To Kill A Mockingbird
After listening to the first chapter again I noticed that in the first few lines we are allowed to see a glimpse of the future with the situations with the Ewells. The first chapter starts off a few years after the end of the book, after Atticus’ case with the Ewells and Tom Robinson. It prepares us with an argument between Jem and Scout which starts with ‘Who started it.’ ‘It’ being Jem’s broken leg.
The first chapter also uses alot figurative language to descibe the town and it’s people. I found this an interesting way to open up a story but also quite an effective way of introducing us to the town of Maycomb. Harper Lee tells us that ‘Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town’. This is a use of personification because a town, which is a location or conglomerate of people/ houses cannot be tired but instead shows us Scout’s feeling towards the town. Lee also uses a simile to describe the women of Maycomb, ‘and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum.’
February 23, 2015 at 1:01 am
This shows some fair analysis but your explanations could do with some development.
Rather than identifying the device and then giving a brief explanation, ficus in the imagery created. Why us the town ‘tired’? Even at the beginning of the novel? Why tea cakes? Try to explore possible word associations and look at literal meaning vs figurative meaning – how are the differences between these two created?