Boo Radley Letters

He are some letters that I just found of Boo Radley, take a look of them.

June 1932. 

        I saw again those kids trying to know the true story of who really I´m. They would someday know who I'm. This city is the guilty of my fear to go outsite and see the world and stay with people. Maycomb isn´t a good place for me, and isn´t a good place for those lil' boys of Mr. Finch. Jem and Scout I think that are their names. So much innocence in those eyes.... Maycomb doesn´t deserve people like the Finch family, and I wish that someday they would notice that.

August 1935

        The trial just finished. I was there, and nobody notice that I was. I feel angry about the final decision that the jury made, isn´t fair, Tom Robinson wasn´t giulty, and Atticus prove it with solid arguments. The only reason of the decision that the jury take, is because the racist society that we are... I can´t find any reason of why Tom Robinson was declared giulty. Maybe some day, more people will start thinking like the Finch's, and the world would change in a significant way, I´m sure.

October 1935.

         I don´t know if the thing that I just already done is good or not. To kill Bob Ewell so he can stop bodering those innocent boys, Jem and Scout. I can´t accept that a big man abuse some lil' boys like the Finch's. I don´t know what to spect, if to assume my acts or to accept the version of the sherrif who says that I'm not giulty. I will always remember this night, and I sure that those kids would do it too, and I can asumme that today on they would be in a safer place...

TKM Part 2 Questions #2

Chapter 15

1. What is the Ku Klux Klan? What do you think of Atticus' comment about it?

The Ku Klux Klan was an organization that was around Maycomb with a racist vision. Atticus saw that his boys were scared and he said that they would never come back again.

2.What persuades the lynching-party to give up their attempt on Tom's life?

They get persuade by the innocence of Scout (mainly).

Chapter 16

3. What sort of person is Dolphus Raymond and what is your opinion of him?

Is a man who get marry with a black woman and have mixed race children. We is always drunk (attitude) and with a black bag with something liquid inside. He is always with black men around. He have a strange attitude, but later it will release why he acts in that way.

4. How does Reverend Sykes help the children see and hear the trial? Is he correct in doing so?
He take care of them and 'invite' them to take place in the negroes balcony with him. I think it was a good decision, because the boys knew the honorable person that Atticus realy is.

Chapter 17

5. Choose three quotes from chapter 17. Explain the context of each, the characters involved, and their relevance for the story, themes and overall message of the novel.

-"Mr Gilmer and Atticus exchanged glances. Atticus was sitting down again, his fist rested on his cheek and we could not see his face". In this quote we can see the situation that involves the trial. Atticus at the beginning knows that its almost impossible to win the trial. Therefore he fight up to the end.

-"Mr Finch know you are here? This ain't fit for Miss Jean Louise or you boys either". Describes the situation in the balcony, The boys were there at the trial, and Reverend Sykes asked them if Atticus know if they are there. Why he asked that? Because the trial theme was a very strong theme, and maybe Atticus didn´t want that his boys listen to.

-"All the spectators were as relaxed as Judge Taylor, except Jem". Jem felt excited about see his father in action, Also because he knew that the possibilities of winning were almost 0. A lot of emotions might passed in Jem's mind.

TKM Part 2 Questions.

Chapter 12

1. Comment on Jem's and Scout's visit to First Purchase Church. What does Scout learn about how black people live?

Jem and Scout were welcomed warmly by the black people. The boys get surprised of the way that the ceremony take place (all man singing, the words of the black man infront, etc). They learned that black people is poorer than white people, and that the most of them were illiterate. Also they noticed that Calpurnia changed his way of speaking.

2. Explain why Calpurnia speaks differently in the Finch household, and among her neighbours at church.

Because she is in different situations. At Finch's house she must be educated and used proper language. Instead with black people she adapted her language (more slang) to be one of them.

Chapter 13

3. Aunt Alexandra thinks Scout is "dull" (not clever). Why does she think this, and is she right?

Aunt Alexandra thinks that Scout doesn´t have the attitudes that a lady should have, and sometimes she said that Scout is kinda a boy (because the way she dress). Scout doesn´t listen to what Aunt Alexandra said.

4. How does Aunt Alexandra involve herself in Macomb's social life?

She established relationship in a short period of time. She love to be with other people, its kind a something that she needs. During the all book you will see that the Finch house is with a lot of old ladies  that are friends of Aunt Alexandra.

5. Comment on Aunt Alexandra's ideas about breeding and family, in contrast to Atticus' visions. Who's right, do you think? Why? 

Aunt Alexandra said that all the members of the Finch family have to act acording to the family values (like a protocol). Atticus said that kids might do what they think that its right, in other words, 'they must construct their road'. I think Atticus is right because, you can´t make a person, the person has to built himself by the experience and his way of see the world.

6. Comment on Atticus' definition of rape. How suitable is this definition as an answer to Scout?

I think that its suitable to a little girl. Atticus said that to rape Carnal knowledge of a female by force and without concern". 

The Help

Here are some question that we develop about this great movie!

1. In your own words, write what was meant by "separate but equal." How did people in Jackson, Mississippi - including the ladies of the Junior League in "The Help" - try to apply this principle?
During the movie there are a lot of situations that show the way of thinking of the people: 'Separate but equal'. For example the case of the bathroom the they made for the maids, to to use a different toilet that boss used.

2. Do a simple online research about Jim Crow Laws. Identify what outcomes - forced upon domestic workers - were present in "The Help".
Jim Crow laws established a way of thinking and acting based in the racism with the dilemma 'separated but equal'. In the book as I just said there are a lot of examples of that dilemma, like in the case of the buses, churches, bathrooms, etc.

3. Explore the themes in "The Help" and develop your ideas by continuing the following sentence:
They are not living the life as they must do, being free. Freedom is the key, people are all the same, we are all humans.

Jim

TKM Part 1 Essay

One of our last assignment was to wrote a essay about the first part of the book 'To Kill a Mockingbird'.  I chose this topic: 'Writers often use a character who is alienated from his or her culture or society in order to explore cultural or social values. Examine this idea with reference to Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird' and I established a thesis that was like: 'Harper Lee tell us her childhood by the book To Kill a Mockingbird'

I defended my thesis by saying the similes between the main character and the author, the setting of the story (Maycomb, is similar in different ways to the place that the author used to live) and the character presented in the book that are really similar to the real life author friends. 

It was a really nice activity, in which we develop in a better way our writing skills. I wish to in the future do another activity like this one.

TKM, part 1 Analysis Questions!

1. What is the reason for the author's choice of a young narrator?
To tell the story by the point of view of a pure and innocent person: a child. Also we can say that the author used a young narrator because she is telling his story, by her own experience that she lived.

2. How does Jem and Scout's views of Boo Radley change during  part 1 of the book?
At the beginning of the book, Jem and Scout feel scared about the image of  Boo Radley. But later, they asked themselves who was Boo, and they decided to invite him to go out with them. Later they lose the interest of know who was Boo Radley, and they never get a definition that satisfied them.

3. Atticus tells the children several times that they need to walk in someone else's shoes before judging the person. Describe times when Atticus, Scout or Jem walk in someone else's shoes. How does this change how they view the situations? What role does this advice play in sympathy and compassion? 
When Walter Cunnigham didn´t bring food to school and the teacher asked him to borrow her money and he will later pay her. In this case, Scout tries to explain the teacher the Cunnighams situation by putting himself in their shoes, understanding the reason of their actitudes.

4. How do you think Atticus managed his role as a single parent? 
 I think that Atticus did a good job as a single parent. He tought to their boys different values to be better person in their daily lives, such as to 'walk in someone else's shoes before judging the person' and also he read with Scout every time, playing the role of a mother in somecases.

5. Discuss race issues in part 1 of the book.
Race is always present during the book. For example, inside the Finch's family, Atticus is seen in a bad way for defend a black man in a trail. He is called a 'Negro-lover' by his own family.

6. From your reading of part 1, What does To Kill a Mockingbird teach us about how people cope with issues of race and class? Do you classify people in your world as different "folks?" Do you see those sort of distinctions today? 
Race is a problem that have affected the men during the human history. This may happen because humans use to classify person, to satisfy themselves. Nowadays this distinctions also exist, but its softer than olds times.

7. Who is your favorite character from part 1 and why? 
Atticus Finch. Because he is a great person and I like his attitude, and the role of single parent that he made, teaching Jem and Scout different values such as to 'walk in someone else's shoes before judging'.  Also I like that he accepted to be the lawyer of Tom Robinson during the trial (in a context that to won a trial defending a black man was almost impossible). 

Harpers Lee; some things to take in consideration,

Harper Lee was born in Monroeville, Alabama, a tiny town about halfway between Montgomery and Mobile, where her next-door neighbor and best friend was the pre-pubescent Truman Capote. Her father -- a lawyer and the basis for Atticus Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird -- served in the Alabama legislature from 1927 to 1939. He was reportedly a staunch segregationist until the late 1950s, when the increasing civil rights protests caught his attention and sympathies. Despite popular assumption, the family are not distant descendants of Confederate Genera Robert Lee.

Lee attended three colleges, studied law, and was briefly an exchange student at Oxford, but she received no degrees. By the 1950s she was working as an airline reservations clerk, writing in her free time, until she received a remarkable Christmas present from friends -- a year's wages, without having to work. She argued that they could not afford such generosity, but they insisted that with her talent and a year without distraction, something wonderful would result.

What resulted was To Kill A Mockingbird, published in 1960 and now widely acclaimed as one of the best American novels. It spans three years in the childhood of Jean Louise "Scout" Finch, a young Alabama girl, and her older brother Jem, while their widowed father, small-time attorney Atticus Finch, defends a black man falsely accused of raping a white woman. Deftly sewing these threads into a story larger than its small-town characters and setting, the book spent eighty weeks on the best-seller list, sold 30,000,000 copies, and has been translated into more than forty languages. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1961, and was adapted into a film in 1962, starring Gregory Peck.

 Taken in : http://www.nndb.com/people/572/000025497/

Also we must take in consideration other important aspects that take place during Harper Lee childhood, such us: the racism of those times, the Economic Depression and the Dust Bowl. All those are factors that influence the author and we can notice them in 'To Kill a Mockingbird'.

Context of Production and Reception

The context is something that we must consider in the moment in which we read something, because it let us to understand in a better way the text that we are reading. There are 2 context:

• Context of Production: It refers to the context in which the author writes the book.
• Context of Reception: It refers to the context in which the reader read the book.

Those to types of context are very important to take them in consideration, because they could help us to understand different things that aren´t explicit in the book. For example the context of production of a text maybe the Second World War, and that would explain the sad atmosphere that surrounds the setting of the text. 

Gender ads.

One of the activities that we did in classes, was to create 2 different ads: one was for women and the other one was for men. During that activity I worked with Jorge Hagedorn and we decided to based our work in ads that were related with drinks (one for men and one for women). 

For Women, we do an ad about a new 'Cachantun Woman' water. We wrote a slogan related to what women are always looking for: health and delicious.

For the men we create an ad about a new energy drink of the company Red Bull. That drink includes more energy to people (men) who want to start the day with all the energy that they need.

It was a really good activity in which we had to used our creativity and art skills to created some nice ads, with draws and some slogans, to then present them in front of the class. 

Language Identify us?

Every person have a different way to use language and to speak language. In some ways, language make people. So its correct to say that you must identify a person by the language or way that they use language. There are a lot of factors that influences, like:

-FAMILY

-GENDER

-CULTURE

-EDUCATION

-FRIENDS INFLUENCE.

Those are some of the factors that influences our language. Of those I think that the most importants are the culture and family. The culture is directly linked to what the person is, so it would influence in a huge way in the language of the person (also culture influence in the education of the persons). The other important fact is tha Family. Our family shapes us as persons, being our references during life.

Maybe nowadays people consider that the teenagers are influenced in what their friends do, being the friends influence the most important factor not only in their language, also in their actitudes.