Book Review of "To Kill a Mockingbird"

After reading the book "To Kill a Mockingbird", I learnt a few things from the book. Firstly, I learnt that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird. The meaning of this is basically it is wrong to kill or harm something that is innocent. Miss Maudie said:" They don't do one thing but sing their hearts for us." Mockingbirds are harmless and only sing, thus Atticus also told Jem and Scout to never shoot a mockingbird with their air-rifles. That is basically what the whole book is about. Tom Robinson's case is also a similar case where Tom Robinson is innocent but he was being framed up by the Ewells. In the end, he tragically died.

I also learnt from this book to be tolerant and kind to others. Atticus is a very good example. He is tolerant and he treats everyone around him equally and justly. He does not base his opinions of someone just by looking at him but by understanding him. Even with the whole county is against coloured people, Atticus still fights for a coloured folk in court for his innocence. Atticus is also kind to Mrs Dubose, which in Jem and Scout's opinion is a very unfriendly and unkind person. Finally, Atticus is tolerant with everyone even when they insult him and also teaches his children to be likewise. These are all attributes to becoming a good gentlemen.

Lastly, I learnt that we must respect everyone, no matter who they are or what they do. We should respect who they are and what they like. These are all good attributes to a fine gentlemen. Boo's comfort zone was being terrorised, thats why he came out running with a shotgun. Everyone is different and we must learn to accept them and respect them.

My Favourite Picture of my Neighbourhood

2i) A large clump of green bamboos provide shade from the sun to the people who passes underneath it.

ii) A huge black van parks inconveniently on the pavement.

iii) On the busy road, a yellow van speeds by in order to pass the next traffic light.

iv) The once clean pavement is now littered with dead brown leaves.

3) Distances - i) crawling across a two-d floor like a little desert roll-bug (line 7-8) - Metaphor

ii) narrow stone passageways seemed to press in closer ( line 4-5) - Personification

The Hobbit - i) perfectly round door like a porthole (line 4) - simile

ii) not a nasty, dirty, wet hole ( line 1) - alliteration

4i) On the busy road, a yellow van roars by, speeding as fast as a cheetah to pass the next traffic light.

ii) A huge clump of bamboos acts like a shield, bravely shielding off the sun's scorching rays from the people who walks under it.

6) A huge clump of bamboos stood up heroically and acting like a shield, it bravely shields off the sun's evil scorching rays from the innocent people.

7) The scorching hot sun burned my cheeks and arms as I darted as fast as a rabbit to the shade under the huge and brave bamboo. The humongous bamboos heroically stood up to the sun, shielding me from the sun's malicious rays. I fanned myself tirelessly with my hand, desperately trying to keep myself cool. Although this brave tree has shielded me from the sun's rays, I could not bear to look at the dead dried leaves that littered my neighbourhood, just like pimples that ruin one's face.

Apart from the leaves, I could hear the loud hustle and bustle of the Singapore road. A yellow van roars by, speeding as fast as a cheetah to pass the next looming traffic light. Even though it was Saturday, I could still hear the roars and rumble of the cars on the Singapore roads, all waiting for the right moment to pounce.

Then, I noticed an old man walk past me, panting like a dog under the Singapore weather. He paused in front of a huge black van blocking his way. He gave an audible sigh, even above all the roars and rumble from the cars, and made a detour around the car. That big black van has obviously caused inconvenience for the old man and the driver was very rude to have parked his van there.

Found Poem in "To Kill a Mockingbird"

Arthur ‘Boo’ Radley

Boo, sir, Boo, I find
what you are doing
in that spooky house of yours
where no one knows of you.

You rarely come out,
with the gates lock shut
and the doors all closed,
no windows left ajar.

One time you came out
with a gun in arms
when you have realised
someone went in your yard.

Then another time
when that fire arise
you came from behind
gave a blanket to us.

There is one more time,
when that mad dog came,
you were lucky then,
for Atticus had killed him.

One last time you came,
and this time you helped,
by rescueing Jem,
from the strangler Bob.

Boo, sir, Boo. I find
whatever you do
even in that house
your heart stays very nice.

From reading this poem alone and not referring to the book, I feel that Boo Radley is a very kind and helpful person, even though he may occasionally be agitated. Boo had once gave the narrator a blanket and also had saved Jem from Bob. Even so, Boo was once agitated as he found out that someone had entered his house and invaded his privacy. No matter how kind or unkind a person may be, we must always give them some respect. In Boo's case, he wanted to be alone and to have privacy, unfortunately, according to the book, Scout, Jem and Dill sneaked into Boo's house and Boo got very agitated.

ACE Reflection 2

Act of Respect

Today, when I was at the bus-stop, waiting for a bus, I saw an incident that left me very touched.

It was the end of school and I was at a bus stop waiting for my bus to arrive. Just then, a bus came and the back door slid open. An old women carefully stepped down the steps of the bus, both of her arms carrying large grocery bags. She was as skinny as a matchstick and her two skinny arms were shaking under the weight of the large grocery bags. All of a sudden, she lost her footing and she fell straight onto the ground. All her groceries were strewn onto the ground and she was groaning in pain. Suddenly, a young boy perhaps about the age of 8 rushed forward and helped the old lady up. The young boy helped the old lady onto a empty seat and then rushed back to pick up the groceries on the floor.

I was amazed. This young boy was so respectful and kind to others. Even though the old lady was not his own grandmother, he still helped the old lady up and even helped her pick up her groceries. When I was the young boy's age, I guess I wouldn't help the old lady at all because I was shy and did not know the meaning of respect. I would just stand there I stare at the situation. This was not the young boy's case. He bravely rushed forward and helped the old lady no matter what. I admired the boy's bravery and I also hoped to learn from him.

ACE Reflection

Newspaper Article Review

On 11 February 2011, Hosni Mubarak finally resigned as the President of Egypt. He had been the president of Egypt for over 30 years and he is already 85 years old. This news brought happiness to the people of Egypt and they celebrated late into the night, ushering in a new era of optimism to the Arab countries. Mubarak was finally willing to resign after 18 days of rioting. Many people were injured and some protesters even died.

After reading this article, I felt that Mr Mubarak was a very selfish and irresponsible man. He only thought of himself and not of the people of Egypt. Even after being in power for 30 years, and already 85 years old, Mr Mubarak did not want to resign and give up his seat. Further more, He did not do a very good job ruling over Egypt. I feel that Mr Mubarak is very selfish and he only wanted the job just because the pay is attractive and not that he wanted to government Egypt better. Mr Mubarak did not want to resign, only after 18 days of rioting did he finally come to his senses and resign as president. Egyptians rioted for 18 days and there were many injuries. Some were severely injured while some even died.

I think that this incident teaches us that even a small conflict of not being happy with the government can cause a riot. Everyone should be peaceful and harmonious together and I also feel that even though everyone plays a part in ensuring the peace and regulation of the country, the government plays a bigger role in country and should therefore be more sensible and responsible. The government should care more for the locals instead of himself.

"I'm tired..."

I'm tired of studying the whole day and having no play. I wake up at 6 in the every morning and get ready for school. I study for six hours in school and I after I reach back home, I must continue to do the homework my teachers give me. At times, I still have CCA to go to and reach home around 7. Life in Singapore is always fast-paced and there is hardly any time for rest. I'm tired of going to school, I'm tired of doing homework!

Photos of my Neighbourhood

Character Sketch of Atticus Finch

Atticus Finch is a very tolerant man and he has the highest morale in the entire novel "To Kill a Mockingbird". He is very honest, polite, persistent and is not prejudice against the coloured folks. Even when most of the villagers of the county are prejudice against the coloured people, Atticus still stood up and took up a case for Tom Robinson. Atticus also teaches his children to be tolerant and forgive people.He also did not want them to know about his past and that he was the best shooter in town. Atticus wants to be a good role model for his children, thus he kept being a good shooter from his children as Atticus wants them to be civilised. In the book, Atticus took up a case and defended a black man, Tom Robinson, who was accused for raping a white women, Mayella Ewell. Atticus fought a losing battle, even though most of the evidence points to Bob Ewell, Mayella's father, beating her up. The jury, even with the overwhelming evidence, still takes the side of Mayella Ewell, simply because the defendant is a black man and the victim is a white women. In the end, Atticus lost the case and even though Bob Ewell won the case, he still insulted Atticus for having put up such a good fight and even spat on him. Atticus remained calm and also taught his children to bear with all the insults people give them. Jem and Scout learns a lot from Atticus.

This is the link to the Google Docs: https://docs.google.com/document/d/19uqrxdLNOexxfsPOgVBJrWhjD-m7_SnEOQMgtP-aLHY/edit?hl=en#

My Neighbourhood

I live in Braddell. My house is near a housing estate thus it does not have many facilities. My estate is basically rows and rows of houses. The one of the only few facility I know of is a playground opposite my house. You must cross a bridge, walk past a long stretch of houses before you can see the playground. Me and my siblings often go there when we were young but not so much now a days. The next facility is a bus stop which is, very conveniently, right next to my house. It saves my a lot of time and effort to get to and from my school.

Childhood Memory

My most vivid childhood memory is when I went to the Singapore Zoo. As my Aunt's job gives her many free tickets to the Singapore Zoo, and she doesn't have any children, she gave all her tickets to us. Thus, my parents often brought me and my sister to the Zoo. I guess this is the reason why I like animals. I was very young then and I think that the many trips to the Zoo made me interested in animals. However, as i slowly grew up, my aunt no longer got the free tickets to the Zoo anymore, thus I did not go there very often.

Singapore Short Story

Singapore Short Story

Theme: Becoming

Method: Your protagonist is living in Singapore at the time of your story.

I was a citizen of Australia. I migrated to Singapore a few days ago to get a job. I am a skilled photographer, and I was offered a job here in Singapore. My plane landed a few days ago and I am currently living in a hotel. Before I came to Singapore, I did a little research on it. I found out that Singapore is actually the fourth densest country in the world! In comparison to Australia, there is an estimate of 2.4 people per square kilometres, while Singapore had 5540 people per square kilometres! I was in shock at that time. I didn’t expect Singapore to be so overcrowded. In Australia, each house was very far apart from each other, but the first thing I noticed when I came to Singapore was the building arrangements. Most of the buildings were just a few metres apart, and there were multiple floors where many people can live together. I heard that those buildings were called HDB Flats.

During the first few days since my arrival at Singapore, I noticed that the weather was scorching. Singapore is year-round summer and was really hot especially during midday. Australia’s average temperature throughout the whole year is about 24 Celsius. That is a very huge difference between Singapore’s temperature. I guess I better start getting used to Singapore’s temperature if I’m going to stay here for long.

I spent my remaining time before I started work exploring Singapore. I didn’t expect myself to take a very long time exploring such a small country, but I was wrong. The public transports were almost always packed with people and the traffic was almost as bad as in Australia. So, I decided to walk if my journey wasn’t too long. I always brought along my camera wherever I go so that I could capture every moment of my life. I visited the Singapore Flyer (which I thought was very expensive), the Merlion, the Casino and other famous places. But what caught my attention the most was the Night Market (Pasar Malam). The Night Market got its name from the Malay word “pasar”, which means market, and “malam”, which means night. I found the Night Market very interesting and it was something Australia didn’t have. The Night Market, which I was told, is actually made of a makeshift tent and the vendors just set up their stalls inside the tent. The thing that surprise me the most were the people that were there. The Night Market was totally filled with people. I’ve am almost thirty-years-old, yet I have never seen that many people in my whole life. I went to many tourists attractions in Singapore but I did not see that many people. Perhaps most of them were at work, but the sheer size of the crowd at the night market was astounding. Maybe it was because I came from a country which was very huge and the human density was very low, I did not see so many people often thus I felt very nervous and excited. The vendors at the Night Market sold all sort of stuff such as food, accessories, and clothing. I could not help myself but ate a few “satays”, also a Malay word. I enjoyed my time at the Night Market and it was seriously an eye-opener for me.

Finally, it was the last day of my free time before work started, and there was only one last place I wanted to visit was the food court! I wanted to try out some of Singapore’s delicacies ever since I came to Singapore. During the past few days, I tried the Hainanese Chicken Rice, laksa and roti prata. All the food I tried was delicious and I couldn’t wait for more. I’ve heard about the famous chilli and black pepper crab but I’ve never tried it before. Thus, I was going to eat this famous crab. When I reached the stall at East Coast Park, there was an enormous queue lining up for the chilli crab. Not wanting to miss out on this opportunity, I rushed in and queued up as well. The Jumbo Seafood, selling all kinds of seafood dishes, is the most popular seafood restaurant ever in Singapore. When the food finally arrived on to my table, I quickly gulped down my food, as if someone was about to steal my food. The chilli tasted incredible, no wonder all Singaporeans liked it. The chilli and the crab mixed nicely together, and the chilli was just right. I liked it so much I decided to come by next time when I had a chance.

Unfortunately, I had to start work. Being a photographer means that there are hardly any free time. There are usually many events we need to take part in, so we don’t really have a lot of free time. Although I have only been in Singapore for a few days, I find Singapore very interesting and fun to live in.

Favourite Movie

My favourite movie is Ice Age 1. There is already 3 movies based on it: "Ice Age 1", "Ice Age 2, The Meltdown", "Ice Age 3, Dawn of the Dinosaurs" and there is a new movie coming up in September called:" Ice Age 4, Continental Drift". I have watch all the movies before and I feel that the first movies was the best among the 3. The movie is humorous and it is about prehistoric times where there were only cave mans and animals. My favourite scene in that movie is when Sid, a sloth, finds out that he over slept and missed the migration with his family. The setting is on a big oak tree with empty branches, which to a sloth, means a bed. The setting is humorous and Sid has to migrate all by himself.

Favourite Character in "To Kill a Mockingbird"

My favourite character in To Kill a Mockingbird is Atticus Finch. Atticus is the father of Scout Finch and Jem Finch and he works as a lawyer in Maycomb county. He teaches Scout and Jem some basic manners and also teaches them how to be "gentlemanly". As the book progresses, Scout and Jem slowly matures and starts to think about others instead about themselves. They learn form their father, Atticus Finch, and follow his lead. Atticus is responsible in teaching Scout and Jem and I think he is doing a very good job. Atticus is polite, doesn't get agitated easily and is not prejudice against the coloured people.

Favourite Fictional Character

My favourite fictional character is Mr Bean. I began to watch this cartoon when I was very young. My parents bought a box full of Mr Bean series when they went on vacation and I started liking Mr Bean cartoons. I have watch Mr Bean since then and I still like watching Mr Bean now.

Identity

I feel that our identity is shaped by many factors, such as the environment we live in, our parents and teachers. The environment we live in is very important in shaping out identities. If we live in a environment with many hardworking people, we would most likely follow them and become hardworking ourselves. On the other hand, if we live in a environment where everyone is very lazy, we would eventually become very lazy as well. Our parents also pay a very important role in our identities. If they teach us correctly when we were young, we would not grow out of hand. Our teachers would also play a part as they teach and guide us as we grow up. In conclusion, many things help shape our identities but these are the major few.

These are 3 pictures that best represent me:

http://mario.wikia.com/index.php?title=Shy_Guy&image=ShyGuy-PNG

This picture is shy guy, who is basically very shy. I think this picture best represents me.

http://wp.donhavey.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/grass-preview.jpg

This picture is a patch of grass. I think is picture represents me because I never give up, just like grass which can survive any storm and still stand up.

http://neoavatara.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/happy-face_happyface_smiley_2400x2400.jpg

This picture is a happy face. I think it best represents me.