To Kill A Mockingbird

Book by Harper Lee, 1960

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    To Kill A Mockingbird! A well-known book by any account, and so far, definitely a book to add to your collection, booknook, library, or wherever you keep books. It's proven to be well-written, colorful, humorous, and compassioned brilliantly. Harper Lee does a fantastic job fleshing out the characters and building the Southern world from the perspective of a child, yet with the maturity of an adult, blending together, not clashing. 

    It's a bit confusing to have this main character, Scout. Harper Lee gives no allusions or mentioning that Scout is a girl, rather than a boy. After about thirty or so pages, it briefly mentions Scout's gender being female, and hints at it later. This is mainly due to the fact that the book is completely first-person. Not to mislead any of you, though; this book and it's characters are thing to be treasured. Harper Lee writes it all brilliantly and doesn't stop for anything. The characterization of the cast is simply amazing. Scout, Jem, and Dill all are believably written as the children they are. Jem is the oldest, a boy at the age of 10 and Scout's brother. Dill is visiting from a different state and seems to be a peculiar kid, though unrelated to Scout and Jem. Scout's the youngest, but seems to be a tough nut. She asserts herself above other children, like Dill. For example, Dill goes off into the childish fantasies of declaring Scout to be "the only girl he will ever love", followed by Scout's dainty response."He staked me out, marked me as his property...I beat him up twice but that did no good." (Lee 46) This situation very much shows the mindset of Scout, a girl who seemed able to assert a certain dominance. 

    Playing off that note, To Kill A Mockingbird has so far had a subtle irk with women. Besides the skirmishes Scout seems to live for, Harper Lee writes about their neighbor, a cake-making, cattle-growing little old lady, Miss Maudie. A Baptist, Miss Maudie discusses with Scout how some of the more extreme Baptists feel about women, "Foot-washers believe anything that's pleasure is a sin...thing is, foot-washers think women are a sin by definition. They take the Bible literally, you know." (Lee 49) Miss Maudie calls them foot-washers because of their tendencies and extremist religious ways. Basically, women are seen as a "pleasure" and the foot-washers don't seem to like that. At all. Furthermore, Harper Lee writes about the interactions between Scout and Jem, her older brother, after they had seemed to drift apart as siblings, their ways of thinking straying from each other. Scout was protesting Jem and Dills' scheme to lure out a man named Boo Radley, who had a troubled past. "'Jem, please--' 'Scout, I'm tellin' you for the last time, shut your trap or go home--I declare to the Lord you're getting more like a girl every day!'" (Lee 56) Scout's position as a sibling is being overshadowed by her gender. Back when this was written, the attitude against women was different. They were seen as weaker, and using the term as a term was argument enough. 

Gods and Generals - Conflict (update)

Book by Jeff Shaara, 1996

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[CONFLICT]

    The conflict in Gods and Generals has developed since the last post. There's not much besides conflict to write about, this far in the book. As soon as a good opportunity arrives to do anything else, I'll oblige.

 

    The conflict remains mostly external, being a novel on the Civil War. At around 25% through the  book, the opening shots of the Civil War are just about to start, at Fort Sumter. Robert E. Lee is at the office of the aging General Winfield Scott. Scott is giving Lee the situation after he was relieved from duty in Texas. "'[President Lincoln] knows this?' 'Of course. This is his game: politics. The army can't fire the first shot, and so far, nothing violent has happened.' 'But General, if the fort is fired on, the army will respond. They will have to.'...'Colonel Lee, there is a great deal more at stake here than honor.'" (Shaara 100-101) The country is holding its breath; everyone knows that there will definitely be fighting. There is already a rebellion, there was already the John Brown incident, and there was already the highly controversial election and ideals of Lincoln. Now, everyone is waiting for someone to fire. And we, today, in 2014, know that there will be plenty of blood spilled. This tragic story continues to The Killer Angels, with the Battle of Gettysburg, where Colonel Lee is General Lee, and had aged considerably.
    The external conflict is bound to happen, considering the circumstances that 1800's America's populace found themselves in. "Who knows, Colonel -- moral outragem the love of country [...] People like to get inflamed, get their dander up, and the problem is, it's too easy. It's too easy to make up a speech in New York and scream about killing rebels when you don't have to look 'em in the eye. Hell, Colonel, you've seen men die. It's not something to get fired up to enjoy.' [...] '...men who just want to fight, to strike out at something, you can see it in their eyes.'" (Shaara 99) People on both sides of America are a powder barrel, and the sparks are about to shine. People in the 1800's are eagerly awaiting blood to be spilled, and those not aquainted with war do not realize the regret they will feel.
   
    Another conflict is the internal conflict of Lee. (He's getting a lot of attention, I know. He's probably going to be the main character out of the four main characters.) Lee's internal conflict this time is not about slavery of others but his own state. Lee aligns himself with the South, yet his homeland is Virginia. Lee wishes not to fire upon his home state, should the time come. Although Virginia isn't necessarily a Northern state (there was slavery in Virginia), there was no talk of secession as there was in places like Texas and South Carolina. And this Civil War was the Union against the Confederacy, those who seceeded and those who didn't...although it basically turns out to also be who allows slavery and who doesn't. Secession started with Lincoln's policies of no slavery. Those who seceeded were upset; their way of life was threatened, and they were scared of losing it. So they seceeded and the war started.
    Lee may align himself with the South, but also believes in emancipation. He is split between two ideals. "'I believe in emancipation, but I believe it is ultimately in God's hands. I do not agree with the radicals of the deep South. And, I must say, General, I also do not agree with the talk in the North, the calls for radical aboltion....'" (Shaara 98) Lee is more of a neutral figure within the war, but knows he must pick a side soon.

Gods and Generals - Conflict

Book by Jeff Shaara, 1996

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[CONFLICT]

   I'm here again with Gods and Generals by Jeff Shaara. This time, we're looking at the conflict thus far in the book, and keep in mind that I'm barely 20% through the book, so it's not much.

    Being a novel of the Civil War, you'd think there would be some fighting so far. Nope. There is only a bit of mention here and there, although some pistols have made an appearance. Besides that, the main focus of external conflict has been in the dialogue of Robert E. Lee. After his two-month leave to attend to his wife, Lee returns to Fort Mason, where he finds it more deserted than how he'd left it. Upon his return, Lee asks Major Thomas: "'I was wondering, it seems there are not many troops here. Are they out on patrol, something up?'...'Men have been assigned, scattered all over Texas, spread pretty thin. Begging your pardon, sir, but since you've been gone, the situation here, all over, has gotten a good deal worse.'" (Shaara 78) Lee returns to Fort Mason to find out that his troops have been assigned elsewhere, to deal with, what the text later goes on to say, the Indians. At the time, the setting is September 1860, so this information correlates with actual history. 

    An internal conflict is also happening, with Lee. He is approached one day, while still on leave, by a freed slave that once belonged to his son. The slave's name is Nate, and had found work in Pennsylvania, and Nate had returned to buy his brother, a cripple. Lee accepts the offer without much persuasion needed, but Nate stays to ask a question rather than another request. "...started to go, then stopped. 'Colonel, how many do you gots left here?'... He could not say the word slaves...'Thirty or so, I believe.'" (Shaara 74) Nate then asks "'When they gonna be freed, if you don' mind me askin', Colonel?'...The question sank deep into Lee. It was the same question he had asked himself when he first read the old man's will...'I'm working hard on it, Nate [...] I believe the Negroes are where God wants them to be, and when God wants the Negroes to be free, then He will free them. God has set you free, through my hand."' (Shaara 75) Lee, and his devotion to God, are being questioned by the ethics of slavery. Being a man who aligns himself with the South, Lee owns and has the power to control the freedom of his slaves. But he is internally conflicted with whether he should or not, because if he did, he knows that the would have no where to go, considering that nearly all of them had never been off the ground of the enslaved. In a way, he's doing them all a favor by sheltering them and providing a sure direction in life, cruel as it may be.