The setting of to kill a mockingbird is set in Maycomb county the town where the Finchs’ live. Maycomb, some twenty miles east of Finch’s Landing, was the county seat of Maycomb County。 The story states that Mr. Finch works in the area. Maycomb is repeated many times in the story and there is a vivid description of it “Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop; grass grew on the sidewalks, the courthouse sagged in the square. Somehow, it was hotter then: a black dog suffered on a summer’s day”. Maycomb is also a white town as there are description of the Finch’s neighbours. “It was customary for every circle hostess to invite her neighbors in for refreshments, be they Baptists or Presbyterians, which accounted for the presence of Miss Rachel (sober as a judge), Miss Maudie and Miss Stephanie Crawford.” It describes the fine ladies in town and how they live their lives in Maycomb County.

Q1) The first story was set at at the stairwell in the evening. The second story was set in Watson's house in the morning. The third story was set in the neighborhood of a town.

Q2)The first story was set in the modern day. The second story was set in 1883, early April in the morning. The third story was set in the early 19th century England.

Q3) The setting of the first story tells us that the story was going to be moody and sad. The setting of the second story tells us that the story was going to be suspicious and mysterious. The setting of the third story gives us a very amiable feeling and and gives us warm and loving effect.

Telephone conversation

1. These colours in the poem signify the racism that whites have for black. It is clear that the author knows how whites look down on blacks so in the first line he states that he is black and "hates a wasted trip" obvilously whites have rejected him for his skin colour which enrages him. When the landlord land hear that he was a black, she asked how black. the man said "West African sepia," citing his passport . She claims not to know what that means. She wants a quantifiable expression of his darkness. plain or milk chocolate would be a better description. His response, feigning simplicity is that his face is "brunette," his hands and feet "peroxide blonde" and his bottom "raven black". He knows that she just wants a measure of his overall skin-color so that she can categorize him, but he refuses to give it to her. Instead he details the different colors of different parts of his body. So at last he said. "i plead, wouldn't you rather see for yourself?"

2. The dialogue in this poem reveals that the white women has prejudices against blacks. The question "HOW DARK" shows alot. This very question shows that probably the was not going to accept a black man living in her apartment. She also seems to not understand what west sepia means as she thinks that there are only a few kind of blacks. light skinned and dark skinned. She asked him to describe clearly but all she wants to is to categorize him into a group.

Whereas for the men. He is a very calm man. he seems to know that white landlords has prejudices towards black men, so he states in the call that he is African and he hates wasted journeys. probably he has gone to rental apartments before just to find out that they dont accept blacks. He does not seem to be enraged at how naive the women is when she just wants a general colour of his skin when it was very difficult to categorize him into any group. He finally gives in by saying wouln't you rather see me?

3. In this poem. The landlord seems to win. The men was unable to explain to her his situation so he finally says wouldn't you rather see for yourself, even at the fact that he might be rejected again due to his race and skin colour

Montgomery Bus Boycott and Scottsboro trials

a. Rosa Parks- Parks was ordered to enter at the back of the bus and as she was heading to the back of the bus, the bus driver drove off without her. She never wanted to to board a bus driven by James Blake after then but on December 1 1955, she was sitting in the front-most row for black people but was later asked by the bus driver to move back to create a row for the whites, only to realize that the bus driver is James Blake but she refused to move despite the fact that bus drivers are given the authority to assign seats. She was prosecuted and fined but she appealed and her arrest triggered a series of events. She was known as one of the pioneers of civil rights movement.

Claudette Colvin- She was fifteen years old when she refused to give in her seat to a white man but later was found that she was pregnant.

Scottsboro trials- On Mrach 25, 1931, a freight train was stopped in Paint Rock, a tiny community in Northern Alabama, and nine young African American men who had been riding the rails were arrested. As two white women - one underage - descended from the freight cars, they accused the men of raping them on the train. Within a month the first man was found guilty and sentenced to death. There followed a series sensational trials, condemning the other men solely on the testimony of the older woman, a known prostitute, who was attempting to avoid prosecution under the Mann Act, prohibiting taking a minor across state for lines for immoral purposes, like prostitution.

b. Both trials are related as they involved white females accusing innocent black men of raping. In TKAM, Mayella Ewell accused Tom Robinson of attempted rape when she herself seduced Tom while in the Scottsboro trials, the prostitutes accused the blacks of rape because she wanted to escape prosecution for immoral acts.

c. The trials are similar in the time they took place which is in the 1930s and they both took place in Alabama. The trial began with the charge of rape made by white women against African American men and the poor white status of the accusers was a critical issue. Both have a central figure in which a central figure of the Scottsboro trials was a heroic judge, a member of Alabama Bar who overturned a guilty jury verdict against African American men while in TKAM, the central figure is Atticus, lawyer, legislator and member of the Alabama Bar, who defends an African American man. Both judges went against public sentiments in trying to protect the rights of the African American defendants. Both jury ignored evidence that was evident that the African American men were innocent. Both also include the attitudes of the Southern women and poor whites that complicated the trials.

Civil Rights Movement

a) In 1950

b)The civil rights movement was a worldwide political movement for equality before the law.The civil rights movement in the United States refers partially to a set of noted events and the reform movements in that country that aimed to abolish public and private acts of racial discrimination and racism against African Americans and other disadvantaged groups between 1954 to 1968, particularly in the southern United States. It is sometimes referred to as the Second Reconstruction era.

c)Over 25 race riots occur in the summer of 1919 with 38 killed in Chicago. 70 blacks, including 10 veterans, are lynched in the South.
5000 federal troops are sent by Pres. Kennedy to allow Meredith to register for classes. Riots result in 2 deaths and hundreds of injuries.

d)President Lyndon B.

e)As a result to the civil rights movement African-Americans are now as equal as whites.

f)The novel was set in the period of the civil rights movement where the blacks were still segregated with the whites. Tom in the novel, was convicted because of the discrimination of Blacks during that era.

Harper Lee

a. Nelle Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926, to Amasa Coleman Lee and Frances Cunningham Finch Lee. Harper Lee grew up in the small southwestern Alabama town of Monroeville. Her father, a former newspaper editor and proprietor, was a lawyer who also served on the state legislature (1926-38). As a child, Lee was a tomboy and a precocious reader, and she enjoyed the friendship of her schoolmate and neighbor, the young Truman Capote, who provided the basis of the character of Dill in her novel To Kill a Mockingbird.

b. --- Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926 in Monroeville Alabama.

--- Lee was the youngest of four children born to Amasa Coleman Lee and Frances Finch Lee.

--- She attended Huntingdon College 1944-45, studied law at the University of Alabama 1945-49, and studied one year at Oxford University.

--- In the 1950s she worked as a reservation clerk with Eastern Air Lines and BOAC in New York City.

--- In 1957 Lee submitted the manuscript of her novel to the J. B. Lippincott Company.

--- After being instructed to rewrite it, Lee worked on it for two and a half more years

--- In 1960 TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, Lee's only book, was published.

--- In 1961 she had two articles published: "Love --- In Other Words" in Vogue, and "Christmas To Me" in McCalls.

--- In June of 1966, Harper Lee was one of two persons named by President Johnson to the National Council of Arts.

c.

"To Kill a Mockingbird." (1960)
"Christmas to Me". (December 1961)
"When Children Discover America". (August 1965). "Cold Blood" (1966) Capote and lee collaborated "The Long Goodbye" (mid-1980s)

d. Pulitzer Prize (1961)
Brotherhood Award of the National Conference of Christians and Jews (1961)
Alabama Library Association Award (1961)
Bestsellers Paperback of the Year Award (1962)
Member, National Council on the Arts (1966)
Best Novel of the Century, Library Journal (1999)
Alabama Humanities Award (2002)
ATTY Award, Spector Gadon & Rosen Foundation (2005)
Los Angeles Public Library Literary Award (2005)
Honorary degree, University of Notre Dame (2006)
American Academy of Arts and Letters (2007)
Presidential Medal of Freedom (2007)

e. To Kill a Mockingbird was written and published amidst the most significant and conflict-ridden social change in the South since the Civil War and Reconstruction. Inevitably, despite its mid-1930s setting, the story told from the perspective of the 1950s voices the conflicts, tensions, and fears induced by this transition.

The Jim crow lawswere state and local laws in the US enacted between 1876 and 1965. They mandated racial segrigation in all public facilities, with a supposedly seperate but equal status for African Americans. In reality, this led to treatment and accommodations that were usually inferior to those provided for White Americans , systematizing a number of economic, educational and social disadvantages.

During the period after the Civil War Black entrepreneurs existed all over America. They ran restaurants, hotels, every conceivable business of which only the Black Barber shop remains. In every facet of life there was the Black owned business catering to Blacks. Money was kept in the Black community.

If one wanted to spend a week at the sea shore, there were Black hotels. If one wished to have a suit made, there were black tailors. It was only in parts of the country where there was not (or a very small) black population that a problem would arise.

In the days of segregation the “family” or “community” spirit was very strong. It had to be. The advent of integration eroded this community spirit and starved the Black entrepreneur.

The Jim Crow laws surfaces in the novel. The Blacks and whites goes to different churches

a.Southern States include: Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North and South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and Delaware.

b. Abraham Lincoln was the president that proclaimed war against the South.

c. It abolished slavery as a legal institution in the United States. The one irreconcilable difference between the North and the South during a time when our country was expanding was the introduction of slavery into new territories. In fact, the main prelude to the bloodbath to come was in "Bleeding Kansas" during the late 1850's as people actively killed one another over the question of slavery. It took two additional amendments to the U.S. Constitution and an additional hundred years of civil rights struggle to completely erase the stain of slavery.

d. April 12, 1861 – April 9, 1865

e.The North, or Union, won and thus prevented the South, or Confederacy, from establishing itself as an independent republic.

f. It shows the discrimination against the blacks in the past. In the past, the Civil War was fought because of the whites who were against racial equality with the blacks which they thought impossible so they fought against the Union. In TKAM, the jury has arleady made up its mind that Tom Robinson is the rapist when Mayella Ewell accused him of raping when she herself when she was the one that pounced on Tom Robinson. But later she considered it shameful so she accused the innocent Tom Robinson to protect her dignity. The judges were also prejudiced against the blacks so Tom Robinson was convicted of raping.

Slavery in US was a form of forced labour that was widespread before the formation of America, It was predominant mostly in the South( Cities now knows as Florida and Carolina) until the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1865. It officially abolished and continues to prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. The first Colony of England in North America, Virginia, first imported Africans in 1619, a practice established in the Spanish Colonies as early as the 1560s. Most slaves were black and were held by whites, although some Native Americans and free blacks also held slaves; there were very little number of white slaves as well. Europeans also held some Native Americans as slaves, and African-Native Americans. Slavery spread to the areas where there was good-quality soil for large plantations of high-value cash crops as those who owned the plantation were rich and needed cheap labour. Having slaves would be a good investment as they would not have to pay the slaves and they would have no choice but to work.The Plantations grew crops such as Tobacco, Cotton, Sugar and Coffee. By the early 19th century, the majority of slaveholders and slaves were in the the south of United States , where most slaves were engaged in a work-gang system of agriculture on large plantations, especially devoted to cotton and sugar cane. Such large groups of slaves were thought to work more efficiently if directed by a managerial class called overseers, usually white men.

Rules that slaves abide by:
-All slaves, unless serving must greet all Free Persons. All Free Persons are to be addressed as Master or Mistress
-If you are in service, do NOT ask for permission to speak or greet. If the person you are serving wishes you to do so, they will tell you. Your focus should always be on the one you are serving and nothing else.
-Any and all free who enters into the castle is to be treated with respect, regardless if you like them or not. The slaves are here to serve them; they are not here for the slaves.
-Do not lie. A slave caught doing so will be kicked from the room and possibly banned. Honesty is an admired quality in a slave.
-Slaves can speak freely among themselves, but, the free do not want to listen to the ranting or bitching of slaves, it is in no way pleasing to them.
- etc......


The notion of slavery relates to the novel as the blacks in the area are still very poor, unlike those whites and there are many stereotypes about them. In the story, the white people still think that blacks are negro and that they are superior compared to them. Also it seems that the only one that does not have prejudices against the blacks are the Finches'

home learning

http://www.toondoo.com/cartoon/2723408.

This is my link to my comic strip. It is about success.

-I chose mostly the same background as i hoped that the story would continue on the soccer field. From lossing, to the coach's comforting words.

- They contribute to make a typical story of a sportsmen, where there are ups and downs in their journey to sucess.

- The mixture of all these elements gives up the story of a losing sportsmen and he has to understand that life is not always a bed of roses. Success is not always about winning, but the journey getting there

Blog Post on

I would not treat Boyd or someone who is not of the same race differently. I believe that all humans on earth are from the same "god" and we are all united as one. This kind of behavior is unacceptable now but i could understand why Mrs Wilson thought of this. In early American history, the African Americans were slaves and worked hard lives. As time progresses, their race developed slow and majority of male worked as labourers and females worked as maids.(like in TKAM where Calpurnia works for the Finch's) Many negros did not hold high ranked jobs and they earned little. The assumption that Boyd was poor was easily understood. However i would not have treated him like that due to a few factors: The generation gap between Mrs Wilson and her son has created conflict as Johnny is friends with Boyd and he is young so he does not know about the stereotypes associated to African Americans. His mother is older than him and for sure she understands more than what he knows. She then sympathises with Boyd and offers some form of kindness

Types of discrimination:

Discrimination against intelligence

- All blondes are dumb

- All sportsmen have low IQ

- Bookworms are weak

-

Discrimination against sexual orientation

- Gays and lesbians are not acceptable in today's society

- Bisexuals are freaks

- Homosexuals are also not acceptable

- Not being straight is like breaking the law

Discrimination against family background:

- Being a mixed child is 'wrong'

- No respect for other people's family

- Having a different family background is wrong

-

Discrimination against disabled:

- Handicap people are 'useless'

- People with down syndrome are 'retarded'

- No respect for people's disabilities

- Mocking people's disabilities

Questions for Clooney The Clown by Shel Silverstein

1. Explain the Irony in this poem.

Clooney has all the requirements of being a clown. He has big shoes, small hat, a green dog, in short he could be a good clown. He tried to do tricks that was meant to be funny but the audience do not feel that it is funny. The audience even said "Go back to bed"

But when he tried to show the frustration, depression, rejection that he goes through. When he tells the audience about his life, the audience laughs hysterically at him. Clooney was trying to be serious, he was showing his frustration toward life, yet the audience take it as a joke and laughs at him. What Clooney really needs is acceptance and moral support from the audience, yet he gets what he always wants to achieve for a long time but not now. Being funny

2. Does Shel silverstein manage to convey some harsh realities in this poem?

It is never easy to tell someone the truth about us and let them truly understand how we feel. They will never be able to step in our shoes as everyone lives a different life. However they are willing to accept the lies that portray us. An example is when someone that is in a has a totally different life from others lie to people to gain acceptance such as saying that he is rich so that others will befriend him. However is you tell them the truth, like if that person is poor, people will reject him for what he.

3. What poetic devices has the poem used to effectively convey his message.

Alliteration: It is used many times im the poem. for example from line 24 to 27, it all begins with they

Onomatopoeia: Words like 'hah-hah' and 'hee-hee' are used to give us the image of people laughing at the Clooney

Imagery: imagery is used to give us a clearer picture about Clooney. When the audience laughs at Clooney, they said that "they laughed all day, they laughed all week, theylaughed until they had a fit, until their jackets split, they laughter spread for miles around" it could not be possible true but this example of hypobolism and it gives us a picture of the audience's laughter magnitude.

Clooney the Clown

I'll tell you the story of Cloony the Clown
Who worked in a circus that came through town.
His shoes were too big and his hat was too small,
But he just wasn't, just wasn't funny at all.
He had a trombone to play loud silly tunes,
He had a green dog and a thousand balloons.
He was floppy and sloppy and skinny and tall,
But he just wasn't, just wasn't funny at all.
And every time he did a trick,
Everyone felt a little sick.
And every time he told a joke,
Folks sighed as if their hearts were broke.
And every time he lost a shoe,
Everyone looked awfully blue.
And every time he stood on his head,
Everyone screamed, "Go back to bed!"
And every time he made a leap,
Everybody fell asleep.
And every time he ate his tie,
Everyone began to cry.
And Cloony could not make any money
Simply because he was not funny.

One day he said, "I'll tell this town
How it feels to be an unfunny clown."
And he told them all why he looked so sad,
And he told them all why he felt so bad.
He told of Pain and Rain and Cold,
He told of Darkness in his soul,
And after he finished his tale of woe,
Did everyone cry? Oh no, no, no,
They laughed until they shook the trees
With "Hah-Hah-Hahs" and "Hee-Hee-Hees."
They laughed with howls and yowls and shrieks,
They laughed all day, they laughed all week,
They laughed until they had a fit,
They laughed until their jackets split.
The laughter spread for miles around
To every city, every town,
Over mountains, 'cross the sea,
From Saint Tropez to Mun San Nee.
And soon the whole world rang with laughter,
Lasting till forever after,
While Cloony stood in the circus tent,
With his head drooped low and his shoulders bent.
And he said,"THAT IS NOT WHAT I MEANT -
I'M FUNNY JUST BY ACCIDENT."
And while the world laughed outside.
Cloony the Clown sat down and cried.

Analysis

My feelings:

This poem is about how depress Clooney is as a clown. He is suppose to be a clown, meant to be funny. if you could not do your job well you should change your profession . If a clown is not funny. Is there anywhere else to go? In this case he continues to be a unsucessful clown.

My feelings toward this poem are a mirror of my feelings toward the world. Too many people are in this life for themselves alone. Not giving a single care to those who suffer, those who wish be heard. To be laughed at is one of the worst feelings a person with a lost soul can ever experience.

2011 new year, new beggining