Essay 10: Final Draft

Marion Philippe

English 8

Mr. Salsich

12-10-09

The Rooster and The Lake:

An Essay About the Metaphors in To Kill a Mockingbird And My Life

TS: When writers want to enhance their writing, they use metaphor, which from dictionary.com is “a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance.” CM: We can compare characters from a book to a living thing in real life or we can compare ourselves to an object. CM: For example, “men's words are bullets, that their enemies take up and make use of against them." (George Savile). CS: Like men’s word are like bullets, a bottomless lake describes me like a “red little rooster” describes Mr. Ewell in To Kill a Mockingbird.

TS: As Scout saw “a little bantam cock of a man [rise] and [strut] to the stand, the back of his neck reddening at the sound of his name” in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, she compares him to a “red little rooster.” SD: Harper Lee related Mr. Ewell to a rooster because like a rooster, Mr. Ewell has too much confidence and underestimates people. CM: For example, when “it [became] evident that he thought Atticus was an easy match,” he made a mistake and Atticus caught him. CM: He became red again and was about to explode with embarrassment. SD: Like a rooster, Mr. Ewell always stands invisible to the characters eyes except when on the witness stand but pays extreme attention to details. CM: A rooster always pays extreme attention; therefore, as Atticus asked a questioned, “Mr. Ewell considered the matter carefully, and seemed to decide that the question was safe.” CM: Also, when Atticus mentioned that Mr. Ewell was left handed, Mr. Ewell confronted the matter because he knew where Atticus was heading, and it made him almost get caught in the act, which is what a rooster would do (compound complex-sentence). CS: For Harper Lee to compare Mr. Ewell to a rooster is very wise because he is the rooster of Maycomb.

TS: Mr. Ewell is a “red little rooster” to Scout in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird; however, I consider myself a bottomless lake. SD: For example, my brain is filled with unanswered question. CM: It is constantly being filled up every second; furthermore, every question is like taking a breath to go deeper into the bottomless lake and knowing that there is no bottom but just blue water. CM: By the time I figure out that most of the questions are never going to be answered, my time will be over, and I will have reached the bottom of the bottomless lake. SD: Accordingly, when I take an exam or a test, it feels as if I am a bottomless lake because it seems like I will never finish the exam. CM: In fact, I know that every question and minute count, but all that pressure that is put on you when you go deeper and deeper is unbearable. CM: I continue thinking that the test is almost over and that the bottom is near, but in fact it will never be reached and that’s when I have given up hope. SD: Lastly, when I am in class, I sometimes space out, and for this reason I cannot participate in the conversation because I have no clue of what is going on which makes me feel like a bottomless lake (compound complex-sentence). CM: My reaction is to find out what the conversation is about, but every word that is said is pushing the bottom of the lake deeper and deeper. CM: For this reason, it is too late to go back to the surface because I am too deep, but it is also too late to reach the bottom because I am too far from it. CS: When my time will be over, I hope that I will have lived a fulfilling life with tremendous amounts of memories that will make me find the bottom of the bottomless lake.

TS: The two metaphors used, Mr. Ewell to a “red little rooster” or me to a bottomless lake, seem to be an out of this world connection. CM: However, grammar.about.com says that a metaphor is when you compare “two unlike things that actually have something in common,” which means that a person could be compared to any object because of their personality, style or appearance. CM: Maybe people may find that I am something else because of my height or my laughs, or perhaps Mr. Ewell might be thought of as different animal than a “red little rooster.” CS: There may be many metaphors for all of us but there is only one that fits us.