Gan Eng Seng School
Year Three
Literature Elective Class of 2008
Students from 3E, 3F and 3G 2008
Ms Pauline Chia, our mentor, teacher and friend
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The American Civil War
The American Civil War (1861–1865) was a civil war between the United States of America and the Southern slave states of the newly formed Confederate States of America under Jefferson Davis.
The deadliest in American history which caused 620,000 soldier deaths and an undetermined number of civilian casualties.
The name of the war is a result of popular use, even though the term "United States Civil War" would be more precise.
The tariff caused the war during the Nullification crisis, which was South Carolina's attempt to nullify a tariff and lasted from 1828 to 1832. The tariff was low after 1846, and the tariff issue soon faded.
On 'To Kill A Mockingbird'
Written By Harper Lee
Published during the time period when the American Civil War occurred as well as the Great Depression.
The story addresses themes such as courage, racial injustice, the death of innocence, tragedy, and coming of age, set against a backdrop of life in the Deep South.
Upon its release, it became instantly successful and has become a classic of modern American fiction.
The book is actually based on the author’s observation while she was ten years old and also about an event that had occurred at her hometown at the same time.
Relevance To The Text
The book was published at the same time period as the American Civil War took place.
The book depicts similar occurrences that happened during the war; racism, prejudice and etc.
The book got published during the time when the Great Depression occurred which happened to be when the war was raging on.
About KKK
Organisation that supports:
White supremacy, anti-Semitism, anti-Catholicism, racism, homophobia, anti-Communism and nativism.
These organizations have often used terrorism, violence, and acts of intimidation, such as cross burning and lynching, to oppress African Americans and other social or ethnic groups.
Klansmen wore masks, white cardboard hats and draped in white sheets. They tortured and killed black Americans and sympathetic whites.
Immigrants, who they blamed for the election of Radical Republicans, were also targets of their hatred.
Between 1868 and 1870 the Ku Klux Klan played an important role in restoring white rule in North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia.
Relation to 'To Kill A Mockingbird'
Lynching and violent activities conducted by the Ku Klux Klan took place mostly in the South and Alabama. That is the setting of To Kill A Mockingbird.
Like in the story of To Kill A Mockingbird, the Ku Klux Klan also supports racism through the events.
Their Activities
Ku Klux Klan members march down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC 1928 with the Capitol in the background.
The burning cross is a symbol used by the Klan to create terror. Cross burning is said to have been introduced by William J Simmons, the founder of the second Klan in 1915.
Nelle Harper Lee
Harper Lee (known as Nelle to close friends and relatives) was born in the town of Monroeville.
Her father was a law practitioner, who had (like Scout’s father) defended a Negro over a racism issue.
Racial tensions were running high in the South during her writing of the book, especially in Alabama, Lee’s hometown.
To Kill A Mockingbird received much criticisms from reviewers when it was first published – people felt that a young girl like Scout could not have understood life in such a deep context.
It was however, used in some schools as their Literature text, despite the fact that it was banned in others for the heavy issues it was dealing with.
To Kill A Mockingbird has, to late, been Lee’s only published novel.
Relevance To The Text
Many details of To Kill A Mockingbird are apparently autobiographical.
While To Kill A Mockingbird was filed as a “fictional” novel, many people believe that the young Scout’s life was modeled after her own.
- Lee’s neighbour and life-long friend, Truman Capote, was said to be characterized as Dill. They had almost the same attributes and personalities.
- Her father, as a lawyer, was involved in the ‘Scottsboro’ incident, where nine African-Americans were charged with raping two white women. Lee was said to be ‘greatly influenced’ by the incident. Many parallels exist between the real Scottsboro trial and Lee’s fictional trial of Robinson.
- Scout was a tomboy, alike Lee as a child. They both share the same passion for reading and writing.
- Lee grew up surrounded by Negros and from there, she realized that they were not as bad as what people described them to be, which was her inspiration for writing To Kill A Mockingbird.
Martin Luther King Jr.
He was a civil rights activist and lead the Montmogery Bus Boycott which lasted for 381 days (a little over a year). This resulted in a court decision to outlaw racial
segregation on all public transport. He was a pacifist and believed in peaceful demonstration and because of his strong moral values, he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.
Atticus Finch
He was a morally upright lawyer and was fighting for the innocence of a Negro (Tom) convicted of rape.
Despite the overwhelming evidence that Tom was innocent. The town refused to believe this and chose to judge him by his colour instead.
However, Atticus did not give up on the case regardless of the hopeless situation; this shows his tireless determination to bring the case to justice.
Relevance To The Text
Martin Luther King is like Atticus Finch in the book.
Both fought for the rights of African-Americans and strongly opposed racial discrimination one way or another.
Both were strong in their morals and were wise leaders.
Religion
The most popular religion in the Southern States is Christian Catholic.
Language
It has been said that Southerners are most easily distinguished from other Americans by their speech, both in terms of accent and idiom. However, there is no single "Southern Accent." Rather, Southern American English is a collection of dialects of the English language spoken throughout the South.
CHARACTER STUDY – SCOUT
++ Defensive of loved ones; tries to defend Atticus/Dill whenever other people insult them
“You can just take that back, boy!”
“I swear to God if I’ll sit there and let him say somethin’ about Atticus!” - Scout, when Cecil insulted Atticus
++ Innocent/Naïve; asks what “nigger-lover” means, and does not understand much about the Tom Robinson case
“If you shouldn’t be defending him, why are you doin’ it?” – Scout, on the Robinson Trial
“I ain’t very sure what it means...” – Scout, when she heard the phrase “nigger-lover”
++ Righteous, shows a slight sense of responsibility; shows reluctance when Jem has gone too far
Though Jem was the one who developed a greater sense of responsibility as the story unfolds, Scout did not want to participate in a lot of her brother’s plans which involve Boo Radley, such as they “role-playing” game.
“I don’t know, Jem…”- Scout
++ Easily influenced; she learns whatever she sees or hears very quickly
Jem believes that girls are “horrible” and she, being influenced by his thinking, believes so too.
“…but Jem said I was being a girl… girls talked too much [which is why] people disliked them... and I could just go find some to play with..."
She picked up vulgarities from school.
++ Shows a sense of having manners; even though she had argued with Ms Caroline about Atticus teaching her at home, she had mumbled an apology. Shows that though she is not at all ‘ladylike’ she still has graciousness
“I mumbled that I was sorry and retired meditating upon my crime” – Scout, when Ms Caroline instructs her to ‘sit down’ after she ‘speaks out of line’
CHARACTER STUDY - DILL
++ Friendly, he introduces himself in a friendly manner, rather confident with himself
“Hey, my name’s Charles baker Harris, I can read” – Dill, when he first meets Jem & Scout
++ Curiosity, he was very different from the people in Maycomb, he dressed differently and experienced many different things.
Dill has done a lot of things Jem and Scout haven’t, like watching the movie “Dracula” and taking a train.
++ Persuasive, he managed to get Jem and Scout to be interested in Boo. He eventually persuaded Jem to slap the wall of the Radley’s.
“Let’s try to make him come out, I’d like to see what he looks like” – Dill, on convincing the others to lure Boo out
“I won’t say you ran out on a dare and I’ll swap you The Grey Ghost if you just go up and touch the house… Yeah. That’s all.” - Dill, trying to convince Jem to touch the house
++ Has a lot of empathy, has the ability to imagine and share another being’s feelings.
“Were you ever a turtle huh?”- He said striking a match under a turtle was hateful, and even defended the turtle’s point of view
++ Innovative and full of ideas, he came up with various games and ways to make Boo come out.
“Our first raid only came to pass because Dill bet The Grey Ghost against two Tom Swifts that Jem wouldn’t get any further then the Radley’s gate. – Authorial Comment
++ Curious, upon hearing more about the Radley’s, he wanted more and more to find out about them.
“The more we told Dill about the Radley’s, the more he wanted to know … the more he would wonder.” – Authorial Comment
CHARACTER STUDY – WALTER
++ Naturally shy, is rather introverted and does not open up to people he is not close to.
He is a person of few words and rarely speaks. “I rose graciously on Walter’s behalf…” – Scout, when Ms Caroline asked a question
++ Is easily embarrassed, does not embrace attention
“ “Yea’b…” he finally mumbled” – authorial comment
++ Immune to negative remarks; has low self confidence
When Scout declares loudly that he is ‘poor’ and indicated that being a “Cunningham” meant he had no money (He ain’t got a quarter at home to bring you!) Walter showed no signs of embarrassment.
++ Is hardworking on his father’s farm, though not so much in school, for he has retained before.
Walter had hookworms, which were only caught if “you went bare-foot in hog wallows and barn-yards”. Because he had to “work in the farm over the summer”, he neglected his studies thus stayed back for one more year.
++ Has not much willpower, nor much pride; did not resist when Scout beats him up
“…I was rubbing his nose in the dirt…” – Authorial Comment
“Walter had picked himself up and was standing quietly…” – Authorial Comment
THEMATIC EXPLORATION
growing up and education!
++ More self-conscious, draws a line between public and home life
- Jem did not want Scout to hinder him when he was with his friends at school, but plays with her at home.
- “Jem was careful to explain that during school hours I was not to bother him, not to approach him with requests to enact the chapter of “Tarzan And The Ant Man… In short, I was to leave him alone[in school]”
++ Being independent, knowing what is right from wrong
- While Jem shows more responsibility in later chapters but Scout had wanted to stop acting out Boo Radley’s life.
- ”I declare if I will!” “’s matter? Still scared?”
++ Developing/ challenging their personal beliefs.
- Scout did not think what Ms Caroline, a teacher, said about “not reading at home” is good and had even complained to Atticus about it
- “If I didn’t have to stay, I’d leave Jem. That lady says Atticus’ been teaching me to read and for him to stop it.”
++ Learning more about the ways of life
- Ms Caroline learns more about Maycomb life, Scout learns to be a little more accepting of people from different places (eg. Ms Caroline). This shows even teachers are learning.
- Ms Caroline meets people like Walter Cunningham and Burris Ewell; “Don’t worry Miss, you’ll get to know most of the county folk soon.” – Scout
++ Formal Education versus Informal Education
- Formal education like reading and writing is taught in schools. However Scout had learnt to both read and write at home. Yet Atticus still insists she return to school.
- Informal education like self awareness, self management and social awareness is generally taught at home. Scout picks all these up in school, where she meets different people and interact with them; perhaps this is Atticus’ reason for making her continue schooling
THEMATIC EXPLORATION
friendship and love!
++ Stand up for one another
-When Atticus/Dill is insulted by any of her peers, Scout will flare up and defend them
-“He’s nothing but a nigger-lover!” – Cecil
“He is not!” – Scout
++ With friendships also come peer pressure, a negative point.
- Dill taunts Scout into playing the “Boo Radley” Game by saying she is scared.
Jem often pressurizes her to do things against her will such as going along with their plans by calling her a ‘girl’, which is pressumably a bad thing.
- “’s matter? Still scared Scout?” – Dill, taunting Scout
“I swear Scout, sometimes you act so much like a girl, it’s mortifyin’.” – Jem
LITERARY DEVICES EMPLOYED
CHARACTERIZATION
“I’m big enough to fit mine.” [Page 7, To Kill A Mockingbird, Arrow Books]
Dill declares that he is “big enough” to fit to his name. He is addressing his name like a piece of clothing, which shows that he thinks of his name as an identity which can be “worn”. He is trying to show that, though small in size, he is “mature” enough to use his long name, Charles Baker Harris.
SIMILE
“…[The Radley Place] drew [Dill] as the moon draws water…” [Page 9, To Kill A Mockingbird, Arrow Books]
It is said that when there is a full moon in the sky, the tides of the sea become higher, thus “drawing it” nearer. Also, the Moon is an extremely mesmerizing and alluring object. It doesn’t really shine, nor is it dim, it glows, giving off an almost flawless feel to it. It is extremely enthralling and Harper Lee compares its ‘attractive force’ with the Radley Place, and that it is pulling Dill closer to it, as Dill is extremely fascinated with the house.
ALLITERATION
“He ain’t company, Cal, he’s just a Cunningham.” [Page 27, To Kill A Mockingbird, Arrow Books]
Lee uses alliteration to draw attention to this particular sentence.
It emphasizes on the fact that Scout truly believes that “farmers” are lower than them (“just a Cunnningham”), that they are not seen as ‘friends’ (“he ain’t company”). It shows that she has already been a little influenced by the town’s views, no matter how hard Atticus tries to keep her from being chauvinistic.
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++ Defensive of loved ones; tries to defend Atticus /Dill whenever other people insult them
“Atticus doesn’t do anything to Jem and me in the house that he doesn’t do in the yard,’ I said, feeling it my duty to defend my parent.
++ Sarcastic- tries to make Jem stop doing what she thought was not right.
‘Anybody who’s brave enough to go up and touch the house hadn’t oughta use a fishin’ pole.’ I said. ‘Why don’t you just knock the front door down?’ scout to Jem when Jem attempted to use a fishing pole to pass a letter to Boo Radley.
++ Righteous, shows a slight sense of responsibility; shows reluctance when Jem has gone too far (though Jem was the one who developed a greater sense of responsibility as the story unfolds)
Scout did not want to participate in a lot of her brother’s plans which involve Boo Radley, such as they “role-playing” game. “I don’t know, Jem…”
++ Easily influenced; she learns whatever she sees or hears very quickly.
Jem believes that girls are “horrible” and she, being influenced by his thinking, believes so too. “…but Jem said I was being a girl…”
She picked up vulgarities from school.
++ Scout is curious about Boo Radley and wants to find out more about him. Through her conversations with Miss Maudie, she eventually learns more about him.
‘ do you know what happened to b-Arthur Radley?’
CHARACTER STUDY – Boo Radley
++ Playful, He joined a gang to have fun and play tricks/pranks on others
‘They did little, but enough to be discussed by the town and publicly warned from three pulpits.’ Authorial comment
++ Curious, as all teenage boys are. Boo Radley was also very inquisitive and frequently asked questions.
They experimented with stump hole whiskey and were very playful, even locking Mr Conner in the outhouse. Authorial comment.
++ Kind and respectful. When he was young, according to Miss Maudie, he was polite and courteous.
He spoke nicely to Miss Maudie for ‘as long as he knew how’
++ Has a lot of empathy, has the ability to imagine and share another being’s feelings.
“Were you ever a turtle huh?”- He said striking a match under a turtle was hateful, and even defended the turtle’s point of view
CHARACTER STUDY – Atticus
++ Sensible and Intelligent.
Atticus, though not educated at school (is home schooled), knows right from wrong, and does not make rash judgements/decisions
"[you will never truly know a person] until you have climbed into his skin and walked around in it" – Atticus to Scout when trying to get her to see in other people’s perspective
++ Compassionate/helpful despite circumstances surrounding them.
He helps those in need without expecting anything in return, and even when he is INSULTED, he still refuses to give up
++ Atticus is resilient.
Having lawed for a Negro, he and his family was constantly insulted and Scout is always "taunted" in school about that fact. However, he continues helping Tom Robinson, and refuses to give in to the town's prejudice. ‘Just because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us to try not to win’
++ Supportive, encouraging and tursting of his son and daughter
He gives them a lot of personal space to breathe and grow independently (which is also why people say his kids grow up WILD)
THEMATIC EXPLORATION: Courage
Physical Courage
Definition--Doing Things That Others Do Not Dare To Do
Jem wants to show the others that he is a force to be reckoned with, and always does things like peeking into Boo Radley’s house to show them that. Jem does things that scout and Dill wouldn’t dare to do, and comes up with similar ideas.
“Jem said placidly, “We are going to give a note to Boo Radley."
Courage Vs Recklessness
However, we must also understand the difference between courage and recklessness. Doing things that others do not dare to do could mean that the thing that is to be attempted is dangerous and just because you dare doesn’t make you courageous.
“Anybody who’s brave enough to go up and touch the house hadn’t oughta use a fishin’ pole, “I (scout) said.
Fighting Till the End despite the Odds
Even after Atticus has scolded the trio, Jem still insists that they continue with the Boo Radley game. He is not one to dwell on past defeats, and even goes out of his way to get what he wants to achieve.
“Jem was not one to dwell on past defeats: it seemed the only message he got from Atticus was insight into the art of cross-examination. “
Fighting Till the End despite the Odds
We also have to consider the fact that it matters what we are fighting for. If we are an evildoer, and we fight till the end to achieve our wicked goals, then that is neither courage nor bravery. Only if we are fighting for a legitimate reason, then that is courage.
Moral Courage
Definition: Standing up for what is right regardless of popularity
Scout tries time and time again to discourage Jem and Dill not to carry out activites involved with Boo Radley or the Radley’s Place. When Jem went to retrieve his pants, she tried her absolute best to stop him, and was not afraid of her brother refuting.
“You can’t. I won’t let you. “
We must also think about the definition of righteousness. How do we define something by “right” and “wrong”? This is through our life education and morals, where we learn to decide whether something is justified to be right or wrong. If we were poor and hungry, and we would die of starvation soon, then doing the right thing would be to get something to eat, no matter what it takes. Our morals and values change according to the situations and maturity also pays a big role in deciding.
Overcoming One’s Fears
Jem goes back to the Radley’s Place to retrieve his pants, and in the daytime, they were already so afraid of the Radley’s, and you can imagine how terribly afraid he was. However, because he desperately needed his pants back, he overcame his fears and retrieved his pants.
“He lay down, and for a while I heard his cot trembling.”
THEMATIC EXPLORATION: Innocence
Knowledge is limited to the things or people around them
Dill asked Scout to marry him, not because he loved her, but because Scout was one of the only girls he knew. They would be too young to truly understand love and marriage, and do not really know what marriage means or why people marry, so they do it to show that they’re “mature”.
“He had asked me earlier in the summer to marry him, then he promptly forgot about it”
Oblivious to things that one says
Jem didn’t realize he admitted to Atticus that they were playing the Boo Radley game without even saying it. His father used a clever technique, and Jem was bothered because he hadn’t expected it from Atticus.
“Atticus grinned dryly, “You just told me,” he said.”
Not wanting to change the way of things
Although Atticus made threats to the children, he has never whipped them, and Jem didn’t want to change the nature of their relationship by having to explain that he deliberately disobeyed him, and thus disappointing him.
“Atticus ain’t ever whipped me since I can remember. I wanta keep it that way.”
LITERARY DEVICES EMPLOYED
Metaphor.
The uses of metaphors are very common in the novel. Harper Lee uses metaphors to make an implicit comparism of what she wants to tell the reader. It is therefore not direct and a little less obvious.
Her first use of metaphors appeared in page 47, where Miss Maudie apparently claims that ‘one sprig of nut grass can ruin an entire yard’. It is a metaphor for how one single prejudice thought can lead to the whole town being racist against certain people. Perhaps her underlying meaning behind this phrase is that as long as something bad starts, it is very difficult to break the tradition, eventually ‘ruining an entire yard’.
Harper Lee uses irony to bring greater emphasis as well as to draw attention (and maybe humour) to whatever she is trying to put across.
Irony
Miss Maudie told Miss Stephanie Crawford to move allow boo radley to sleep next to her. This shows that Miss maudie doesn’t believe miss Stephanie at all. She uses dry humor to counter what Miss Stephanie has said about Boo staring at her window. By doing so, the readers can understand the feelings and thoughts of miss maudie when she said that and it shows that she has power.
“ Stephanie Crawford even told me one she woke up in the middle of the night and found him looking in the window at her. I said what did you do Stephanie, move over in the bed and make room for him? That shut her up a while.”
Hyperbole
Lee uses exaggerated language to express her point, By using hyperbole, attention is drawn to the particular sentence/phrase and it makes the reader more aware of what is going on.
Such as the fact the she says that Miss Stephanie Crawford is the neighborhood scold, who ‘knows everything that happened to Boo Radley’, an obvious untruth. Though Miss Stephanie claims that she knows everything, readers can pick out the false claims base on what the other characters say. Hence, by using hyperbole, we will tend to take note of whatever miss Stephanie has said and decide for ourselves if we want to believe it or not.
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Character study of Atticus Finch:
1. Consistent
Throughout the entire novel, Atticus has been very consistent about his conduct and attitude towards people. Whether in his house, along the streets or in the courtroom, Atticus treats everyone the same, understanding the current situations they might be in. He never has to rethink his stand on an issue.
- Quote: Miss Maudie Atkinson said, “Atticus Finch is the same in his house as he is on the public streets.”
2. Righteous
Atticus was a righteous man and his attitude towards blacks was the same as that to the whites. He was very strong on his own believes and thinking, that one cannot justify a person based on the color of his skin. He did what he feels was right and not be prejudice like most of the people in Maycomb County.
- Quote: Atticus tells Scout, “‘This case, Tom Robinson’s case, is something that goes to the essence of a man’s conscience – Scout, I couldn’t go to church and worship God if I didn’t try to help that man.’”
3. Respectful
He respected the opinions of people around him even if they differed from his and also respects Jem and Scout. He believes they are entitled to have their own opinions. Thus, he does not lose his cool over things that others have said, but instead accepts them.
- Quote: Scout asked Atticus, “You aren’t really a nigger-lover are you?” Atticus replied, “ I certainly am. I do my best to love everybody… I’m hard put, sometimes ……it’s never an insult to be called what somebody thinks is a bad name. So don’t let Mrs Dubose get you down.”
4. Civilized
He was a natural marksman, which he thinks is something that could not be practiced. He did not take pride or be arrogant about the talent he was given by God (One-Shot-Finch). He realized full well about this and felt it was simply not right for him to have an unfair advantage over most animals.
- Quote: Miss Maudie said, “People in their right minds never take pride in their talents.”
5. Modest
All his life he was never ever arrogant or proud of his abilities. He did not boast of his talent of marksmanship, neither did he go round saying he was a brilliant lawyer even though everyone knew he was.
He did not tell his children about his skills in shooting or in checkers.
- Quote: When Miss Maudie tells Scout Atticus was a brilliant checker player, the best in town, Scout gets a shock as she always wins Atticus in checkers. Miss Maudie then tells Scout, “It’s about time you found out it’s because he lets you.”
Character Study of Jem Finch (Jeremy Atticus Finch)
Jem ages from 10 to 13 over the course of the story. He is the son of Atticus and the older brother of Scout. He loves football and the story depicts how he matures during his puberty.
1. Aspires to be like Atticus, and proud to be his son
Jem is proud of Atticus because he was a gentleman and a lawyer. He wants to be just like Atticus, and as the story progresses, Jem shows similar characteristic as Atticus.
- Quote: Jem said, “‘Atticus is a gentleman, just like me!’”
2. Obedient towards his father
Because Jem respects Atticus and aspires to be just like him, he goes to Mrs Dubose’s house to apologize and agreed to read to her for a month even though he did not want to because Atticus told him to.
- Quote: Jem said, “‘I cleaned it up for her and said I was sorry, but I ain’t, and that I’d work out on them every Saturday and try to make them grow back out.’”
3. Loves his family, and stands up for them
Jem loves his family – Atticus and Scout. Thus, he often stood up for them, especially Scout. He attacked Mrs Dubose when she insulted Atticus for defending niggers. He also stood up for Scout when Mrs Dubose called her ‘dirty’.
This shows however impulsive his actions were, he respected his family and wants others to do so too.
- Quote: When Atticus asked, “‘Why’d you do it (destroying Mrs Dubose’s camellia bushes)?’ Jem said softly, ‘She said you lawed for niggers and trash.’”
4. Respects his father, thus curious to know more about him
Jem respected Atticus, thus he is obedient towards him, aspires to be just like him and also stood up for him. He was in fury when Mrs Dubose insulted Atticus. Also, he wants to know what Atticus is good at.
- Quote: “Jem became vaguely articulate: ‘‘d you see him, Scout? ‘d you see him just standin’ there?... ‘n’ all of a sudden he just relaxed all over, an’ he did it so quick, like…I hafta aim for ten minutes before I can hit somethin’…’” (This shows how impressed Jem was at Atticus for shooting the mad dog.)
5. Love pride and does not want people to think of him as a coward
He acts like a brave person in front of Mrs Dubose but inside he is afraid of her. Also, in previous chapters, Jem takes up a dare that Dill has offered to him. This shows how much he love pride and the want to prove himself brave.
- Quote: Jem said quietly, “‘My sister ain’t dirty and I ain’t scared of you,’ although I (Scout) noticed his knees shaking.”
Character Study of Mrs Dubose:
Mrs. Dubose is an old lady in Scout’s neighborhood, who constantly rains insults upon both Scout and Jem. She is introduced to us as a sickly woman who spends ‘the whole of each day in bed and the rest of it in a wheelchair’.
1. Harsh and critical
She has her own set of morals in which she follows strongly by, and places a lot of importance on decorum. For example, when Scout greets Mrs. Dubose by saying “hey”, she replies with a condescending “ Don’t you say hey to me, you ugly girl! You say good afternoon, Mrs. Dubose!” One would usually say “hey” to a friend. However, as Mrs. Dubose was neither her friend nor her age, she felt that Scout had disrespected her.
- Quote: Mrs Dubose said, “Don’t you say hey to me, you ugly girl! You say good afternoon, Mrs. Dubose!”
2. Direct in her speech
She is not hesitant to dish out any insult and is unapologetically blunt, thus, the children resented her.
- Quote: Mrs Dubose said, “Your father’s no better than the niggers and trash he works for!”
3. Has a cynical and accusing personality
She likes to accuse the children of playing truant, even when it is a Saturday. She also accused Jem for breaking down Miss Maudie’s scuppernong arbour. She is very defensive, she exclaims on many occasions, “Don’t you lie to me!”
- Quote: “Where are you two going at this time of day?” Mrs Dubose shouted. “Playing hooky, I suppose. I’ll just call up the principal and tell him!”
4. Ruthless and vicious
She comments on the Finch family waiting on table at O.K café. Also, she insulted Atticus because he lawed for niggers. As she is a racist, she despise niggers and thus, despise Atticus too. She is also unafraid to voice out her own opinions.
- Quote: According to Scout, Mrs. Dubose said that, she and Jem were ‘the sassiest, most disrespectful mutts who ever passed her way.’
- Mrs Dubose said to the children, “Your father’s no better than the niggers and trash he works for!”
5. Brave and determined
However bad she was reflected in the chapters, she was also a strong and brave woman, as she fought her morphine addiction to the end. She wants to leave the world free, and thus she was determined to fight her morphine addiction and not to depend on them when she dies.
- Quote: Atticus explains to Jem “When you’re sick as she was, it’s alright to take anything to make it easier, but it wasn’t all right for her. She said she meant to break herself of it before she died, and that’s what she did.”
THEMES
Courage:
There are several forms of courage explored in chapter 10 and 11.
One form of courage is moral courage: standing up for what is ethically right despite popular opinions even though his neighbors and family members object to it. In chapter 10, Atticus tells Scout “This case, Tom Robinson’s case, is something that goes to the essence of a man’s conscience- Scout, I couldn’t go to church and worship God if I didn’t try to help that man.” Through this explanation, we can tell that he plans to follow do his best for the case despite the backlash he and his children are getting. (For example, Mrs. Dubose insulted Atticus in front of the children “your father’s no better than the niggers and trash he works for.”)
Another form of courage is to go against one’s beliefs for a greater good. For example, Atticus shot the mad dog, Tim Johnson, for the safety of the town’s folk. According to Miss Maudie, Atticus feels that “God had given him an unfair advantage over most living things. I guess he decided he wouldn’t shoot till he had to, and he had to today.” In this situation, Atticus had to choose between the well being of his neighbors and his conflicting principles (his self obligated ‘ban’ on hunting). We can also see Atticus’ reluctance to kill the dog by the way he tried to thrust the job to the sheriff, Heck Tate.
In chapter 11, Atticus tries to teach the children ‘real’ courage - which this quality does not only come in a physical form, but in the form of will as well. In Atticus’ words “It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what.” It’s like having the courage to continue on during a race despite scraping your knee. In this case, Mrs. Dubose overcame her morphine addiction. Atticus explains to Jem “when you’re as sick as she was it’s all right to take anything to make it easier, but it wasn’t all right for her. She said she meant to break herself of it before she dies, and that’s what she did.”
Lastly, it is about facing your fears. In chapter 11, Jem was punished to go read to Mrs. Dubose in her house. Although Scout was afraid of Mrs. Dubose, and Atticus had told her it was okay for her not to go, she still persisted and accompanied her brother. For a person of her age, it is understandable that she would be afraid of such an old lady and it is admirable that she chose Jem over her fear.
Judging others:
There are different views of people in Chapter 10 and 11, and all these add to the judgment of others.
Firstly, there is a well known phrase ‘Do not judge a book by its cover’. It actually explains what may seem bad on the outside may actually be good on the inside. In chapter 11, the children thought that Mrs Dubose was an evil and bad person. However, in the end, they realized that she was actually a brave person, who fought her morphine addiction to the end when she died. This can be further explained by what Atticus told Jem about Mrs Dubose morphine addiction and her death. Jem asked, “‘Did she die free?’” This shows that Jem is concerned about her, and starts to feel that Mrs Dubose is a strong woman.
Another form of judgment of others is to have misconceptions about things and people. This is further shown in chapter 11, when the children encounter an incident with Mrs Dubose. In actual fact, Mrs Dubose is just crude with words; however that made Jem and Scout think that she is evil and vicious. This led them to hate her in the end. The quote is, ‘Jem and I hated her. If she was on the porch when we passed, we would be raked by her wrathful gaze, subjected to ruthless interrogation regarding our behavior, and to when we grew up, which was actually nothing.’
Atticus always told the children that they should try putting themselves in others’ shoes, and to view things from their perspective. That is another kind of judgment of people. For example, Jem and Scout should try putting themselves in Atticus’s shoes, so that they’ll understand that he shot the mad dog unwillingly, and the reason behind him hiding his talent of shooting from the children. Atticus had his own reasons and beliefs by doing so, and Jem and Scout should try putting themselves into his shoes before judging him by what he could not do. Jem said, “I reckon if he’d wanted us to know it (that he could shoot), he’da told us. If he was proud of it, he’da told us.”
Lastly, judging others is also not allowing your thinking to be influenced by others’ views and opinions. Jem and Scout thought that Atticus was ‘useless’ compared to others when their friends talk about their fathers. They thought Atticus only knew reading and nothing else compared to other fathers. This can be substantiated by the quote, “He was much older than the parents of our school contemporaries, and there was nothing Jem and I could say about him when our classmates say, ‘My father –’.” Jem and Scout should not allow what their friends’ fathers can do influence their opinions on Atticus. They should instead stick to their own views where Atticus can read, and that he was a good lawyer, and not because he was to old to tackle Jem in soccer.
Overall, chapters 10 and 11 clearly showed the different judgments of people, and how their opinions can get affected by others.
Literary devices employed:
There are 3 types of literary devices we picked out from chapters 10 and 11.
Symbols
Symbols are objects and words which carry or convey a larger significance; for instance, they may be representative of a larger idea, issue or value.
Chapter 10
In the chapter, Atticus shot the mad dog. This incident has a symbolic significance on the events in the further chapters. The mad dog, Tim Johnson symbolizes the group of people who attacks other human beings. The group of people (lynch mobs) is like Tim Johnson, who has lost the ability to tell bad from good, innocent from all mankind. Thus, Tim Johnson had become mad, and he lost the familiarity with the people of Maycomb, unable to recognize them. Thus, it symbolizes some of the upcoming events in the later part of the novel.
Chapter 11
Before Mrs Dubose died, she asked Atticus to hand Jem a box of white, waxy, perfect camellias, Snow-on-the-mountain. These camellias symbolize purity and goodness at heart.
Also, Atticus feels it is her way of telling Jem that everything is alright, and he feels Mrs Dubose was a ‘great lady’. To Jem, he cannot accept the fact that good and evil can coexist in a person. He ended up tossing the box into the flames, as he was unable to see the goodness in Mrs Dubose. Mrs Dubose in this case, symbolizes the entire Maycomb County. Maycomb was filled with people with varying opinions and ideas. There were people who were very prejudice and vice versa. Two groups of people opposing each other are very often seen in the novel. Yet, the people are still able to live together rather peacefully and happily.
Foreshadowing
Chapter 10
Atticus said to Jem, “I’d rather you shot at tin cans in the backyard, but I know you’ll go after the birds. Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”
This fact about it being a sin to kill a mockingbird foreshadows the coming events of the novel. In the later parts of the story, readers realize that mainly Boo Radley and Tom Robinson are the ‘mockingbirds’ of the society. They are both innocent and pure but yet injustice is inflicted upon them. Boo Radley was emotionally hurt by his father when he was young, and lost practically all his childhood. Tom Robinson also is greatly affected by the prejudice inflicted on him by the people of Maycomb County. He ends up losing his life too.
Humour
Chapter 10
‘(Miss Maudie) “Did you know that he (Atticus) can play a Jew’s harp?” This modest accomplishment served to make me even ashamed of him.’
This actually shows an ironic kind of humor, because Scout is supposed to be more proud of Atticus, yet she thinks it’s more like an embarrassment for her father to play the Jew’s harp well. It’s humorous by the use of words ‘modest accomplishment’. It makes the sentence funnier by making the accomplishment sound like a real good and skillful one.
‘“Maudie,” he (Atticus) called, “I thought I’d better warn you. You’re in considerable peril.” Miss Maudie straightened up and looked towards me (Scout). She said, “Atticus, you are a devil from hell.” ’
Atticus warned Miss Maudie beforehand when Scout was shooting because he knew that Scout is going to hit her. Therefore, Miss Maudie said he was a devil from hell because of his words 'in considerable peril' instead of asking her to run away, as though Atticus is very calm and collected.
‘Finally he (Jem) said, “Atticus, it’s all right on the sidewalk but inside it’s – it’s all dark and creepy. There are shadows and things on the ceiling….” Atticus smiled grimly, “That should appeal to your imagination. Just pretend you’re inside the Radley house.”
Jem describes Mrs Dubose’s house as ‘dark and creepy’. Atticus knew that Jem was interested in the Radley house even though it is dark and creepy. Atticus is making use of this point to make Jem realize that what he dread is actually what he is interested in. Thus, this sentence is a form of dark humor.
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Edward James Hughes (17 August 1930 – 28 October 1998) was an English poet and children's writer, known as Ted Hughes. Critics routinely rank him as one of the best poets of his generation.[1] Hughes was British Poet Laureate from 1984 until his death. His funeral was attended by many relatives and fans; also attending were several celebrities, including Seamus Heaney.
Ted Hughes was married from 1956 to 1963 to the American poet Sylvia Plath, who committed suicide in 1963 at the age of 30. His part in the relationship became controversial, to some feminists and (particularly) US admirers of Plath, who even accused him of murder. Hughes himself never publicly entered the debate, but his last poetic work, Birthday Letters (1998), explored their complex relationship, and to many, put him in a significantly better light.
In 2003 he was portrayed by British actor Daniel Craig in Sylvia, a biographical film of Sylvia Plath.
The Thought-Fox
I imagine this midnight moment's forest:
Something else is alive
Beside the clock's loneliness
And this blank page where my fingers move.
Through the window I see no star;
Something more near
Though deeper within darkness
Is entering the loneliness:
Cold, delicately as the dark snow
A fox's nose touches twig, leaf;
Two eyes serve a movement, that now
And again now, and now, and now
Set neat prints into the snow
Between trees, and warily a lame
Shadow lags by stump and in hollow
Of a body that is bold to come
Across clearings, an eye,
A widening deepening greenness,
Brilliantly, concentratedly,
Coming about its own business
Till, with a sudden sharp hot stink of fox,
It enters the dark hole of the head.
The window is starless still; the clock ticks,
The page is printed.
THE ‘THOUGHT-FOX’ has often been acknowledged as one of the most completely realised and artistically satisfying of the poems in Ted Hughes’s first collection, The Hawk in the Rain. At the same time it is one of the most frequently anthologised of all Hughes’s poems.
‘The thought-fox’ is a poem about writing a poem. Its external action takes place in a room late at night where the poet is sitting alone at his desk. Outside the night is starless, silent, and totally black. But the poet senses a presence which disturbs him:
Through the window I see no star:
Something more near
Though deeper within darkness
Is entering the loneliness.
The disturbance is not in the external darkness of the night, for the night is itself a metaphor for the deeper and more intimate darkness of the poet’s imagination in whose depths an idea is mysteriously stirring. At first the idea has no clear outlines; it is not seen but felt – frail and intensely vulnerable. The poet’s task is to coax it out of formlessness and into fuller consciousness by the sensitivity of his language. The remote stirrings of the poem are compared to the stirrings of an animal – a fox, whose body is invisible, but which feels its way forward nervously through the dark undergrowth:
Cold, delicately as the dark snow,
A fox’s nose touches twig, leaf;
The half-hidden image which is contained within these lines is of soft snow brushing against the trees as it falls in dark flakes to the ground. The idea of the delicate dark snow evokes the physical reality of the fox’s nose which is itself cold, dark and damp, twitching moistly and gently against twig and leaf. In this way the first feature of the fox is mysteriously defined and its wet black nose is nervously alive in the darkness, feeling its way towards us. But by inverting the natural order of the simile, and withholding the subject of the sentence, the poet succeeds in blurring its distinctness so that the fox emerges only slowly out of the formlessness of the snow. Gradually the fox’s eyes appear out of the same formlessness, leading the shadowy movement of its body as it comes closer:
Two eyes serve a movement, that now
And again now, and now, and now
Sets neat prints into the snow
Between trees, and warily a lame
Shadow lags by stump and in hollow. ..
In the first two lines of this passage the rhythm of the verse is broken by the punctuation and the line-endings, while at the same time what seemed the predictable course of the rhyme-scheme is deliberately departed from. Both rhythmically and phonetically the verse thus mimes the nervous, unpredictable movement of the fox as it delicately steps forward, then stops suddenly to check the terrain before it runs on only to stop again. The tracks which the fox leaves in the snow are themselves duplicated by the sounds and rhythm of the line ‘Sets neat prints into the snow’. The first three short words of this line are internal half-rhymes, as neat, as identical and as sharply outlined as the fox’s paw-marks, and these words press down gently but distinctly into the soft open vowel of ‘snow’. The fox’s body remains indistinct, a silhouette against the snow. But the phrase ‘lame shadow’ itself evokes a more precise image of the fox, as it freezes alertly in its tracks, holding one front-paw in mid-air, and then moves off again like a limping animal. At the end of the stanza the words ‘bold to come’ are left suspended – as though the fox is pausing at the outer edge of some trees. The gap between the stanzas is itself the clearing which the fox, after hesitating warily, suddenly shoots across: ‘Of a body that is bold to come / Across clearings. ..’
At this point in the poem the hesitant rhythm of that single sentence which is prolonged over five stanzas breaks into a final and deliberate run. The fox has scented safety. After its dash across the clearing of the stanza-break, it has come suddenly closer, bearing down upon the poet and upon the reader:
an eye,
A widening deepening greenness,
Brilliantly, concentratedly,
Coming about its own business. ..
It is so close now that its two eyes have merged into a single green glare which grows wider and wider as the fox comes nearer, its eyes heading directly towards ours: ‘Till, with a sudden sharp hot stink of fox / It enters the dark hole of the head’. If we follow the ‘visual logic’ of the poem we are compelled to imagine the fox actually jumping through the eyes of the poet – with whom the reader of the poem is inevitably drawn into identification. The fox enters the lair of the head as it would enter its own lair, bringing with it the hot, sensual, animal reek of its body and all the excitement and power of the achieved vision.
The fox is no longer a formless stirring somewhere in the dark depths of the bodily imagination; it has been coaxed out of the darkness and into full consciousness. It is no longer nervous and vulnerable, but at home in the lair of the head, safe from extinction, perfectly created, its being caught for ever on the page. And all this has been done purely by the imagination. For in reality there is no fox at all, and outside, in the external darkness, nothing has changed: ‘The window is starless still; the clock ticks, / The page is printed.’ The fox is the poem, and the poem is the fox. ‘And I suppose,’ Ted Hughes has written, ‘that long after I am gone, as long as a copy of the poem exists, every time anyone reads it the fox will get up somewhere out of the darkness and come walking towards them.’[1]
After discussing ‘The thought-fox’ in his book The Art of Ted Hughes, Keith Sagar writes: ‘Suddenly, out of the unknown, there it is, with all the characteristics of a living thing – “a sudden sharp hot stink of fox”. A simple trick like pulling a kicking rabbit from a hat, but only a true poet can do it’.[2] In this particular instance it seems to me that the simile Sagar uses betrays him into an inappropriate critical response. His comparison may be apt in one respect, for it is certainly true that there is a powerful element of magic in the poem. But this magic has little to do with party-conjurors who pull rabbits out of top-hats. It is more like the sublime and awesome magic which is contained in the myth of creation, where God creates living beings out of nothingness by the mere fiat of his imagination.
The very sublimity and God-like nature of Hughes’s vision can engender uneasiness. For Hughes’s fox has none of the freedom of an animal. It cannot get up from the page and walk off to nuzzle its young cubs or do foxy things behind the poet’s back. It cannot even die in its own mortal, animal way. For it is the poet’s creature, wholly owned and possessed by him, fashioned almost egotistically in order to proclaim not its own reality but that of its imaginatively omnipotent creator. This is evident in Hughes’s own discussion of the poem in Poetry in the Making: ‘So, you see, in some ways my fox is better than an ordinary fox. It will live for ever, it will never suffer from hunger or hounds. I have it with me wherever I go. And I made it. And all through imagining it clearly enough and finding the living words’ (p. 21).
This feeling of uneasiness is heightened by the last stanza of the poem. For although this stanza clearly communicates the excitement of poetic creation, it seems at the same time to express an almost predatory thrill; it is as though the fox has successfully been lured into a hunter’s trap. The bleak matter-of-factness of the final line – ’The page is printed’ – only reinforces the curious deadness of the thought-fox. If, at the end of the poem, there is one sense in which the fox is vividly and immediately alive, it is only because it has been pinned so artfully upon the page. The very accuracy of the evocation of the fox seems at times almost fussily obsessive. The studied and beautifully ‘final’ nature of the poem indicates that we are not in the presence of any untrained spontaneity, any primitive or naive vision. It might be suggested that the sensibility behind Hughes’s poem is more that of an intellectual – an intellectual who, in rebellion against his own ascetic rationalism, feels himself driven to hunt down and capture an element of his own sensual and intuitive identity which he does not securely possess.
In this respect Hughes’s vision is perhaps most nearly akin to that of D. H. Lawrence, who was also an intellectual in rebellion against his own rationalism, a puritan who never ceased to quarrel with his own puritanism. Hughes, in ‘The thought-fox’ needs the ‘sudden sharp hot stink of fox’ to pump up the attenuated sense he has of the reality of his own body and his own feelings. And so he pins the fox upon the page with the cruel purity of artistic form and locates its lair inside his own head. And the fox lives triumphantly as an idea – as a part of the poet’s own identity – but dies as a fox. Hughes in ‘The thought-fox’ unconsciously inflicts the violence of an art upon animal sensuality in a passionate but conflict-ridden attempt to incorporate it into his own rationalist identity.
The conflict of sensibility which Hughes unconsciously dramatises in ‘The thought-fox’ runs through all his poetry. On the one hand there is in his work an extraordinary sensuous and sensual generosity which coexists with a sense of abundance and a capacity for expressing tenderness which are unusual in contemporary poetry. These qualities are particularly in evidence in some of the most mysteriously powerful of all his poems – poems such as ‘Crow’s undersong’, ‘Littleblood’, ‘Full moon and little Frieda’ and ‘Bride and groom lie hidden for three days’ .On the other hand his poetry – and above all his poetry in Crow – is notorious for the raging intensity of its violence, a violence which, by some critics at least, has been seen as destructive of all artistic and human values. Hughes himself seems consistently to see his own poetic sensitivity as ‘feminine’ and his poetry frequently gives the impression that he can allow himself to indulge this sensitivity only within a protective shell of hard, steely ‘masculine’ violence.
In ‘The thought-fox’ itself this conflict of sensibility appears in such an attenuated or suppressed form that it is by no means the most striking feature of the poem. But, the conflict may still be discerned. It is present above all in the tension between the extraordinary sensuous delicacy of the image which Hughes uses to describe the fox’s nose and the predatory, impulse which seems to underlie the poem – an impulse to which Hughes has himself drawn attention by repeatedly comparing the act of poetic creation to the process of capturing or killing small animals. Indeed it might be suggested that the last stanza of the poem records what is, in effect, a ritual of tough ‘manly’ posturing. For in it the poet might be seen as playing a kind of imaginative game in which he attempts to outstare the fox – looking straight into its eyes as it comes closer and closer and refusing to move, refusing to flinch, refusing to show any sign of ‘feminine’ weakness. The fox itself does not flinch or deviate from its course. It is almost as though, in doing this, it has successfully come through an initiation-ritual to which the poet has unconsciously submitted it; the fox which is initially nervous, circumspect, and as soft and delicate as the dark snow, has proved that it is not ‘feminine’ after all but tough, manly and steely willed ‘brilliantly, concentratedly, coming about its own business’. It is on these conditions alone, perhaps, that its sensuality can be accepted by the poet without anxiety.
Whether or not the last tentative part of my analysis is accepted, it will perhaps be allowed that the underlying pattern of the poem is one of sensitivity-within- toughness; it is one in which a sensuality or sensuousness which might sometimes be characterised as ‘feminine’ can be incorporated into the identity only to the extent that it has been purified by, or subordinated to, a tough, rational, artistic will.
Adapted from Critical Quarterly, vol, 26, no. 4 Winter 1984
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