Friday, March 7, 2014
Harper Lee as Writer
What is something Harper Lee does in this section that is important to do as a writer? What are some ways you have attempted to do a similar thing? How does what she is doing connect to something we have discussed in writing seminar? Remember to use specifics from this section of the book.
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Nailah Chapters 2 and 3
ReplyDeleteOne thing that Lee does that is really important is clearly show Scout's feelings without stating them. Not once does Scout say "I'm angry at..." or "I'm annoyed because..." Scout's emotions are very clear, and one thing that helps that is Lee's choice of words. One of my favorite lines is "I mumbled that I was sorry and retired meditating upon my crime." This sentence shows how Scout is confused about what she did wrong. I have tried this when writing, but often the message I am trying to convey gets lost between the words. This relates to showing not telling, but you have to make sure you are showing what you want to show. However you think a character feels should be how everyone else thinks they feel.
Something that I think the author does very well is introducing and developing characters throughout the story but very subtly. All the characters mentions are given a brief but detailed description that leaves the reader with a good idea of who the character is. Also, she gives good hints or notes about what a character or situation is like. For instance, the quote, "I heard an unfamiliar jingle in Jem's pockets." Scout is talking about the sound of change in Jem's pockets and it shows a sign of poor ness and slight poverty.
ReplyDeleteBlog Post #1 - Harper Lee as Writer - (Chapters 2 and 3)
ReplyDeleteThe most important thing that Lee did in this section was develop the characters and give a backdrop for the entire story to grow on. In the first chapter she explained Scout's ancestors' history, how the town they live in came to be, and that the whole book will lead up to Jem breaking his arm, thus explaining the basic plot and giving the reader a good sense of the setting on which the story will evolve.
While writing my stories I have always tried to give my characters depth and personality, but because of the length of our writing and the fact that I am only in middle school, it makes it more difficult to really give good examples and scenarios that allow the reader to get a good image of the character in their mind.
In one of the last writing classes we did, we talked about getting specific and showing without just stating what should be expressed by the characters actions and descriptions. In the section we just read, I think that Lee did a really good job of portraying Scout and all the different sides of her, from naïve to empathetic to distraught. I especially thought that the scenes involving Walter Cunningham were important because they really helped develop Scout's personality and also her relationships with Atticus, Calpurnia, and Jem.
The only part of Lee's writing so far that has even remotely bothered me is how she began the story talking about how all the events will lead up to Jem breaking his arm and that it started with Dill coming to town, but then after he arrives he leaves again right after the first chapter.
So far I have really liked this book and think that they way Lee develops and gives depth to her character through small scenes that show great character relationships and personal beliefs of characters.
- Griffin
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ReplyDeleteJada (Chapters 6 and 7)
ReplyDeleteIn these two chapters Haper Lee did an amazing job of putting us in Scout's shoes. Scout is being treated like she is insignificant by her brother and Dill. Instead of Lee telling us what Scout she used dialogue and had Scout notice their mannerisms. That help give me a better picture and sympathize with Scout. If she had just told us I would have felt sad also but would get over it pretty fast. She also made us feel as confused as Scout was with the tree mystery. She gave us no hints and only let us see what Scout could see. She made this book through a child's eyes and only gives us perspective of adults when Scout interacts with them. This takes a great author to do these things.
Hope (Chapters 6 and 7)
ReplyDeleteOne thing I think that Harper Lee does a good job of in this book is using dialogue wisely. She does something really cool, in my opinion, where she has someone saying something in response to someone else, but she doesn't use dialogue to tell what the other person said. For example, "Jem said, 'Okay.' When I protested, he said sweetly, 'You don't have to come along, Angel May'.” In that line she doesn't tell you how Scout protested, she just says that she does. I think this keeps the dialogue from getting to dry and boring, because if you have just a few words of dialogue one after another, and it's not going anywhere it tends to get boring. I find myself doing this all the time while my writing, and it' something I find myself thinking about but not fixing it well.
Jordy
ReplyDeleteChapter 8
In this section especially, Harper Lee does an amazing job of showing not telling using the most minute details. She not only uses scenes and actions to show, but she does a great job of use dialogue and mono loge to get a point across without flat out saying it. I love the line, "...Miss Stephanie couldn't follow it anyway. Miss Maudie had once let me see it: among other things, the recipe called for one large cup of sugar." This does an amazing job of portraying poverty, as even a small cup of sugar some people can't afford. And she gets this point across both by not using action, which in my opinion usually seems forced and out of place, and not by telling which is never good. This also helps to keep it in the eyes of a younger narrator, who cannot wrap her mind around he ideas of poverty and wealth. She can still see the hints and clues of poverty, and even though she might not equate the two to together, as a reader you can.
Ryan(chapters 13&14)
ReplyDeleteThroughout the entire book, Harper Lee has done a great job of drawing the reader into the story. She mainly does this by keeping a character that had some conflict with the main character. In the last section, Mrs. Dubose died, which, while it made everyone very happy, eliminated a large conflict. In this section, Scout's aunt is brought back into the book which adds/replaces a conflict for Scout. The way Harper Lee creates conflicts is sometimes very explicit, like Aunt Alexandra saying Scout can't go to Cal's house, and sometimes the tension or hatred between two characters is displayed simply by the description. In writing class, we have talked a lot about how conflict is important to a good story. Harper Lee does a great job of using conflict to draw the reader in.
Camille
ReplyDeleteChapter 15
In this section, Harper Lee does a great job of keeping the reader engaged and wondering until the very end. Atticus was acting ver suspicious during the begging/ middle of the chapter and when he took the car, he was doing something that is not typical of him. And also, when he see the cars pulling up, he acts as of he was waiting for them which make you want to know who they are an what they are doing there. And the end of the chapter when Atticus talks to Tom Robinson through the cell wall, you understand why the people were there, but she doesn't explain it in full detail. She just hints at it. I, personally, get bored of books kind of easily but this kept me engaged and wanting to know more. In my writing I have tried to do this, but I end up either not letting the reader understand what had just happened or I give the ending away too early. Harper Lee does a great job of keeping the reader wondering and explaining at the perfect time what happened.
Carly
ReplyDeleteChapter 17
Carly (Chapter 17)
In chapter 17, and throughout the whole book, Harper Lee does a great job with
character and setting details. An example of this is when she was describing where the
Ewells live. Instead of saying they live in a run down home, she said, "Maycomb's Ewells lived behind the town garbage dump in what was once a Negro cabin. The cabin's plank walls were supplemented with sheets of corrugated iron, its roof shingled with tin cans hammered flat, so only its general shape suggested its original design: square, with four tiny rooms opening onto a shotgun hall, the cabin rested uneasily upon four irregular lumps of limestone. Its windows were merely open spaces in the walls, which in the summertime were covered with greasy strips of cheesecloth to keep out the varmints that feasted on Maycomb's refuse." This gives a much better picture of how the Ewells live than saying they didn't live well. I have tried to have more character and setting details, but have a long way to go.
Daywe (Chapter 17)
ReplyDeleteIn this chapter, Harper Lee does a great job of creating details and dialogue without the reader getting bored. She's able to give us more information on one thing while she's focusing on another. She does a great job of using dialogue to go somewhere, and instead of making long and boring pages of dialogue she shortens it to make it more interesting. In the trial we learn a lot more about the town and the people who live there. This always seems to be my fault in writing. I use dialogue that doesn't get me anywhere and doesn't add to the story. A trial is usually made up of long boring speeches and questions, but Harper Lee has made it interesting by digging deeper and giving even more information. "'...Robert E. Lee Ewell!' In answer to the clerk's booming voice, a little bantam cock of a man rose and strutted to the stand, the back of his neck reddening at the sound of his name. When he turned around to take the oath, we saw that his face was as red as his neck. We also saw no resemblance to his namesake. A shock of wispy new-washed hair stood up from his forehead; his nose was thin, pointed, and shiny; he had no chin to speak of-it seamed to be apart of of his crepey neck. '-so help me God,' he crowed." In this paragraph we see exactly how Harper Lee is able to fit so much detail into one simple task, such as walking up to the stand.
Nick chapter 17
ReplyDeleteI like how Harper Lee this kind of suspense/mystery with the questions Atticus is asking. Just how random these question sound. The first one sounded normal but then the other two left you wondering. Then after you hear judge point out that Mr. Ewell was left handed it finally clicked why Atticus was doing this. I actually never considered adding this kind of suspense with one of my stories, but now I want to try to incorporate this kind of writing skill into my pieces. We haven't talked about suspense in writing. But another thing I really liked was how all this suspense leads very well to the ending. And now I can't wait to find out why scout thinks Jem is counting his chickens.
Zach
ReplyDeleteChapter 17
I think that Harper lee did a really good job this chapter. My favorite thing was the way she made Atticus in this section. I like the way that he just overcame all of the racism and doubts by asking simple questions to the two witnesses and they messed it up themselves, for me. I think she has been making Atticus seem a lot more caring about what he is doing for a living like his job because of the threats he has gotten from everyone. She is very good at using dialogue at the right time to liven up the passage when it's not even boring it just keeps raising the bar. She makes sure the reader knows everything they need to without just saying it. She gets her point across through the emotions which her characters face which I think is difficult.
Alice
ReplyDeleteChapters 20, 21, and 22
Harper Lee did a really interesting and precise job of easing us into Tom Robinson’s guilty verdict. With lines like: “I toyed with the idea of asking everyone below to concentrate on setting Tom Robinson free, but thought if they were as tired as I, it wouldn’t work,” and “A jury never looks at a defendant it has convicted, and when this jury came in, not one of them looked at Tom Robinson,” Harper Lee hinted at the painful single-mindedness the people of Maycomb have been fed on their whole lives. We were told from the start that there was no real hope for Tom to make it out alive, but Atticus made it sound so possible with his closing statement. I really thought he had everyone convinced, but I guess a person’s “raisin’s” have a bigger influence over their mind than their conscious. She really did do a good job with this disappointing and infuriating verdict considering that she must have been rooting for Tom. I, personally, don’t think I would have been able to write such a heart wrenching scene, so I really admire her for it.
Charlotte (chapters 28-29):
ReplyDeleteHarper Lee did a great job of foreshadowing in this section. An example is on page 158. "I heard Jem laugh softly. 'Bet nobody bothers them (the Radleys) tonight,' he said...Jem said, 'Boo must not be at home. Listen.' High above us in the darkness a solitary mocker poured out his repertoire in blissful unawareness of whose tree he sat in." She uses whispering and the spooky silence of Halloween as a backdrop to entice the reader about the Radleys . She mentions the singing of a lonely mockingbird, which definitely makes the reader stop and go, "Hey, that's a connection to Boo. Something important must be about to happen!"'
Also, Harper Lee is clever about changing up how the story is told. When the Mr. Ewell and Boo Radley episode happens in the darkness, she leaves the reader feeling slightly confused and anxious just like Scout. Then, (on page 272) she makes the decision to include the full dialogue when Scout explains what happened to Heck Tate. It's a summarization of the action-packed scene to help the reader get on the same page as the characters.
William, Chapters 30-31
ReplyDeleteHarper Lee does several things to connect to earlier quotes in this section. First of all, when The sheriff tells Atticus they would just say Mr. Ewell fell on his knife rather than bring out Boo Radley for the court case and embarrass him. Scout responds that it would be a little bit like killing a mockingbird, connecting into the earlier quote from Atticus.
Later, Scout stands on Boo's Porch, and see's the events of the past through his eyes. She then ties it into the quote "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 it.” These two quotes are two of the most important quotes in the book, and come up repeatedly throughout it, so connecting to them helps the book feel more complete. The last section has various other parts that tie the story together and make for a good resolution.