Journal+8-+To+Kill+A+Mockinbird+Literature+Criticism

1. This literary criticism showed the use of right and left in the book and how it symbolized the character's emotions and level-headedness. I'm not sure how they figured all of that out while they were reading the book though. I do believe that Harper Lee tried to use the"right" and "left" like that, since all of the good characters are associated with right (such as Atticus, Jem, and Tom) and all of the bad characters in the book are associated with left (such as the rabid dog, Bob Ewell, and Mayella Ewell). I don't remember Atticus having a bad left eye though, though I do recall the part where "he pinned her against the wall with his good eye". In conclusion, I think that this criticism had a lot of valid points that made a lot of sense.

2. I read the criticism Redemption of Atticus, the response to Mr. Crespino's criticism. This criticism really confused me because I'm not sure how Mr. Crespino thinks Atticus is not a hero. Mr. Crespino believes that Atticus was just a white man helping a black man to show his power over Tom. But the other three people who commented on Mr. Crespino's essay disagreed. Marcus Jimison said that Atticus showed the same type of nonviolence as Martin Luther King Jr when he didn't do anything but wipe Mr. Ewell's spit off of his face. Jewell Knotts and Wayne Flynt also said that Atticus had positive, un-racial, traits when he taught Scout to think from other people's perspective and when he lost the respect from some people in town. Just because Atticus doesn't fly around in tights doesn't mean he isn't a hero.