implausible. He said Mr. Ewell called him in the evening and told him to come to his house quickly because Mayella has been raped by Tom Robinson. The exact words he used were: “Mayella was lying on the flour and she was beaten up. Her right eye was swollen.” What I think is so strange about that is that none of the two guys called a doctor to help Mayella. Mr. Ewell was left handed and Tom Robinson’s left hand was crippled but we know that the injuries Mayella has that a person left handed beat her. But the jury said Tom Robinson is guilty. Tom was then killed after an unsuccessful try to escape of the prison. My opinion was that Tom Robinson was definitely not guilty after the evidences of Atticus.
After this all was over Atticus’s popularity was so high, by the black people of the town, that many of them gave Atticus food at the next morning. With these presents they want to say:” Thank you that you are defending us instead of attacking us”
9.)
The great works of literature are equally relevant to each generation. Use examples taken from To Kill A Mockingbird to explain your response to this statement.
Great Works of literature will always be important to each generation and every person otherwise they wouldn’t be called great works of literature. Everyone can learn of great works of literature. What I learned of this novel is that racism and prejudices is a very cruel thing. I also think great works of literature are relevant to each generation not equally relevant but relevant.
From this book we can learn how prejudices can affect some innocent individuals. E.g. Tom Robinson’s death can be referred to some individuals in the novel who all accused him of raping Mayella because they learned, as they were growing up, “White peoples words are truer than the word of a Negro”
Atticus the model father of the book was a great example of how parents should educate and teach their children. Atticus always set a good example even he was provoked by Bob Ewell. Atticus looked over the opinions of others and defended a black man in front of the trial. At this time it was not a good thing to defend a black man in front of the judge. Atticus just ignored the people who talked behind his back.
In this novel it easy to see who are the mockingbirds and who are the blue jays so my opinion is that everybody can learn different from this novel.
