Dear GCSEbies,
Here are the quotations for the following themes:
… and the following motifs:
Enjoy using them to plan your essays and revise the play over half term!
Write about how Shakespeare presents the theme of love and hate in Romeo and Juliet.
Introduction: Ask key questions that the essay will answer, for example, how does love affect the characters in the play? How does hate affect their behavior? What are the similarities between love and hate? What does the language suggest about love and hate?
Key points to include:
Conclusion: Love and hate are not opposites! They are closely related and equally powerful.
This sounds like the name of a band.
It’s not (I don’t think…) it’s a reference to chapter 11 of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, in which the antaganistic, crumbly old Mrs Dubose from down the road forces poor Jem to read Ivanhoe (and such like) to her as she dribbles her way through the sticky Maycomb afternoons.
Once you get into Part 2 of the novel, when the trial of Tom Robinson begins to dominate the narrative, you’ll forget all about the funny little goings-on of Part 1. The rabid Tim Johnson, lolloping his way down the road, the summer games with Dill and adventures into the Radley territory and, indeed, Mrs. Dubose and her camelias… these will all seem like minor, insignificant happenings, in comparison with the drama of Tom Robinson’s trial.
So let’s pause before we embark on the heady adventures of Part 2, to reflect on why Part 1 is so important. Because it is, actually.
The themes that are explored in these little stories are exactly those that Harper Lee will explore in the rest of the book. The prejudice against Boo Radley that we see in Part 1 will re-emerge as the prejudice against Tom Robinson (and Mayella Ewell) in Part 2. The empathy that Atticus tells Scout is so important in Part 1 (‘You never really know a person… until you climb into his skin and walk around in it’) is the same empathy required of Jem as he learns more about the trial in Part 2. The courage of Mrs. Dubose in Part 1 is the same courage required of Atticus as he defends Tom Robinson in Part 2. It’s all very clever, you see.
Have a look at this:
It shows some of the themes prevalent in chapter 11.
Re-read chapter 11, and make notes on moments where one of the themes seems to be important.
Use your notes, and the diagram, to answer the following essay question:
How does Harper Lee use the story of Mrs Dubose in chapter 11 to explore some of the novel’s key themes?
Due: Monday 14th October
English and Things 