Change_Essay_(Robert_Frost_and_to_Kill_a_Mocking_Bird

My understanding of change has been developed and influenced by our study of the concept. I have learnt that change occurs within literature, I can now see change within a text, its characters and how the meaning can change because of a change in context. Today’s society is clearly different to that of the world ninety years ago; we have changed. Robert Frost’s poems ‘The Road Not Taken’ and ‘Fire and Ice’ show change both within each poem and through a change in context resulting in different interpretations for different readers. The social and political novel ‘To Kill a Mocking Bird’ by Harper Lee is another great example of change within a text and through context. The language features and techniques eg. Metaphor, personification, onomatopoeia, characterisation and structure used by the authors of these texts have shown me how change in literature can occur. Robert Frost’s poem ‘The Road Not Taken’ represents the idea that one man making a decision has unpredictable consequences which will affect the rest of his life. Frost uses the metaphor of “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood... one traveller ...and looked to where it bent in the undergrowth”. The metaphor of the diverging roads shows us choices, he says one traveller to allow the reader to relate to the poem. The undergrowth represents the idea of where we can no longer predict what consequences might come from our actions. The symbolism of the “yellow wood” suggests autumn, the season of change. Our understanding of the poem itself changes, at face value the poem looks as if to inspire people on taking the ‘road less travelled’ but on closer inspection it is actually telling us that choice is inevitable. Another is the topic of choice, as we choose our lives change. If we look at frosts context we can see that it is during world war one, he is making decisions to head back to England and it is a time for major life choices related to his career; I gain new meaning from this poem as my context is different to that of Robert Frost; I relate it to the difficult subject choices I have made for my schooling. Through this poem my understanding of change has developed. The Poem ‘Fire and Ice’ also by Robert Frost demonstrates how the context of two readers will result in a different meaning for both. The poem can be interpreted as talking about the physical world and how it may either be destroyed by ‘fire’ or ‘ice’. Fire and ice are metaphors of the nine rings of hell in which fire is desire and ice is betrayal and hate; this is the use of Intertextuality between frosts poem and Dante’s ‘The divine comedy’. This is changed as another person’s context may lead them to view the poem as talking about the emotional world. If a person is consumed by hate or desire or other emotions then it can destroy them. Robert Frost lost many loved ones in his life and experienced many hardships so he may have experienced this. A contemporary reader can relate to the poem as the destruction caused by hate fuelled wars of today or the human desire for power, control and superiority. When contrasted with Frost’s contextual setting of the Second World War and the destruction of humanity and values with the belief of a decent into hell. This is also evident because he took inspiration from dantes divine comedy and its nine rings of hell. Through this poem my understanding of a change in context and interpretation has developed. There are many changes represented in Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill a Mocking Bird’; for example Jem undergoes emotional and mental change and Scout changes into a respectable young lady. By far the biggest change involves Scout’s view towards the innocent mockingbirds, Boo Radley and Tom Robinson who are made guilty by the racist and prejudiced misconceptions of the town. The novels two part structure demonstrates Scout’s childhood ignorance of racism and prejudice in the first half; a good example is Scout’s school lesson where the teacher speaks of the prosecution of the Jews as horrific but is ignorant to her own racial prosecution of African Americans. The second half shows her change in perspective that is brought about by Atticus’ teachings, the events that take place leading up to the court case and the case itself. A good example of Scout’s change is when she stands on Boo Radley’s porch and sees the world from his perspective or as Atticus calls it “climb into his skin and walk around in it”. Some of the other techniques Lee uses to show Scout’s change includes contrasting her to her peers and the town’s folk and the character development and influence of Atticus, Jem and Dill. Another demonstration of how change occurs is the change in context. The world today is different to the 1930s and although we can still relate the novel to the racism of 2010 we can also get new meaning. In the novel racism and prejudice destroy the innocence. In today’s society we can look towards the Iraq war to see that relatively innocent people have been killed for no confirmed reason other than the greed of a government. Our study of the concept of change has influenced my understanding of change From our study of change I have learnt that change occurs within a text and is an important point of creating an argument; I have learnt that a change in context may result in a change in meaning and I have learnt that change occurs between texts. robert frost : ‘The Road Not Taken’ and ‘Fire and Ice’ To Kill a Mocking Bird’ by Harper Lee