"Behind the Scenes at the museum" - Kate Atkinson Consider the effectiveness of the title. You may wish to consider the "behind the scenes" quality of the telling of the story and the notion of a "museum".
Coursework "Behind the Scenes at the museum" - Kate Atkinson Consider the effectiveness of the title. You may wish to consider the "behind the scenes" quality of the telling of the story and the notion of a "museum". "I exist!" So begins the novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum. Ruby Lennox has literally just been conceived and is already starting to narrate her life story. Although many of the chapters in the book are told from Ruby's perspective, commenting on the present, there are others that follow called footnotes. These depict stories from the past, explaining how and why certain things came to be, following various members of her family dating back to her great grandmother. At the beginning of the book, we are not quite sure how these footnotes are relevant, but realise after a short time that they are vital to the insight and understanding of many of the complicated characters in the book. The footnotes are spread throughout the entire course of the book, which means that the beautiful story unfurls gradually, leaping from past to present, fitting together magically in front of you, up until the very last chapter. To fully understand this book, you must first fully understand the title. The notion of a "museum" is interesting. Thinking about an actual museum, you can look at the exhibits, you can read the information on them, but you can never fully understand
Why did Harper Lee choose to have a child narrator in, 'To Kill a Mockingbird?'
GCSE English Coursework Why did Harper Lee choose to have a child narrator in, 'To Kill a Mockingbird?' Harper Lee grew up in Alabama in the 1930s, and witnessed a great deal of racism around her as she grew up. 'To Kill a Mockingbird' is also set in 1930, and contains a child narrator, in the form of Scout, and therefore the racial divisions and conflict Harper Lee witnessed may be directly represented by those seen by Scout. Indeed, the Scottsboro incident of 1931 where five black men were wrongly accused of raping two white women on a train, and the passions that were subsequently aroused may have had a bearing on her depiction of the ordeal suffered by Tom Robinson. The civil rights movement, which attempted to break the pattern of racially segregated public facilities in the South through the application of non-violent protest was well underway at the time of publication of the book in 1960, making racism a prominent and inflammatory issue at the time. For this reason a child narrator may have been used as a means of deflecting any possible controversy leading to censorship, in that those who disagreed with integration and other contentious themes in the book were able to discount any opposing views as childish naivety. Also by setting the book in the 1930s the message would not have seemed as direct for the readers of the 1960s and the book would not have been seen
Discuss Harper Lee's presentation of prejudice and injustice in the trial episode. Pay particular attention to the way in which the author uses the characters and structure of the narrative to influence the reader.
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Consider the techniques used by Nichols and Taylor to convey their origins to the reader - How do they portray the gap between black and white.
Word Count: 3,364. CONSIDER THE TECHNIQUES USED BY NICHOLS AND TAYLOR TO CONVEY THEIR ORIGINS TO THE READER. HOW DO THEY PORTRAY THE GAP BETWEEN BLACK AND WHITE? Divisions In society are evident everywhere in the world, even today as we may consider ourselves to be united in a multi-cultural age, there is still a strong element of segregation instigated by difference in origin, culture, tradition and race. Nichols and Taylor are black women and explore similar issues in their literature in the form of verse or prose, these having a varied effect on the reader. One distinct similarity between Nichols and Taylor is that they both convey the world from the viewpoint of black females. The role of women in the black community is signified in Taylor's novel A Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry. The novel is written in the first person narrative form and so we receive the thoughts and feelings of the main character, Cassie Logan, a young black girl living in 1930's Mississippi. Taylor has purposefully chosen Cassie to be a child to provide us with a fresh perspective of how society operates. "This specific point of view changes the entire way the story comes across in that a child does not have the knowledge an adult has." This is a comment made by critic Lynlee Councill. Children's thoughts are unblemished, as they have not yet experienced the pressures of life. By selecting a
Discuss the theme of prejudice in 'To Kill a Mockingbird'
Discuss the theme of prejudice in 'To Kill a Mockingbird' To Kill a Mockingbird is an influential American novel written by Harper Lee which deals with the issue of prejudice as its main theme. Prejudice is the unjustifiable unfairness to a particular individual or group based on their background or lifestyle. This subject is explored in the novel in different forms; racism is the main type but prejudice of class, sex, family and age are also looked at. The social and historical milieu of the novel's release is very significant to the storyline and important in terms of world history. It was published in 1960 with a very popular response from the public. The '50s was the decade of change when civil rights in America was progressing further than ever before with Civil rights bills being discussed for the first time and demonstrations by historical figures such as Martin Luther King winning support from all over USA. It was a time when people were generally realising their mistakes and looking back at the prejudiced attitudes of white people toward black people in the 1930s and before. The novel is actually set in the early 1930s in Maycomb, Alabama when things were not so good for the black population in America. Despite the Civil War being won in 1861 by the Union (Northern states) in support of abolition of slavery, the Southern states (Confederates) refused to accept
Techniques Alan Bennett Use's In 'a Lady of Letters'
TECHNIQUES ALAN BENNETT USE'S IN 'A LADYOF LETTERS' We are first introduced to Miss Ruddock in her home environment. A middle aged woman, she has never married or had any children and lives alone. At the start of the monologue Miss Ruddock is seen as being very observant as she notices the hearse drivers "skulking in the rhododendrons with tab-ends in their mouths" at the chapel of rest when she attends a funeral and is quick to complain. It appears Miss Ruddock has only gone because it was on a day when she didn't have much else to do and hardly knew the woman and says "at least it's an outing", showing that she hasn't a social life. She is a very stubborn woman and stuck in her ways. When she receives a letter from the opticians saying she may need new spectacles she replies saying "in the event of my noticing any deterioration I would in due course get in touch with them". Miss Ruddock is a private person and appears isolated from society. She seems to have led a sheltered life relying on newspapers for information and appears to believe everything she reads. Since the death of her mother, Miss Ruddock is lonely and sees the pen her mother bought her as her "trusty Platignum" and it as "a real friend". Obsessed with letter writing, she is always finding something to complain about, often jumping to conclusions without the evidence to back it up. She is very
How Does Harper Lee Create Tension In Chapter XV Of "To Kill A Mocking Bird "?
How Does Harper Lee Create Tension In Chapter XV Of "To Kill A Mocking Bird "? There is plenty of tension in this chapter and Harper Lee expresses this very well through the setting, the discomforting and yet calm dialogue between the characters and how scout reminds us of her concern for the safety of her father. Chapter XV is split into two parts really and both of these parts are set both in the evening and very late at night. This is very effective in any novel or film as darkness shows suspense. It also gives the reader an eerie sense of the environment surrounding and how characters' moods differ from their usual daily attitudes. "The south side of the square was deserted. Giant monkey-puzzle bushes bristled on each corner..." Alliteration was clearly used during this sentence which also proves very effective when creating tension. For example: "He swept silently across the floor." As previously mentioned, the eerie darkness does change people's moods and in this chapter especially, proving successful when maintaining the suspense so in order to keep the reader glued to the page. This chapter is basically just about the transferring of black defendant Tom Robinson to the county jail to which nobody agrees is the right course of action to take. The dialogue to express their concern for the safely guarded whereabouts' of Tom Robinson is all but aggressive. It's night
To Kill a Mocking Bird
Term 3 Novel Assignment To Kill a Mocking Bird Table of Content Inside this Book report. . Book Review worksheet Page 1 2. Book Review Page 2 3. Major Character list Page 3 4. Character Sketch Page 4 5. Plot Diagram Page 5 6. Answering questions Page 6 Page 2 Book Review This book is called To Kill a Mockingbird which is written by Harper Lee. The setting of the novel is 1933-1935 and it happens in a fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama. Scout Finch lives with her brother, Jem, and their father, Atticus, in the Alabama town of Maycomb. Maycomb is suffering through the Great Depression, but Atticus is a good lawyer and the Finch family is reasonably well off in comparison to the rest of society. One summer, Jem and Scout was friend with a boy named Dill, who has come to live in their neighborhood for the summer, and the three acts out stories together. Eventually, Dill becomes fascinated with the spooky house on their street called the Radley Place. The house is owned by Mr. Nathan Radley, whose brother, Arthur also is known as BOO, has lived there for years without going outside. While in the peaceful community of Maycomb , racist white community. Atticus agrees to defend a black man named Tom Robinson who has been accused of raping a white woman. Atticus family had to face discrimination from the white racist community. Page 3 Major Character list Jean
Creating a Leaflet for the local Scout Group
Identify The problem I intend to solve is the local scout group will close unless they get more members so he approached me to organize a leaflet to promote the scout group. The leaflet will be down on the computer so it looks professional as doing it manually will be time consuming and expensive with photocopying. I will be doing a leaflet for my local scout group to boost their attendance. I will include simple information about the group and what they do on scout nights and how to join. This will be technically an advertising campaign to make people join. Using DTP as this provides me with all the software I need to make this leaflet successful for the scout group will make this. I will be targeting 13-14 year olds and will be using Microsoft publisher as I can add borders to make it look attractive or Word as this contains clipart and word art. Doing it on the computer is an advantage as it produces leaflets quickly and excellent quality. I will use colourful scheme to make it look interesting to young boys. I could use Microsoft word but Publisher specializes in DTP and has additional features or word as this is also a DTP package and has many extras, which I can download from the Internet eg. New clipart pictures. I intend to: a) Boost attendance b) Give the boys and girls in the local community something to do on Friday evenings. Analysis The leaflet's
How do the mother's talk-stories and Chinese folklores help Maxine Hong Kingston embark on a journey towards self-understanding?
How do the mother's talk-stories and Chinese folklores help Maxine Hong Kingston embark on a journey towards self-understanding? A journey is the process of struggle and exploration. One has to experience this process in order to reach the destination. The mother's talk-story (no name aunt) originally serves the purpose of warning Kingston in repressing her sexual desires. 'Don't humiliate us'. Another folklore- Fa Mu Lan mainly serves the purpose of teaching Kingston filial piety. However, though not intentional, the mother's stories do help Kingston in embarking her journey towards self-understanding in two ways. First, by stop keeping silence. Second, voice out or fight injustice by using a pen. The no-name aunt story makes Kingston see that keeping silence for everything means helping to cover up harsh treatment towards women in the repressive patriarchal society. By keeping silence, she also helps in denying her aunt. 'But there is more to this silence, they want me to participate in her punishment. And I have.' Therefore she has to devote pages for her. Kingston cannot just keep silence anymore,' My aunt haunts me'. Not knowing the reason for her aunt pregnancy with other man, Kingston gives several interpretations herself. First, the aunt was a victim who was rapped and threatened. Second, as a willful woman who invited a lover. These interpretations make the reader