TKM: Part 1 in Depth!

To Kill a Mockingbird is a book I'm starting to like. I finished reading Part 1 last week and it's getting interesnting. To clarify my thoughts about the book, I'll answer some guiding questions.

1. What is the reason for the author's choice of a young narrator?

"To kill a Mockingbird" represents some very hard years for the US people. To express this tense situation in a kind and friendly way, Harper Lee uses a young girl, so the reader can understand the circumstances from an innocent but true point of view.

2. How does Jem and Scout's views of Boo Radley change during  part 1 of the book?

At the beginning, Scout and Jem see Boo Radley as a strange ghost. They fear the Radley's house and are afraid of its mysteries. However, as the time passes, Scout and Jem's view changes positively and they want to get nearer Boo. Moreover, in chapter 5, the guys write a letter and show it to him by the window to invite Boo to play with them. At the end of Part 1, the seem to lose some interest in this boy, because they are occupied in the fire of Ms. Maudie's house and then, in Ms. Dubose reading. However, in the first half of the book they never get a convincing explanation for the weird situation of the Radleys. 

3. Atticus tells the children several times that they need to walk in someone else's shoes before judging the person. Describe times when Atticus, Scout or Jem walk in someone else's shoes. How does this change how they view the situations? What role does this advice play in sympathy and compassion? 

When Scout realizes that Walter Cunningham didn't have lunch, after some problems with the teacher Jem invited him to have lunch in their house. There, Scout protested because Walter was pouring to much Syrup in his lunch, which caused Atticus and Calpurnia to punish him by sending Scout to the kitchen. Also, when Atticus gets to know that Jem cut Ms. Dubose's flowers, the old man made him go and read her book every day for more than a month. This was to teach Jem that he had to judge people according to their problems and circumstances.

4. How do you think Atticus managed his role as a single parent? 

In my opinion, Atticus is a great father. He is the old wise man of the story, and he tries to teach his children with everyday problems. Also, he is supported by Calpurnia, who in some way replaces de missing mother.

5. Discuss race issues in part 1 of the book.

To Kill a Mockingbird represents many problems of the US society in the last century. One of them is Racism. Most of the persons who lived in Maycomb discriminate negroes and all the people who helped them. In Part 1, Cecil Jacobs and Ms. Dubose show an strong opposition to the black people. However, Atticus Finch brakes this belief and helps Tim Robinson, a black man. This situation causes a lot of problems for Scout, problems that she hardly understand. 

6. From your reading of part 1, What does To Kill a Mockingbird teach us about how people cope with issues of race and class? Do you classify people in your world as different "folks?" Do you see those sort of distinctions today? 

Harper Lee's book expresses the cruel reality. I think racism nowdays is much softer, but there are still some problems because persons differences. In my opinion, this happens mainly because we love to classify things. We don't see people as they are, but as components of groups or divisions of society, with peculiar characteristics. Therefore, we naturally tend to defend the groups we involuntarily belong to and discriminate others.

7. Who is your favorite character from part 1 and why? 

Without doubts, Atticus Finch. He represents the thoughts of a developed man, someone who is looking towards changes and the future. He breakes old beliefs and behaviours and view things in a different way. He is not afraid to go against society if he thinks he is doing something right, and he is dedicated to educate his children. 

TKM: First Chapter!

The last days I read the first chapter of "To Kill a Mockingbird" and here'll answer some questions to help me understand it entirely. 

1. What do you learn in this chapter about Maycomb, Atticus Finch and his family?

In Chapter 1, you learn that Maycomb is a little town in Alabama, with very interesting people. Scout Finch, a little girl (6 years old), tells the story. His father is an old lawyer called Atticus, who came from a wealthy family. Scout's brother is 10 years old and he's called Jem. At the beginning of the story, he broke his elbow. Atticus' father was an immigrant from UK, called Simon. He made a lot of money but lost it in the Second World War.

2. Describe Calpurnia as Scout depicts her in Chapter 1.

Calpurnia is a black woman who takes cares of the Finch's house. Although the guys may seem not to like her, Atticus said they couldn't live without her. Calpurnia compares Scout to Jem and always pushes him out of the Kitchen.

3. What does Dill dare Jem to do?

Dill dares Jem to go and touch the Radley's front door. As manhood and bravery was very important for them, Jem accepted the challenge. They all wanted to know more about Boo Radley and bring him out the house.

4. The townspeople of Maycomb have some fears and superstitions about the Radley place. Describe these fears and superstitions.

The Radley Place is a very interesting area. Boo Radley, a boy, never comes out the house. When Boo's father died, Nathan Radley came to take care of Boo (Nathan is his elder brother). The guys thought Boo was a ghost and also that he killed pets in the past.

5. How important is bravery to Jem?

As all young men on those times, bravery was very important for him, hence he accepted the Dill's challenge. Also, Jem must be brave because he had to defend his younger sister.

6. What do you notice about the narrative voice and viewpoint of the story?

The narrative voice in the book is innocent, because it's narrated by Scout. She doesn't understand some of the social problems in Maycomb, as the discrimination against blacks. However, the reader can still get the idea of what's going on.

"To Kill a Mockingbird": Contexts of Production.

In the last weeks I've been reading Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird". I've read almost half of the book, but I think it's very important to investigate about the contexts of production and try to make some connections with what I've read, so here I go!


To Kill a Mockingbird was written by Harper Lee and published in 1960. 


Harper Lee's Biography:
Nelle Harper Lee, the youngest of four children of Amasa Coleman Lee and Frances Cunningham Finch, was raised in Monroeville, Alabama. Nelle, her first name, was "Ellen", her grandmother's name, spelled backward. Her mother was a homemaker; her father, a former newspaper editor and proprietor, practiced law and served in the Alabama State Legislature from 1926 to 1938. Before A.C. Lee became a title lawyer, he once defended two black men accused of murdering a white storekeeper. Both clients, a father and son, were hanged.

As a child, Lee was a tomboy, a precocious reader, and best friends with her schoolmate and neighbor, the young Truman Capote.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harper_Lee

Historical Context:

-Economic Depression: After the great 1920s, US went though a hard and long crisis. Many people went to live away from the cities because they didn't have money! This quickly traduced in unemployment and poverty. 

-The Dust Bowl: It was an ecological disaster caused by drought and wind, which made most of the crops in the US to disease. 

-Racial Segregation: In the past, US people made great differences between black and white people. Blacks were discriminated and had less rights. A great example of this are the Jim Crow Laws, which ruled in the US between 1876 and 1965.

What is context?

One of the things that we must consider when reading something is context, because it helps us understand what we read in a better way. Context may be defined as the circumstances that surround a text and help to specify its meaning. Therefore, from this definition we can deduce that there are two contexts: The context of production and the one of reception.

-Context of Production: This context makes references to the circumstances that surrounded the writer of the text when he wrote it. 

-Context of Reception: This type of contexts refers to the conditions that surround the reader when he reads a text. 

Sometimes, Contexts may be very strong conditions. Wars, for example are a very common topic that affects the way people writes. Others that we can point out are crisis, familiar problems, technological development, and many others.


Finally, I must point out that in the IB course we will call them "Contexts" (note the final "s"), because there are many factors than influence someone's life, not just one. 

Gender Advertising Activity!

Last week, we had a great activity related to Gender in advertisements. I worked with Mr Park and Mr Elgueta and we did two Ads. The first one, male oriented, was from Adidas, encouraging people to buy Rugby gear in our store. We used phrases like "Are you strong enough?" or "Are you up for a real challenge?", appealing to men's bravery.
After that one, we did an Ad of Everlast's new boxing gloves for women. In this one we focused on the revolution of women that we have had in the past few years. Nowadays it's not rare than a lady practices boxing, so we wanted to use that thoughts to produce our Ad.
After creating our Ads, we went in front of the class and presented both of them, as if we were in the TV. I think it's always fun to make and analyze advertisements, because they surround us in every moment of our lives and have evolved through the years. Marketing is something I've always liked and it's great to have an approach to it in our classes!

Gender in Advertising!

Advertising has developed through the years to persuade people to buy or do determined things or actions. One of the most special tricks of Advertisers is to lead their products to an specific gender. This technique points out a commonly known ability or aspect of one gender (probably stereotyping that sex) over the other sex. A gender Ad doesn't have to be aggressive towards the other sex, but it has to be oriented to a particular quality of males or females.


For example, if a company wants to sell Rugby gear could use a slogan like "Are you a true men?" or "Only try them if you think you are a men", appealing and the manhood of consumers. In the other way, a company that wants to sell some special water for woman could use a slogan like "Always wanted the be thin and slender?" or similar phrases.

Language and Gender

One of the facts that influences our way of using language is our Gender. Obviously, every person is different, but we can still find some patrons in the way women and men speak. Men, for example, tend to say things more directly, without going "around the bush" too much. In the other hand, women commonly avoid going directly to the point, and prefer to paraphrase more what they want to communicate. Also, I think females will tend to describe things in a better perspective than men, using softer adjectives.


Also, we can identify some modifications in language because of gender. In English, people usually said "Man and wife", instead of just saying "Husband and wife", and of course would never say "Woman and husband". Also, in Spanish, when you talk of a group of people that includes both sex, people will always refer to that community with masculine articles. In fact, there is no neutral article in Spanish. Probably, we can explain this patterns in language by researching a bit of the past of the countries. History confirms that old societies were male-oriented and gave less importance to women than to men.