Category: Communication

A semantic field can be used to imply messages in a text without actually using the exact words that could be used to give the information to the reader.

One example of this is the reference to mockingbirds, an ongoing reference to characters in the novel. The quote “…the court room was exactly the same as a cold February morning, when the mockingbirds were still” is juxtaposing the court room to the cold morning-the cold and bitterness of the winter is simbolising the cold from the people in the room. Although it is never stated word for word in the book we know that Tom Robinson and other individuals who only do good (such as Atticus) are represented by mockingbirds. We can see from the semantic field that Harper Lee is trying to show that Tom Robinson and those on the losing side have all become silent as they know the fate of the trial.

The semantic field is an important authorial technique to reveal information or portray certain feelings without directly stating them.

As well as the obvious characters such as Tom Robinson many others also portray the role of being a mockingbird in the the book. Mixing with coloured people can not be counted as a sin and not one that should be challenged. However he is looked down upon by the people of Maycomb County and is thought to only do what he does (e.g. have mixed race children) because of his drinking problem. Eliminating all reasons to be penalised his innocence is destroyed- making him a mockingbird.

The symbolism of a mockingbird is the idea of a being that does no harm, simply just helps out yet their innocence is destroyed by civilisation. “You can shoot all the blue jays you want but you know it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” This quotation explains that there is no harm being done condemning a man that does not bring goodness to the community yet it is a sin if they have.

Following a description of Mrs Merriweather that says she is the ‘most devout lady in maycomb’ she then is stereotypical a d racist about people with black skin. This is satirical because it us mocking the political correctness of the situation and showing the problems in a humourous manor.

The Radley place is displayed as supernatural and Gothic to put a feeling of mystery around Boo Bradley and the household. ‘Picket drunkenly guarded the front yard’ this description of how overrun the house is also gives an impression of supernatural forces guarding the house. Using words such as ‘darkened’ and phrase ‘once-white’ the writing strengthens its Gothic feeling.

From the passage around page 68:

Harper Lee creates sympathy for Boo Radley and uses him to show the beginning of adolescence in jem. Boo Radley (or as is suspected) uses the hole in a tree to communicate with the outside world. As he has been kept in for so long the whole of Maycomb has a bit of a vendetta against him and use him as a scapegoat even for when the weather is bad! As it has been so long for him to meet anyone else it feels cruel when the tree is filled up and he can no longer. Jem has started to become of an age where events don’t just pass by, but he actually feels emotional about it. We can see this because after he is coming back with Scout he stays outside and cries for a little.

In 1929 the wall street crash caused a great depression across the whole world. In america the stocks crashed and as everyone was selling them they became worth less and less. As it hit america, they started to demand repayment from Germany as they had loned money from the Dawes and the Young plan. This spread the depression further around the world. It links to ‘to kill a mockingbird’ because the book is set after the event. We know the farmers around had been hit the hardest out of everyone- as Atticus stated. Also the Ewell’s instead of paying in money instead with what they had (in Woodstock).

From a Swahili course on water poems at SOAS.

Ten lines on water and knowledge:

Roughness of carpet against silk slip skin on thigh,

Trembling, soft resemblance of the lifeless reflection from creek and sky,

A doubt of awakening strikes the connection deep through my wellbeing,

Deep under the skipping stones off the surface of the lake mirage, so freeing,

The year’s drought in Whale’s Valley leaves dried bones dispersed,

The drip drop is soaked up eagerly by soils thirst.

Knowledge begins to stream down into hands of the needy,

A ripple through man’s population as a seed, he-

Suffocates under rip tide and crashing waterfall,

Connection is lost and found again- a barricaded, solid, brick wall.

The Courthouse in ‘To kill a mockingbird’ is symbolically described by Harper Lee to display the peoples desperate attempts to hang onto ‘Every physical scrap of the past’. This is in terms of the old ideas and beliefs of the old traditions but also laws to do with the discrimination of black people. The representation of law is obvious with the setting of the courthouse, it is built upon not only from ‘Greek revival columns’ but these views clash with the nineteenth century ones presented mostly from the South of America as the colonial start of the slave trade. Implementing the quote of hanging on to every scrap of the past we can see that Harper Lee is trying to show that although the new laws against the possession of slaves many or most of the people around were only made to do this and there views have not changed from the old tradition. These are rusty unreliable ideas compared to even the idealogical justice system put in place by the ancient Greeks that did not favour the people of white ethnicity.

To kill a mockingbird, novel by Harper Lee. In the book moral ideas are communicated through different devices, inexplicitly through most means- and by never forcing opinions on the reader. Putting her own own views forward, Harper Lee experiments with what we could deem as her own personal experience, and putting them into a young, naive female character.

Using the questions that bury themselves inside an intrigued character, those questions and ponders about society influence the reader to also think about the reasons behind stereotypes in society. As is well known about the current time and placings of the book’s setting racism was prominent, however never directly stated by any character in the book. The background racism was simply presumed by everyone, not questioned very often- because blaming the black people was an easy escape goat for any possible circumstance. However growing up in a family that sees Calpurnia- a black maid -as an equal to them and part of the family, the phase of growing up and questioning life

A graphic novel was the next choice of text to study the theme of antihero. As far as graphic novels go main heroes are usually outcasts fighting beside the law yet never coinciding quite with them. V in this instance is the usual, a failed experiment in which he escaped. This gave him a special mind set, and uses his own ways to keep the world society from evil etc etc. The ideas of breaking out of the controls of government through destruction couldn’t be by a pure hero- that would be sought through other means than the belief of total destruction bringing creation.