Leon's English Journal

Harper Lee uses allusion in “To kill a Mockingbird” to expose the hypocrisy of the society in Maycomb county. An example is where Miss Gates says “There are no people better than the Jews, and why Hitler doesn’t see that is a mystery to me”. In this quotation Harper Lee alludes to the holocaust and mistreatment of Jews during World War 2.

This exposes the hypocrisy of Maycomb county as Miss Gates sympathises for the Jewish community and even states that they were pushed out of there own country. However, she can not sympathise for the black community, even though they were pushed out there own country during the triangular trade of the African community, and they have been mistreated through slavery.

Harper Lee satirises the white community by juxtaposing the black and white communities reaction to Tom Robinsons court case. The contrast shown is that the black community shower Atticus with gifts, they provide a large breakfast for him that is compared to the food the president has in the White House. Where as the white community gossip about Jem and Dill being present at the court case.

Atticus becomes very emotional when he discover what the black community left for him “Tell them I’m very grateful, they must never do this again. Times are too hard” that is Atticus reaction to the food he is given. The black community appreciate that Atticus has defended Tom Robinson even though they knew he would fail.

“Miss Stephanie’s nose quivered with curiosity. She wanted to know who gave us all permission to go to court.” In this quotation Harper Lee satirises the white community as they think it is more important to gossip about why Jem and Scout attended the court case, rather than mention anything about the actual court case, and Tom Robinson being convicted.

Harper Lee uses the mockingbird as a recurring motif throught out ‘To kill a Mockingbird’. The symbol represents a character who has had there innocence destroyed by evil. An example of a character who may be a mockingbird is Atticus.

Atticus is a mockingbird as he tries to help the community and even takes the case of defending Tom Robinson in court which is considered a bad thing in the society of Maycomb County. However Atticus faces hatred from society and is called a ‘Niger lover’ for protecting a black man in court who appears to be innocent. The citizens of Maycomb county are destroying Atticuses innocence as he is trying to be helpful in the community, yet he receives hatred for his actions.

In the Boo Radley passage Scout and Jem discover a knot in a tree, where they find random objects that have been placed inside the tree hole. They found chewing gum, a medal and a pocket watch. But one day they go to the tree and de that it has been filled in with cement. Scout and Jem question Nathan Radley about why he filled the whole and he claims “Trees dying. You plug em with cement when they’re sick”

However, the audience finds out the tree is not dying when Atticus tells Scout and Jem “Look at the leaves, they’re all greens and full, no brown patches anywhere.” I can infer from this that Nathan Radley wants to stop Boo Radley from communicating with the outside world. By filling the hole Nathan Radley stops boo from communicating to Scout and Jem by sending them items to communicate with them. Nathan Radley may have stopped Boo as he does not want him to be communicating with others because he may be ashamed of Boo, or he may be trying to protect him from others. He does this my isolating him and cutting of all forms of communication.

Jems reaction to finding out the tree hole has being filled is, reassuring Scout that it will be fine and that she shouldn’t cry. Jem is portrayed as a father figure in this scene showing that he is maturing. One night scout sees Jem crying. Jem does not cry because he won’t recieve anymore items. But him crying shows the audience that Jem was becoming close with Boo Radley and now that the communication is lost it really upsets him. The bond has been broken between Jem and Boo Radley, and the communication through items has been lost.

Boo Radley has been portrayed as a creepy mysterious character through out the story line by Harper Lee. But in this passage Boo Radley is shows as kind and innocent, almost like a child. The items he sends Scout and Jem are random items such as the chewing gum and the medal. Boo is a lonely character and seeks Scouts and Jems friendship and Jem started becoming connected with Boo. Jem cries because he realises Boo is an innocent lonely man, and the fact that Nathan Radley cuts of the connection by filling in the hole in the tree. Atticus states that the tree is not dying, and it saddens Jem that Nathan Radley is isolating Boo, and that it is selfish and cruel of him.

From Scout’s and Jem’s experience in the courtroom we can learn that there is a lot of racism and prejudice towards the black community. The black men and women had to wait for the White people to enter the courtroom first, and most of them had the back seats. The courthouse is very segregated and there is a clear seperation between white and black communities.

When Scout and Jem entered the courtroom they were offered seats by four black men. There were many White men sitting down but they didn’t give up their seats. We can infer from this that Maycomb county has built a racist community, where black men feel obliged to offer their seats to white children.

The Maycomb county court house is described as an ancient form of architecture preserved to keep every scrap of the past. It is described as having greek columns too heavy for their burden, this portrays huge white greek columns holding something weaker. The greek columns are said to clash with the clock tower which is from the nineteenth century. The clock tower is a unreliable rusty instrument.

Harper Lee uses the symbolism of the courthouse to display the views of the society in Maycomb county of its past. The greek columns symbolise democracy and justice because the greeks where the first to create the idea of democracy and that ideology. Also it is stated that “The pillars were all that remained standing after the original courthouse burned down.” This shows how the society are keen on holding on to justice. However, they are described as being too heavy for their burden, this shows that the justice is much more powerful than the things it carries.

Also, the greek columns clash with the nineteenth century clock tower which symbolises the racist past. The clock tower is a rusty and unreliable instrument showing that the past idealism is rusty and it clashes with the ideology of the greeks. The fact that they decide to keep it symbolises that the society are keen to preserve every scrap of the past which in reality is the past of slavery. Maycomb county is in the South which were forced to ban slavery, they had a war to try to keep slavery happening. That is why the south may keep its past so dear to them and would like to preserve it, even if their past is not a good one.

Harper Lee shows her moral position in to kill a mockingbird through the use of characters. An example of a character is Atticus, because he stands up for Tom Robinson, who is a black man that is claimed to have raped a white women. At the time this was written there was a lot of prejudice towards the black community in the U.S and they were considered to be inferior to white people. Atticus knows that in a world full of prejudice towards black people Tom Robinson would definitely be charged with rape. However, Atticus’s moral compass guides him to the right path which is to help Tom Robinson as it seems that he is actually innocent, even if the whole community is racist towards black people. This shows that even if Atticus thinks he will not succeed he will still attempt to fight against the racism of Maycomb county. Atticus is questioned about why he is helping Tom Robinson and he replies says “The main one is, if I didn’t I couldn’t hold up my head in town, I couldn’t represent this county in the legislature, I couldn’t even tell you or Jem not to do something again.”

Harper Lee shows the story through Scout’s eyes, who is an innocent young girl and the story is shown through her point of view. Scout does notice there is racism but she does not question it. Everything that happens is reported from Scout, she knows that her father wants to help Tom Robinson, however she does not question it. Harper Lee uses Scout to show racism, because a young girl can not be blamed for the things she sees. The audience can see that Scout is naive, and the readers decide their own point of view, as she does not really have one herself. Scout does not really question the events that happen to her, but she just lives through them.

These two characters reflect Harper Lee’s moral position, because Harper Lee lived through a racist era in the U.S and the characters show her moral position as Atticus is very fair to people and Scout shows her opinion as she is the one that witnesses all the racism and prejudice. Harper Lee prefers to express her moral position by allowing the audience to discover it for themselves rather than being direct to the audience. The author does through the use of her characters, but also that they are sympathetic, a good example of this is Atticus. This way Harper Lee allows the readers to gradually develop their idea on racism, furthermore discover Harper Lee’s moral position.

One of the devices Anthony Burgees uses in a clockwork orange is modification of language, by using English and Russian slang that he calls “Nadsat”. The youth only talk this way but it is not all slang there is a variety of sophisticated language in there like Shakespearean English. However, there are childish words and rhythmic slang an example is “Appy polly loggy” meaning apology. The neologisms “Nadsat” is not understood by adults in the book. This shows the emotional and mental differences between the two generations. The youth who use the language are usually taking part in the “ultra violence” as the protagonist Alex likes to refer to it. “Nadsat” has rebellious connotations, and it presents the youth as very immature. Anthony Burgees also uses language to reflect Alex’s personality. Towards the end of the book Alex discovers that all this hatred he has had and the need for violence was just a part of his life and others. Alex starts talking differently, using the present tense and using less of “Nadsat”. It is a very clever technique as it shows the audience the transformation that is occurring in Alex’s life, and that he is no longer the immature violent teenager he used to be.

One idea which is explored through a clockwork orange is free will. Alex is a teenager that is a nuisance to the government and it would be better if he was turned into good. In the book they do eventually turn Alex into a good character, but by using the Ludovico technique. However, Alex would still prefer to choose the bad option but due to the technique Alex is forced into doing what the government believe is the right thing. The importance of free will is displayed by Alex asking himself “Whats it going to be then, eh?” every time before he is about to do something bad. Alex has the choice to do something good or bad by asking himself this question. Alex chooses the bad option of course. However, when Alex is put under the Ludovico technique he does not ask himself the question. It had took Alex’s free will away from him as he never questions his actions. Furthermore, this connotes that Alex is not really human anymore, as the principal of humanity, free will has been taken away from him. As the name a clockwork orange suggests. A machine capable of goodness but does not have any moral choice. The government took away all of his evil capacity, but it also meant that took away his free will. In the last chapter of the book after Alex is cured, he asks himself “Whats it going to be then, eh” and answers the question. Alex chooses a path of good, and proves that free will is essential, as eventually he does become good. During the time Alex is in prison a man asks him “Does God want good, or the choice of goodness? Is a man who chooses bad somehow better than a man who has good imposed on him?”.

Pride and shame is explored in To Kill a Mockingbird, in one example as a social code for the youth. Dill teases Jem into doing a dare which he is scared of. That is to run and touch the wall of the Radley’s house, which involves running through the Radley’s garden. Jem does not want to do the dare, but then he would be regarded as a coward in his group of friends. Jem would rather force himself into doing a dare than being shamed into his group. In the end Jem does the dare and feels proud of himself, and builds on his reputation in his social group.

By Jem doing the dare that he did not want to do, it shows that people in society need the approval of others in order to feel pride in their actions. It is an integrated code in society which