Blog #4: Open Response Essay

Many literary works that we read today possess a key component. In fact, many of these works are treasures to American literature and are continuously taught in schools across the country. The Crucible. Frankenstein. The Odyssey. Lord of the Flies. To Kill a Mockingbird. What do all of these works have in common? Themes centered around cruelty. Specifically looking at To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, cruelty is the major theme of the story, and this idea of cruelty allows the book to function as a whole as well as portray what the cruelty reveals about the perpetrator and the victims.

To Kill a Mockingbird is set in the town of Maycomb, Alabama in a time of segregation. The focus of cruelty in the book really sets in when the main character, Scout Finch's, father Atticus makes a gutsy decision. Being one of Maycomb's best lawyers, Atticus Finch, a white man, decides to defend Tom Robinson, a black man, after he is accused of rape. During this time period, Jim Crowe Laws were still in place, as well as segregation and what Atticus was doing was unheard of. News spread like wildfire in Maycomb, and soon everyone knew of Atticus and Tom. The thing is though, Atticus didn't receive positive feedback. People didn't like his decision to represent Tom and treated him and those associated with him cruelly.This cruelty began with Atticus' children, Jem and Scout, being ridiculed and made fun of at school. The kids used derogatory terms towards them and their father. This cruelty reveals that the perpetrators didn't like the change Atticus was bringing to the town and that they didn't agree with his decision.

Of course, the cruel children at school were not the only instigators. In fact, the cruelty towards the Finch's escalated to the extreme that one man, Mr. Euell, had attacked Jem and Scout one night, breaking Jem's arm and attempting to stab Scout when Atticus refused to drop the case. This act of cruelty really portrays the extremity of the change Atticus attempted to make to society, and the negative reactions from members of society. The fact that a citizen of Maycomb tried to harm two innocent children, simply because he didn't like the idea of a white man representing a black man, is so disappointing and shows how times have changed.

Another factor to consider that heightens the severity of Mr. Euell's cruelty is the fact that his daughter was the "alleged" rape victim, when in actuality, Tom was innocent. However, they accused him anyway, because as awful as it is to think about, she thought she could get by blaming Tom Robinson just because of his skin color.  Unfortunately in the time period the book was set in, people of colored skin almost had no chance of winning a case, even if they were in fact innocent. What these factors show about the perpatraor and victims is that the perpatrators, such as Mr. Euell, could go to such cruel and extreme measures against an innocent man. The fact that Atticus Finch was trying to make a change for the better, and recieved the hate he did, really portrays the evil in him.

A famous quote said by Atticus in the novel is, "You never really know someone until you've climbed into their skin and walked around in it." It's very unfortunate that when members of society treated Atticus and his family with this cruelty, they only saw that he was helping a black man, not the good that he was bringing into the world.


Reflection:
After writing the Open Response Essay, norming student sample essays, and then rereading my essay again, I came to the realization that there's definitely more I could've done to receive a higher score. I did recognize however, that I used examples from the text to support how cruelty is portrayed in To Kill a Mockingbird. I feel as though I focused on the acts of cruelty committed by the perpetrators, but not necessarily how it was a theme throughout the entire book/how it affected the victims. Although I did explain how cruelty exists in the novel, I feel as though I gave more of a summary of the book in the beginning of the essay, which could've been much more brief. My essay did lack these qualities, however, I believe my intro paragraph and conclusion paragraph were strong. My introductory paragraph gave an intro to what my essay was going to be about and stated what novel I was analyzing without diving right into the analysis. I would say my conclusion paragraph was also strong because I included a quote from the novel and kind of tied the idea of the whole essay together, however, this could've been a little more detailed. Based on these aspects, I would score my essay in the 5-6 range.

Peer Reflection: Alex Grant (http://grantalexanderapenglish2015.blogspot.com/)
I would score your essay in the 5-6 range. You did a nice job recognizing the cruelty present in the novel as well as recognizing cruelty being used by the protagonist to achieve an objective. I disagree however with you needing to expand on how cruelty affected the protagonist because I think you already did that. Although you had these components, I agree that you could've expanded on how cruelty was related specifically to the perpatrators. I also think that you could talk a little bit more about how cruelty plays a role in the entire novel, although you did touch on this subject. One other thing I believe you could do is to add a short introduction and conclusion and a direct quote or two from the novel. Overall, I think you had a general idea of the prompt because you did more than just summarize the book, you still analyzed cruelty in the novel.


Open Response Essay Revision:
3X3 Hero's Journey:
Line 1: Atticus takes case
(This is significant to the "call to adventure" aspect of the Hero's Journey because when Atticus decides to represent Tom Robinson. This represents his call into the "special world" because a white man representing a black man in court during the time period of the book was frowned upon and opened up a gateway into new territory for Atticus.

Line 2: Atticus receives hate
(This is significant to the "consequences" aspect of the Hero's Journey because after Atticus makes the decision to represent Tom, he is treated differently and ridiculed for his decision, and him and his family receives threats from Mr. Euell.

Line 3: Atticus represents Tom
(This is significant to the "final attempt" aspect of the Hero's Journey because despite all the cruelty Atticus received, he still tries to win the case in his last attempt to prove Tom's innocence.

Essay Revision: 
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, cruelty is the major theme of the story, and this idea of cruelty allows the book to function as a whole as well as portray what the cruelty reveals about the perpetrator and the victims.

To Kill a Mockingbird is set in the town of Maycomb, Alabama in a time of segregation. The focus of cruelty in the book really sets in when the main character, Scout Finch's, father Atticus makes a gutsy decision. Being one of Maycomb's best lawyers, Atticus Finch, a white man, decides to defend Tom Robinson, a black man, after he is accused of rape. During this time period, Jim Crowe Laws were still in place, as well as segregation and what Atticus was doing was unheard of.  Atticus didn't receive positive feedback from people in Maycomb. They didn't like his decision to represent Tom and treated him and those associated with him cruelly. This reveals that the people of Maycomb were set in their ways and didn't like the idea of change, and would turn to ridiculing Atticus to keep it the same. This cruelty began with Atticus' children, Jem and Scout, being ridiculed and made fun of at school. The kids used derogatory terms towards them and their father. This cruelty reveals that the perpetrators didn't like the change Atticus was bringing to the town and that they didn't agree with his decision. It also reflects the values of their parents, because the children most likely formulated their opinions from their parent's beliefs and values.

Of course, the cruel children at school were not the only instigators. In fact, the cruelty towards the Finch's escalated to the extreme that one man, Mr. Euell, had attacked Jem and Scout one night, breaking Jem's arm and attempting to stab Scout when Atticus refused to drop the case. This act of cruelty really portrays the extremity of the change Atticus attempted to make to society, and the negative reactions from members of society. The fact that a citizen of Maycomb tried to harm two innocent children, simply because he didn't like the idea of a white man representing a black man, is so disappointing and shows how times have changed. What this reveals about Atticus is that he was willing to face the consequences of his radical choice in order to prove Tom's innocence, and essentially save him which shows Atticus' "consequence" stage of the Hero's Journey, and that he was a kindhearted man with good values.

Another factor to consider that heightens the severity of Mr. Euell's cruelty is the fact that his daughter was the "alleged" rape victim, when in actuality, Tom was innocent. However, they accused him anyway, because as awful as it is to think about, she thought she could get by blaming Tom Robinson just because of his skin color.  Unfortunately in the time period the book was set in, people of colored skin almost had no chance of winning a case, even if they were in fact innocent. What these factors show about the perpetrators, such as Mr. Euell, is that he could go to such cruel and extreme measures against an innocent man. The fact that Atticus Finch was trying to make a change for the better, and received the hate he did, really portrays the hero in him as well as his step towards the "final attempt" in the Hero's Journey, to continue and take the case and represent Tom to the best of his ability the day of the case, in an attempt to save Tom.

A famous quote said by Atticus in the novel is, "You never really know someone until you've climbed into their skin and walked around in it." It's very unfortunate that when members of society treated Atticus and his family with this cruelty, they only saw that he was helping a black man, not the good that he was bringing into the world. Atticus however does understand the importance of this quote, as it brings out the hero in him. When Atticus can put himself into Tom Robinson's shoes, it allows him to take the necessary steps to help him.

Revised Open Response Essay Reflection:  
After revising my Open Response Essay and completing a 3X3 analysis of the Hero's Journey in To Kill a Mockingbird, as well as reviewing the comments and suggestions for revision provided by Ms. Wilson, I believe I better answered the prompt as well as made my original essay better. In my original essay, I had an unnecessary introduction which I cut most of and just gave an introduction to the prompt. I also cut out a little bit of the first paragraph which contained more of a summary of the novel rather than an analysis. I also added an analysis of what cruelty revealed about the perpetrators specifically, including, that the children ridiculing Jem and Scout as well as using derogatory terms towards them, which reflects their parent's values on them. This better answered the prompt. I also added an analysis of what cruelty revealed about the victim including, the fact that Atticus was willing to face the consequences of his radical choice in order to prove Tom's innocence, and essentially save him which shows Atticus' "consequence" stage of the Hero's Journey. In regards to the Hero's Journey itself, I do believe that my knowledge of the Hero's Journey helped with my revision because I was able to include specifics from my 3X3 analysis which helped me evaluate the heroic characteristics in Atticus to better answer the prompt.