Month: February 2015

The evidence of Harper Lee’s morality can be shown throughout the text using character. I can explain this because the main protagonist Scout is  used as a vessel in which Harper explains her moral beliefs and thoughts on racism in the southern part of the United States. She does this because anything said from a child is acceptable as they have much to learn and they are young and naive meaning  that anything said will be taken lightly. However if Harper lee was to express her views with the world directly then there would have been an uproar because of her being a fully grown adult.  Many of the characters in the book are likely to have been influenced by the author’s childhood as she sees Scout as a younger version of herself. “Well how do you know we ain’t Negroes?” This is one of the many questions that Scout asks Atticus who is her biological father and helps her out throughout the book. For someone studying the 1930’s or Racial Segregation in Southern America then this would be a good source for understanding what it most probably would of been like, because the author actually watched her friends experience such negativity as she grew up, and she would therefore be able to capture the events from their perspective as well as her own. Children are not born Racist and are actually born happy and this means that children are only introduced into hate and misfortune by their parents. How Jem and Scout view the world is a reflection on how they were brought up by Atticus.

Turf written by John Lucas is one of my favorite books as it explores the student life in north London,Hackney.
The book follows Jay, a student growing up in Hackney, North London and as his 16th birthday approaches, Jay is offered the chance to move up in the ‘food chain’ from the youngers to the Olders of the Blake Street Boyz (His local Gang). But to be accepted in he is asked to kill a classmate, and Jay begins to rethink if the Blake Street Boyz is all its pumped up to be. Jay has been sent to live with his ardent Christian aunt; her flat is a “Welcome Break for souls” crammed with metaphors, including a hologram of Jesus that taunts Jay with life or death.
The book contains many hints to religion and choice.Jay meets new characters who teach him new lessons and change his perception of life. Although this book is for teens it contains sexual content and violence which i like because its a lot more realistic because it goes beyond the stereotype.The book is read in 3rd person but from Jay the main antagonists perspective. I find it entertaining how John Lucas (the writer) writ the book with so much detail but hadn’t had any history with hackney or gangs. Often the book is quite comedic and funny but are diluted down with unfortunate happenings. The author guided the plot with Jays decisions and choices. He also creates characters like Leo in which hangs around a church and has a rather large spliff in which he smokes and gives many prophecy’s to jay almost like the apothecary in Romeo and Juliet. His aunt also steers Jay’s direction by talking to him about religion and the smart choices. The book explains the segregation between whats cool and whats not mainly at the start in which it explains that when your 15 everything matters. Jay explains how Mars,twix and snickers are too mainstream and flake , Buenos and malteser are too girly. He then explains how Galaxy is not too girlie, but actually that galaxy is a good choice because it shows certain class, like a mans taste. But soon after he explains how he would of liked to eat a Milky way bar but that’s light and fluffy because it took him back to when things were simple and it didn’t matter what chocolate he ate but now he seems to think that there is no way eating a chocolate bar not in his section.

Mockingjay is the Third and last instalment of the Hunger Games Franchise. The start of the book returns to the cliffhanger of Catching Fire (Previous book) and the contents of the book has remotely changed from the first book as the story doesn’t revolve around The arena or the trials but the consequences and conclusions to the main protagonists actions. The heroin is called Katniss Everdeen and she is a near traumatized young adult who has gone through physical and mental trauma to protect her family and friends.The world is a post-apocalyptic dystopia in which citizens are very much like puppets with strings a lot like reality shows today instead with a fear of death rather than a fear of unpopularity controlling them. The puppet master is President Snow who’s appearance is of a retired Father Christmas with puffy lips and a single white rose tucked snug in his breast pocket. Katniss chooses to replace her younger sister Prim in the Arena where selected youths are chosen from each district to fight to the death and where one victor is allowed to survive. Throughout Katnisses time in the games she gives off gestures and signs of resistance. This is the first incentive that she will be the beacon of hope for Panem. The Mockingjay is figure or idol in which will free them from the clutches of the Capitol. A Mockingjay is a bird like creature created by the Capitol using the genes of  Jabber jays which were birds that the Capitol genetically engineered to be spies during the rebellion of the past 13 districts.The Jabberjays had collected the information for the capitol and had fulfilled their purpose so the laboratories were destroyed and the surviving subjects were left in the wilderness to die out. Eventually they had died out but not until they had passed on their genetic code to female Mockingbirds. The use of having the Mockingbird could have been a hint to the Harper Lee novel ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ as it shows pride. The book is written in 3rd person but from Katniss’s point of view which i also enjoy because the author is also a female so this helps the connection between the antagonist and the writer. Suzanne Collins even states that”Katniss is a wreck” This was a good pillar for the book because it doesn’t contain any stereotypes as the apocalyptic war had changed them. Her character is a tom-boy who hunts animals and sells them to feed her small family as her Father was killed in a mining accident when Katniss was younger and her mother was a doctor for the sick and starving community. This had made Katniss the man of the house and this had stripped her of her childhood. For female readers this was good because there are not many Female heroes in today’s novels and films as Katniss is independent and strong instead of a damsel in distress.The setting of the hunger games was based on  reality TV and coverage of the war in Iraq with child soldiers being killed and people watching it on TV. She was also influenced heavily by Greek Mythology. The story of Theseus and the Minotaur is a favorite story and she had used the children being sent to death in the arena with the Minotaur in her story being King Minos of Crete as President Snow and Athens is panem in which King Minos demands Athens to send him seven children every year. This had been the backbone for the famous franchise. This does not have many non fiction parts as it is an allegory like Animal Farm but for the distant future. This is very different and therefore unique as it explores the dark side of humanity. The few books that surround the Hunger Games are Divergent,Twilight and Maze runner.