Compare And Contrast Slaughterhouse-Five And To Kill A Mockingbird

In “ If You Assign My Book, Don’t Censor It” published in the Washington Post on November 28, 1999 Mark Mathabane argues that the decision taken by officials of Kearsley High-School in Flint, Mich. of censoring “Kaffir Boy” is unnecessary and disrespectful. He gives a series of examples of how it is a bad decision to censor the content of a book since most of the times this distorts the main ideas and the purpose of the text itself. Kaffir Boy is a novel about Mathabane’s life in South Africa, during the apartheid period. Although Mark agrees that some of the content is a little harsh and might not be suitable for a

The Catcher in the Rye. The Scarlet Letter. Huckleberry Finn. Harry Potter. The Diary of Anne Frank. Animal Farm. To Kill a Mockingbird. The Da Vinci Code. The Grapes of Wrath. These literary classics have been vital to the education of many, especially children and adolescents (Banned Books). These great novels both teach important values and educate children about world affairs and classic themes. Unfortunately, each of these novels has been banned at one point in time. In a country where freedom is so adamantly advocated, it is a wonder that an issue like censorship would even come up, that such a controversy would sink its claws into the minds of states’ boards of education across the nation.

There are usually differences in two different versions of something. This can often be seen when a book is made into a movie. There are many similarities and differences in the book and movie versions of To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee.

Because of offensive language and ideas that are represented in the book, To Kill A Mockingbird, it has been banned in many school libraries and lessons. One of the main reasons that it was banned in school is because of offensive words like the n-word and also because of the fact that the plot is centered around rape. One of the school board members, Kenny Holloway, said, “We can teach the same lessons with other books.” Many people agree with Holloway’s opinion, saying that the same ideas that are represented in To Kill A Mockingbird could be taught with a less controversial book. However, other people say that students are tough enough to handle the story. While many people don’t think that this book is appropriate for school, some people

“Children deprived of words become school dropouts, dropouts deprived of hope behave delinquently. Amateur censors blame delinquency on reading immoral books and magazines, when in fact, the inability to read anything is the basic trouble.” (Peter S. Jennison) Censorship could easily be one of the biggest controversies around the world today. The book “Harris and Me” by Gary Paulsen, about a boy who stays with his distant cousin Harris on the family farm because his parents are a bunch of “puke drunks.” Spends the summer fighting “commie japs”, hunting mice, and tussling with the rooster Ernie. This book was banned by the ALA for nothing more than profanity. If that’s even the right term, especially for today in our society. This book was taught in my sixth grade class and I have adored it ever since, but I was baffled to find out it

A Time to Kill and To Kill a Mockingbird both have a number of similarities to be compared and contrasted. Both stories can be compared in their themes about justice and racial prejudice. However, this is where the similarities end. The themes and ideas in both novels are vastly different in shape and scope. In A Time to Kill justice is the main theme and most of the ideas are focused on justice and the gray in between the lines of black and white set by the law, racial prejudice is also touched upon very frequently in the comparisons between Jake Brigance and Carl Lee Hailey and how he wouldn't even have had to face trial if he was a white man. In To Kill a Mockingbird justice is a theme which is not expanded upon or explained in nearly

Critics have said that To Kill a Mockingbird is not a good read for the youth because that it still uses the N-word, which is a word that is almost prohibited in the 21st century. They say that this element of the book makes it irrelevant. Many schools around the country have decided to remove To Kill a Mockingbird from their curriculum because the amount of racial slurs and bad words makes the book hard to teach. Lines such as “What exactly is a n—– lover?”...It’s hard to explain, Ignorant, trashy people use it when they think somebody’s favoring Negroes over and above themselves… It’s slipped into usage with some people like ourselves, when they want a common, ugly term to label somebody.”(Lee ___) Sentences like these make students uncomfortable and more likely to not understand the literary concepts. School district across America have decided to use other books that can teach the same lessons. Although some experts think the use of the N-word makes the novel irrelevant and bit difficult to teach, others think that the use of the N-word is not a big deal and makes the book relevant.

It is an unimaginable thought that something so similar can be missing so much. They can be both so unique and incomparable. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee the main character, Scout and her brother Jem fight prejudice through a young person perspective. The main characters go on a journey against Bob Ewell throughout the sleepy town of Maycomb, at the 1930’s. Bob Ewell has falsely accused Tom Robinson of a crime. On the process the characters grow a lot and find things that spark their curiosity. This makes an interesting plot with many turns. The movie, To Kill a Mockingbird, has many differences from its book, many plots and characters are missing which greatly impacts the movie directed by Robert Mulligan.

Many schools are taking books out of their curriculum because of the harsh and uncomfortable language and topics. The Biloxi School District had taken To Kill A Mockingbird out of their classrooms and Drake High School had even burned all copies of Slaughterhouse -Five. It is wrong that schools began taking books like that from their lesson plan because students should not be oblivious to these kinds of topics and it is sending the wrong message about the authors and their books.

It is believed, that there are many pieces to the story of To Kill a Mocking Bird left out of the film version of the novel. I agree with this statement, and I am here today to show you four select scenes and/or characters that (in my opinion) were significant to the story. To Kill a Mocking Bird is a coming of age story for two young children, as well as a story that shows that people are not always what they seem to be. The scenes that I have chosen are very important role in supporting to these themes.

Sending kids to school knowing that they are going for educational purposes and then restricting them on what they can and cannot learn is hypocritical. Schools should be allowed to keep Fahrenheit 451 in their curriculum. Controversial issues are brought up everyday in and out of school and issues, like profanity, included in a book gives the story emotion and sets the tone. Timothy Jay, a psychologist and linguist, argues,

As most everyone knows, there are differences between a book and it’s movie adaptation. This is applicable to the book and it’s movie counterpart To Kill a Mockingbird, as well. But aside from the differences, there are also similarities between these two.

The novel To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee and film 12 Angry Men directed by Sidney Lumet, both touch on similar themes of justice and prejudice. When contrasting the two texts it is evident that there are many foils which display their own strong personal characteristics yet keep those themes at the core of their character. Generally, influence is a result of conformity, when people begin to make change in their actions and heart, others follow suit to feel included. This is the case in the texts, individuals manage to convince groups of people by creating a norm to be followed. It is more so a case of influencing individuals who in turn convince others. This is because people like to feel included, and not as though they are outcasts.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a beloved novel published in 1960. After reading the novel there were some moments and people that I found particularly enjoyable. My favorite part of the novel was when the children went to Boo Radley's house to try to get a look at him. In addition, Atticus Finch was my favorite character in the novel. In my opinion the book was very good. I felt that it really showed the thoughts and actions, both good and bad, of the people in the South during the time of the Great Depression. At some points it was sad and at others it was comical but overall it conveyed the message that it was trying to send and everyone could learn something from it.

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee are extremely influential novels that can teach great lessons to teenagers and adults. One of The Outsider’s main themes is; everybody has different problems, but everybody is still the same. This theme is shown throughout the entire novel and explains it well. There are two different groups in the setting of The Outsiders, the socs and the greasers. The socs are the rich kids that drive nice cars and get into a lot of trouble without being punished by their parents, and the greasers are the less wealthy kids that fight with the socs and wear greased back hair and leather jackets. Both of these groups are completely different people, but they still live in the same city and see the same environment. As Ponyboy states “Maybe the two different worlds we lived in weren’t so different. We saw the same sunset” (Hinton).