1995. Writers
often highlight the values of a culture or a society by using characters who
are alienated from that culture or society because of gender, race, class, or
creed. Choose a novel or a play in which such a character plays a significant
role and show how that character's alienation reveals the surrounding society's
assumptions or moral values.
Characters in novels and plays often represent certain issues or conflicts in society. In To Kill a Mockingbird, the character Tom Robinson represents racism and the general attitude towards African Americans in the south.
Tom Robinson, a poor african american farm hand, was falsely accused of raping a white girl despite minimal evidence against him. Almost the entire community believes Tom is guilty which represents the animosity towards african americans during this time period. The only evidence against Tom was Bob Ewell's word saying that he witness Tom rape his daughter. This represents how much more influence a white person had than an african american. Bob Ewell was one of the least respected members of society and even his word was considered better than Tom's.
Scout's father represented Tom and even she was treated differently as the trial approached. It shows how angry and agressive society can get over an issue like race. This anger has been know to affect and even harm innocent people. The innocent person in the novel was Scout who was almost stabbed while she was walking home at night.
Tom Robinson and his trial has become a symbol of racial issues in America. To Kill a Mockingbird has become an classic piece of literature in large part due to the portrail of racial issues through the characters in the book.
You did a great job addressing the question at hand. One thing I didn think was that you may have rushed a little bit. Try and use more examples next time maybe and go into a little more depth. Explain what the societal norms were in that time period and explain a little more about how whites were the dominate race. I also feel like you brought up Scout apruptly and your last sentence in your third paragraph didn't fit in very well. Overall you did a good job of addressing prompt. Good job!
ReplyDeleteHi Nathan-
ReplyDeleteI think you did a great job of summarizing this story, but you could also analyze it a bit more. Like what Megan suggested, I also agree that you could use examples from the societal norms in that time period. Maybe a New Historist Criticism would help do so. In addition, you could also analyze the characters' motives and how they responded to the events in their life. We all know why white people discriminated against black people, but what else made Bob Ewell accuse Tom? Did they have a bad history together? Was Bob insecure? Why did Scout's dad choose to represent Tom when he knew that he would get a lot of backlash for it? How did Scout and her dad deal with the alienation? I agree with Megan in that you barely talked about Scout, even though she was a huge part in the book. Overall, I think you did a good job giving examples of the racism and alienation in this book, but you could also analyze the characters and the author to give readers a closer look at what message is trying to convey.
You picked a perfect book for this prompt! Tom is a great example of racism and alienation in this time period. I also agree with Julie and Megan in that you could have used a few more examples. Because there is so much in this book, it wouldn't be too hard to find a few more. I do think that you stuck to the prompt, though, which is important. The prompt specifically asks you to talk about society's morals and values applied to one character, not all the characters. That's what you did! One thing that you might think about including is an example of is the events of the trial. How did people react to Tom while the trial was happening? What about after? Great job, Nathan!
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