"To Kill A Mockingbird" Setting

Maycomb County, Alabama, the setting of the novel 'To Kill A Mockingbird'. Described as a 'Tired Old Town' where 'In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop; grass grew on the sidewalks.' This photo above isn't the fictional town of Maycomb but instead a street in the town of Selma, Alabama. I believe that this photo of Selma could have easily been the setting of TKAM. When Maycomb is described you can envision sagging and unkept buildings and dirty streets. In this photo you can see that while the streets aren't quite made of clay but are indeed dirty. The streets have a very country aura to them that resembles the town of Maycomb.

This also relates to Maycomb due to the condition of the building, in TKAM they state that the courthouse sags. When I saw this image it made me think about how if something as important as a courthouse was unkept, then less important things would also be unkept. This image seems like it could be a depiction of a general store in the area of Maycomb, and just conjures up an image of a town deep in the South. 

This also reminded me that Maycomb is a small town and rarely has tourists of visitors. A tourist town in American such a Miami, Florida or San Francisco typically try to keep the area clean and visually pleasing, while in Maycomb there are no tourists or visitors to impress. Since the town of Maycomb has no one to impress they would have no reason to keep the town clean of aesthetically pleasing to the eye. So since there is no reason to keep the town clean and presentable I feel that this would be a great picture to describe the care or lack of given to buildings in Maycomb.

 

Theme Blog

Theme Blog

Prompt: Your blog for your 40 Book Challenge this week will focus on theme. You will need to determine a theme and analyze its development throughout the novel. By looking closely at character's actions, the setting, plot events, and/or the conflict, you can identify clues that are written by the author to help teach you (the reader) a message about life or human nature. Start first by looking at your 'Universal Theme' sheet to help you get started.

'A Work In Progress, A Memoir' By Connor Franta

Despite being a memoir and not a work a fiction there are two themes that I think are being expressed throughout the book. These themes would be 'Self Acceptance Isn't Given But Instead Learned' and 'Self Acceptance Is The Most Important Type Of Acceptance'. This is because throughout the memoir Franta speaks out about his experiences struggling with identity, body image, and coming to terms with his sexuality.

'Self Acceptance Isn't Given But Instead Learned'. A large portion of the memoir describes Connor's childhood and teenage life. From the age of about 7, he was unaccepting of his body and grew to dislike his body type due to being called fat. He goes through many emotions while trying to come to terms with the type of body that he has. As he grew older and became an adult he learned to accept his image despite the imperfections he saw within himself. He grew acquainted with these imperfections and learned that everyone is flawed in some way (except Beyoncé, so he says). Besides learning to accept his body image he had to accept his identity. From a young age Franta was interested in the arts and performance. During his adolescence he had the urge to participate in musicals, plays and other artistic activities but felt as if he would be judge for the femininity that was part of his personality. He felt the pressure to be masculine throughout highschool but was naturally a feminine person. Once he stopped caring as much about portraying masculinity to others he accepted his interests no matter how 'feminine' others thought they were. Connor wasn't born accepting every aspect of himself but grew to gain more acceptance for himself.

'Self Acceptance Is The Most Important Type Of Acceptance'. As someone who has read this book and has spent countless hours watching Connor's YouTube videos, it is common knowledge to know that he is gay. For atleast two chapters of 'A Work In Progress' Connor speaks extensively about coming to terms with his sexuality through out his life. He notes that he didn't want to believe that he was gay due to the negative connotation surrounding homosexuality. He writes that due to wanting to be straight he continued to get into relationships with girls despite not enjoying being in relationships with them. As he grew up he learned to accept this part of him. At one point he spoke to himself in the mirror, literally coming out to himself. It took things like this for Connor to accept himself and finally realize that it didn't matter what others thought of his sexuality, and that accepting himself was what was actually important.

Out of the many themes that could be found in Connor Frantas memoir I felt as if these two themes were more detailed than the others that I found within the writing.