Robert Ewell, his family, and how he lives. A good example is the passage in which Robert Ewell testifies in the TomRobinson Trial. This is a description of the Ewell’s home as well as aninsight into the Ewells themselves. We learn what kind of a father Robert isand the kind of life into which he has forced his eldest daughter, Mayella. We also see how the county of Maycomb cruelly discriminates against the blackcommunity even though they are more respectable than people like the Ewells.
Lee uses such detail in the account of the Ewell cabin because the best way tounderstand the Ewells is to understand how they live. For example, shestates, “The cabin’s plank walls were supplemented with sheets of corrugatediron, its general shape suggested it’s original design: square, with four tinyrooms opening onto a shotgun hall, the cabin rested uneasily upon fourirregular lumps of limestone. Its windows were merely open spaces in thewalls, which in the summer were covered with greasy strips of cheese cloth tokeep out the varmints that feasted on Maycomb’s refuse.” This descriptionpaints a very vivid picture of the cabin and also tells a little bit about theEwells themselves.
From this we can infer that the Ewells took very little (ifany at all) pride in their home and it’s appearance. Later in the passage Leeadds, “What passed for a fence was bits of tree limbs, broomsticks and toolshafts, all tipped with rusty hammer heads, shovels, axes and grubbing hoes,held on with pieces of barbed wire.” By now it is apparent that the onlyhousehold repairs the Ewells make are with things they find at the dump. Theimage Lee is trying to form of these people is made very obvious by her use ofdetails.
The passage also gives quite a bit of insight into Mr.Ewell himself. Forexample, Lee states, “The varmints had a lean of it, for the Ewells gave thedump a thorough gleaning every day” This statement informs us that the Ewellsmain source of revenue is form the town dump. Quite a pathetic way to keepones family fed; but what can one expect for an unemployed alcoholic likeMr.Ewell? As Lee states earlier in the passage, “No truant officers could keeptheir numerous offspring in school; no public health officer could free themfrom congenital defects, various worms, and diseases indigenous to filthysurroundings.”
However as terrible as he is as afather he serves quite a useful purpose as a contrast to Atticus Finch. Mr.Finch’s loving and attentiveness towards his children his is made veryobvious when compared to Mr.Ewell’s abusiveness and neglect. “One corner of the yard, though, bewildered Maycomb. Against the fence, in aline, were six chipped-enamel slop jars holding brilliant red geraniums, caredfor as tenderly as if they belonged to Miss Maudie Atkinson, had Miss Maudiedeigned to permit a geranium on her premises.”
Mayella Ewell is the eldest ofthe Ewell children, and only member of the Ewell family who has any pride andsense of dignity at all. As a result of that she is forced to be mainprovider and caregiver for the younger Ewell children as Lee expresses in thisstatement, “Nobody was quite sure how many children were on the place.
Somepeople said six, others said nine; there were always several dirty-faced onesat the windows when anyone passed by.” With all those children to take careMayella was only able to get a few years worth of education, and had no timefor any friends. After being forced into this kind of life by her father onemight wonder why Mayella would want to lie under oath on the witness stand todefend his lies. Probably because she was afraid of what he would do to her ifshe told the truth, but also because she had been living with the abuse fromhim all her life, and couldn’t imagine her life being any different.
In direct contrast to the Ewells was the “Negro settlement some five hundredyards beyond the Ewells.” As Lee states, “their cabins looked neat and snugwith pale blue smoke rising from the chimneys and doorways glowing amber fromthe fries inside. There were delicious smells about: chicken, bacon fryingcrisp as twilight air. Jem and I detected squirrel cooking, but it took areal country man like Atticus to identify possum and rabbit, aromas thatvanished when we rode back past the Ewell residence.”
The members of theblack community lived in poverty like the Ewells, but unlike the Ewells theymanaged to keep their homes neat and their children fed. Lee makes this comparison and then goes on the say that the Ewells are stillconsidered the better people in the eyes of Maycomb because as a demonstrationof the kind of discrimination that is simply accepted by towns like Maycomb.
This passage also brings up many subjects that could be considered universaltruths. For example, Lee states that, “Every town the size of Maycomb hadfamilies like the Ewells. No economic fluctuations changed theirstatus–people like the Ewells lived as guests of the county in prosperity aswell as in the depths of a depression.”
This is true, almost every place hasits leaches, but I would doubt if most would be as hospitable as Maycomb is tothe Ewells. This passage also implies the effects of negative parenting onchildren. If Mr.Ewell had been a better father his children would have had abetter chance of being functional members of society. This would be true forany children living abusive or negligent environments.
Harper Lee’s in-depth description of the Ewell house hold leads to theconclusion that even though the Mr.Ewell lived in disgusting, self-inflictedpoverty and abused and neglected his children he was still more respected thanany of the black people in Maycomb. This is because communities like Maycombjust assume that because a culture is a little bit different they are not asgood a the norm of the society.
To Build A Fire Book Review
The Man- He was very arrogant, and stubborn, but very knowledgeable and observant.
PLOT- “To Build a Fire” by Jack London is a tragic story about one mans ignorant battle with nature, which becomes his demise. The Newcomer is an inexperienced young man who comes to this frozen land in search of gold. He has been warned about the dangers of the cold, but goes out on a trip anyway. He is hoping to find a way to send logs down the Yukon River once spring arrives and the ice melts. He has also been warned not to travel alone in such cold, but he goes anyway, with only his dog for a companion.
As the story begins, they are hurrying to get back to their camp and rejoin the man’s friends. After the dog falls through some ice, the Newcomer begins to worry about the dangers of the cold and frostbite..
He stops to build a fire and eat some lunch. Soon, however, he decides to continue on his way back to camp and follows a creek to check for any open water and his future plan for the logs.
Suddenly, the man falls through the ice. He knows he will need to build another fire or Die. He is wet and cold but succeeds in starting a second fire. Foolishly, however, he builds the fire under a pine tree covered in snow. The heat from the fire melts some of the snow in the tree and sends a huge fall of snow from the tree right on the fire. It is so cold, however, that he has a lot of trouble trying to light the fire. His hands are so cold they have no feeling. He cannot even feel his matches.
Finally, holding the matches with his teeth, he gets another fire started, but his hands are so cold that he cannot control them and the fire goes out. He even tries to kill his dog to use the warm body to keep him from freezing. But it is to late. Finally, the dog watches him die.
Romeo And Juliet Speech
This wonderfully, romantic, modern day film of William Shakespeare is sure to make your heart throb. Shakespeare’s poetic script combines action and comedy in this intense, tragic love story. Set in modern day Verona, Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Romeo.
He is a young man all wrapped up in love but he has a taste for evil (at least in the film). Claire Danes plays the role of Juliet, a thirteen-year-old girl who is very noble to her parents and is trying to enjoy her life as a young girl. Juliet has never been in love before until she meets Romeo at her father’s party. It is love at first sight.
But there is one problem: they are both from opposite sides of feuding families- Romeo is a Montague and Juliet is a Capulet. They struggle to remain lovers through private meetings, but a conflict arises when Tybalt, Juliet’s cousin, challenges Romeo to a duel one day in Verona’s streets. Mercutio, a very good friend of Romeo, plays a very dramatic role in this scene. Another conflict occurs when a young nobleman named Paris asks for Juliet’s hand in marriage.
She refuses because she is already in love with Romeo but she is forced to get married to Paris by her father. Will Juliet marry Paris and never see Romeo again? This film displays a theme of hasty decisions by many characters that could have changed the outcome. Director Baz Luhrman did an excellent job of editing and revising Shakespeare’s ending emphasizing this theme even more. The costumes of this particular “Romeo and Juliet” are of today and instead of swords the characters use guns.
Horses are obviously not used but instead cars. One thing that I found kind of strange was when the characters would fire off their guns people never ran or screamed, instead they carried on as if nothing had ever happened, especially during the beach scene. The dialogue can be confusing at times but it still makes for a good movie. This is why I would recommend this movie to older and mature teenagers and to all adults.
If you appreciate poetry or William Skakespeare’s book “Romeo and Juliet” then this has to be put on your “must see” list. I give this movie ****.