To Kill a Mockingbird and Harry Potter, An Examination of Character Development |
 Aug 17 2008, 02:25 PM
Post
#1
|
|
Doctor Filibuster's Junior Assistant  Posts: 1,963 Joined: 8:57am March 12, 2005 Location: at Home or somewhere in between   |
Knowing the ending of a book often gives me a lot of opportunity to examine the motivations and actions of the characters before they get there. JK Rowling has said that she always knew what happened to Harry at the end, and for an author, my guess is that really frees you for filling in the "in-between" spaces with the messages which you are trying bring across.
In reading To Kill a Mockingbird, I've been more interested in how and why this book was listed as one of JKR's favorites. Her work with Amnesty International came to mind rather quickly, but it is my guess that her working for AI was highly influenced by reading this book. Seeing that injustice and prejudice is "alive and well" - even so many years after this book was published, indicates that we as people have a long way to go as Atticus predicts (to Jem) after Atticus lost his "slam dunk" case (page: 220 Grand Central Publishing paperback) QUOTE "Then go up to Montgomery and change the law." "You'd be surprised how hard that'd be. I won't live to see the law changed, and if you live to see it you'll be an old man. Earlier on, I started wondering if To Kill a Mockingbird wasn't the most influential books that gave birth, so to speak, to Harry Potter. When I came upon the following quote, I couldn't help but smile to myself and almost fell to the floor: (p 216) QUOTE "Well I'm gonna be a new kind of clown. I'm gonna stand in the middle of the ring and laugh at the folks. Just looka yonder," he pointed. "Every one of 'em ought to be ridin' broomsticks. Aunt Rachel already does." bold mineCould Rowling have taken that statement as a challenge?  As I started remembering back, this was something that Dill had already mentioned about his Aunt Rachel: (p. 214)QUOTE Dill sighed patiently. "I told her till I was blue in the face where I was goin' - she's seein' too many snakes in the closet. Bet that woman drinks a pint for breakfast every morning - know she drinks two glasses full. Seen her." Does this description sound like anyone familiar to the Harry Potterverse? I wonder - maybe I should consult my crystal ball  . Can you find any other vague or striking similarities between the characters that populate the Mockingbird and Potter Verses? Please limit each post to one short quotation and explanation so that everyone could get a turn and "have their say". 
This post has been edited by momwitch: Aug 17 2008, 02:26 PM -------------------- Avatar made with Poser 6 and Photoshop Elements
|
 |
  
 
|
|
Aug 19 2008, 03:07 PM
Post
#2
|
|
|
Buying a Half-Kneazle Posts: 515 Joined: 1:37pm September 7, 2007 Location: Azkaban, Practicing my Patronus |
I feel like I've been looking at a globe and found - me. Even more frightening, is that JK Rowling (UK) seems to have done the same thing, and has known much of what I've experienced 1st or 2nd hand! The reference to brooms in To Kill a Mockingbird seems somewhat tongue-in-cheek (almost what you might expect from Mark Twain, or Tennessee Williams). Maybe there really is more of Mockingbird in HP than I originally thought.
How about this comparison: Mockingbird = Hedwig (innocence, Tom Robinson)?? "Tom" can be a very cruel, discriminatory, inflamatory, derisive "name" for an individual person, part of a group? of people -- name given by other people outside of this group (worse than "mudblood"). Robinson = Son of a Robin (fair bird of the U.S. South). ELC -------------------- In troubled times, it is often better to remember simple pleasures - family, virtue, and character - rather than to succumb to the woesome distractions of desire, defeat, and disillusionment. ELC
|
|
|
|
|
Aug 21 2008, 07:56 AM
Post
#3
|
|
|
Doctor Filibuster's Junior Assistant Posts: 1,963 Joined: 8:57am March 12, 2005 Location: at Home or somewhere in between |
Hmmm...I'm thinking that within both To Kill a Mockingbird and Harry Potter, that the name "Tom" is used for the everyman character-type. To coin a phrase: He's not like any other Tom, Dick or Harry
. Tom Riddle can be like anybody else, and so can Harry, yet they are extraordinary in their own rights. I think that using the name Tom in TKAM, refers to this everyman status, but is also a not so hidden reference to Harriet Beecher Stowe's title character in her still controversial Uncle Tom's Cabin. It is interesting that the name Robin, actually has origins which extend back to the "old world", as it means in Old English famous brilliance. Perhaps by giving Tom Robinson an Old World heritage, which was mentioned early on in the book as being a source of great pride for the Old South Maycombers (in being able to trace one's roots to the Battle of Hastings), Harper Lee wanted to drive a point home that we are all equal in the eyes of God. Tom's people, taken out of their homeland to be sold into slavery, had a rich history of their own that was lost, yet God in his mercy, made the "common" Tom be born under a name of great and famous brilliance, and he continues to carry on that fame, many years after his wrongful demise. Anyone else for a character in Harry Potter who seems loosely (or not so loosely!) based on a character in TKAM? -------------------- Avatar made with Poser 6 and Photoshop Elements
|
|
|
|
|
Aug 21 2008, 12:22 PM
Post
#4
|
|
Dumbledore's Personal Secretary  Posts: 4,684 Joined: 10:28am December 31, 2006 Location: At a violin concert with my boss. |
Maudie Atkinson seems to me to be quite similar to Minerva McGonagall. Both of them conceal a soft heart beneath a fairly tough exterior. Both of them are fair, loving and have a no-nonsense attitude and can't tolerate fools gladly. Of course, Miss Maudie's love for gardening makes her more close to Pomona sprout too. What's funny is that Maudie and Minerva wholeheartedly support Atticus and Dumbledore respectively which is another paralle I can find between TKAM and HP. 
--------------------  |
|
|
|
|
Aug 21 2008, 03:40 PM
Post
#5
|
|
|
Monster Book Stacker Posts: 405 Joined: 2:57pm July 7, 2005 |
I guess if you squinted your literary eyes, you could say Jem is like Harry, Scout is like Hermione (cautions Jem against going back to get his pants from the Radley yard and acts like a "girrrl") and Dill is like Ron - funny and blunt.
Mr. Ewell definitely Voldemort and Eula would be Bellatrix. Mrs. Dubose is Aunt Muriel. Calpurnia is Kingsley (strong side character). I like as rowena r said Miss Maudie as Prof. McGonagal and Atticus as Dumbledore. Boo I guess would be Snape?! Ha, ha. I better stop there. |
|
|
|
|
Aug 21 2008, 04:21 PM
Post
#6
|
|
|
Doctor Filibuster's Junior Assistant Posts: 1,963 Joined: 8:57am March 12, 2005 Location: at Home or somewhere in between |
I'm with you Rowena!
 I saw a lot of Minerva McGonagall in Miss Maudie too. I see Dumbledore in Atticus as well, Curandera!  As for Mrs Dubose, did anyone else see a Mrs Black connection? Mrs Dubose dies after making life literally miserable for Scout and Jem, with avoiding passing her house and getting screamed at from the porch, like Harry and Hermione (and Ron, too) do when passing by Mrs Black's portrait. It does seem that after Kreacher takes control of the household duties, that we don't hear much about the portrait anymore - and Mrs Dubose dies in relative peace after conquering her demons. Though, I do see a little of the terror that is Aunt Muriel in Mrs Dubose, I think Muriel is probably more like the self righteous town blabbermouth, Miss Stephanie. Calpurnia to me is more like Mrs Weasley, in how she brings within the fold and has Jem and Scout feel welcome in her community. She is also their surrogate mother, like Molly was for Harry and Hermione. Though I might be mixing genders up a bit here, I see Scout as Harry, and Jem as Hermione. Jem is older and lets Scout know what to expect in a knowledgable way, while the story of TKAM is Scout's story, like HP is Harry's story. Is there another character that can fit the role of Voldemort, rather than Ewell? I see Robert E Lee Ewell, more of a fanantical Death Eater character (perhaps Crouch or Amycus?), although the real Robert E Lee's convictions and committments were placed (or so I was told) more out of a sense of loyalty to his home and family. The way I see it, the historical Robert E Lee is more like Regulus Black in HP. Which HP character shares these characteristics? P 129 QUOTE When she settled in with us and life resumed its daily pace, Aunt Alexandra seemed as if she had always lived with us. Her Missionary Society refreshments added to her reputation as a hostess (she did not permit Calpurnia to make the delicacies required to sustain the Society through long reports on Rice Christians); ...
Aunt Alexandra was one of the last of her kind: she had river boat, boarding-school manners; let any moral come along and she would uphold it; she was born in the objective case; she was an incurable gossip. This post has been edited by momwitch: Aug 21 2008, 04:38 PM -------------------- Avatar made with Poser 6 and Photoshop Elements
|
|
|
|
|
Aug 21 2008, 06:01 PM
Post
#7
|
|
|
Buying a Half-Kneazle Posts: 515 Joined: 1:37pm September 7, 2007 Location: Azkaban, Practicing my Patronus |
QUOTE(momwitch @ Aug 21 2008, 09:21 PM)  The way I see it, the historical Robert E Lee is more like Regulus Black in HP. Which HP character shares these characteristics? P 129 QUOTE When she settled in with us and life resumed its daily pace, Aunt Alexandra seemed as if she had always lived with us. Her Missionary Society refreshments added to her reputation as a hostess (she did not permit Calpurnia to make the delicacies required to sustain the Society through long reports on Rice Christians); ... Aunt Alexandra was one of the last of her kind: she had river boat, boarding-school manners; let any moral come along and she would uphold it; she was born in the objective case; she was an incurable gossip. R.A.B.? Really? He was loved and revered by fellow Virginians. After the (US Civil War) Battle of Gettysburgh, his remaining troops pleaded with him to charge the hill again - despite having already incurred tremendous losses. Although he did sign the surrender to General Grant, he never gave up on his "countrymen." His name ever since has been a rallying cry, and the names of cities, counties, and famous universities and even a "River Boat!" Poor Aunt Marge. But I guess neither Scout, nor Jem, ever blew up Aunt Alexandra!!
-------------------- In troubled times, it is often better to remember simple pleasures - family, virtue, and character - rather than to succumb to the woesome distractions of desire, defeat, and disillusionment. ELC
|
|
|
|
|
Aug 21 2008, 06:43 PM
Post
#8
|
|
|
Doctor Filibuster's Junior Assistant Posts: 1,963 Joined: 8:57am March 12, 2005 Location: at Home or somewhere in between |
Believe it or not,
ELC, I was taught that in my history classes. The following is from the Wiki (full link), though it seems very familiar in tone from my textbooks:QUOTE In early 1861, President Abraham Lincoln invited Lee to take command of the entire Union Army. Lee declined because his home state of Virginia was seceding from the Union, despite Lee's wishes. When Virginia seceded from the Union in April 1861, Lee chose to follow his home state. Lee's eventual role in the newly-established Confederacy was to serve as a senior military adviser to President Jefferson Davis. Lee's first field command for the Confederate States came in June 1862 when he took command of the Confederate forces in the East (which Lee himself renamed the "Army of Northern Virginia"). Also from the Wiki, this is a brief family history: QUOTE Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a career United States Army officer, an engineer, and among the most celebrated generals in American history. Lee was the son of Major General Henry Lee III "Light Horse Harry" (1756–1818), Governor of Virginia, and his second wife, Anne Hill Carter (1773–1829). He was a descendant of Sir Thomas More and of King Robert II of Scotland through the Earls of Crawford.[1] A top graduate of West Point, Lee distinguished himself as an exceptional soldier in the U.S. Army for thirty-two years. He is best known for fighting on behalf of the Confederate Army in the American Civil War. As this shows, he came from a very distinguished family. The US Civil War was a war fought: "brother against brother, neighbor against neighbor, friend against friend", and this helped with my thoughts on Lee being a prototype for Regulus, in his struggle with Sirius. Regulus was the honorable son, while Sirius was the outcast, "playing" for the other side. Ironically enough, what does this bring to mind? QUOTE Since the end of the Civil War, it has often been suggested that Lee was in some sense opposed to slavery. In the period following the Civil War and Reconstruction, and after his death, Lee became a central figure in the Lost Cause interpretation of the war, and as succeeding generations came to look on slavery as a terrible immorality, the idea that Lee had always somehow opposed it helped maintain his stature as a symbol of Southern honor and national reconciliation. Some of the evidence cited in favor of the claim that Lee opposed slavery, are the manumission of Custis's slaves, as discussed above, and his support, towards the end of the war, for enrolling slaves in the Confederate States Army, with manumission offered as an eventual reward for good service. Lee gave his public support to this idea two weeks before Appomattox, too late for it to do any good for the Confederacy. Something which might be purely coincidence, but thought very interesting in terms of a pure character analysis. Robert E Lee had 7 children with his wife, and his first son: QUOTE George Washington Custis Lee (Custis, "Boo"); 1832–1913; served as Major General in the Confederate Army and aide-de-camp to President Jefferson Davis; married, but had no children Off topic: I'm a bit of a history geek.  I give a lot of that credit to my high school history teacher, who not only taught me for all four years, but became a real friend later on in his life. I and his many, many former students lost not only a fantastic teacher but a good friend when he passed away a few months ago. This one it for him. 
This post has been edited by momwitch: Aug 21 2008, 06:45 PM -------------------- Avatar made with Poser 6 and Photoshop Elements
|
|
|
|
|
Aug 21 2008, 08:07 PM
Post
#9
|
|
Knight MacMod The Great Protecting The Memory Of Sense Posts: 2,422 Joined: 7:17pm February 17, 2006 Location: 3rd door on the left, Hogsmeade  |
momwitch:
I suspect you might enjoy Alan T. Nolan's Lee Considered: General Robert E. Lee and Civil War History. It is a reasonably scholarly examination of Lee's actual statements and actions, coming to a somewhat less flattering, more complex and ambiguous conclusion. I think Nolan's idea that much of what people came to believe about Lee is part of the "Lost Cause" cultural myth developed after the war (a belief system that really did not exist in large measure before the war) has some merit. That is, much of the belief about Antebellum Southern culture is not really accurate; some of it is a romantic recreation. I'm not sure I completely agree with Nolan, but it did give me much to think about. Nor do I think such an issue is off topic in examining To Kill a Mockingbird. Post Civil War Southern Culture is almost a living character in the story. I love the study of the American Civil War. I have well over a hundred books. --------------------  click the Q "And, if there is need to speak in brief summary of this power, we shall find that none of the things which are done with intelligence take place without the help of speech, but that in all our actions as well as in all our thoughts speech is our guide, . . ." Isocrates, Antidosis |
|
|
|
|
Aug 22 2008, 04:45 PM
Post
#10
|
|
|
Doctor Filibuster's Junior Assistant Posts: 1,963 Joined: 8:57am March 12, 2005 Location: at Home or somewhere in between |
Thank you, WaM
! Somehow I knew that if I put up a Wiki reference, you would point me in the right direction for a more scholarly resource! I had a Civil War coloring book as a long ago souvenir from one of my family's visits to Gettysburg, that suggested that Lee was more of a reluctant Southern hero. Though I can't judge another person's heart, I would think that there was a lot of internal conflict that occurred during that war, and that family loyalty played a large role in determining who lined up on either side of the battlefields. With Regulus' sacrifice to rescue Kreacher, his slave, by drinking the potion and giving him the horcrux, he seemed to have a similar change of heart, as the popular version of Lee implies his wanting to free his slaves after meritable service in the Confederate army. Kreacher was offered as a pawn to Voldemort's cause by the Black family, and through that service, Regulus realized the errors of the Dark Lord's ways, turning his perspective around at least as it applied to Kreacher. There is something else that I would like to ask you. A few days ago, my eldest came home from school and said that she has been assigned to read To Kill a Mockingbird this semester! How much of a coincidence is that? Do you have any other suggestions for books which might introduce her to the Civil War and prepare her for some of the themes in the book? I don't want to overwhelm her with names and dates, but I think a well written overview could put a lot into perspective for her.
This post has been edited by momwitch: Aug 22 2008, 04:48 PM -------------------- Avatar made with Poser 6 and Photoshop Elements
|
|
|
|
