Mississippi Burning: Review

Dear Readers,

Today, during class, Miss Huang shared with us a video of Mississippi Burning, another film related to racism in the twentieth century.

The blog prompt is whether I liked the film and why (or why not).

Let me start my opinion with a quote used frequently in day-to-day life: "Everything has its pros and cons." In actual fact, I remain neutral to the film - neither liking it nor disliking it. Let me explain to you why this is so.

The Pros

This film was able to vividly portray the actual scenes of racism and ill-treatment the blacks received from the white community, especially the infamous Ku Klux Klan. They were horribly beaten up and their houses and churches burnt down to ashes. All these happened merely because of their identity - a Negro, a black, a "nigger". This point made it better than "To Kill A Mockingbird", where few incidents depicted the rampant racism.

The Cons

The big problem of this film is that it is overly violent. One word to describe it would be "gruesome". There were many scenes in which inhumane acts were being carried out. This greatly shocked me, as I did not believe that humans would do such a horrible thing to another of the same species.

Examples would be when the black man being thrown off onto the road from a car moving at an extremely high speed. Another black man was hung on a rope during the fire. Even whites were not spared - those who supported the Civil Rights Movement. They were being shot by the Mississippian police force, which gave rise to a huge irony.

After all this, I feel that this film is a good one if you would like to find out more about the means of which the whites discriminated the blacks. However, it is not one I would recommend to you, if you are faint-hearted.

Best Regards,

Nathan =)

Comments that I have Done on My Classmates' Blogs

(This post is for my Language Arts teacher, Miss Huang)

Dear Miss Huang,

These are the blog comments which I have made, for your easy reference:-

1. Ivan: "Prejudice-Real Life Example"

2. Ivan: "To Kill A Mockingbird - Chapters 1-11: Personal Response (Part 2)"

3. Kai En: ""The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost"

4. Raphael: "Blog Prompt 1 xD"

5. Kai Xuan: "Poems (1st post for the year)"

6. Nicholas: "Superstitions"

7. Nicholas: "To Kill A Mockingbird: Personal Response"

8. Nathanael: "Putting Myself in Another Person's Shoes"

9. Glenn: "Prejudice - My Experience"

10. Keven: "Blog Prompt - TKAM: Ending of the Novel"

Best Regards,

Nathan :)

Who I Empathise With Most and Least During the Court Trial

Dear Readers,

Blog Prompt: As you followed the action in the courtroom, which character did you empathise with most? Least? Explain.

The character I empathise with most is none other than Tom Robinson - the innocent one who was found guilty due to his skin colour and no concrete evidence.

This is mostly because of the fact that he, as a Negro, was not allowed to touch Mayella (a white) to push her away and neither could he run away. Therefore, it was this dilemma which caused him to not know what to do when Mayella made advances to him.

During the cross-examination, the prosecutor Mr Gilmer was not able to counter Atticus's concrete points but just reached some conclusions like he had a previous conviction, was strong enough to have beaten Mayella and that he could not directly accuse a white woman of lying. He made a mistake by saying that he felt sorry for her. His courtesy during the trial and background totally point in the opposite direction, suggesting that he was incapable of committing the crime.

All these so-called "evidence" were just fluff - and would have been insufficient to prove his guilt in the present-day scenario. However, because of his identity as a Negro, he was found guilty.

On the other hand, the character whom I do not empathise with at all is Bob Ewell. Being a "white trash", he was totally the opposite of Tom - rude and arrogant amongst others.

After making the false accusation that Tom raped his daughter, he even had the mood to crack a joke during the court trial, saying that he could not deny the fact that he was Mayella's father as her mother was already dead. This was all done to put himself in the limelight, something which he especially loved to be in.

Therefore, I conclude that I empathise greatly with Tom Robinson because of the injustice that was done unto him, but totally not with Bob Ewell - the liar.

Best Regards,

Nathan :)

Ending of the Novel

Dear Readers,

Blog Prompt: Did the ending of the novel surprise you? If you were the author, would you have ended the story differently? Explain.

I was surprised by the ending but am very satisfied with the ending of the novel.

Why Surprised?
Actually, I thought that Atticus and Judge Taylor were the only ones who believed in the serving of justice. However, it never did cross my mind that Sheriff Tate would also want to see justice being served.

Why Satisfied?
During the trial, Atticus had pointed out all the evidence which supported Tom Robinson's innocence; however, he was still found guilty of a crime which he did not commit at all. All this took place in the court of law which was supposed to punish the guilty and acquit the innocent.

Although Sheriff Tate found out that Arthur "Boo" Radley was the one who murdered Bob Ewell, he decided not to arrest him. Boo had killed to protect the children. The sheriff was duly aware that should Boo be put on trial, he would suffer the same fate as Tom Robinson - another innocent death. Sheriff Tate and Atticus would be indirectly responsible for his death. The sheriff made the best decision of dismissing Bob's death as an accident, with that he hoped that he would be able to compensate to Boo who had been ostracised for numerable years.

So "YES", I am extremely happy with the ending of the novel and would love to keep it just the way it is! :P

Best Regards,
Nathan :)

My Favourite Character in "To Kill A Mockingbird"

Dear Readers,

Blog Prompt: Harper Lee’s novel is full of interesting and richly painted characters. Which character was your favourite and why?

Today, I will be sharing with you my favourite character in the novel "To Kill A Mockingbird". He is none other than MR ATTICUS FINCH.

Firstly, I feel that he is a devoted family man. Atticus is a sensitive, honest and straightforward parent. He treats his children as thinking adults and answers their questions fully, not treating them as “childish”. Atticus does not spoil his children but instead treat them as rational beings. He is truthful to both Scout and Jem. Even though he was a single parent, he was able to raise his children very well, which is a rather amazing feat! Most importantly, he practises what he preaches (see: post "Practise What You Preach") and sets an outstanding example for his children to emulate.

In addition, he is a man of substance. I will break this down into four sub-points.

He is courageous, as he dared to defend a Negro, knowing that he would in a way be opposing the entire white community. However, Atticus insisted in fighting this seemingly hopeless struggle with sincerity, even though he knew he had no chance of winning. I would like to quote Atticus's description of courage as knowing “your licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what”.

Next, he is a well-mannered person. Even when someone expresses a dislike towards him he will still try to do his best to look at the good side of the person instead. His conduct is always courteous despite any conflicts. A good example would be when Bob Ewell spat at him during the trial, and yet, Atticus remained nonchalant about it.

Tolerance is yet another one of his virtues. Atticus is open-minded and will accept each individual's beliefs, regardless of whether they differ from his own or not. He is also greatly respected throughout Maycomb County and shows this by respecting others.

He displays integrity as well, because he is one amongst few who felt that coloured people should be able to have the same standard of living as their white counterparts. He despises the social status system as well as the segregation of whites from blacks.

Last but not least, he does not believe in violence. Although he was a marksman with amazing accuracy, he did not use the gun to protect himself when he had to face the mob at the county jail as well as when Bob Ewell threatened to attack him.

Atticus displays qualities and skills that I would like to emulate. He is truly someone who can be relied and looked upon as being an outstanding individual!

Best Regards,
Nathan :)

Putting Yourself in Others' Shoes

Dear Readers,

Blog prompt: What does it mean to “put yourself in another person’s shoes”? What personal qualities are necessary to be able to see things as someone else does?

Putting oneself in another person's shoes means to see a situation from another perspective or point-of-view. However, this requires one to get out of one's own "shoes", as it is by human nature that we are self-centred and think of ourselves in a favourable light. This, however, might result in us realising that we are not as "perfect" as we think we are, neither are we quite as "special" as we think we are.

There are two qualities that I feel are especially necessary to be able to see things as someone else does.

The first quality is empathy. It means recognising emotions in others and essentially refers to "putting oneself in another person's shoes". Sadly, empathy is not an easy quality to attain and few actually are equipped with this virtue; it goes beyond just listening the problems, but also includes responding to the problems and, if possible, solving them.

Other keys to empathy include paying attention to how the person is feeling, putting feelings into words and also keeping your words simple. However, the most important thing is to give the person a chance to respond to your comments. This is because it shows the person that you actually care and want to understand more about his/her problem.

The other quality is honesty - to oneself. This refers to the quality of always telling the truth. When a person is not honest to himself/herself about the way he/she feels in a particular situation, how can he/she ever feel what the other party is going through?

Best Regards,

Nathan :)

Superstitions

Dear Readers,

Before I begin, I would like to define the word "superstition". According to the Cambridge International Dictionary of English, "superstition" is defined as a belief which is not based on human reason or scientific knowledge, but is connected with old ideas about magic.

I believe many of us believe in superstitions, such as Friday the 13th and seeing a black cat. However, in my opinion, these are not really credible, as all we know about Friday the 13th is that it is deemed an unlucky day but nobody truly met with some unfortunate incidents or something, similarly in the case of the black cat.

More of such superstitions can be found at this website: http://www.corsinet.com/trivia/scary.html.

However, I will state some of my personal experiences which further spurred me to believe in some superstitions with true evidence.

The first example occurred to me when I was about one-and-a-half year old. I was unable to sleep well and would continuously cry throughout the night. My mother became impatient and rather unhappy, as she was working then and had to wake up rather early. As a result, she asked my father to consult a medium. The medium mentioned that I was crying incessantly and not sleeping well because I had previously passed by a funeral at the void decks. He then gave my father some incense paper which he had to burn and put into a glass of water to drink. Lo and behold, the next day I was back to normal and no longer cried at night. In fact, I slept very well!

If this is merely a superstition, why did it work so effectively?

Another incident happened on my mother during her teenage years. She had a growth on the ankle of her right foot. She mentioned that it was neither itchy nor uncomfortable but it was an unsightly eyesore. She had attempted to apply medication after the consultation of a doctor; however, it did not work. My grandmother realised the growth and then advised her to carry out a ritual.

Firstly, she had to select an auspicious day (preferably, the first or fifteenth day of the lunar month where there is a new or full moon). In my mother's case, she picked the Dumpling Festival. On that day, my mother had to pick up a used piece of material, be it tissue paper or a dumpling "wrapper" (in my mother's case). She then scrapped at the growth and said, "Go away. Go away." Last but not least, she had to take a different route back home. Amazingly, after a few days, the growth disappeared.

This happened not once but twice! The second time was just two years ago, when I witnessed it for myself, with my own eyes. Science was unable to solve such a problem, but superstition was able to. Why is this so?

I believe that in this world of ours, there are many incredible things that happen to us which we will never understand nor comprehend why it happens. Therefore, these are deemed as "superstitions". However, seeing is believing: the fact that we saw it, there is no reason why we should not believe it. Of course, having said that, not all superstitions are true. We must determine it by a case-by-case basis, and not believe them wholesale.

Please feel free to share some superstitions which happened to you!

Best Regards,

Nathan :D

Prejudice in "To Kill A Mockingbird"

Dear Readers,

I hope you had a fantastic Chinese New Year. Today I will be talking about prejudice in the novel "To Kill A Mockingbird".

After a Language Arts lesson done on prejudice in class on 13th January, I have learnt about the differences between prejudice, discrimination, stereotypes and over-generalisation.

Prejudice is a prejudgement whereby one does not know the actual facts of the situation before judging an individual or group.

In “To Kill A Mockingbird”, there are three significantly rampant types of prejudice, namely gender prejudice, racial prejudice and social class prejudice.

Gender prejudice is evident in the Maycomb County, even in the Finch family.

Aunt Alexandra insists that Scout has to dress ladylike, behave ladylike and do mundane activities such as embroidery, due to her social status. However, Jem was allowed autonomy of doing whatever he wished to. This illustrates the difference in treatment between a male and a female back in the 1960s.

The most significant type of prejudice which propels the story is the racial prejudice.

In the county of Maycomb, the whites ostracise the blacks simply because of the difference in their skin colour. For example, Atticus found many loopholes in the Ewells’ story during the trial. The wounds found on Mayella Ewell suggested that they must have been inflicted by a left-hander. However, Tom Robinson was a right-hander and his left hand was maimed. Sadly, the court still ruled in favour of the white Ewells over that of the innocent black Robinson, by virtue of their skin colour. This incident clearly illustrated the severity of racial prejudice during those days.

In addition, during the court trial, the blacks were congregated in the upper balcony away from the whites. Another example was that the blacks had to wait for all the whites to enter the court before being allowed in.

Lastly, we have the social class prejudice.

On the highest point of the hierarchy in Maycomb comes the affluent like the Finches. Below them are the ordinary townspeople followed by the farmers like the Cunninghams. Below these peasants come the despised Ewells and at the rock bottom of the community, the so-called niggers. The presence of this hierarchy prevented Scout from consorting with Walter Cunningham, at Aunt Alexandra’s insistence.

Feel free to comment should you spot other types of prejudice or examples in "To Kill A Mockingbird"! (:

Best Regards,
Nathan (:

Practise What You Preach

Dear Readers,

In this post, I would like to take this opportunity to explain why I had the theme – practise what you preach – for my Home Learning task on 24th January 2011. Two similar incidents have occurred in school during the last month of January that made me want to highlight these undesirable behaviours of two teachers.

The first incident happened over the Electronic Message Board, a board which our school has for teachers to disseminate information to students.

However, a teacher posted a number of messages which adopted an extremely sarcastic and impolite tone, addressed to the students. The intensity of sarcasm increased with each messages she sent. I was appalled as I have never seen such messages being posted by a teacher. This really shocked me as I have always believed teachers are educators of knowledge and morals.

I would like to draw an analogy of students and teachers: students are like clay and teachers, moulds. When students are exposed to good behaviours and actions, they would be moulded to be morally upright people. Similarly, when they are being exposed to bad behaviours by the ones whom they respect, they would turn out to be equally bad. Unfortunately, instead of the usual decorum of a teacher of imparting morals to students, this teacher showed us the example of how a “bad teacher” truly is like.

The second incident took place during one of our lessons in class. Our teacher made fun of students’ names and passed racist remarks, thinking such antics are hilarious: We have been taught not to make fun of others as it would hurt them emotionally. Does this teacher not know even such a simple thing?

The racist remarks were extremely unforgivable. Singapore has always been striving to create a social cohesion beyond races, but how can we ever achieve this when such teachers do otherwise? Moreover, our nation is a multiracial society where we live together in perfect harmony, so we should be tolerant and work together instead of hurting one another with insulting remarks. This also sparked my inspiration for my narrative writing of the Singaporean short story.

In conclusion, teachers should be more mindful of their behaviours and actions, as they are whom students respect and will emulate such acts. As students often do not know how to filter right from wrong, they usually follow all such acts wholesale. Students should learn to differentiate right actions from wrong ones and emulate the former but not the latter.

To end, each and every one of us should practise what we preach!

Wishing you a Happy Chinese New Year!

Best Regards,
Nathan (: