To kill a Mocking bird in O 'levels

[Anna the Annonymous Android]

Can anyone give some advicce and views on this classic.I have the most important exams after a year on literature.

[Will]

Is there anything in particular you would like to know? That's a very broad question you've just asked!

[Monty J]

Annalovesbooks wrote: "Can anyone give some advicce and views on this classic.I have the most important exams after a year on literature."

Wikipedia always has good info. Other good resources are CLiff Notes and the biography of Harper Lee, Mockingbird.

Also browse the discussions here on Goodreads. I have made several in-depth comments about how Harper Lee, with this one book, courageously and single-handedly shamed White America, especially the South, into facing its racist policies and practices.

I grew up in the South at a time when blacks were required to ride in the back of the bus and had separate "colored" restrooms and water fountains. I worked for the parent company of Mobile City Lines, the bus company whose driver Rosa Parks defied when he tried to send her to the back.

It also helps to read some of Truman Capote's short stories to get a sense of Lee's passion for social justice. She was his friend and playmate. The character, Dill, was modeled after Capote. Just like Scout, Lee fought boys who were bullying Capote.

[Anna the Annonymous Android]

Thank you so much guys!!! How about this question,"does this book havee a pessimistic a optimistic view on life."

[Monty J]

Annalovesbooks wrote: "Thank you so much guys!!! How about this question,"does this book havee a pessimistic a optimistic view on life.""

Neither. It is realism. The book holds up a mirror to society, showing people as they are. Only by revealing society's flaws are we enabled to change. Like her friend John Steinbeck, Lee shines a light into the dark corners of society.

The injustice of the Tom Robinson trial is based on a true story, revealing the weakness of our trial by jury system. Such miscarriages of justice have been repeated again and again in recent history--the OJ Simpson trial, the Casey Anthony trial, and others, including the recent failure to prosecute the police officer who shot and killed an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown.

Lee put our criminal justice system on trial. It allowed rapist and child abuser Bob Ewell to go free while punishing the innocent Tom Robinson. This miscarriage of justice was somewhat rectified when the sheriff refused to hold Boo Radley accountable for Bob Ewell's stabbing.

There is some optimism in the fact that people with character, like Scout and Atticus and the sheriff, will stand up for what is right. They will protect the innocent and seek out justice.

[Anna the Annonymous Android]

Thank you!!My friends opinion differs from mine.I said it was optimistic since "There is some optimism in the fact that people with character, like Scout and Atticus and the sheriff, will stand up for what is right. They will protect the innocent and seek out justice."
but in reality your one does make sense.
what are the implications in the novel about child parent relationships.
p.s sorry for my bad grammar.I hate typing
p.p.s I cant find your comments.Could you send links

[Monty J]

Annalovesbooks wrote: "Thank you!!My friends opinion differs from mine.I said it was optimistic since "There is some optimism in the fact that people with character, like Scout and Atticus and the sheriff, will stand up ..."

Oh jeese, another Indie bot troll. When will you computer geeks learn?

[Will]

Monty J - it's a tough call. Sometimes we get these "tell me everything you know about X" posts from trolls. They take some form of pathetic satisfaction from getting people to spend time and effort answering their open-ended questions.

It's particularly sad and frustrating because they are taking advantage of people's willingness to help others. The troll gets a tiny amount of satisfaction, but it means that people are more suspicious from that point on and less likely to help people with a genuine question.

But it's hard to tell when we are dealing with a troll or someone who is genuinely interested and wants to talk. If the trolls stop us from helping each other, then they have won.

So I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt. If it gives some satisfaction to a low-life pond scum of a troll, then so be it. But the answers may be of interest to other people reading this. And the OP may be genuine.

[Will]

Anna - when a teacher asks a question like: "Is this book pessimistic or optimistic?", they are usually not looking for a yes or no answer.

It's an open question which is designed to get you discussing the book. That should show how well you have understood what you have read and whether you have thought about the characters and plot.

You could construct a reply along the lines of "TKAM is optimistic because ...". That would be fine as long as you have argued it well.

Or you could write an essay which says "TKAM is pessimistic because..."

Or (my choice) you could say "TKAM is both pessimistic and optimistic because..."

Any of these could work, provided that you explain your point of view and back it up with examples from the book.

There is no right or wrong answer to questions like these. It is about you, your reaction to the book, and how well you can argue your point. The question has been deliberately chosen to get you thinking and not to allow a short yes/no answer.

[Anna the Annonymous Android]

Excuse me "Indie bot troll".Really.That's the best you got.My whole o'level is not based on one question. I want to see other peoples view on the book.Monty J, I really liked the your analysis but you have no obligation to answer my question nor the right to call me an "Indie bot troll" or whatever you want to call me. I did not know that these discussion boards were so... constricted. I am sorry that I got a bit overenthusiastic. I really love this book.
Mr will,Thank you for your opinion but you do not have to answer my question if you do not feel like it. There is no need to call me a " low-life pond scum of a troll' This was a discussion and I thought it would be more broad than this one. Thank you for spending your precious time answering my questions even though you had no obligation. Forgive me for my ignorance.
Yours truly,
Anna,the Indie bot troll

[Will]

Anna - no, I didn't call you anything. Let me explain...

There is a trick that internet trolls like to use. They will go onto a forum like this one and ask a very simple question. The sort of question that everyone ought to know the answer to, like "what is a troll?". They then snigger away as people try to answer the question. In the early days of the internet it was a slightly cruel way of teasing the newbies.

You've asked a very open question which basically means "tell me everything you know about TKAM."

That's exactly the sort of question that some trolls like to ask. Are you a troll? I have absolutely no idea.

But I do know that you will get much better answers from people if you ask specific questions instead of "tell me everything you know about this book."

[Monty J]

Anna Heronstairs wrote: "Excuse me "Indie bot troll".Really.That's the best you got.My whole o'level is not based on one question. I want to see other peoples view on the book.Monty J, I really liked the your analysis but ..."

Sorry if misjudged, but your cryptic messages and lack of meaningful engagement gave the appearance of a 'bot.

I don't have the time to research where I participated in discussions, and there's no quick way that I know of to do it. This is a weakness in Goodreads--the lack of a research tool. One would think, in this day and age of technology, that a word search tool would be readily available.

As I said, try CliffsNotes. Or Sparknotes or Schmoop (http://www.shmoop.com/public/who-writ...)

Also, Academia.edu: https://montallen.academia.edu/


Good luck.

[Will]

Or you can try Google. Type these words into the search bar ...

to kill a mockingbird pessimistic optimistic

And you will find dozens of people asking other people to write their homework for them. If you want to get a pass mark you could copy chunks from those answers.

If you want to get more than a pass mark - if you want to excel or even to learn - than you will need to do at least a little thinking for yourself.

[Monty J]

Will wrote: "And you will find dozens of people asking other people to write their homework for them. If you want to get a pass mark you could copy chunks from those answers."

I don't recommend copying anyone else's work, except as noted below. Teachers have their own cyber-tools to catch cheaters who do this.

But using someone else's ideas to provoke your own thought is perfectly honest. It's like priming a pump or using an electric motor to start a gasoline engine.

Put yourself in Scout's place, or Dill's, or Tom Robinson's, or Mayella's...

Here's another cyber-lit source, e-note:http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/e...

I just entered "mayella's loneliness" and up it popped.


If, as you say, you "really loved" TKM, then something in the story resonates with something deep inside you. If you seek to understand why, then you will come to know yourself more deeply, and perhaps in a very powerful way.

[Monty J]

Anna Heronstairs wrote: "Can anyone give some advicce and views on this classic.I have the most important exams after a year on literature."


Copying someone's work can benefit in legal and powerful ways.

In the film, Finding Forrester, Forrester (an aging writer played by Sean Connery), encourages Jamal (a high school boy) to copy an article he wrote as a warm-up exercise. Jamal does so, and creates a beautiful essay that (view spoiler)[ wins a contest (hide spoiler)] even though Jamal was accused of plagiarism.

[Will]

Duane - teachers aren't stupid. If they teach the same class year after year, they get to see hundreds of different answers to the same question. An examiner might see thousands of exam answers. That means that they can usually spot the same old "copied from the internet" text from a mile away.

A teacher will also see several essays from each student over the course of a school year. If that same student suddenly starts using words that they have never used before it's pretty obvious that they've had outside help.

Not to mention that teachers can also use google themselves. I bet that the majority of English teachers in the US can recite the Wikipedia entry for TKAM from memory.

[Monty J]

Will wrote: "Duane - teachers aren't stupid. If they teach the same class year after year, they get to see hundreds of different answers to the same question. An examiner might see thousands of exam answers. Th..."

Don't bother with Duane. He just says outrageous things to get attention.

[Duane]

no, I just say them to see if anyone's *paying* attention.

which they usually aren't.

When I Was In School, headed for college, the kids who couldn't get into *anywhere* else, would go to the teachers' colleges if they could get in there.

But, yeah, I suppose it's all relative... On a scale ranging from Obama to Einstein, they're not really *stupid*... But they're not paying attention, either, or their stoonts would be *terrified* of trolling answers (And etc.) off of the Interwebs.

I've heard of teachers who will give a stoont an "F" on any paper that cites Wankipedia as a reference, though. That's a start in the right direction, at least.