To KIll A Mockingbird - Cover Analysis

  On the cover of To Kill A Mockingbird, there was the door of a prison cell, from the side view. Two dark-colored hands are stretched through white-painted bars, one holding the bars, the other stretched through the bars.
  In my opinion, the dark-colored hands belong to a Negro prisoner, who is resigned to his fate, as he is not making any violent efforts to get out, although I suspect that he is falsely accused of a crime. This prisoner would symbolize the character Tom Robinson in the novel and is used as foreshadowing to prepare or hint at readers about the role of Tom Robinson.
  On the cover, the pair of hands is viewed from the side view. This could imply that the 'common folk' - the ordinary Maycomb townsfolk - knew about the wrongful fate of the Negro prisoner in the cell, but watched indifferently from the sidelines without doing anything to help him.
  Also, the bars of the prison cell was originally painted white, but some parts of the bars had been eroded by black rust. This could symbolize good and evil - one of the main themes of the novel. The bars would represent the legal and justice system - originally, they were uncorrupted and efficient, but over time, it had became corrupted and biased because of racism and prejudice. Hence, the black rust had eroded the white paint of the bars over time.
  In my opinion, the cover played a major part in hinting to the readers of the contents of the book beforehand, as well as acting as a short 'summary' of themes, albeit in a symbolical way.

Mockingbird - Analysis

  The title of To Kill A Mockingbird is taken from a conversation between Atticus and Jem, on page 96, line 14 - "I'd rather you shoot at tin cans in the back yard, but I know you'll go after birds. Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."
  Although it is used as the title, technically, mockingbirds have no appearances in the novel. Instead, mockingbirds are both used as symbols and also to refer to one of the main themes of the novel, good and evil.
  In the novel, a mockingbird is a symbol for innocent, pure and good people that is persecuted by evil. The two most prominent mockingbirds in the novel is Tom Robinson and Boo Radley - they have both done no harm, with Tom Robinson being a picker who's kind enough to help Mayella Ewell chop up the chiffarobe for nothing, and Boo Radley a man who left the children presents and eventually save them from Bob Ewell. Yet, their fates are both sad - Tom Robinson was convicted of rape by the biased jury and shot in his attempt to escape, and Boo Radley becoming a social outcast, abused and isolated by his father and brother.
  The theme of good and evil in the novel transcend to hatred, prejudice, ignorance, which is applied to innocent people like Tom Robinson and Boo Radley, the 'mockingbirds'. After Tom Robinson's death, Mr. Braxton Underwood, a hardcore racist himself, written in his editorial that it is a sin to kill cripples, and likened Tom Robinson's death to 'the senseless slaughter of songbirds (mockingbird)'. Also, in a later conversation between Scout and Atticus, Scout said that people hurting Boo Radley is "like shootin' a mockingbird". The reference to the mockingbirds showed the death of the good at the hands of evil, like Tom Robinson and Boo Radley.
  The To Kill in the title suggested an instructional text, which was proven untrue by the novel; instead of about how to kill a mockingbird, the story actually described how mockingbirds are killed. A subtle difference, but a fundamental one.

Debate - Capital Punishment

  In To Kill A Mockingbird, Tom Robinson will be executed if he was convicted of a capital offense, rape. On this, Jem said, “maybe rape shouldn’t be a capital offense…” The only thing that separate capital offenses from other offenses is the punishment used, capital punishment, the death penalty. Indeed, the question of capital punishment had come under fire many times, sparking numerous debates worldwide. Thus, I will share my views on capital punishment.

  The two most common arguments against the death penalty are human rights – essentially, a human’s right to live – and the value of life. The human rights arguments states that the death penalty violated the basic rule of human rights – a human’s right to live – which is included in the constitutions and documents of most countries and international organizations, such as the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, while the value of life argument place the emphasis on the value of a human life, and argued that the human life is so valuable that its value isn’t affected by even the most brutal murders, and therefore even the most brutal killers should not be deprived of their lives.
  As for the for camp, the best argument for the death penalty is retribution - the argument that criminals need to receive appropriate punishment for their crime according to the crime. The retribution argument states that in order for justice to be done, each criminal have to 'get what they deserve', and in the case of homicide and drug-related offenses, the criminals deserved death. Another argument is that it deters potential murderers from committing the offense, and that it will remove any possibility of the murderer murdering people again. By executing murderers, then, we would have saved the lives of more innocent people, which justifies the death penalty under the utilitarian view, as even if death penalty is replaced by life imprisonment without parole, the murderer would still be a danger to fellow inmates and prison staff.
  In my own opinion, I support the use of capital punishment. Although in certain cases, such as that of Tom Robinson in To Kill A Mockingbird, who tried to escape because he feared being executed, wrongful executions may occur, objectively, capital punishment will deter more potential murders and stop convicted murders from committing murder again, and therefore, from the utilitarian perspective, capital punishment will save more lives than it will end, and should thus be used. This is proven by the case of Singapore, which had one of the lowest crime rates in the world, and is one of the only five developed countries that still permits the death penalty.
  

TKaMB Feature Article Assignment - The Trial

The Maycomb Tribune

VERDICT: BLACK MAN CONVICTED OF RAPE

By JOSEPH T. UPPERSTONE, LEGAL CORRESPONDENT  Friday, July 09, 1931

  MAYCOMB: In the Maycomb County Courthouse, there are two concrete pillars, left over from when the original courthouse burnt down in 1856. These two pillars are the perfect symbols of justice in this place of law and order; justice will forever stand in the gallant south. This truth was yet again upheld when the verdict is unanimously passed by the representatives of Maycomb citizens, the jury, sentencing Thomas ‘Tom’ Robinson, a black man convicted of rape, a capital offense, to death.

  Thomas Robinson, aged 25, formerly a cotton and pecan picker for Mr. Link Deas, a Maycomb landowner, had been convicted of one charge of rape, a capital offense, for raping Ms. Mayella Violet Ewell, 19, unemployed. Despite a valiant fight by defense attorney Atticus Finch (top), the clear evidence from reliable, white witnesses had proved beyond a doubt that Tom Robinson is guilty of rape.

  Atticus Finch, the defense attorney for Tom Robinson, had accused the victim, Mayella Ewell, of ‘breaking a time-honored code of our society’, by which he implied that Ms. Ewell voluntarily kissed Tom Robinson and was beaten up by her father afterwards, the marks which she and her father claimed that was caused by Tom Robinson. He had also accused the case of being ‘a case of black and white’. He had indicated that he wished to file an appeal with the Supreme Court.

  Mr. Samuel Gown, President of the African-American Welfare Association, had praised Mr. Finch to be a “distinguished man who was the sole hero who dared to speak up on this time-honored taboo.” Mr. Gown also pledged the support of the AAWA to Tom Robinson.

  There had been 12 recorded cases of capital charges against Negroes, all initiated by white men. Of those, all of them had been convicted, and sentenced to death. The attorneys for them are all appointed by the court. None of the attorneys had filed appeals or taken further action, except Atticus Finch. Mr. Finch had hinted that he has received death threats from Mr. Robert Ewell.

  According to the Ewells, on the night of November twenty-first, Mayella Ewell was sitting on the front porch of the Ewell dwelling, when Tom Robinson passed by, and she asked him to help her chop up an old chiffarobe, but when she turned to return to the house, Robinson forced her onto the ground and “took advantage of her”.

  There had been small-scaled protests in Mobile over this crime in the black community. Reverend Skyes of the First Purchase African M.E. Church, which Tom Robinson belonged to, had expresses grief and condemned the verdict of Guilty. The trial had taken a full day for the jury to return a verdict, a record amount of time for the trial of a black man. Senior trial judge Matthew Hall told us, “This is yet one more testimonial to the skill of Atticus Finch…I think he’s the best lawyer in Maycomb County.” 

   There had been an unconfirmed report that Jean Louise Finch and Jeremy Atticus Finch, Atticus Finch’s children, was present at the trial and had watched from the colored balcony. Also, according to the report, Jean Louise Finch had asked Mr. Finch after the trial, “Will there ever be justice for all in this land, Atticus?”

  “Well,” Atticus Finch replied, “We’ll see.”

Teenagers Sometimes Complain That They Are Being Treated Like Children. What Are Your Opinions About This?

 “The young always have the same problem - how to rebel and conform at the same time.  They have now solved this by defying their parents and copying one another.”-Quentin Crisp. Indeed, as children become teenagers and descends into adolescence, they became more rebellious and emotional even as they become more physically and psychologically mature. At this time, if parents still treat them like children such as taking them to ‘baby doctors’, they will become irritated. To mature, teenagers need more responsibility, as well as the trust that comes with that responsibility.

  

 The problem of parents treating teenagers like children escalates in the case of overprotective parents, who often place restrictions on teenagers’ behavior and lifestyles. At adolescence, teenagers’ ability to feel excitement had been dulled, and therefore they need to perform more extreme activities in order to get that adrenaline rush. However, parents are often unable to understand this, and in the case of overprotective parents, place restrictions on those abilities in order to ‘protect’ them, which would of course just make the teenagers even more rebellious and defy them just for the sake of it, resulting in a vicious cycle.

  As the brains of the teenagers mature, the social behavior of the teenagers change. The teenager brain already has the adult capability, but not the restraint that comes with age. It has already developed intellectually, but in the teenage brain, the amygdala is developing faster than the frontal lobes, leading to reactive, but not reflective, behavior in teenagers. Therefore, the surrounding environment is a very important influence on how the teenagers’ brains will develop. So, parents should treat teenagers with respect and give them more freedom, responsibilities and trust.

  This is because most parents simply did not want to admit that their children had already grown up and does not have to depend on them anymore. Also, many of them, due to a mix of pride and stubbornness, do not want to admit that their college-aged kids actually know a lot more than them. Also, A generation or two ago, many people finished school, started work, and got married — all while still in their teens. However, now, many teenagers are financially dependent on their parents well into their twenties, leading the parents to be inclined to think of them as children. While those parents are extremely passionate about their children, a trait which served them well when their children are still children, after they start to grow up, many of them manipulate their kids to keep control through guilt, bribery, threats, intimidation, fear, and anger.

  Although some parents may argue that teenagers have no sense of responsibility and not enough maturity, actually, teenagers aged 14-15 have a brain that functions better than an adult brain, and most of them had attained both physical and psychological maturity, and when parents give them responsibilities and trust, it had been proved that they can take care of themselves sufficiently well, as well as be trusted with important decisions and have a certain degree of financial independence – just that most parents refuse to admit it.

  Therefore, I think that parents should respect their adolescent kids and grant them enough freedom, trust, and responsibilities to sate them and make them feel more mature, as well as to help them mature faster.

A Day In The Life of the Sino-Indian War

Dear Diary:

  We attack at 0630 hours. The cowardly Indians are skulking in their camp, snoring away. Their sentries' guard will be down at this twilight time. What fools the Indians are - placing their telephone lines out there in the open! Our Great Chairman had said, "Attack with swiftness and drive fear into the Rajputs' hearts." and so we shall.

 

  Colonel Chin had ordered that we cut around the Indians with the cover of darkness. The stupid Indians had defended the five bridges, but they don't know that we will cross the shallow river with our boots alone. I had already polished and checked my Type 56 a half dozen times - my life will depend on it soon. I can already hear our mortar fire, pouring punishment down onto those bastardly Indians. Oh, we will vanquish them, we will severely punish them for intruding upon the sacred soil of the People's Republic!

  From here, I can see the Indian camp is already ablaze. Geysers of water rocketed up from the Namka Chu as our shells smashed into it. The ground is vibrating. Soon, we will be ordered to march. With our fire support, we will cross the October River, ambush those cowardly Indians, and our bullets will hurt them, hurt them badly. We will drive them from Namka Chu once and for all!

  Lieutenant Koh is assembling our forces. I must go. If I come back alive, I will celebrate with my friends and then go and reclaim more of our lost territory; if I die, I will be forever remembered as a matyr that fought bravely against the Indian invaders.

Staff Sergeant Chuang

20 October, 1962

 

Task 1 - Descriptive Paragraph

  The sky is dark from the thunderclouds that clouded it, just as hatred clouded the hearts of the fighting men gathered under the sky. Among the ruins of a once peaceful Vietnamese destroyed by forces fighting a proxy war for the Western World and the Communist World, forces which even now are vying for inches of ground beneath the dark sky. Bursts of 7.62mm Kalashnikov ammo sped through the air as the shrill reports of the Kalashnikovs disturbed the peace of the rural village. Wounded U.S. Marines screamed in pain as a 40mm grenade anti-personnel grenade from a Viet Cong guerrilla exploded near their hiding spot, causing the ground to vibrate and eardrums to rupture from the sound. The salty tang of blood is tasted in the mouth of the soldiers as the strong scent of gunpowder refuses to dissipate, just as yet another 40mm grenade sail into the air to kill yet more young men serving their country.