To Kill A Mockingbird- Critical Thinking Question

 I find myself writing very frequently about To Kill a Mockingbird, mainly because it tackles many social issues that are relatable even in today’s world. Justice and power are major issues in the book, and since I wrote about justice last week, the process of elimination demanded that I choose to write about the critical thinking question about power. To be a bit more specific, who holds the power in the book? The answer is quite simple, and it sums up the way that modern civilization works. The one that holds the power is the greater part of society. The ideas that are wildly accepted as truth, and the people that spread these ideas, hold the majority of the power. In this case, and many other cases, the ideas that are being spread are not the best of ideas. The people of To Kill a Mockingbird’s society accept the ideas of racism and inequality that have been spread since even before this country’s existence. It is quite difficult to pin-point the exact person who spread these ideas, but a man named Jim Crow comes to mind. Or perhaps these ideas were the fault of our founding fathers, who had the power to stop the terrible thoughts that all of society thought, yet they didn’t because they thought that the rest of society would not accept their new way of thinking.

            The people in To Kill a Mockingbird know that Tom Robinson is not guilty of the crime that he is being accused of, but they still call him guilty because his skin is a different color than theirs, and they don’t like that. Men like Atticus Finch try to loosen the grip that this way of thinking has on society, but even Atticus knows he can’t convince the world that everyone is equal by himself. He still attempts to make some progress in having his thoughts heard by everyone.      

            It takes good people who can see through the heavy mist dark ideas and thoughts to break their hold on society. But to break through that mist takes patience and persistence, and many people get lost in this mist before they can make any real impact. It’s sad to think that the good people are silenced simply because the bad people can shout out their ideas louder, and they can spread them farther. Even now, the good people are fighting for equality and fairness for every single person, and even though the bad voices get quieter, the good still hasn’t broken through that mist of evil that looms over society. It’s quite possible that all of us won’t be around when the goodness finds its way into everyone’s heart, and I sincerely hope that all of the voices that fought for the greater good in the past will be remembered when the good ideas finally win.  

To Kill a Mockingbird: How does this text make you think about justice in the world?

“To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee takes place in the 1930’s. During this time, the justice system in America was not exactly fair. So when Atticus Finch, a respected lawyer, is tasked with defending a black man in court, he knows that it is a case that he cannot win. Still, he tries his hardest to persuade the jury that his client, Tom Robinson, is innocent. And although all of the evidence points to Tom being innocent, the jury still says that Tom is guilty. After reading the book, I realized that the justice system has drastically improved through years of patience and slow change. People like Atticus Finch helped to pave the way for a new and improved justice system in the near future. He knew that he was given a case that was unwinnable, but he still fought, because he knew that if he could sway the jury just a bit, that it would be a step towards more just courts in America. Harper Lee wrote the book in 1960. This was a time when the Civil Rights Movement was starting up. I think that Harper Lee wrote the book as a reminder of what would continue to happen if people continued to allow the unfairness throughout the country to continue. Lee’s book sent a bold message that helped to make the dreams that she held in her book a reality.

Argument essay 2nd draft

Alexander Schell 809 Argument Essay Second Draft As an author writes more and more stories, it becomes more likely that someone is going to be offended by some of their work. Edgar Allan Poe wrote sixty-seven short stories, thirty-one poems, and one novel, so it’s safe to imagine that some of his work may have been taken the wrong (or right) way, and some people may have attempted to ban him. However, Poe is a brilliant and classical author and his work should not be banned. Edgar Allan Poe’s work can help people to understand his time period better. Poe was born in 1809 and died in 1849. The way that people spoke and wrote back then was completely different than we do now, and most of his work can perfectly capture the differences. For example, in the first page of his story, “William Wilson”, he says, “The fair page now lying before me need not be sullied with my real appellation.” (Poe 1). In this sentence, he says sullied, meaning to stain or tarnish, and appellation, meaning name or title. He then goes on to say, “This has already been too much an object for the scorn—the detestation of my race. To the outermost regions of the globe have not the indignant winds bruited its unparalleled infamy?” I can honestly say that I am not sure what half of this sentence means. My point is that Poe can teach people about the history of our language and how it has become more complex (or less complex, in this case). Much of Poe’s work is told through the eyes of insane people. His stories can help sane people better how the minds of crazy people work. One of the most notable examples of this type of story is “The Tell-Tale Heart”. It is about a man who committed murder simply because he did not like the way an old man’s eyes looked. What I noticed is that throughout the story, the man is convinced that he is not crazy. He even says, “You fancy me mad. Mad men know nothing.” (Poe 4) He is describing a situation which would sound crazy to any sane person, yet he has convinced himself that he is not insane. Poe, unlike many authors, can accurately portray an insane person in his stories, which is probably because he was a little bit insane himself. He once said “I don’t suffer from insanity, but enjoy every minute of it.” He was also an alcoholic who suffered from depression, so…yeah. Lastly, and probably most importantly, Poe’s stories can get people to question their mind and to understand themselves better. In a story called “The Cask of Amontillado”, A man decides to kill his “friend” Fortunato, simply because Fortunato insulted him. This story can make people ask themselves an important question: at what point would I be willing to commit murder? How far over the edge would I have to be driven in order for murder to be my only way out? In another story, “The Black Cat”, it only takes one bad day for a man to kill the one thing he really loves in the world. So, how many bad days could you endure before being driven to insanity? I personally think that I could only handle about six, maybe seven bad days before I just went absolutely insane. Poe can write a good story while also getting the reader to question basically their entire life. After reading Poe’s stories, I can confidently say that they are great works of art and can be appreciated by mature minds. So I’m not saying that Edgar Allan Poe’s work should be put on the shelves of first grade classrooms, but I think that 8 grade students are perfectly capable of understanding and interpreting Poe’s work the way it was meant to be interpreted, and they are capable of not being driven insane by all of the fancy words that his stories contain.

My Favorite Picture Book

My Favorite picture book is “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish” by Dr. Seuss. The book is the perfect combination of poetry, strangeness, and absolute brilliance. What makes the book strange, in my opinion, is the fact that there really is no clear message behind the story. It is really just an almost childish story that has the potential to make most people smile.

            What I love about this book and most of the author’s other work is that he doesn’t need to create a perfect storyline or complex characters to make a great book. Part of what makes his work so great is the pictures in the books. Try reading any of his books without seeing the pictures. They’re still great, but I don’t think that they would be remembered as well as fondly as they are today. Every single picture in every single book is just a bit over the top, with an extreme amount of bright colors and strange characters.

            Another reason why I think that the book is so great because of the feeling of nostalgia that comes with every page. I remember always reading the book when I was six or seven years old. I loved that the book was so simple that even a child could have come up with the ideas in it. I also loved the very simple rhymes that the story contained. The very first lines are the most memorable example. “One fish, Two fish, Red fish, Blue fish. Black fish, Brown fish, Old fish, New fish. This one has a little car. This one has a little star.” When I think about it now, that is one of the simplest books that I have ever read, yet it also impacted my life the most.

            Dr. Seuss and all of his great books taught me many things. They taught me how to read. They taught me how to write a poem. But most importantly, they taught me that a good imagination is the greatest gift that a person can have. I sincerely hope that in the distant future, the work of Dr. Seuss will still be remembered, and that it will make both children and adults smile. Because even now, we are failing to remember that there is no such thing as too much imagination, and sometimes that’s all it takes to make a good story.

Argument Esay First Draft

Alexander Schell                                                                                                   11-9-2013

809                      

Should Edgar Allan Poe be banned?

            Throughout his career, Edgar Allan Poe wrote one novel, sixty-seven short stories, and thirty-one poems. Many of these stories taught different lessons and demonstrated the many types of people in the world. But in the end, all of his work must be recognized for what it really is: classical stories that can be interpreted in many different ways. I think that Edgar Allan Poe is a brilliant author and should not be banned.

            Edgar Allan Poe’s work can help people to understand the time period better. He was born in 1809 and died in 1849. The way that people spoke and wrote back then was a lot different than how people speak and write today, and some of his work perfectly captures the differences. For example, in the first page of one of his stories, “William Wilson”, he says, “The fair page now lying before me need not be sullied with my real appellation”. Basically, he’s saying “I don’t want to tell you my real name. He then goes on to write, “This has already been too much an object for the scorn- for the detestation of my race. To the uttermost regions of the globe have not the indignant winds bruited its unparalleled infamy?” I am honestly not sure that I understand what that means. My point is, Poe can teach people about the history of our language and how it has become more complex (or less complex, in our case.)

            Much of Poe’s work is told through the eyes of people who are basically insane. His stories can help people who are less insane understand how the minds of crazy people work. One of the most notable examples of this type of story is “The Tell-Tale Heart”. It is about a man who committed murder simply because he did not like the way an old man’s eyes looked. What I noticed is that throughout the story, the man is convinced that he is not crazy. He even says”You fancy me mad. Mad men know nothing.” He is describing a situation which would sound crazy to any sane person, yet he has convinced himself that he is not insane. Poe, unlike many authors, can accurately portray an insane person in his stories, which is probably because he was a little bit insane himself.

            Lastly, and probably most importantly, Poe’s stories can get people to question their mind and to understand themselves better. In a story called “The Cask of Amontillado, A man decides to kill someone simply because he insulted him. This story can make people ask themselves an important question: at what point would I be willing to commit murder? How far over the edge would I have to be driven in order for murder to be my only way out? In another story, “The Black Cat”, it only takes one bad day for a man to kill the one thing he really loves in the world. So, how many bad days could you endure before being driven to insanity? I personally think that I could only handle about six, maybe seven bad days before I just went absolutely insane. Poe can write a good story while also getting the reader to question basically their entire life.

            After reading Poe’s stories, I can confidently say that they are great works of art and can be appreciated by mature minds. So I’m not saying that Edgar Allan Poe’s work should be put on the shelves of first grade classrooms, but I think that 8 grade students are perfectly capable of understanding and interpreting Poe’s work the way it was meant to be interpreted, and they are capable of not being driven insane by all of the fancy words that his stories contain.  

Alexander Schell                                                                                                   11-9-2013

809                      

Should Edgar Allan Poe be banned?

            Throughout his career, Edgar Allan Poe wrote one novel, sixty-seven short stories, and thirty-one poems. Many of these stories taught different lessons and demonstrated the many types of people in the world. But in the end, all of his work must be recognized for what it really is: classical stories that can be interpreted in many different ways. I think that Edgar Allan Poe is a brilliant author and should not be banned.

            Edgar Allan Poe’s work can help people to understand the time period better. He was born in 1809 and died in 1849. The way that people spoke and wrote back then was a lot different than how people speak and write today, and some of his work perfectly captures the differences. For example, in the first page of one of his stories, “William Wilson”, he says, “The fair page now lying before me need not be sullied with my real appellation”. Basically, he’s saying “I don’t want to tell you my real name. He then goes on to write, “This has already been too much an object for the scorn- for the detestation of my race. To the uttermost regions of the globe have not the indignant winds bruited its unparalleled infamy?” I am honestly not sure that I understand what that means. My point is, Poe can teach people about the history of our language and how it has become more complex (or less complex, in our case.)

            Much of Poe’s work is told through the eyes of people who are basically insane. His stories can help people who are less insane understand how the minds of crazy people work. One of the most notable examples of this type of story is “The Tell-Tale Heart”. It is about a man who committed murder simply because he did not like the way an old man’s eyes looked. What I noticed is that throughout the story, the man is convinced that he is not crazy. He even says”You fancy me mad. Mad men know nothing.” He is describing a situation which would sound crazy to any sane person, yet he has convinced himself that he is not insane. Poe, unlike many authors, can accurately portray an insane person in his stories, which is probably because he was a little bit insane himself.

            Lastly, and probably most importantly, Poe’s stories can get people to question their mind and to understand themselves better. In a story called “The Cask of Amontillado, A man decides to kill someone simply because he insulted him. This story can make people ask themselves an important question: at what point would I be willing to commit murder? How far over the edge would I have to be driven in order for murder to be my only way out? In another story, “The Black Cat”, it only takes one bad day for a man to kill the one thing he really loves in the world. So, how many bad days could you endure before being driven to insanity? I personally think that I could only handle about six, maybe seven bad days before I just went absolutely insane. Poe can write a good story while also getting the reader to question basically their entire life.

            After reading Poe’s stories, I can confidently say that they are great works of art and can be appreciated by mature minds. So I’m not saying that Edgar Allan Poe’s work should be put on the shelves of first grade classrooms, but I think that 8 grade students are perfectly capable of understanding and interpreting Poe’s work the way it was meant to be interpreted, and they are capable of not being driven insane by all of the fancy words that his stories contain.  

Monday Muses Post

                                                             Monday Muses
                                                                   Childhood
               For many people, childhood contains some of the greatest memories that life can offer. It is a time when anything can fill you with wonder. But as years go by and life continues, there seems to be less and less wonder every day. Childhood is a strangely beautiful thing that not many most people don't appreciate until it is long gone.
      I think that the reason why childhood memories are so much better than others is because as you grow, so does your mind, and you understand things in much more complex ways that take away the mysterious edge that the world has to offer. As an adult, you don't have as many questions, so life seems less like an adventure and more like a routine that you have followed for the rest of your life, and are doomed to follow for the remainder of it. For a child, even a ride on the train is a time to ask questions and to witness the many different types of people and places in the world.
      Children are less suited for life, and less prepared for the sometimes bad things that life has to offer, but that might not be a bad thing. Imagine if all people are born knowing that life isn't always what you expect, and that people aren't always nice.We would all be brooding, paranoid beings expecting the worst from everyone.Childhood is essentially a bridge between the shroud of wonder that envelopes the world and the real world. If you think about it, even the worst people in human history were once innocent children, but the realities of life were just revealed to them to early. I say let children continue down their path of wonder and imagination. The downsides of life should be reserved for when we are prepared for them.
      Maybe wonder shouldn't just be reserved for children.Maybe it's okay for us to take a break from the hardships of our daily lives, and to go back to those places of wonder that we loved as children.Maybe if we all just stopped every once in a while and took in the amazing things that life has to offer, like we did as children, it wouldn't be such a bad thing. Maybe all that we need to cheer us up when life is bad is just a little bit of wonder, a little bit of childhood to make it all okay. 
       

Edgar Allan Poe

The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe
By Edgar Allan Poe
                 






Throughout his life, Edgar Allan Poe wrote sixty-seven short stories, one book, and thirty-one poems, so you can imagine that it is difficult to find one theme that can match every single one of these poems and stories. I decided to write about three stories that best fit the theme that I am discussing. These stories are The Tell-Tale Heart, The Black Cat, and The Cask of Amontillado. The theme of these stories is that
madness fueled by rage is the worst kind, and that it is almost always deadly              
                   The Tell-Tale Heart is a story about a man who despises an old man and wishes to kill him. The man hates the old man only because of his eyes, which he claims were "the eyes of a vulture, and whenever they fell upon me, my blood ran cold." he convinced himself to hill the old man, simply because of his eyes. He watches the old man sleep for a week, planning to kill him but never being able to because he cannot see the old mans eyes. Than one night, the old man awakens to find the other man in his home. The old man is overtaken with terror, and the other man claims to hear his heartbeat, a sound that grows steadily faster an drives the man to insanity. It is then that he kills the old man, and takes great care in hiding the body. He chops the old man into pieces and hides him under the floorboards. When the police come to investigate, they question the man and he remains calm. But when he goes into the room in which the old mans body is hidden, he is overwhelmed with guilt, and begins to hear the old mans heartbeat again. The man finally breaks and admits to the crime. He reveals where the body is, saying "Villains! Dissemble no more! I admit the deed! Tear the planks! Here,Here! It is the beating of his hideous heart!" Throughout the story, the man explains that he is not crazy, yet goes on and on how the "Disease" heightened his senses and allowed him to hear all things from the heavens, the earth, and hell. I presume that the disease he talks about is madness, which drove him to kill the old man in the first place.
                   Next I will discuss "The Black Cat." This story is about a man who sinks deeper and deeper into depression throughout his life, and begins to hate everything more and more. The only exception to his hatred is a cat named Pluto. But as he sinks deeper and deeper, even the cat becomes a thing of dread for the man. The man in this story also discusses a "disease which grew upon him." He turns to alcohol for relief and, in a drunken rage, cuts out one of Pluto's eyes. Feeling guilty the next morning, he leaves the cat alone for awhile. but soon he can no longer stand seeing the Pluto, so he hangs him.The man later regrets his actions once again and wants a new cat. He soon finds one and decides to adopt it. This cat looks very much like Pluto, except for the fact that he has a white patch of fur on his stomach. the man soon starts to hate this cat as well, and claims that it is driving him mad. One day he attempts to kill the cat with an axe, but his wife blocks it with her hand. Furious, the man kills her, and hides her body in a wall. He also notices that the cat is gone, thinking that it fled in terror. The police come to investigate his wife's disappearance, and he shows no nervousness or remorse as they investigate. As they are leaving, they hear a loud cry coming from the wall in which the man's wife is. They tear down the wall, and it turns out that the man had the cat in the wall as well.
                   "The Cask of Amontillado" is about a man who wishes to kill a man named Fortunato because he offended him. The man meets Fortunato at a fair. Knowing that Fortunato is a wine enthusiast, the man invites him to see some of his wines at his house, when they get their, the man takes Fortunato to the back of his cellar and knocks him unconscious. The man chains him to a wall and begins to make a wall of bricks in order to hide the body. As he completes the wall, he hears Fortunato screaming like an animal as he watches the brick being laid, reflecting not madness in the murderer, but in the victim. when the wall is complete, the man walks away with no remorse, but anger instead.
                    All of these stories were about men who were driven to the edge of insanity, which results in murder. All of these men are driven by something different, but the end result is the same. So, this shows that madness fueled by rage is the worst kind, and that madness and anger are the same when certain conditions are present, and that they are almost always dangerous.

To Kill A Mockingbird

                 

            After reading To Kill A Mockingbird  by Harper Lee over the summer, I can say without a doubt that it is one of my favorite books that I have ever read. It questions the ways of humanity on an extremely human and personal level. The book can make anyone think of the small lies they have told, or the  really any of the things that they have said, and make them wonder what consequences will stem from these supposedly minor things. To Kill a Mockingbird helped me to understand what some people will do for a moment of glory, or out of simple, undying hatred. Harper Lee does what most authors are afraid to do: tell a realistic story, even if it means that there is no "happily ever after".
          The book takes place in the early 1960's, and is told through the thoughts of a lawyer's daughter, who everyone calls Scout. The beginning of the book is really about Scout and her older brother Jem trying to understand the world as much as is possible for a child to understand it. About halfway through the book, their father, Atticus Finch, is tasked with defending a black man named Tom Robinson in court. Tom is accused by a man named Bob Ewell, who claims that he assaulted his daughter. It is an extremely difficult case for the time, especially since they live in Alabama, a southern state. Atticus believes in rights and justice for all people, so he tries as best as he can to defend Tom. Much of the evidence in the case is against Ewell's claim, especially the fact the Robinson only has the use of one arm. After the hearing has ended, it is clear to everyone, even Scout, that Tom is innocent. But the jury still votes that he is guilty, which is a vote clearly made out of hate, maybe even fear. However, one jury member votes undecided, which was considered unthinkable at the time, for a white man to at least give a black man a chance before throwing him in prison. Angry and humiliated at one simple vote, Ewell attempts to kill Scout and Jem, But he is stabbed by his own weapon. Jem and Scout knows that it was there mysterious neighbor, Arthur Radley, but they keep quiet out of gratitude.
          In the book, Jem gets a gun for Christmas, and Atticus advises him not to kill any Mockingbirds, because they are harmless and killing one would just be cruel. This ties perfectly in with the main plot, since Robinson never really hurt anyone, but Ewell wanted to see him dead anyway. When the book was written in 1960, it represented a hope for better times in the future. Now, it can be viewed as a dark reminder to not let the past be repeated, and to let all of the mockingbirds live peacefully.