Nonfiction Blog Post

               In the article To Kill or Not to Kill, the author, Patricia Smith, is trying to portray the conflict of the death penalty around the world. After very recent executions by the lethal injection, new debate arose around the death penalty due to the fact that many Americans were disturbed by seeing the executions take place. The author goes on to discuss many other unsettling examples of the death penalty and how many things could go wrong if we were to keep turning to it, for example, taking the life of an innocent person and not being able to change anything. The author has strongly sided against the death penalty and is trying to teach readers how it is the wrong form of punishment.
               One way the author shows the readers that the death penalty is wrong is by telling of all the different methods of execution to give an example of how disturbing the death penalty is. For example, there is a whole section of the article that tells in depth about how the Hanging, Electric Chair, Lethal Injection, Gas Chamber, Burning/Shooting and other obscure methods work to kill criminals and exactly how many criminals each method has exterminated. This part of the text helped to paint a picture of every quite sickening method that prisoners can be killed and how it can be inapt even for a criminal who has done something very wrong. In the article, another way the author opposed the death penalty is by showing that sometimes it can go wrong, not only just killing their victim but also harshly torturing them on the way. For example, the text states " “Everyone watching the execution of Clayton Lockett last April knew instantly that something had gone terribly wrong. Lockett was strapped to a gurney in the death chamber of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary and had been given an injection when he started kicking, twitching, and then writhing and moaning in agony.” This piece of text showed that no mercy is given to prisoners by their executers even when something so horrible like this happens. This quote used by the author can have a strong effect on the reader because it shows how harsh and brutal the death penalty can be and can draw even sympathy out of someone for the victim.
Another example of how the author argues against the death penalty is that in the text, the author talks about how the death penalty can actually be viewed as a very hypocritical punishment. For example, "Opponents say that killing is wrong no matter who is doing it, even the government, and that it's too final a punishment in a world where mistakes can happen." This piece of evidence made me think that people are being punished by death after committing crimes such as murder which ironic in a sense because regardless of who is doing the killing, the crime at hand is really being punished with only more crime which is unfair.
  Before reading this article, I didn't really think much of the death penalty because I felt that if someone was sentenced to death, it had to have been for a good reason. However, after reading this article, the author has able to gear my opinions towards being against the death penalty. I realized how sick and disturbing the ways criminals were killed and it made me feel that no matter the crime, nobody deserves to be put through torture like this, as many mistakes can occur. The whole death penalty itself is very risky and unsettling and there are plenty of other methods that could be more suitable as punishment.

Trip Reflection

               After going on this trip, I learned a lot about society and how they deal with their rights. Regardless of the issue, people have found ways to fight for what thy believe is fair in sometimes violent and sometimes non-violent ways. After learning about different ways of protest, I feel that people should be able to protest without violence and get a chance to speak their opinions. This way, there would be less conflict and more of a chance to come to a compromise or solution. Seeing this exhibit also made me upset because I had gotten to learn more in depth about how hard things were for certain groups of people. People like gay people and black people were discriminated and segregated for things that they couldn't help and also shut out when they tried to stand up for themselves.

               However, I do believe that protests make an impact and influence many people. Something so big, loud and meaningful can cause people to have a realization about how people are treated and they have helped peoples causes in the past. After seeing this exhibit, I also began to wonder many things about protests and how they work. What happens after every protest? How is word spread about protests? How are protests organized? Even thought the process of a protest seems complicated, hopefully every protest turns out to be worth it in the end.

             

To Kill a Mockingbird

by: Harper Lee

               As you read any book, the author is constantly dropping little indirect hints at something. Maybe by mentioning a location multiple times or the same or having a character listen to the same song throughout the story. Either way, these little hints are just symbols, or an object that represents a deeper meaning in the story than what is portrayed. In the story To Kill a Mockingbird by: Harper Lee, the symbol that stood out most to me was actually the title of the book itself. I believe that the title is a symbol because it connects directly to the aspect of becoming mature and taking away innocence in the story, where the "Mockingbird" represents innocence and "To Kill" represents the taking away of innocence.

               One example of the title connecting to "killing innocence" in the story is that in part two of the story when Tom Robinson is falsely accused of rape and then murdered, Mr. Underwood describes it as "The senseless slaughter of songbirds." This is because Tom, who is innocent, is being punished for no reason. This showed that Tom Robinson represents the Mockingbird in the title and that his death and punishment represents the Kill in the title. 

               Another way that the title connects to maturity and taking away naiveté is that in the story during Christmas, Jem and Scout receive guns as gifts. As Jem and Scout are being taught to shoot the guns, Ms. Maudie says, "Mockingbirds don't do one thing but...sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." This quote showed that as the kids grew up and received very mature gifts that took away their innocence, they shouldn't be killing other very innocent creatures because it is wrong. 

               The last example of how the title represents taking away purity and innocence is that after Atticus decides not to take Boo Radley, Scout tells Atticus "It'd be sort of like shooting a mockingbird, wouldn't it?" This is because even thought Boo Radley starts off as maybe being a threatening character, as he becomes more of a real figure throughout the story, it is realized that he has only been protecting the kids the whole time and leaving very mysterious gifts for them. Like killing a mockingbird, arresting Boo would serve no useful purpose, and would only harm someone who never caused any trouble. So over the course of the novel, killing mockingbirds is associated with the sinful, the pointless, and the cruel.
               As you can see, the meaning of the title was subtly incorporated throughout the story, portraying different scenes where characters innocence was killed or they were harshly punished or accused of things they did not do. Just like a symbol in a book, there can also be things in your everyday life that actually have a lot of meaning. All you need to do is take a closer look at the things that are right in front of you and you may find yourself learning a lot.