Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Sunday, August 14, 2011
To Kill a Mockingbird: From Wikipedia
To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel by Harper Lee published in 1960. It was instantly successful, winning the Pulitzer Prize, and has become a classic of modern American literature. 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.
The novel is renowned for its warmth and humor, despite dealing with the serious issues of rape and racial inequality. The narrator's father, Atticus Finch, has served as a moral hero for many readers and as a model of integrity for lawyers. One critic explains the novel's impact by writing, "In the twentieth century, To Kill a Mockingbird is probably the most widely read book dealing with race in America, and its protagonist, Atticus Finch, the most enduring fictional image of racial heroism."[1]
As a Southern Gothic novel and a Bildungsroman, the primary themes of To Kill a Mockingbird involve racial injustice and the destruction of innocence. Scholars have noted that Lee also addresses issues of class, courage, compassion, and gender roles in the American Deep South. The book is widely taught in schools in English-speaking countries with lessons that emphasize tolerance and decry prejudice. Despite its themes, To Kill a Mockingbird has been subject to campaigns for removal from public classrooms, often challenged for its use of racial epithets. Scholars also note the black characters in the novel are not fully explored, and some black readers receive it ambivalently, although it has an often profound effect on many white readers.
Reception to the novel varied widely upon publication. Literary analysis of it is considerably sparse compared to the number of copies sold and its use in education. Author Mary McDonough Murphy, who collected individual impressions of the book by several authors and public figures, calls To Kill a Mockingbird "an astonishing phenomenon".[2] In 2006, British librarians ranked the book ahead of the Bible as one "every adult should read before they die".[3] It was adapted into an Oscar-winning film in 1962 by director Robert Mulligan, with a screenplay by Horton Foote. Since 1990, a play based on the novel has been performed annually in Harper Lee's hometown of Monroeville, Alabama. To date, it is Lee's only published novel, and although she continues to respond to the book's impact, she has refused any personal publicity for herself or the novel since 1964.
*A New Start Toward The Future*
The novel is renowned for its warmth and humor, despite dealing with the serious issues of rape and racial inequality. The narrator's father, Atticus Finch, has served as a moral hero for many readers and as a model of integrity for lawyers. One critic explains the novel's impact by writing, "In the twentieth century, To Kill a Mockingbird is probably the most widely read book dealing with race in America, and its protagonist, Atticus Finch, the most enduring fictional image of racial heroism."[1]
As a Southern Gothic novel and a Bildungsroman, the primary themes of To Kill a Mockingbird involve racial injustice and the destruction of innocence. Scholars have noted that Lee also addresses issues of class, courage, compassion, and gender roles in the American Deep South. The book is widely taught in schools in English-speaking countries with lessons that emphasize tolerance and decry prejudice. Despite its themes, To Kill a Mockingbird has been subject to campaigns for removal from public classrooms, often challenged for its use of racial epithets. Scholars also note the black characters in the novel are not fully explored, and some black readers receive it ambivalently, although it has an often profound effect on many white readers.
Reception to the novel varied widely upon publication. Literary analysis of it is considerably sparse compared to the number of copies sold and its use in education. Author Mary McDonough Murphy, who collected individual impressions of the book by several authors and public figures, calls To Kill a Mockingbird "an astonishing phenomenon".[2] In 2006, British librarians ranked the book ahead of the Bible as one "every adult should read before they die".[3] It was adapted into an Oscar-winning film in 1962 by director Robert Mulligan, with a screenplay by Horton Foote. Since 1990, a play based on the novel has been performed annually in Harper Lee's hometown of Monroeville, Alabama. To date, it is Lee's only published novel, and although she continues to respond to the book's impact, she has refused any personal publicity for herself or the novel since 1964.
*A New Start Toward The Future*
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
African-Canadian Students: To Kill a Mockingbird
In this novel, African-Canadian students are presented with language that portrays all the stereotypical generalizations that demean them as a people. While the White student and White teacher may misconstrue it as language of an earlier era or the way it was, this language is still widely used today and the book serves as a tool to reinforce its usage even further. The terminology in this novel subjects students to humiliating experiences that rob them of their self-respect and the respect of their peers. The word "Nigger" is used 48 times in the novel. There are many available books which reflect the past history of African-Canadians or Americans without subjecting African-Canadian learners to this type of degradation. I believe that the English Language Arts curriculum in Nova Scotia must enable all students to feel comfortable with ideas, feelings and experiences presented without fear of humiliation. To Kill a Mockingbird is clearly a book that no longer meets these goals and therefore must no longer be used for classroom instruction.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Trip To The Hamilton Grance Library:
I had learned from the trip to Hamilton Grance about how useful using database can make some research a lot easier. I have learned that there are many different ways to research information on a topic, using Goolge, Google books, Goolge Scholar, Amazon, Databases, whatever the site maybe.These websites can somehow help us get the information that in which can be a little over the top at times. However the library shows that there are different sources of context that can be used to find that specific information in the different ways that you are looking for. While at the library I have learn how using databases can also help make research more scholarly. Although I didn't found any information that was able to help me get through with my research topic which in this case is "To Kill A Mocking Bird". I still somehow found the use of database to be very helpful for many other research topics.
*A New Start Toward The Future*
*A New Start Toward The Future*
My Summary Review:
My summary is on "To Kill A Mocking Bird by Harper Lee". This novel can be relate to today's world with the idea of racism. The central thematic concern of To Kill a Mockingbird addresses racial prejudice and social justice. Atticus Finch represents a strongly principled, liberal perspective that runs contrary to the ignorance and prejudice of the white, Southern, small-town community in which he lives. Atticus is convinced that he must instill values of equality in his children, counteracting the racist influence. Harper Lee makes use of several images and allegories throughout the novel to symbolize racial conflict. The children's attitudes about Boo Radley, for example, represent in small scale the foundation of racial prejudice in fear and superstition. I personally choice this novel because I strong that it can relate to today's world. Most people might think that racism doesn't exists but I am here to prove them wrong. I do believe that racism is happen today in our society although it might not seems like it but I know for sure that there are still racism surrounding us in our everyday life. My reason for saying this is to show that if I move from my country which in this case is Jamaica to New York, I am going to try and settle around a neighborhood that as mostly Jamaican peolpe. This goes for any country as well, because I know that we as human is not going to move to a new surrounding and jump in a different race right of the back.Which lead us to the point when Tom Robinson, an African-American man, is accused of raping Mayella Ewell, Atticus is appointed as the defense attorney. Mayella and her shiftless father, Bob Ewell, live in abject poverty on the outskirts of town. The family is known as trouble and disliked by townspeople. Despite this, Atticus's defense of Tom is unpopular in the white community. This here is to prove that what I stated earlier about living in a different racial group can often start trouble even if that person has nothing to do with the fact of the case. This story was published during the Civil Rights movement, and was hailed as an expose of Southern racist society. In some way this can also gets deeper into the context of what had started as the term "Racism". During this time Martin Luther King Jr. fought for blacks rights, because this time period of racism was really getting out of control. For example; when traveling on a bus, blacks had to pay in the front then get off the bus and walk to the back for a seat.Tom Robinson, a local black man falsely accused of raping a white woman", this was a quote from the novel itself. To show who blacks were known to be the "nobody" while the whites got all the "upper class values". Martin Luther felt that this process was wrong so that's when he came up with the moment to protect blacks rights. This story that Mocking Bird publish is to try and cut out the negativity of racism in this society.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
The Nearest Library To Where I Live:Eastchester Library
Fully accessible to wheelchairs
Library Manager: Joan Aikens
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM | 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM | 11:00 AM - 7:00 PM | 11:00 AM - 7:00 PM | 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM | 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM | CLOSED |
The Kitchen Of Meaning:
"...a garment, a cellphone, a design of a clothing", however these indeed appear to be signs of objects that have different meaning deep down to others. "Modern man, urban man, spents his time reading" I thibk that what he trying to say here is that to understand and interpret things or analyze something that might be different in its signs. When he also use the term "Reading" I think that this mean that we need to get to know something better before we start judging it. Everyone might get a different idea of a meaning of a word or object based on the point of view and the context of that thing. What we might see as a teddy bear might mean the world to a little baby who can't go to sleep without having this teddy bear in its arms. Everything has its own meaning which in this case might be clear and understandable that everyone has their views of objects and what it means to them as a individual person in life.
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