Ellen Foster, Lord Of The Flies, And To Kill A Mockingbird : Literary Analysis

To kill a mockingbird can mean many things. It’s the title of a book that has been bought 40 million times. But, it also has a definition. To kill a mockingbird means to destroy innocence. The theme of my literary analysis is mockingbirds. Mockingbirds in TKAM are innocent things tainted by the skewed society of Maycomb. Some of these mockingbirds are Boo Radley, Tom Robinson, and the children. To Kill a Mockingbird is a book set in a small Alabama town in the 1930’s. The main character and narrator is Jean Louise Finch, but is almost always called by her nickname, Scout. Scout, her brother, and her summer friend Dill get into all kinds of mischief while living in the racist society of a 1930’s Alabama town. Scout’s dad, Atticus, is a prominent lawyer in Maycomb and is appointed to a controversial case, and is defending a black man. Scout and her brother, Jem go through many troubles and learn many lessons from the days leading up to, and during the trial. The trail makes their family some friends and a lot of enemies. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a story of courage and despair. Throughout TKAM, mockingbirds are used as an example of something innocent being tainted by the skewed society of TKAM. Some great examples of these are Boo Radley, Tom Robinson, and the children.

Jem and Scout, throughout “To Kill A Mockingbird,” learn to consider things from other people’s perspectives. Atticus, Jem and Scout’s father, says “you never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view – until you climb into his skin and walk around in” (Lee 39). They learn this through experiences with their neighbor Boo Radley as they mature beyond their years. At the beginning of the novel, Jem and Scout make fun of Boo and assume that all of the rumors going around about him are true. However, later on in the story the children grow an admiration for Boo and learn to understand him. As they matured, Jem and Scout naturally learned many life lessons of appreciation, respect, and courage

“When I was little I would think of ways to kill my daddy.” This beginning to the novel “Ellen Foster” by Kaye Gibbons, prepares readers to enter the world of one of the most influential and appealing young woman protagonists in modern fiction. Ellen Foster, the main character of the book by Gibbons, is, in my view, the most fascinating and remarkable character in the story. Readers are introduced to the narrator Ellen, a determined, yet mature and individualistic eleven-year-old, who lives in the South during the 1970s. She lives with an alcoholic father and a sick mother. Ellen must go through many hardships and face much trauma, when she foreshadows her mother’s death and the long journey in front of her by saying that a storm is coming- “I can smell the storm and see the air thick with the rain coming.” (p.7). Young Ellen must go through much more than the average child her age, but she knows that she will get her happy ending. After dealing with her abusive father and depressed mother, Ellen deserves to go to a happy family, one that will accept her with smiles on their faces and joy in their eyes. Even if it means jumping from foster home to foster home, from a cruel grandmother to a condescending aunt and cousin, Ellen will find the people that will love her, even if it means first having to go to those who don’t.

Initially, when the boys landed on the island, they were still displaying telling signs of culture and sophistication. Ralph even stops and jerks up his stockings, “with an automatic gesture that made the jungle seem for a moment like the Home Counties” (Golding 7). Jack informs the group that they have “ got to have rules and obey them. After all, we’re not savages”(42). This statement sums up the very beginning of the boys’ extended stay; they are eager to create rules and establish guidelines. Ralph, Jack and the others are imagining a neat, orderly society, with all of its little citizens behaving and following the rules. Enthusiastic compliance is expected. Very soon, however, a sort of causal negligence and lack of effort develops. The boys would rather have fun and play than help build shelters or fill coconuts. Ralph bemoans the carelessness of the others to Jack; “All day I’ve been working with Simon. No one else. They’re off bathing, or eating, or playing” (Golding 50). The final basic evolution of the boys is far worse than lax, however; they become violent and unrestrained, acting first and thinking later, if at all. They develop a game in which one of their own pretends to be a pig, and they gather around and ‘hunt’ him. Even Ralph, the most rational, got carried away “by a sudden thick excitement, grabbed Eric’s spear and jabbed at

The Lord of the Flies starts with a group of good little British boys who slowly morph into savages who commit acts that would scar an adult, and do it for fun. In the beginning of the book, when the boys are first stranded on the island, after Ralph has been elected chief, Jack starts talking about rules. “’We’ll have rules!’ he cried excitedly. “’Lots of rules! Then when anyone breaks ‘em- ‘” (Golding 29). The irony in this is not hard to find. When the boys were still innocent and civilized, they wanted rules. But, as life on the island grew more and more

The author of the “Lord of the Flies”, Mr.William Golding, created a really extreme situation that those children can’t even have the basic living safeguard on the isolated island. Among those poor isolated children the main character Ralph is a great leader that is loved by the boys throughout the whole novel. Through the quote “Ralph flopped down in the sand. in the book author say, ‘we’ll have to make a new list of who’s to look after the fire.’ ”(Pg144) After they have a fight with Jack, Ralph rationally and clearly

In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, a plane escaping Britain in the midst of the next World War crash lands on a desert island. The surviving group of schoolboys begins to fend for themselves without adult supervision. Immediately, a boy named Ralph rises as the leader when he gathers the children with a conch shell. The other children draw toward his charisma and mature age. However, not everyone agrees with this institution of leadership, namely Jack Merridew. The island corrupts as Jack gains a foothold of power. Because of this corruption, two children--Simon and Piggy--die. Throughout this story, these crises are blamed on man’s inner evil prevailing with a lack of civilization and become evident through Jack’s interactions with Ralph,

“’Which is better – to be a pack of painted Indians like you are, or to be sensible like Ralph is? Which is better – to have rules and agree or to hunt and kill? Which is better, law and rescue, or hunting and breaking things up?’” (180) In the novel, Lord of the Flies, William Golding gives the reader a look into a society made up of a group of young British boys, all raised in a sophisticated and civil manner, who crash landed on a deserted island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. While fighting to survive on the island, most of the boys gave in to the Beast or their savage side that is inside them. Others, like Ralph, find themselves in a battle with their own mind and the rest of the boys. Without rules and order, the boys quickly change

Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” is set in a small Southern United States community called Maycomb during the Great Depression era. The whole book primarily revolves around segregation and racism and how it relates to Maycomb’s history. It eventually leads to the trial of Tom Robinson where he is accused of beating up and raping Mayella Ewell. Even though it was clear that Tom Robinson did not do anything wrong he was convicted by an all white jury simply because he was black. The trial of Tom Robinson and its verdict shows an example of how segregation in the court system prevents fair trials from occurring.

Yet Perry’s childhood bliss was taken from him, somehow creating his current disposition, the true purpose is the falling of unity from inside the people of Holcomb, therefore; pinning every person against another. A dark curtain that falls over the children, parents, farmhands, hunting regulars, and police officials. A curtain that keeps them apart from one another because they are lost in the infinite blackness that surrounds them, an evil they let seep into their minds and imaginations.

In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, a group of boys are stranded on an island with no adults whatsoever. It is up to the boys to find food, shelter, and water. On top of that, they also need a leader to prevent chaos. All the kids take a vote and a leader is chosen: Ralph. All though they have a leader, there are still many problems on the island, even some that result in death. The boys are put in some situations that they could handle better than they do, but in the end they are half insane, stranded on an island by themselves. The boys are not to blame for their crimes.

The boys don’t want to be told what to do. This is not only true in the book but is a simple fact of adolescence. For example, the American Academy of Pediatrics states that, “From time to time most children defy the wishes of their parents. This is a part of growing up and testing adult guidelines and expectations. It is one way for children to learn about and discover their own selves, express their individuality, and achieve a sense of autonomy.” (American Academy of Pediatrics) The same goes for Lord of the Flies. The reader can think of Ralph as the parent who has the best interest for his son/daughter and Jack as his/her’s disobedient troubled friend. In Lord of the Flies the boys are at a stage where the disobedient troubled friend has a significant pull compared to the knowledgeable parent. The friend’s opinion can trump the parent’s in real life and does in Lord of the Flies when in chapter 8 some boys leave Ralph for Jack. This is concerning and is one of the main conflicts in Lord of the Flies. The loss of leadership was inevitable for Ralph because the boys are at a point in their life where they cannot exercise good judgement. For example, Jack is over the moon telling Ralph and the boys about how he killed a pig. Ralph who has better judgement has to remind Jack and say, “There was a ship-” (Golding, 75) This shows that Jack and the hunters do not have a good sense of judgement because they don’t do the most

Great authors use different literary elements to display their thoughts. To Kill a Mcokingbird, a novel written by Harper Lee, takes place in Maycomb, Alabama, during the years of the Great Depression. The novel focuses on Scout Finch, a 6 year old tomboy, and her brother Jem. They both begin realize all of the social issues, such as rape and inequality, that happens in their community throughout the course of the plot. Many people were racist against black people and judgemental against people who were not like them during this time period in the south but Scout and Jem’s father, Atticus, did not want his children to become influenced by these people. Harper Lee uses literary devices such as characterization, symbolism, and conflict to develop

We as humans generally do not think critically before proceeding, but rather feel like it’s the right thing to do, therefore we go ahead and do it anyways. In Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, A plane filled with a group of boys from Britain are shot down over an abandoned Island. These boys from the age of six to twelve, rush to the shore of the Island and have no choice but to work as a group for hope that they will be rescued. The boys use their skills but most importantly their instincts in order to stay alive. The main focus on the story is on Ralph, Piggy and Jack. These three characters have one thing in common,

In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, which is set during World War II, English school boys, escaping war in England, crash on a deserted tropical island. From the protected environment of boarding school, the boys are suddenly thrust into a situation where they must fend for themselves. In order to survive, the boys copy their country’s rule for a civilized life by electing a leader, Ralph. He promises order, discipline, and rules for the boys so that they form a small civilized society. This civilized society does not last. Struggling with Jack who wants to be the leader and the boys’ fears of the unknown, Ralph is unable to maintain control, and the boys fulfill Golding’s perspective that human