Just some thoughts and a recap of the homework

I gave students copies of the syllabus. For some reason, I didn't print the copy on the website. So read the one here, so you can see both assignments.


We completed To Kill a Mockingbird. It was a grand performance with multiple curtain calls (smile). Homework is to develop an essay question. We looked at the section in Writing about Literature on common writing assignments; however, what students need to think about is how they can use the literature to illustrate the point. The play is not incidental to the essay, rather it is central to the proof.

Take for example this question: How does Atticus's life exemplify moral character? If there is an antagonist or antihero, who is cast in this role?

There are many examples of darkness and light in To Kill a Mockingbird, from Dill's hair and Atticus's decorative lights at the town jail, to seasonal storms and more than one shadowy past. How does Harper Lee use light and its absence to heighten pivotal moments in the play and in her development of the internal lives of her characters?

One aspect of To Kill a Mockingbird which lingers is its voices, one specifically is its narrator's or Scout's, a.k.a. Jean Louise. How is Scout both a perfect and flawed vehicle for the job? How does her presence impact the story and propel it forward?

Talk about her development and what changes over the period the story encompasses.

Talk about the mockingbird as leimotif or recurring theme associated with a particular person, place or idea (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leitmotif). I am thinking about Arthur, the candy or gum, the shiny pennies.

To Kill a Mockingbird is a story about fathers and daughters. Talk about the relationship between Atticus and Scout and Mayella and her father and how different the two girls turn out to be and why. This perhaps is related to the environment the girls grow up in and how the fathers respond to social pressures.

Central to the story is how people treat each other. Chose a few characters and talk about the relationships and how these relationships support Lee's story or perhaps tell it too. Look at Mayella and the black man who helps her; he is crippled, yet so is she. Talk about Dill whose relationship with his parents is strained. What about Scout's brother who ruins his neighbor's garden, so he reads to her to help take her mind off morphine--

There is something to be said about health as a communal condition. If our community is sick, that is, it participates in ideology which is harmful then the members of that community can and often become infected, unless immunized by strong moral medicine. Atticus seems to have this kind of metabolism and he shares his immunity with his family and community, those willing to listen.

Would you say there is something heroic almost in Atticus's personality? Who are the other heroes in this story? Is Tom Robinson a hero? What about Boo?

See http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/mocking/characters.html