To Kill A Mockingbird

Most people recall reading the actual novel ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ or seeing the movie in middle school except for me. I was never assigned to read the novel although I can recognize the title. Every time someone would mention ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’, I’d always hear good things about it. People would always say it’s a good book and that i should read it but I never got around to it. So this is my first time ever seeing the story line/plot for this novel turned into a movie. ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ from what I have seen is about the father of two children named Scout and Jem who is a lawyer and ends up on the defendant’s  side of a black man accused of raping a white woman. After seeing the jury scene with the white women strongly accusing the black man of rape and beating her, I came to the conclusion that the mockingbird is most likely a symbol of 'black men' in times of slavery, racism, and discrimination.

After seeing that one court decision scene I then felt my conclusion was correct considering all the jury members accused the black man of being guilty. This means that the black man will most likely be in jail until he dies or will receive the death penalty; which correlates with the title of the novel. I then remembered that a lot of the times the back cover to all books give a slight preview to what the novel will be about. When looking at the back cover I came across a quote that states, “Shoot all the Bluejays you want if you can hit'em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” From there I compared this movie to ‘The Hunger Games’ series and how the second book it titled ‘mockingjay’ which is relatively the same thing as a ‘mockingbird’. In ‘The Hunger Games’, the main character Katniss Everdeen has volunteered to be in a fight to the death ‘game’ for the world to see. I’ve never read the book but from watching the movie I know that she’s a young, innocent, kind-hearted, caring, loving, and peaceful individual in a horrible situation. This a lot like the black man in ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’; from what I see in the movie he’s a nice, caring, thoughtful, helpful, and generous man being accused of rape (ultimately accused of being guilty by an all white jury).

The mockingbird a lot like the dove, a symbol of peace, love, and innocence - and to kill one that is innocent is a sin. In a way, especially in the time period in the movie mostly all black people are ‘mockingbirds’. Peaceful people working hard to stay alive considering they have targets on their backs the day they’re born. One wrong move could cost them their lives. And it’s so easy to accuse a black person of a crime back then since ‘they couldn’t be trusted’, and ‘they were out to take the white man’s women’. In the movie the white women who has been ‘raped’ seems like she’s guilty of more so taking advantage of the black man she’s accusing and is scared of getting in trouble with her father and decides to blame him and send him to jail instead of seeming like a monster for liking a man who isn’t white. Blaming the innocent and killing the innocent may be easy but it’s a sin to do so.   

Monty Python and The Holy Grail

Monty Python and The Holy Grail, I felt was a satire on either religion or almost a satire on the American dream. In the situation referring to Religion I see it as God gives everyone a purpose in life. King Arthur and Sir Lancelot and others go on a adventure and on the way God greets them with this purpose/mission of finding the Holy Grail. And with this mission they run into an abundance of obstacles and often fall into the traps getting distracted. In the end they arrive at their ‘destination’ and prepare to retrieve the Holy Grail, but their mission is cut short because it’s the end of the movie. The way I interpreted it was in all religions, one is given a purpose by their ‘God’ and therefore one should do any and everything to achieve it ignoring the obstacles (sins). In the movie all the obstacles slowed down the group leading them away from their goal.

The alternative target is the idea/theme of the American dream. The American dream is this goal we want to achieve so bad (the Holy Grail) yet so many things distract us (The three headed giant, The black knight, the witch, The troll) making the American Dream impossible to achieve and reach (The ending of no Holy Grail in possession). Depending on how you see the ideal ‘American Dream’ you could compare it to this film; saying the American dream is a myth in a way. Or you can believe in it. I see this almost like ‘Of Mice and Men’, Lennie and George trying so hard to reach this goal. A farm with bunnies on it. Lennie sadly causes trouble and forces George to kill him to spare him from any other pain. The American Dream dies at that exact moment considering their goal consisted of the two of them together. I see Monty Python and The Holy Grail as an old 1300’s, comedic version of ‘Of Mice and Men’.

Precious

This movie is honestly the saddest movie I’ve seen the director of this movie did a successful job in picking actresses to portray and express such strong, powerful and raw emotion. I can't help but feel bad for 'Precious', she's stuck in a household with her mother who doesn't care about her. Ironically her name is Clarice Precious Jones, everyone calls her ‘Precious’ and how she’s treated is the exact opposite of what her name would imply. Her mother constantly tells her that she’s stupid, fat, and ugly. Anything to put the girl down, yet has her doing everything for her. Cooking, cleaning, getting cigarettes, even sexual things. And that’s the least of her worries considering she was raped by her own father and had an ‘abnormal’ daughter, is pregnant again, and got kicked out of school. Everything in precious’s life is going wrong and it seems like she’s just going to get no where. Luckily she was offered an alternative way to get an education which seems like it’ll be a break for her to become something greater other than her mother’s slave/maid.

I find it so sad and depressing that people actually live lives like that and have to just ‘make due’ with the hand they were given. This movie really make you look at your life in a different light and makes you grateful and appreciative for your life. People in those situations really need help and a positive role model otherwise they’d be stuck and lost. I’ve seen the ending of the movie and I know that Precious tells the truth about how she’s been living and no longer has to stay with her mother in that God forsaken apartment.  household. The apparent themes in this movie are strength and prevailing. Without these two attributes I don’t believe Precious would have made it.

Poem 4/27

The poem ‘Ozymandias’ by Percy Bysshe Shelley was surprisingly a very interesting and nice poem. I enjoyed the tone of the poem, I loved how the author used words like ‘dessert’, decay’, and phrases like ‘antique lands’, ‘colossal wreck, and level sands’ to get across this feeling of desolation, and loneliness. The way this poem was written made the mood how I felt reading the poem very calm, sad, and mysterious in a way. From my initial impression when reading the poem I felt like I was in the middle of an abandoned, desolate, and barren land where a empire once stood. I really liked that aspect of the poem, I feel it magnifies the overall feeling of the poem and idea of the fall of ‘all’ empires and kingdoms that once ruled a long time ago but eventually fell to ruins. After reading the poem I did research on the title and found out that ‘Ozymandias’ was an Egyptian ‘King of King’ also known as Ramesses. He had an enormous statue of him a tribute in a way, yet it fell only leaving the feet and legs. Then in 1817 the British Museum announced a new addition, a 7.25 ton head sculpture of Ramesses II. This is what inspired Percy Shelley along with others to write this poem. In a way he expresses his fascination and sorrow for the fallen empire and ‘fallen’ king. I enjoyed the mood the poem portrays but I don’t think the poem has any deeper meaning to it, as if there’s only a layer or two. I can say that the imagery, symbolism, and diction made up for the lack of depth but I still was looking for more. I couldn’t really relate to this poem at all, whereas the other poem I chose to read out of curiosity didn’t fail to appeal to my senses or push my comprehension of new themes and ideas.      

Poem 4/30
‘On Being Brought from Africa to America’ by Phillis Wheatley is again another one of my favorite poems. From the title you know the poem is going to be about slavery. Although you don’t know exactly from whose point of view it’ll be told. The last poem I read that had to do with slavery,‘The Negro Speaks of Rivers’ by Langston Hughes was told through the eyes of a Native African. Being told from that point of view made the poem a lot more personal adding this genuine sentimental emotion to the poem as a whole. Although it made the poem more sad and really made reader think about what the poem was trying to get across, I felt stepping away from that typical point of view and switching it to maybe a ‘slave master’ or ‘northerner against slavery’ would add a new twist on what the poem would say other than; ‘I’m a slave, I’m sad, I was taken from my home.” It’s all too familiar and wanted something new. 

Now as I read the poem I found again it was told from the point of view of a ‘African’, or ‘slave’. Even though I was looking for that twist I felt the diction/ word choice was specifically picked to strike imagination, curiosity, and deeper meaning. The first line captivating enough. “ 'Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land.” This line is a satire itself, ‘the white man is mercy’ yet the white man showed no type of mercy when it came to slavery and discrimination. The next lines, “Taught my benighted soul to understand, That there's a God, that there's a Saviour  too: Once I redemption neither sought nor knew.” These lines basically say that bringing the Africans to America introduced them to Christianity, a God and savior - which is another satirical comment because the ‘white man’ is a christian but treats the slaves wrongly. Lastly, “Some view our sable race with scornful eye, "Their colour is a diabolic die”, says that discrimination is huge and that the ‘diabolic die’ that ‘African Americans’ are born with separates everyone from being a whole. And the last line, “Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain, May be refined, and join th' angelic train” again satirized slavery, referencing, the ‘trains’ of Africans they chained together, and talks about how the can be refined.

Poem 4/23

The poem ‘The Naming of Parts’ was an odd poem for me to read. When I read the title I asked myself what exactly am I naming the parts of. I thought initially thought the parts to a machine or everyday item. For instance a clock. When I think of these parts in a clock I think of how there are the inner workings of things that create and allow us to see a bigger picture and comprehend more.  So based off of my interpretation of the title and 'machine's' I came to my first conclusion which is the poem will end up focusing on the government, and everyone who works for a living and how they contribute to the government as a whole, helping it function ultimately. Although me thinking the poem was about everyone working separately and in the bigger picture making a stronger united force, as well as others having more money, opportunities depending on where you stand in the system (machine). Again although my first interpretation of the poem had to do with almost like government knowledge I learned quickly that my interpretation was incorrect.

Once I read these line everything became clear and apparent. The poem was about war. Specifically I felt it was about how in our society war is looked at as almost the ‘easy’ way out of having issues with another and solving those issues. Also I felt it had to do with how young some of the soldiers were in certain wars, and how they were taught to kill, as if a second nature. "And this you can see is the bolt. The purpose of this, Is to open the breech, as you see. We can slide it Rapidly backwards and forwards: we call this Easing the spring. And rapidly backwards and forwards The early bees are assaulting and fumbling the flowers: They call it easing the Spring" Lastly I felt this was a satire in a way if you analyze the last three words, “easing the spring.” I see two different springs; spring in a pen and the season. If you use the season, you can interpret spring as a new beginning. The flowers were in hibernation and come out again and this process repeats. And there’s idea that from destruction comes a new life; almost like a Phoenix. This reminds me of ‘Slaughterhouse 5’ which is also a satire.

Poem 4/20

The poem, "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time" by Robert Herrick from the title my first impression is another poem their targets this universal idea of innocent and the innocence being lost along one's path in the world. I say this because the word 'virgin's implies innocence and purity. Another word in the first line of the poem 'rose-buds' again makes the target seem it's again the innocent. Rose buds I think of early spring, no full bloomed flowers yet. Also I think of the word/phrase 'deflowered'. This is weird to bring up but it connects, this word is often used when referring to a woman loosing their virginity. Which would be almost foreshadowing the idea innocence and losing that aspect of one's self. After reading the poem I got the same impression from the authors choice of words and attitude. I interpreted this similar idea but slightly more towards the idea of getting married, ("gather ye rose-buds", "marry") and satirizing the urge to get married in young girls. The poem plays on this idea of how in the American culture we 'teach' girls to want to get married, like it's a life achievement and once you are 'of age' everyone needs to rush and find a husband. This one specific line really expresses this this idea. "The sooner will his race be run, And nearer he’s to setting. That age is best which is the first, When youth and blood are warmer." In this line, I got really sad because I realized that in our culture we drill in it little girls minds that marriage is less of a want and natural given but more of a essential for survival. And when I thought about it I found it sad girls are so pressured into these 'cultural norms'. "And while ye may, go marry; For having lost but once your prime, You may forever tarry." Women eventually lose their opportunity to live their individual lives, follow their dreams, and are no longer in their "prime"; the point in one's life where they are at their peak of mental, physical, emotional, and financial capacity. This was basically a satire or parody of the American culture to push people to think about the reality's of the world.

Poem 4/16

The poem, ‘The World Is Too Much With Us’ by William Wordsworth, I have to say is another one of my favorite poems. The title itself caught my attention and intrigued me. The title made me question how and why the world is too much with us and what exactly does this mean. After reading the poem I immediately picked up of the theme and main idea/target. William Wordsworth expressed this distance humans have from the world in which we live. In the first three lines of the poem “The world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;— Little we see in Nature that is ours; We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!", when read says almost subtly humans are too distracted and need a wake up call. The section in line one, "late and soon" much like line "little we see in Nature" to me say as humans we only notice, appreciate, and take heed in the world in which we live at younger ages ("soon", ages four to ten) skipping a large section of our lives until our older ages ("late", 70 and up). And in that large section that is 'skipped', little does the human eye see in nature. We get so distracted with other events we fail to realize how blessed we are to have a beautiful home (earth). This makes sense considering children enjoy the outdoors, using all their energy to run free and play. And with the elderly, ones energy is almost depleted leaving them to sit and watch the world around them 'pass by' in their remaining years because no one lives forever.

Lastly the beautiful imagery and figurative language in the poem appealed to me when reading, really touching my heart and making me think twice about it all. "This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon; The winds that will be howling at all hours, And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers; For this, for everything, we are out of tune; It moves us not. Great God! I’d rather be A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn; So might I, standing on this pleasant lea, Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn; Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea; Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.” you can imagine the moon glistening on the surface of the ocean along with the stars, and you can almost hear the howling of the wind throughout the day, for many years. Then the poem states, "for this, for everything, we are out of tune", again saying we are out of touch with mother earth, neglecting her our love. By the end the speaker states that they just want to appreciate the earth for what it provides, wishing they could "Have sight of Proteus rising from sea; Or hear old Triton blow his wretched horn".

Poem 4/13

Before reading the poem “The Rite of Passage” by Sharon Olds, I immediately interpreted a theme, or central idea. The title and first line of the poem made it very apparent that the poem is about ‘the rite of passage’ or ‘coming of age’. This idea of growing up and becoming an adult. In this poem the author focuses the poem around a boy having a birthday party; therefore the poem is about the coming of age specifically talking about the male sex. From basic knowledge the rite of passage is like a ritual, where a young man completes a number of tasks in order to be considered an adult. This is a cultural idea that is slightly more ‘primitive’ dating back to cavemen, although many cultural events like quinceaneras, sweet sixteens, bar mitzvah, ones eighteenth birthday, birthday punches, etc. that are events humans still part take in, in modern times. These are remnants of those type of rituals. Most of these event are for boys in which they become men. And this poem Sharon Old is definitely hinting at these ideas and how their primitive in a way. She’s also hinting at how in most cases, with age come this idea of corruption. As a child when you’re ages one to four you don’t understand much of the would like adults do still having ‘innocence’ in them. Yet once your are ages five and up, you begin to understand more of what you witness. In our culture you begin elementary school at the age of six. I feel like ‘Sharon Olds’ is trying to say at that specific age one begins to lose their innocence and begins to become corrupt. In this quoted line that corruption is very much shown. How old are you? —Six. —I’m seven. —So? They eye each other, seeing themselves tiny in the other’s pupils. They clear their throats a lot, a room of small bankers, they fold their arms and frown. I could beat you up, a seven says to a six,”.