Category: Being a Writer

Introduction to Austen’s Stylistic Devices

What is an author’s style? What are their voices and tone and how do they portray them throughout their writing? Jane Austen was an astonishing writer during the 18th century, who’s writing varied novel to novel. One of her greatest works being Pride and Prejudice. Within the novel, she uses many stylistic devices such as irony, incongruities, pacing, connotation, ambiguity, and point of view or perspective. Being the amazing author she is, she was capable of writing this novel using all of these devices to make a very entertaining as well as challenging to read novel. Her language throughout the book is very sophisticated and formal, and the vocabulary differs very much from our modern-day language, and especially from the colloquialisms that we are used to hearing in our everyday lives. Due to her use of formal language, her novel lacks too many colloquialisms, but instead, the character’s conversations are filled with witty, ironic comments containing endless amounts of satire and wordplay, make the novel impossibly difficult to stop reading. Through her use of stylistic devices such as ambiguity, pacing, and perspective, among others, as well as her formal diction and wording throughout the novel, Jane Austen wrote Pride and Prejudice and was able to portray themes as serious and gender roles and love, while including ironic comments and comedy throughout the novel making it truly an amazing work.

Exploring Connotations: Pride and Prejudice

Before even beginning the novel, the reader is faced with two very strong connotations, of two very commonly used words. Pride and prejudice are the two main themes of the novel, and the whole book centers around the idea that the connotation of those words is quite negative, or to put it more simply, the hidden meaning of those words can be hurtful in many situations. Furthermore, the novel describes pride as “ a very common failing”. One of the characters, Mary, describes it further, stating, “human nature is practically prone to it, and that there are very few of us who do not cherish a feeling of self-complacency… Pride and vain are very different things… A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates to our opinions of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us,” and as she says this, one may realize that though pride is just being proud of oneself, the book, or Austen, is saying that pride is bad and in fact, every mention of pride throughout the novel seems to be negative or in some way degrading. Though there is nothing wrong with being proud and happy with oneself, the connotation of the word is so different and so negative compared to the neutral connotation that at oftentimes, the true meaning of the word pride can be lost and forgotten. The same goes for prejudice. In the novel, the main character, Elizabeth, has much prejudice against Darcy due to rumors, and Darcy has much against her as well due to social status and pride, but throughout the whole novel, the negative connotations of pride and prejudice allow the reader to fully understand and interpret Austen’s stance on the two characteristics, and in a way it allows the reader to take a journey alongside the characters as they overcome them.

Irony and Wit: Crafting the Narrative

Alongside connotational meanings of words, Austen uses endless amounts of wit and irony in her novel. Her book was written in the 18th century when she was only 20 years old. She originally titled it “First Impressions” and it was later changed to accommodate the themes better. Being written so long ago, its wording is very different from our modern-day language and what most people have grown accustomed to, but her intelligence and message soak the pages of the novel. The opening line of Pride and Prejudice is already an example of irony, perspective, and foreshadowing in a way. Jane Austen writes, “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife,” and allows this sentence to possess many meanings, which gives it so much impact. Verbal irony is when something is said contrary to the truth, or in a very unexpected comedic way, and what is said is not what is meant. The opening line portrays verbal irony by saying that every man with wealth wants a good wife to go along with that money, even though in many instances that is not true. Also, the line seems to be said as something of Mrs. Bennet’s thinking, despite the third-person perspective of the novel. Mrs. Bennet is currently trying to marry off all five of her daughters, so clearly she believes, or at least wants to believe that many men are looking for suitable wives, which allows her to have more hope for her offspring. This irony continues throughout the entire novel, but there are also many appearances of situational irony, such as Mr. Darcy’s stance on Elizabeth. He originally believes that she is not attractive, but after being acquainted with her the reader watches him open up and ironically go to say that she is one of the smartest, most beautiful and most astonishing women that he has ever met. Darcy fell for her brains because Jane Austen developed a character that uses endless amounts of wit and satire in her speech in order to put other people around her in their place. With these very knowledgeable degrading comments, Darcy couldn’t help but ironically fall for the women he hated.

Later on, near chapter 20 of the first volume, Elizabeth encounters Mr. Wickham, a very kind man who is not on good terms with Darcy, and does everything in his power to make Elizabeth hate him by talking bad about him behind his back. This demonstrates dramatic irony because as Elizabeth paints her own horrible image of Darcy in her mind, the audience, or in this case the reader, is able to see that Darcy was originally slowly opening up to her, and Mr.Wickham is the antagonist as opposed to Darcy, the central love interest. With these many uses of irony, Austen wrote the novel very comically and in an entertaining manner. The quote of the opening line of the novel also shows the point of view or perspective because it starts the novel off without using the phrases “I”, “my”, or “me” which are at often time indicators for a novel written in the first person. Despite portraying what Mrs. Bennet’s stance on marriage is, this line, as well as the rest of the book, is written in a quite neutral demeanor. The book is also, though very detailed, written in a narration that is limited because it does not reveal the character’s thoughts. It only reveals the situation that is taking place around them, making it not omniscient. This quote is also an example of foreshadowing because nonetheless Pride and Prejudice is a love story. It writes about a man and a woman that fall in love despite their first impressions of each other, as well as the impressions that follow. Their love grows. By having the opening line state that a wealthy man must be looking for a wife, it makes Darcy’s cold attitude to women even more ironic and comical, but it also says that this novel will be about a man, who is wealthy, and who gets married. As well as this example, foreshadowing can also be seen with Mr. Wickham’s appearance as Austen describes him in a way that is “too good to be true” and even Jane, Elizabeth’s older sister, has her doubts about him which are revealed when he goes to sabotage the relationships that Darcy and Elizabeth have been building.

Incongruities and Ambiguities: Deepening the Narrative

Alongside those many stylistic devices, there is also an incongruity as soon as the novel begins. After introducing the man who she hopes one of her daughters will marry, Mrs, Bennet states “My dear Mr, Bennet, how can you be so tiresome?” These statements are an incongruity because she calls him dear, showing that she clearly loves him, but she also calls him tiresome, which opposes her previous statement. There is also the appearance of a contradiction following a few lines after the first sentence of the novel. While speaking to Mr. Bennet. Mrs. Bennet asks him if he would like to hear about the new man who moved into Netherfield Park. She asks in such an eager manner that Mr. Bennet can’t help respond with “You want to tell me, and I have no objection to hearing it,” which contradicts her original statement. Later on in the novel, there is also an ambiguity. On page 80, while speaking of Darcy, Mr. Wickham says, “I have no right to give my opinion, as to his being agreeable or otherwise… I have known him for too long as to be impartial,” which is worded very vaguely and in a mysterious manner. This makes the text unclear and doubtful and is later explained when Mr. Wickham explains that Darcy is very unlikable.

Formality and Sophistication in Language

As has been previously mentioned, this novel is written in a very classical and formal manner. The language is at times hard to decipher, but nonetheless, it is very brainy and intelligent. Her voice and tone are very quick witted and classical, making the text come off as very formal. The entire novel is written in such a romantic and sophisticated manner that colloquialisms are nearly impossible to find, despite the abundance of conversations. Even though there is not much slang within the novel, the characters still talk in a very entertaining manner by including irony, as previously mentioned. In their dialogue. They mock one another and mentally challenge other characters, which makes the whole novel an emotional rollercoaster. Jane Austen’s writing is very impressive because, despite the time difference, many still find this novel pleasant to read. Even as she uses slow placing due to the fact that the novel is very detailed, she still made the novel action-packed. My not describing the reader’s thoughts, she does not pause in the middle of the novel to show character development and instead pushes forward with a new sequence of events. Her writing is incredibly detailed, allowing the reader to understand what the characters are experiencing, but she does not provide such basic detail as exact colors of setting or time frames and allows the reader to interpret her writing in their own way. The only things that are incredibly detailed are the character’s positions and their opinions and dialogues which she uses to reveal more information and force the reader to use their brain to interpret hints as they wish.

Jane Austen is arguably one of the most influential, as well as intelligent and interesting writers of her time, and her works have been passed down for future generations to read. One of her greatest and most known works is Pride and Prejudice, during which she uses an endless amount of stylistic devices to portray her message of how too much pride and prejudice will negatively impact you. Her emotionally vulnerable characters show so much development and their dialogues and conversations with one another are so mentally stimulating that it makes the novel impossible to put down. They use countless amounts of sass and irony as they insult one another and mock each other’s choices, but also as they grow and learn from one another. Alongside irony, Austen’s use of formal language, as well as devices such as ambiguity, contradictions, and incongruities, perspective, pacing, and foreshadowing. As the story progresses, her wittiness only grows and she allows the character’s charms to develop alongside her writing. Though her third-person narration is limited, she does not commit and crucial details and simulation allow her readers to come to form their own conclusions and opinions on her writing style. Her formal style, among other things such as her witty word choice and knowledge of the comedic mockery she includes, and most importantly the way that she allows the reader to actually interpret the novel, despite any previous connotations of the working she uses, make Pride and Prejudice truly, a work of art and an amazing novel.

Many people often judge others before getting to know them, based only on things such as appearance, social class, or rumors spread by others. The novel Pride and Prejudice, written by Jane Austen, is about a dramatic love store centered on that sole idea of preconceived notions. Originally rivals who once hated one another, Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy fall in love with one another and overcome the obstacles of the pride and prejudice they have against one another. The novel, however, writes about so much more than a love story, but also the conquering of a social divide, the importance of family, and the importance of changing oneself to be a better person. Within the novel, Darcy possesses many negative ideas about Elizabeth, thinking her to be of a different social class and his prideful and cocky demeanor leads her to dislike him. Despite this, however, he still finds himself drawn to her wittiness and beauty, which leads to him changing as a person throughout the novel. Similar changes can be seen in Elizabeth as she finds herself falling for a man who’s every quality she dislikes, and she overcomes her own prejudice ideas. Throughout the novel Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy both face internal conflicts, as well as external ones with one another, which aid them in becoming better people and overcoming their own preconceived false notions of one another, making them both dynamic, round characters.

Elizabeth Bennet is a very witty woman who has very strong opinions which she often doesn’t hold back. She is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, along with 4 of her other sisters, among which she is the second oldest. Her older sister Jane falls in love with Mr. Bingley, an acquaintance of her own love interest Mr. Darcy. Elizabeth is outgoing and witty, and within the novel, she is a dynamic character due to her change beliefs about Darcy, which leads her to question herself. What that means is that, in the story, as she falls for Darcy, she doubts her own judgment as well as others words as her feelings get the best of her. Though the overcoming of her prejudice ideas is seen only very briefly within the first half of the novel, it is still apparent. Upon first meeting Darcy, Elizabeth was quite insulted by his flashy ways and overall dislikes him as a person. She doesn’t like his blunt manner of speech, nor his rude voice and negative thoughts. Their first interaction a Netherfield with one another did not end off on a good note and was followed by Jane trying to get Elizabeth to calm down and not be angry over the situation. Elizabeth states that she “could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine,” while speaking of Darcy’s manners, or lack thereof, and she implies that his pride and vanity for himself are too much to handle. Later, after she spends more and more time with him, she opens up more with him and allows herself to engage in conversations with him more freely, showing her newfound interest in him. Just as she begins to open up however, his rival Mr. Wickham is introduced in the story. He tells lies to Elizabeth which leads her to hate Darcy again, and Austen greatly portrays her feelings at the time. “What is Mr. Darcy to me,” Elizabeth says, “pray, that I should be afraid of [insulting] him? I sure owe him no such particular civility…” as she describes him to her mother. Following Wickham’s appearance, Elizabeth begins to degrade Darcy and think less of him as a person, as can be seen with the provided quote. In the novel, we can see Elizabeth’s reluctant, but clear allowance to be herself around Darcy, but due to her cleverness and carefulness, she does not allow herself to fall for such a prideful and clearly “bad” man so easily, leading her to face many changes as a person.

Though prideful and cocky, Darcy knows his limits and within the story, he slowly opens up to Elizabeth. Initially introduced and Mr.Bingley’s richer, handsomer, and overall better acquaintance. Darcy quickly tarnishes his image with his rude remarks and blunt statements which are outright hurtful to others. Even Miss Bingley, who is supposedly used to his manner of speech, says, “I never heard anything so abominable. How shall we punish him for such a speech,” as she reacts to Darcy’s previous, clearly sarcastic and insulting comment on her confidence and figure, which further demonstrates just how hurtful his words can be. Miss Bingley says that he should be punished for his words because they are the worst thing that she has ever heard, and since she has known Mr. Darcy for a long period of time, she should have been used to his words by now, but they still are very much shocking. Darcy, however, shows no signs of remorse, nor any signs of thinking that anything is wrong with him within the first half of the novel. While speaking of his “ill manners” he states “Where there is a real superiority of mind, pride will always be under good regulation. Here he is stating that in some cases, where someone is clearly smarter and/or deserving of an upper hand there will be room for pride. He is also implying that he falls under that category of people who deserve to be prideful and places above others around him. His mindset of himself does not change within the beginning half of the novel, but his mindset of Elizabeth does. Darcy is very entitled and judgemental of others but he slowly finds himself opening up to Elizabeth as he is attracted to her witty and engaging conversations with him. Though most of the conversations anger or frustrate him, they mentally stimulate him which is what many others are incapable of doing. As evident by his anger when he discovers that Elizabeth has spoken with Mr. Wickham, he clearly begins to care about what Elizabeth thinks of him as a person. There begins to be a small spark of change; a change in which Elizabeth leads to a growth of humility and compassion within him.

Conclusion: The Artistry of Pride and Prejudice

Despite this being a love story between Darcy and Elizabeth, the two are also the main center of conflict in the story. For instance, their bickering and quarrels are signs of how they interact with one another and engage each other. Yes, they fight and have horrible ideas about one another, but there is an undeniable spark between the two. As they fall in love, Darcy is still taking into account his pride and placing himself above Elizabeth financially and socially, despite her high spot in the social hierarchy of the time.

There are so many people that now write. The advent of free writing platforms has opened up a wealth of possibilities in an industry which used to be seen as a closed shop by many people. Wherever you are based in the world, there is no greater time than now to become an author. However, you may be asking yourself if a writing career is the one for you. Maybe your mind is filled with uncertainty about this. Anyone choosing a new career path will have doubts, which is understandable. For all its foibles, writing can be an extremely rewarding career choice. This brief little blog post will hopefully help you make a decision about this.

Can I Become A Writer?

The short answer is – yes! Practically anyone can become a writer. You don’t need to have a Masters or ten letters behind your name to achieve success as a writer. All you need is good English, a basic understanding of grammar and an active imagination (the broader the better.)

If you are writing a journal or a diary on a daily basis, in a way, you are already becoming a writer as you are putting down your feelings on paper. Another good indication is if you are an avid reader. I try to read on a daily basis and not just fiction or in the genre that I write in. In my opinion, the more you read, the better you will write. I will now cover some of the obstacles you may not have considered.

It’s Not Easy

Some people will see the success of a self-published author like E.L. James and think this will be a comfortable way to make money quickly. Unfortunately, this is simply not true. In reality, the chances of your book becoming an international bestseller are very slim. It may not be because your book isn’t good. With the fact there are so many writers competing to get their books sold, the competition is now ferocious. You will be trying to get book sales against thousands of other books.

Unpaid Hours

The fact is many self-published authors will work for little or no pay. Some self-published writers will offer their book for free just so they can get some sales to begin with, before charging a price later on. This is mainly true at the beginning of a writing career. Typically, the hours are long. When I wrote the first draft of my first novel, I wrote in the mornings and the evenings sometimes going into the early hours of the next morning. Now, some authors work shorter hours, others work longer hours. It is entirely up to you how many hours you work and at what time of the day you work them. Although sometimes it cannot be helped, it is always advisable to have another job, whether it is full-time or part-time while you wait for your writing career to take flight. If you decide to take the risk and become an author full-time, please be aware you will not make any money straight away and it could take months before you do.

Productivity Issue

There will be days when you could write 1,000 to 5,000 words in a day. But there will also be days when you struggle to write 500 words. This is the nature of the beast. It has happened to me on more than one occasion. There is no point in beating yourself up over it. Accept as in any other occupation that you will have outstanding days and lousy ones.

Responsibility Aplenty

Make no bones about it; writing is not just about crafting a novel. If it were just typing out the words into sentences, then it would be a much smoother process. There is also the editing of the novel to be considered. Unless you can afford to employ an editor to do this, you will have to make the necessary edits yourself. This is time-consuming and can be difficult to do but if your book is poorly edited, it will affect your sales. Usually, the book will need to be edited at least 4-6 times. Again, it is up to the author as there is no set rule about this, but it is strongly recommended to proofread and edit the novel at least three times.

Then you will have to market the novel. Although there are numerous book marketing companies which you could hire, if you are on a shoestring budget, you will need to do the marketing yourself. It can take a while before you will be able to decide what the best marketing tool to use is.

The process of reading like a writer is very helpful for readers, especially college students. Basically, reading and writing always have an intimate relationship, the more reading skills that readers have, the better they apply in their own writing. There are a variety types of reading, but the method of reading like a writer is one of the best ways to approach and understand deeply the certain writings. In Bunn’s essay, there are obviously some differences between normal reading and reading “like a writer” and I think I have learned a lot after reading Bunn’s essay, this is also the useful method that college students should do to be successful.

According to Bunn, the regular reading differs from reading like a writer. This is because when readers have regular reading, they just tend to concentrate on the content and information, but when readers read like a writer, they have to read deeply and think about the ways the author convey their messages to the audience then know how to build your own writing. In fact, when readers read a piece of writing, they might do as normal reading as they can, which is just find out the meaning of the text. In contract, when people read “like a writer”, they prefer focus on how the author writing it by identify their techniques as well as choices rather than looking what the writer trying to say. From that, they will know the ways how to develop their own writing. In other words, Bunn states that reading like writers is when “you are trying to figure out how the text you are reading was constructed so that you learn how to build one for yourself” (74). Therefore, normal reading is different from reading like a writer in terms of the ways in which the readers approach the writings.

There are numerous benefits from the process of how to read like a writer and I believe that college students will find it beneficial after reading and apply these process to their own writing. In Bunn’s essay, he shares on how to become a better writer by reading what we read as a writer would read it rather than reading it for the purpose of joy, satisfying tasks or some other different reasons. Actually, Bunn’s essay “How to read like a writer” dive deep into my fear, as a college student, after reading these process, I found that very helpful for me. This is because I used to struggle with writing and it became one of my biggest fear when I am in the academic environment. Now that I have read Bunn’s text, I have started to follow what he mentioned in the process of reading like a writer for my leadership textbook, for example identifying the author’s techniques, choices, asking questions before reading and when I am reading,…In this way, I believe it will help me improve my reading as well as writing skills in order to contribute getting as high grades as I expect in my writing assignments, such as EAP writing exams. I will plan to consider this essay as a guide to direct me in proper way towards becoming a good writer. I agree that reading like a writer is really helpful for me as well as college students.

Everyone, especially college students should benefit from the process of reading like a writer as it allows readers understand fully how to become a better writer after taking advantages from reading. Now that I have learned about how to read like a writer and ready to apply that method to my classes. Hopefully, this practice will improve my grades of writing assignments. In Bunn’s essay, there exist many differences between normal reading and reading like a writer. I believe that his essay will be definitely helpful for college students because of its potential merits.

Yezierska’s Breadgivers, Baker’s Growing Up, and Moody’s Coming of Age in Mississippi, all demonstrate the idea of The American Dream. For Yezierska, Baker, and Moody, their version of the American Dream was different. They went through many obstacles to try and achieve their version of the American Dream. In Yezierska’s novel, Sara Smolinsky’s dad stood in the way of achieving the American Dream. Her definition of the American Dream did not change, it stayed consistent throughout her childhood and into her adulthood. Her definition of the American Dream was achieving economic stability and having an education. In Baker’s memoir, poverty was an evident challenge since it occurred during the Great Depression. His definition changed from trying to achieve stability to reaching his lifetime goal of becoming a writer. In Moody’s memoir, her race stood in the way of the American Dream. Her goal of the American dream changed from getting out of Centreville to advocating for African American rights during the Civil Rights Movement. The American Dream was very difficult for Sara, Russell, and Anne to overcome, because of poverty, family members, and race.

In Yezierska’s novel, Breadgivers, Jewish immigrant Sara Smolinsky went through many hurdles to achieve the American Dream. Her definition of the American Dream is economic stability and having an education. Her father, Rob Smolinsky, was a major factor in her achieving the American Dream. There are many examples throughout the novel that prove this. During an argument with her father, Sara says, “You think I’ll slave for you till my braids grow gray- wait till you find me another fish-peddler to sell me out in marriage! You think I’m a fool like Bessie” (Yezierska 138). This argument led Sara to the decision to move to New York City. Sara is finally exhausted over her father controlling her and her sister’s lives which prompted the decision that she wanted to live independently and not have her father breathing down her neck. Sara loves her family deeply, but she knows what she has to do to set herself up for a better and brighter future. The future her father had envisioned for her was not the future Sara had for herself. For example, a quote from her father says, “I am an old man. I lived longer than you. I know what’s good for you better than you know. . . It says in the Torah, Breed and multiply. A woman’s highest happiness is to be a man’s wife, the mother of a man’s children”(Yezierska 206). Her dad wants her to be a housewife and work for the man, instead of being independent. He tried to set up a marriage between her and a man named Max Goldstein and Sara refused. His beliefs in the Torah get in the way of what his daughter actually needs and wants to achieve the American Dream. All he is focused on is his religion, and his being bashful toward her is one of the reasons why she moved to New York City. Sara wanted independence, education, and economic stability to accomplish the American Dream. She knew she was not going to reach any of those goals if she did not leave her father. She had no form of profit when she moved to NYC, so she had to buy a small, run-down apartment. But, she knew if she just focused on her plan of getting an education and making a profit, she will eventually work her way up and get the life and living space that she desires to accomplish the American Dream.

Throughout the book, you can tell that stability has been an issue for her from childhood to adulthood. A quote from Sara, after she moved to NYC, states “The first thing when I opened my eyes, I counted out the money I had left in my little knot. Only 3 dollars and sixty-five cents between me and hunger. A job. And I must get it at once” (Yezierska 160). This shows that even the smallest amount of money that she makes, it’s going to make a difference. It is the difference between eating or going hungry. After moving to New York, Sara realized that she wanted to get an education to become a teacher. This was a major goal for her in the book to achieve the American Dream. “Glad but down-hearted I was glad because I’d won, but so sad I was to leave the battlefield! The thing I had dreamed about for so many years- and now it was over” (Yezierska 232)! This quote shows the rough times Sara has been through, but her striving for what she wanted to accomplish, paid off for her. This was a huge win for Sara, as it was one of the major goals she wanted to accomplish.

In Baker’s memoir, Growing Up, a white male named Russell Baker went through tough times to achieve the American Dream. The Great Depression took place during his lifetime so which made times even tougher, because of this major event in history, poverty was an evident challenge to his achieving the American Dream. Early in the book, Baker, his sister, and his mother often bounced around different family members’ homes, hoping to find a stable job with good pay to survive. To help his mother with pay, he got a job as a newspaper boy at a young age: “All that year, she walked the streets, combed the classified ads, sat in offices waiting to talk to possible employers, and always heard the same refrain: No jobs” (Baker 98). The Great Depression affected people’s work life and employment. No matter how many jobs she applied for, the chance of her getting one was scarce. Once times got really tough, they were forced to get government relief. “Being on relief was a shameful thing. People who accepted the government’s handouts were scorned by everyone I knew… I’d often heard my mother say the same thing of families in the neighborhood suspected of being on relief… Now, we were as low as they were” (Baker 200). This shows that the Baker family once shamed other families for having relief, but now they are on it, they’re ashamed of it: ashamed of how they let this happen, how the mother couldn’t provide food for her kids, and couldn’t keep a steady job. It reflects on how the Great Depression affected Baker’s road to achieving the American Dream.

Russell Baker’s definition of the American Dream changed from trying to achieve stability to fulfilling his lifetime goal of becoming a writer. Throughout the book, becoming a writer was a huge objective for him to accomplish. As shown in the book, “Writers didn’t have to have any gumption at all. I did not dare tell anybody for fear of being laughed at in the schoolyard, but I secretly decided that what I’d like to be when I grow up was a writer”(Baker 27). Baker’s inspiration for deciding to be a writer at such a young age comes from his love of reading and writing stories which made him believe that “what writers did couldn’t even be classified as work”(Baker 27). Later in the book, he says that, “The editors of the high-school yearbook asked each senior to reveal his career ambition. I could hardly put down ‘to be a writer.’ That would make me look silly”(Baker 241). He was embarrassed because most of the seniors in his class had more ‘manly’ ambitions or as he described it, “money-making work.” After graduating from John Hopkins, he began working for The Baltimore Sun for $30 a week. Which he described as, “an insult to a college man”(Baker 321). But, he knew he was going to have to work his way up to become a successful writer and achieve his American Dream.

I am applying to the Journalism and Communicatons Magnet because I believe that journalism is a great way to learn more about the world, and it is also an effective way to communicate with people. Journalism is a very important skill for me to learn, as it allows me to grow in what I’ve loved to do all my life. I’ve been writing since I was able to spell my name. I write stories when I have any extra time and I’ve always wanted to be an author and I trust that being a part of this magnet will help me excel in being able to expand my mind and fill it with even more creativity.

I’m currently working on a story called ‘Husband’ which I hope to use as a tool for communication between men and women who battle with domestic abuse. My goal in participating in this magnet specifically is to gain the ability to communicate with the people around me not only through conversation but also through writing. The thought of being able to connect with people just by writing to them is something I am very excited about. I want to become an exquisite writer and I know that being a student in this magnet will set me up to succeed in the future and build a solid foundation for my future career as an author. Sitting down and working with someone who is a professional at what I have been doing for years will be one of the most rewarding experiences I could have ever imagined having.

I aspire to begin my education at DuPont Manual High School and learn from others who are more experienced than me. I hope to gain valuable experience in the field of journalism and communication and become a successful journalist and write not only for myself but for the community as well. Just like I’ll be recieving the proper help I need to augment in writing, I’d love to help others achieve their goals of becoming successful writers as well. Being a writer is work more than just a hobby. Being a writer is being the safe spot for many. I found a safe spot through reading and I connected with the author even though we didn’t know eachother and that’s my number one reason for continuing my studies on becoming an effective journalist.

I long to have more knowledge and skills to be able to easily communicate because that’s something I’d like to do better at. The way I see it, journalism is a profession that requires you to be prepared for anything or anyone. If you don’t mentally prepare yourself, your chances of success are slim to none, I think this is why journalists are always looking for ways to get better at what they do. I believe that I could add to this magnet with the skills thats I’ve already aquired throughout the course of my life. I have begun to realise that being a writer is my precious desire, so I made the choice to apply to the Journalism and Communications Magnet at Manual High.

American author Nelle” Harper Lee is best known for his writing. To Kill a Mockingbird is the first novel by Harper Lee. He was born on April 28, 1926, the youngest of four children of Amasa Coleman Lee and Frances Cunningham Finch Lee. She grew up in Monroeville, a small town in southwest Alabama. Her father was a lawyer who also served in the state legislature from 1926–1938. She grew up in the 1930s in a rural southern Alabama town. Named, sort of, after one of her grandmothers (“Nelle” is “Ellen” backward), she was the family’s youngest child and finally would survive brother Edwin (who died in 1951), sister Louise (who died in 2009), and sister Alice, who became a lawyer, took over their father’s practice and died in 2014.

Her father, Amasa Lee, is an attorney who served in the state legislature in Alabama. Her older brother and young neighbor (Truman Capote) are playmates. Harper Lee is an avid reader as a child. She is 6 years old when the Scottsboro trials are widely covered in national, state, and local newspapers. As a child, Lee was a tomboy and a precocious reader. After she attended public school in Monroeville, a private school for women in Montgomery. In high school, Lee developed an interest in English literature. After graduating in 1944, she attended the all-female Huntingdon College in Montgomery. Lee stood apart from the other students—she couldn’t have cared less about fashion, makeup or dating. Instead, she focused on her studies and writing. Lee was a member of the literary honor society and the glee club. Nelle would never marry, but she always had a passel of friends and admirers.

Transferring to the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, Lee was known for being a loner and an individualist. She did make a greater attempt at a social life there, joining a sorority for a while. Pursuing her interest in writing, Lee contributed to the school’s newspaper and its humor magazine, the Rammer Jammer, eventually becoming the publication’s editor. In her junior year, Lee was accepted into the university’s law school, which allowed students to work on law degrees while still undergraduates. The demands of her law studies forced her to leave her post as Rammer-Jammer’s editor.

After her first year in the program, Lee began expressing to her family that writing—not the law—was her true calling. She went to the University of Oxford in England that summer as an exchange student. Returning to her law studies that fall, Lee dropped out after the first semester. She soon moved north to follow her dream to become a writer.

She moved to New York in 1949 and worked as a reservations clerk for Eastern Air Lines and British Overseas Airways. While in New York, she wrote several essays and short stories, but none were published. Her agent encouraged her to develop one short story into a novel. To complete it, Lee quit working and was supported by friends who believed in her work. In 1949, a 23-year-old Lee arrived in New York City. She struggled for several years, working as a ticket agent for Eastern Airlines and the British Overseas Air Corp (BOAC).

Harper Lee’s life was filled with a series of challenges. She spent a turbulent childhood due to the psychological ailments of her mother. Her interest in literature led him to choose writing as a profession to fulfill this desire. She faced many obstacles, including financial instability. To continue her struggle and earn a living, she started a job. Later her friend helped her with a handsome amount suffice for her task. Therefore, she left her job and focused entirely on writing.

Harper Lee wrote only two novels during her life, are, To Kill a Mocking Bird and Go Set a Watchman. Other works are besides novels, she tried her hands at literary articles. Some of them include Love—In Other Words When Children Discover America, Christmas to Me, and Romance and High Adventure.

Her untiring efforts and passion came out in the form of a novel, ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’. It hit the shelves in 1960. She published her 2nd novel Go Set a Watchman in 2015. One of Lee’s closest childhood friends was another writer-to-be, Truman Capote (then known as Truman Persons). Tougher than many of the boys, Lee often stepped up to serve as Truman’s childhood protector. The Browns also helped her find an agent, Maurice Crain. He, in turn, was able to get publisher J.B. Lippincott Company interested in her work. Working with editor Tay Hohoff, Lee worked on a manuscript set in a small Alabama town, which eventually became her novel To Kill a Mockingbird.

To Kill a Mockingbird became an instant popular success. A year after the novel was published, 500,000 copies had been sold and it had been translated into 10 languages. Critical reviews of the novel were mixed. It was only after the success of the film adaptation in 1962 that many critics reconsidered To Kill a Mockingbird. It was honored with many awards including the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1961 and was made into a film in 1962 starring Gregory Peck. The film was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture. It was honored with three awards: Gregory Peck won the Best Actor Award, Horton Foote won the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar and a design team was awarded an Oscar for Best Art Direction Lee worked as a consultant on the screenplay adaptation of the novel. In June 1966, Lee was one of two persons named by President Lyndon B. Johnson to the National Council on the Arts.

In 2007, President George w. Bush presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her praiseworthy contribution to American literature. She wrote only two books in her entire career and yet left a great impression in the literary world. After establishing her career as a writer, her realistic ideas added variety to the world of literature. Harper Lee used figurative language in her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, which won global recognition. With the help of her straightforward and realistic writing style, she cleverly created tension in her works. To highlight the misunderstanding of certain situations, she skillfully used humorous language in her pieces. Moreover, the successful use of narrative elements and characterization enables the readers to see the issues and events using the character’s lenses. Her writings reflect worldwide issues such as; prejudice, social and class differences, and racism in certain institutions. The recurring themes in most of her work are loss, love, politics, religion and society, and racial discrimination.

Though Harper Lee wrote two books in her lifetime, her literary ideas made the greatest contribution to American as well as international literature. Her distinctive writing style made her stand among the best American writers. Moreover, her ideas about culture and society left a profound impact on her readers’ lives. Her thoughtful ideas influenced many great poets and writers. Lee died on February 19, 2016, at the age of 89. Her nephew, Hank Connor, said the author died in her sleep. In 2007, Lee suffered a stroke and struggled with various ongoing health issues, including hearing loss, limited vision, and problems with her short-term memory. After the stroke, Lee moved into an assisted living facility in Monroeville.

To Kill a Mockingbird explored the main theme of Racism and Harper Lee is against racism in To Kill a Mockingbird. This research project displays Lee’s vision of Prejudice and Racism in To Kill a Mockingbird. The research aim is to examine the concept of Prejudice and Racism from Harper Lee’s point of view of scout as the main character in this novel. The majority of white people in Maycomb are racist. Maycomb is separated into white and black neighborhoods. The word nigger is used a lot in the text, and scout and her father are called nigger lovers. Harper Lee explains the phenomenon of racial prejudice that happened in Southern America, Alabama during the Depression time. She uses Maycomb County as the setting of her novel, which was described as having strict rules in society. People in that place cannot accept different things outside theirs, and racial prejudice grows up perfectly in society, whether against someone in their group or Blacks.

An assignment is task or piece of work allocated to someone as part of a job or course of study. This is done to assess an individual during a study of a certain course. This assessment of the course involves written assignments and practical test to view the understanding of an individual. The purpose of assigning a student is for them to grasp the ideas and concepts presented in the course for themselves and to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding. Therefore this assignment has steps to be taken to be completed so as to obtain good marks. The steps involve the planning, analysing the topic, drafting, finding information, writing and finally editing and proof reading. Hence the steps will be clearly explained in the essay below.

To begin with, the first step considered in generating of a good written assignment is the planning. Planning is the process of thinking about the activities required to achieve a desired goal. It is the first and foremost activity to achieve a desired result. It also involves the creation and maintenance of a plan, such as, psychological aspects that require conceptual skills. In planning the writer should first of all know the topic on which heshe has to elaborate. This is done so as to build focus so that the writer gets their facts straight and not focus on useless information at that moment. Secondly the writer has to check how their task is worth and what level of the last stamp it is. This is done so that the time is managed carefully and the assignment is given the enough attention and time it deserves. Therefore during planning distractions are to be avoided by all means cost. This is because with distraction like gadgets ones concentration is lost along the ways or the concentration is divided and that on its own forms poor levels of planning which will lead to a poor presentation and performance of an individual. Hence this will enable one to choose how much time to spend on the assignment given. Thus it is important to note that planning is the key to open a good written assignment.

Moving on, the second step considered in generating a good written assignment is analysing the topic. Topic analysis is the thorough understanding of the question or topic itself. This helps the focus of one’s reading and helps in the preparation for a good assignment. The topic analysis will help one to clarify and understand what the assessment question is asking them to do. This is done through looking for the key words in the assignment question and checking the criteria in the unit guide. By so doing the writer is directed in what to research on. Therefore brainstorming the ideas that the writer may have before putting them down. During the analysis of the topic the writer spots9 the limits and qualifiers which is what they must focus on and not to focus on unwanted information. Therefore analysing the topic involves looking for and identifying instructions, the topic and any restrictions that may have been placed on the topic to narrow the focus. Hence analysis of a topic makes the writer know on what to focus on. Thus this second step is not to be jumped for irrelevant information may be included in the essay.

Furthermore, the other step that is involved in generating of a good written assignment is the drafting. Drafting is putting down the points that in mind trying to come up with the actual draft to be submitted. It can also be defined as to write a document for the first time, including the main points but not all the details. This is done by sketching out the what the writer already has even at least one focusing idea. Moving forward with the written down information, the writer begins to make an outline. This is because they want to point out the actual information to put in the final draft to be submitted. However as part of the writing process, a writer will write multiple drafts. Fortunately, each draft improves upon the previous one. Therefore the final draft is simply the last draft that a writer will submit. Hence the final draft is the draft that the writer is positive about that is why they will submit it. Thus drafting creates a clean and perfect work.

Adding on to the above stated steps, there is finding information as part of the steps to be followed while creating a good written assignment. This step goes hand in hand with drafting of the information. In this step, the writer has to gather all information related research which is required to explore and find related information. This is mainly done to hunt for information that is useful for the assignment. This is done through finding books that has relevant information, finding journal articles with the relevant information and also the write may go to the web that is the internet to get the required information. Therefore when the information is gathered, the writer compares and analyse on what will be answering the assignment question and what the assignment is requiring. Hence the writer takes the information gathered and tries to make the final draft of the assignment. Thus finding information is important in the sense that valid points are brought forward and clear information is produced in the assignment.

In addition to the above stated steps in writing a good assignment is the writing of the assignment. Writing is the process of using symbols to communicate thoughts and ideas in a readable form. It can also be defined as an activity or occupation of composing text for publishing. However in this case I will go with the first definition. Now since the writer has gathered all the information and drafted what they have, so it’s time to put all the information down. In this step the write is now focusing on making the best of what has been gathered so as to obtain the best marks. Therefore all the information gathered and all the understanding of the writer will be revealed in the written work for now it has become their own personal work, not of the sources but of their own understanding. Hence the writing because the work to be submitted. Thus writing reveals the analysis of the writer and their findings.

Lastly, the other step which is involved in generating a good written assignment is editing and proof reading which is the final step in this case. This is explained to be the careful checking for errors in a text before it is published or shared but in this case I will go for before it is submitted. Proof reading and editing is important because this is when the writer starts to fix especially the minor errors like spellings, punctuation mistakes, formatting issues and inconsistencies. Moreover the writer checks again if they have really answered the question of the assignment. Most importantly the writer has to add some information in places where they feel the information is not adding up to make the perfect out of what they have produced. Adding on the writer has to check for citations whether or not they have cited the sources correctly. Therefore with the proof reading the writers work is submitted for marking. Thus the proof reading and editing is as important as the other steps for small errors that may cost the whole assignment will be corrected.

All in all in a nutshell the above essay revealed the steps that have to be taken while generating a good written assignment. And also it explained each and every step along the way and revealed each steps important and why each step has to be practiced while writing an assignment.

How to write your way around the world!

There has always been a certain appeal about being a writer. Being able to express your feelings, thoughts, ideas and opinions, and getting paid for it, is a lot of peoples dream job! In the past it was notoriously difficult for both authors and journalists to get published, but these days the internet and the demand for knowledge and information has made writing a much more accessible occupation. It is also one that has become more rewarding. With the internet allowing people to read, comment and share articles all around the world you get near instant feedback and praise for your ideas!

As well as an enjoyable job there are many other perks to being a writer – you get to set your own schedule, there is no commute to work, you can choose your own office (or cafe), you can work your own ideas and you usually don’t have a boss! Sure, there may be an editor or publisher that you need to deal with but they are usually rooting for you to produce your best ideas. Surely being a writer is too good to be true? Keep reading, it gets even better!

In the last 5 years there has been a boom in ‘digital nomads’, ‘online entrepreneurs’ and ‘freelancers’. I’m sure you’ve heard at least one of these terms before! With the rise of the book -The 4 hour work week – people have started to realise that most jobs these days can be done over the internet, and writing is no exception! So why stay in your grey hometown, working a 9-5 job in a sterile office when you can travel the world while you work! And what more enjoyable way to work and travel is there than being a freelance writer? Go where you want to go, write what you want, tap into your creativity and get paid for it! Becoming a freelance writer isn’t easy (or everyone would be doing it) but it isn’t difficult either, it just takes time and persistence, but once you get the hang of it you will want this job for life!

But how do you start writing your way around the world? Here are 10 tips to get you started:

Look online

The first step to becoming a freelance writer is to do some research. If you know what you want to write about then find magazines and websites related to that subject e.g. fashion, DIY, sports, fitness etc. On every major site you find start to look for the ‘work with us’ or ‘contact us’ page. Some sites like travelfish.org are always looking for freelance travel writers in specific countries. If it is obvious that the content of the site comes from a range of different contributors then email them and suggest an article you’d like to write for them. Don’t email asking them about how much they would pay you or demand a price, get them interested in your idea first! Also check websites like odesk or elance to see what people are looking for. Set up an account and start applying for freelance writing jobs!

Write for exposure but not for free

There are very few freelance writers that have never written articles for free – sometimes your name on a prominent website such as CNN travel, Asian correspondent or the Tripadvisor blog can lead to other magazines being interested in your writing abilities. Think about what names would look good on your CV and pitch them stories. However there are also a lot of websites and blogs that want content for cheap or for nothing. If you are going to write for free them pick your sites and articles carefully, writing for free is sometimes worth your while for exposure as a writer but sometimes it is just other people benefitting from your work!

Write about what you are passionate about

To some writing about motorbikes or the latest virus protection software is dull, to others it’s fascinating. One of the benefits of being a freelance writer is that you can choose what you write about (to an extent). It is difficult to write about subjects that don’t interest you, and it will likely feel like hard work. However it is easy, enjoyable and sometimes effortless to write about things you like and are passionate about! Many people get by being freelance writers by writing SEO (Search engine optimization) content on lots of random topics, but the best freelance writers write what they know and enjoy!

Travel

One of the hardest things about writing is deciding what you should write about. Write what you are passionate about but alo try to make it interesting. One of the easiest ways to find stories is to travel. Explore the world, your city or even your neighborhood. Open your eyes to gain a new perspective.Ask questions and don’t assume you know what is happening – keep an open mind. This will allow you to experience some amazing places and dream up some amazing stories, which in turn will fund your travel around the world. It’s a win win situation!

Set up an online portfolio to showcase your work

If you are emailing newspapers, websites and magazines with your story ideas then it is useful to also send them a link to your other writing work. Clippings.me allows writers to create an e-portfolio with links to previous articles published online. This helps potential clients see your work and writing style and will save you having to write an example article to show them your writing ability.

Create a personal blog or a website

If you want to write for online sources then it is important to know a little bit about the online world. You don’t need to learn how to read python or code, but the skills you learn when creating a wordpress site or building your own website will be extremely useful! From choosing a site name and writing a description to SEO content and working out how to get your site to rank high in Google searches, this will all be useful in making you a better writer. You can even use it as a way to showcase your stories and articles when you start freelancing!

Monetise your blog

If your blog becomes popular then why not make some money off of it. Affiliate links, reviews and ad space are all useful ways to create a bit of extra revenue from your site. And why not write about your experience in travelling (while working as a freelance writer)? With a well written travel blog you can request free hotel stays, flights and tours in exchange for writing about the experience!

Network

If you intentionally set time aside to network then your chance of exposure is higher. Look for writers circles or online networking parties. Most of the young generation who are travelling around the world will be able to offer you something – from advice, recommendations, stories or even friendship. If you are lucky you may even meet an editor in need of a new writer for their magazine

Set goals

If you don’t write then can you call yourself a writer? Set yourself daily goals of writing stories, part of a book, on your personal website, about something cool you saw while travelling. With these finished stories you can send them to online magazines and websites. They are more likely to buy a finished story than an idea! And keeping to your goals will be good practice for when you actually get lots of work and have to write an article or two a day!

Find your niche

After dabbling with the first 9 tips to writing your way around the world, you should know more about what you enjoy writing and what you are good at. Now it’s time to further specialise. Approach magazines or websites and ask for a weekly column (this will allow you creative writing freedom and a regular income). Focus your personal blog or start a new one focusing on your niche (this will allow people to google and find you easily). Explore your niche and partner with companies or even start to write a book on that subject.

Writers are not the most well paid out of all the professions but what matters most is drive, enthusiasm and personal enjoyment. Write what you love and travel where you want to – the work will follow!

The call of the wild is the first novel that I’ve read. This novel thought me how important the relationship between humans and animals is. I learned that you have to use your own feet and don’t rely on others in order to survive. Also, the lesson that I can take from this novel is that never give up, you have to push yourself until you achieve your goal and you can be a good leader even if you are different and not fit from them. It is about how important nature and society are.

Artistry

The call of the wild by Jack London is about a dog, named Buck who is kidnapped from his lush California home and sold to prospectors, who then take him to Alaska and northern Canada to navigate the frigid paths. This novel focuses on Buck, who is initially changed into a sled dog, who battles with the call of nature and the urge to abandon all human connections in the story. Also, it describes the conflict between civilization and nature. The fact that the novel is based on the author’s life adds to the book’s aesthetic value and attractiveness to readers.

“Old longings nomadic leap, chafing at custom’s chain; Again, from its brumal sleep, wakens the ferine strain.” This is the opening epigraph in the story which is from the poem “Atavism” by John Myers O’Hara where it describes the rising of wild nature, foreshadows Buck’s personal adventure with his wilder side, and sets the tone for the rest of the novel.

Suggestiveness

This novel has a message, symbolism, and meaning for us. In the first phase, which deals with the journey and self-discovery, the imagery and symbols show physical violence, with powerful images of a and blood. Then, as Buck gets dangerously near to being murdered, exhaustion becomes a prominent visual and death becomes a strong metaphor. In the spring, it is the time of rejuvenation and rebirth. Symbolism is when Buck is placed in a huge and ‘strange environment,” which means a zone of utter emptiness, where he entirely reverts to nature.

From the story, the characters have symbolic too. John Thornton and his friends represent faithfulness, purity, and love. On the other hand, vanity and ignorance are represented by Charles, Mercedes, and Hal. Also, Buck symbolizes loyalty and strength because he never fails to return to Thornton he did not give up and he survives starvation.

Intellectual Values

The story provides a message to us. It tells us that we must always follow our instinct, mind, and heart. Always believe in yourself when making a decision.

The novel, in first chapter “Into the Primitive”, tells how Buck sells by a gardener named Manuel for money and was departed for Seattle. After that, Buck was released in a cage and he leap into the man but he was beaten so that he is hurt and confused. The law of Club and Fang taught him how to live in the wild and how to follow directions. From that, we can conclude that Buck became aware of his surroundings and Buck learned that human beings can be the enemy. From that day, there’s a French-Canadian named Perrault who buys Buck. In this chapter, Buck realizes that this is his initial step toward a new life, away from his old one. Also, it talks about Buck’s escape from society and entry into a more savage, primal environment, as well as the contrast between civilized and rustic existence.

Spiritual Value

The story has many lessons for us. It concerns humanity’s connection to nature’s basic parts, as well as how our relationship with society has harmed that vital link. There’s something almost supernatural about that connection, when a person may grasp his own power and soul. All of us, people or animals, have to cope with the realities of both good and evil as they exist in the world. We can learn and change through varied experiences and we can learn from our mistakes and mistakes can transform us. Also, always love your partner because they are the one who cares for you.

In the story, when Buck rewards John Thornton with undying love and devotion because he is the first one to offer him any sympathy. Buck is enjoying a kind of prelapsarian existence with Thornton as if all the brutality of the actual world has been wiped away. From the call of the wild, there’s a line saying that “Love, genuine passionate love, was his for the first time.” From the story, Buck has multiple masters, Buck had never experienced love from Judge Miller, and John Thornton is the one who accepts Buck. For Buck, Thornton is his ideal master and it symbolizes the ideal relationship between man and dog.

Permanence

From the novel, everyone can relate to the story. In the story, in Chapter 7, when Thornton is killed by the Yeehats tribe, Buck immediately revenges and he attacks all the Yeehats. After that, Buck returns to his best friend Thornton’s body to mourn. It shows how loyal Buck is to Thornton. Jack London emphasizes the intensity of Buck’s link with John Thornton and the primitive nature of the man-dog interaction. After the incident, Buck was fully wild and he will no longer trust humans. Just like in our lives, if our friends or family get hurts by someone, we tend to fight back because we love them. Life is a battle between good and bad.

Universality

The novel is open to everyone. It is accessible to anyone regardless of, age, culture, race, or other factors. For Jack London, this novel is described in simple terms and will appeal to people of all ages. The call of the wild is good to read because it has lessons that can apply in our life like respect for nature, respect for authority, and adaptability.

Style

The call of the wild is a fictional adventure novel. Jack London spent time in the Yukon, Canada before writing this work, so his descriptions are authentic and realistic. The setting of the call of the wild happens in Alaska where there is a hard and intriguing natural environment, it is easy to inspire deep urban people with a great feeling of awe of nature, and then the primordial need to battle it. The call of the wild is good for the family, they will enjoy the novel even if it has violence, mild language, and thematic elements. The story was written as a frontier adventure, and it was structured in such a way that it could be serialized. Jack London incorporates his own emotions and real-life experiences into the work so that the readers may better identify with the hero’s journey through this metaphor and perspective. Because of that, London’s work makes it attractive and unique.

References

1. Ryan, Kirstin, Linda, Rick T., David W. The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Call of the Wild, by Jack London. Retrieved from https:www.gutenberg.orgfiles215215-h215-h.htm
2. Published Date: 1 July 2008. Updated Date: 30 August 2019. Accessed Date: 15 November 2021
3. The Call of the Wild SparkNotes. Retrieved from https:www.sparknotes.comlitcallsection1Accessed Date: 15 November 2021
4. Jack London’s Representation of His Own Life Experience in The Call of The Wild. Retrieved from https:literatureessaysamples.comjack-londons-representation-of-his own-life-experience-in-the-call-of-the-wild. Published Date: 8 June 2021. Accessed Date:15 November 2021

Abstract

In this essay, I will be looking at four particular stages of my reading habits prior to adulthood and questioning how they might have affected my reading and writing practice without my realizing it. By doing this I hope to re-examine my early literary journey under the lens of Literary Criticism. In particular, I will be focussing on Marxist and Feminist critical theory when considering the first times I read and enjoyed certain works of creative writing more than others between the ages of 5 and 15.

The texts I will be looking at are the stories of Enid Blyton, A Kestrel For A Knave by Barry Hines, The UK comic book, Action, and the poem ‘V’ by Tony Harrison. All of these have, I believe, played an essential part in shaping me both as a reader and a writer.

I will start the essay by introducing myself, the reader, and placing myself in the historical, social, and economic environment I grew up in. I will then re-examine from memory my original relationship with each of these works from my perspective as a working-class boy, looking at them again but this time after a period of between 40 and 50 years, questioning how the individual I was might have shaped my relationship with these texts as much as the texts themselves.

Setting The Scene – Introducing Class and Gender

The first thing I am going to do is set the scene for this literary journey we are about to re-examine, in order to place it in an appropriate context. I, the reader, am a 5-year-old boy. I live with my parents in a council housing estate on the outskirts of a major city in the North of England. The year is 1968.

My father is a semi-skilled manual worker and is the main breadwinner of our family. He is also the shop steward of the union where he works. He is not a big reader of books. He buys two tabloids every weekday and three on a Sunday[footnoteRef:1], but his book collection consists of a small mix of World War II stories, westerns, and a couple of bawdy British comedies. There are perhaps a dozen titles in total tucked away in his wardrobe. Ironically the only book with any literary merit I can recall, the only one that might not be considered coarse, vulgar, or pulp in nature appears to have been ‘Last Exit To Brooklyn’ by Hubert Selby Jr. Looking back though, I suspect my father was far more curious about this book’s notoriety than he was in the way that the text of the novel broke away from the restrictiveness of structuralism.[footnoteRef:2] [1: My father bought The Sun and The Daily Mirror. As a boy, I was unaware that the two were polar opposites on the political spectrum, each with its own editorial slant. To me a newspaper contained facts; except for the problem page, readers’ letters, and one column put aside for what the paper thought or ‘said’.] [2: ‘Last Exit To Brooklyn was at the center of a court case brought against the publishers in the UK. The prosecution argued that the book was likely to be corrupt. The jury was all male. The trial lasted nine days; on November 23, 1966, the jury returned a guilty verdict. The ruling was reversed in 1968. The text disregards the rules of grammar, creating a staccato style to reflect the discordant environment and lifestyles the book describes, and to accurately convey dialect as spoken by the characters. ]

My mother supplemented the family income by working part-time as a cleaner and school dinner lady. Unlike my father, my mother read regularly. She was particularly fond of Mills and Boon’s romances, and the novels of Catherine Cookson. She would buy one, read it, and then return it to the shop in exchange for another. This was a time when some of the smaller, independent bookshops would sell second, third, and fourth-hand paperbacks until the copies fell apart.

I was the oldest of two boys by 3 years, and I read almost constantly. I read the books I bought from shops, the books I borrowed from the library, read comics I spent my allowance on, my father’s newspapers, my mother’s magazines, and the backs of the cereal boxes during breakfast. I read anything that caught my eye that I could get my hands on. My bedroom was the only room in the house with a bookcase because I was the only member of the family who owned enough books to warrant one. My younger brother has, to this day, read not one single book since he left school in the early 1980s.

As a child, I was expected to earn my allowance by carrying out chores. Whilst most of these duties were basic self-care and living skills (keeping my room tidy, cleaning my teeth properly, setting the dinner table, etc) it did instill in me at an early age the concept of labor and the workforce.

I knew my parents identified as working class. I knew that they both voted for the Labour party. I knew that my father’s role as a shop steward was to advocate for his fellow workers’ rights in the workplace. I was basically raised in what would be regarded as a left-wing, working-class household, with traditional gender boundaries in place. My world was binary, divided into ‘men and women’, ‘rich and poor’, ‘Labour and Tory’, ‘BBC and ITV’, and ‘us and them’.[footnoteRef:3] [3: This binary outlook might be most closely reflected in the poem ‘V’ by Tony Harrison, which I will look at in more detail later on in the essay.]

‘Us’ was people like me and my family; workers who toiled to live, to pay the rent, to put food on the table, to replace the scuffed school shoes and torn trousers (often already hand-me-downs from older cousins), to pay for a week spent in a Bed and Breakfast in Scarborough or Bridlington once a year, to ensure Santa visited every Christmas Eve. I knew that “them” was my teachers, my father’s bosses, the policeman who walked the beat on the streets where I played out, the man who owned the local shop a few streets away, even the posher kids whose parents might both work in offices.

I was raised to feel proud of the fact I was working class, that I earned my money, and that life was some sort of noble struggle against the forces of oppression; only I seldom saw either of my parents put up any sort of struggle. Even my father’s position as a shop steward seemed to be an inconvenience he reluctantly endured because none of his fellow workers wanted the responsibility.

On reflection, I might be tempted to argue that my own personal view of the working class man was closer to what Richard Hoggart refers to as a ‘middle-class Marxist’s view of the working classes’ and considered myself more as the noble savage than a pawn of the capitalist system.

Enid Blyton

The first writer whose books I collected was Enid Blyton; starting with her fantastical stories for younger children before progressing to the ‘Famous Five’ and ‘Secret Seven books she wrote for older children.

Let us look at this first stage of my literary journey from the untutored viewpoint of a young working-class reader who, it just so happens, will one day become a writer. I have often cited the ‘Enchanted Wood’ and ‘Magic, Faraway Tree stories as being a huge and enduring influence on my writing. I enjoyed the episodic nature of the books as well as the fantasy elements.

I did struggle more with Blyton’s stories written for older children, however. There was something about them that didn’t sit comfortably with me. At first, I thought it might be the lack of fantasy elements, but if that was the case then why did I enjoy reading other books with no fantasy to them?

Blyton’s famous five and secret seven children were undoubtedly middle class, but Blyton is generally considered to have failed in her portrayals of class. It has been acknowledged that there was an undocumented ban on Blyton by the BBC. This ban came to light during a documentary on the writer. The documentary showed that whereas “plenty of middle-class parents…encouraged their children to embrace books – read often and read anything – Blyton was the exception”[footnoteRef:4]. [4: Michael Hann, The BBC’s ban on Enid Blyton says more about its shortcomings than hers (16th November 2009 ) [accessed 10 July 2019].]

Now let us consider this love of mine for the earlier works of Blyton, and my discomfort with regards to the ‘Famous Five’ and ‘Secret Seven’ books I read a few years later, but this time looking at them through the lens of Literary Criticism.

Any modern-day reading of Enid Blyton’s work is going to be problematic. This is borne out by the fact that some of her work has been revised in order to avoid causing offense; most famously the removal of ‘gollywogs’ from her books for younger children.

From a Marxist theory perspective the class lines in Blyton’s adventure books are crudely drawn; contrasting the smart, eloquent middle-class child heroes with the scruffier, working-class ‘ruffian’ who sometimes tags along as the five thwart the plans of the vulgar anti-establishment smugglers and thieves they encounter. The powerful are the establishment children; the offspring of middle-class professionals. The villains are enemies of the state, criminals, as vulgar as Magwitch in ‘Great Expectations’. And yet, as Hoggart points out, “…Pip and Joe, at the beginning of Great Expectations – to choose one example from hundreds – automatically hope that King George’s men will not catch the prisoners who escaped from the hulks”. Here, the noble working class blacksmith sides with the escaped villains, rather than the soldiers, the tools of ‘them’. In Blyton’s stories, it is middle-class children chasing the convicts.

Blyton fares worse when her ‘Famous Five’ books are looked at from a feminist theory perspective. The contrast between the youngest and most overtly feminine female character, Anne, and the older ‘tomboy’ female of the group, George, is simple, stark, and unsubtle. Anne is portrayed as the weakling of the group. George strives to be as good as the boys. Revisions of the work have changed this. However, if we look closer at the changes, we see that they have been made to a female writer’s work, and we know that this particular writer’s work has been sneered upon by the middle classes, practically banned by the BBC, and often regarded as lacking in literary merits. The director general from the BBC schools broadcast department, Mr. JE Sutcliffe, explains his feelings towards Mrs. Blyton thus. “My impression of her stories is that they might do for children’s hour but certainly not for schools dept…they haven’t much literary value.”[footnoteRef:5] [5: Magnús Björgvin Gulmundsson, The Censorship of Enid Blyton in Two of her Novels The Island of Adventure and Five on a Treasure Island (May 2012) [accessed 10 July 2019].]

It could be argued that because these changes were made to a female author’s work, and because there was such a lack of respect given to Blyton as an author, the question that needs to be asked, according to Elaine Showalter’s feminist criticism, should be ‘would these changes have been made if Enid Blyton was male?’.

As a young male reader, I had very little problem with Blyton’s tomboy and weak girl dichotomy. I did struggle knowing that as a working-class child, I was and would always be a character outside the main group of protagonists, that I might be allowed to experience fragments of their lives when they act as vigilantes but then I must return to my working-class community.

Blyton lends herself to structuralist analysis. The heroes and heroines in the adventures exist entirely to serve the plot and defeat the villains. There is nothing particularly heroic about Anne, quite the opposite. There is no psychological development in Blyton’s characters, good must defeat evil and that is that. The Leavisite might well sneer at Blyton, and close analysis of her work does raise a number of uncomfortable conversation points when discussed in modern times. But as David Rudd points out in his book ‘Enid Blyton and the Mystery of Children’s Literature’, a great many writers tell of their childhood enthusiasm for Blyton, and he suggests that reading her books does not preclude a later interest in ‘great literature’. He also points out that not all of the villains in Blyton’s books are working class. I suspect though that this might be damning with faint praise, I think it also illustrates what my parents might have called a snobbish attitude’ I have sometimes sensed since I became a writer from a working-class background. The books I enjoyed were good enough for me to read, but not suitable for middle-class children, for them.

Comic Books

I also read a lot of comics as a boy and continue to do so as an adult. In fact, I often loved reading comics more than I did books. I also knew that they considered some of my comics to be vulgar. It was even suggested that one of the comics I bought regularly with the money I earned by doing my chores was actually dangerous for me[footnoteRef:6]. That particular title was the UK publication, ‘Action’. The comic was intended to break away from the old, stiff upper lip, Good Old Blighty approach, and bring the stories into the present. As Martin Baker points out in ‘Action – The Story of a Violent comic’, the idea of the title was to demonstrate a “…willingness to be violent, tasteless, and anti-middle class”. With stories such as ‘Look Out For Lefty’, ‘Kids Rule OK’, and ‘Probation’. it was clear to me that my days of reading the clean-cut ‘Roy of the Rovers’, the comedic anarchy of ‘The Bash Street Kids’, and the cartoon criminality of ‘Baby Face Finlayson’ would soon fade away. But it was generally agreed; comics were not appropriate for reading, and Action Comics were banned from being brought into my school by the headmaster. [6: Pressure was placed on the Government to tackle the violence (and some might argue left-wing or anarchic undertones) being depicted in the ‘Action’ comic, published by UK publisher, IPC. The title was condemned by the Daily Mail and pressure groups such as the National Viewers and Listeners Association. On October 23rd, 1976, ‘Action’ stopped being published altogether, following a period of self-censorship which resulted in declining sales. Martin Barker, ‘Action’ – The Story of a Violent Comic (London: Titan Books, 1990), p. 7.]

Hoggart refers to comics as seeing “page after page [of] big-thighed and big-bosomed girls from Mars step out of their space-machines, and gangsters’ molls scream away in high-powered sedans…with the cruder English boys’ comics serving their turn…mass-art geared to a very low mental age.”[footnoteRef:7] [7: Hoggart was describing the pulp titles of the fifties and sixties, but I would argue that he would probably say the same about the UK comics of the seventies. Richard Hoggart, The Uses of Literacy – Aspects of Working-Class Life, 2009 edn (London: Penguin, 1957), p. 178.]

I was reading comics well before the medium was considered to be worthy of critical analysis and yet when I look back on ‘Action’ I see a product crying out for closer analysis. Even if we remove the overt and deliberate anti-middle-class rhetoric from the stories, and look at the format itself in isolation, we are able to see beyond the ‘4 colors’ images and realist depictions of poverty and working-class life in the UK. One simply has to look at the way in which the stories were being told, using text, images, and speech balloons to convey the message. As Amy Kiste Nyberg points out in her chapter of the book Critical Approaches to Comics, entitled ‘Drawing on Words to Picture The Past in Safe Are Gorazde’, “the extensive use of captions [in comics], similar to the cutline used with photojournalism and to the voiceover in broadcast, serves to explain the image to the reader. Theorist Roland Barthes referred to this process as “anchoring”—closing off some interpretations of the image by anchoring its meaning through employing text”.

Could it be that the creators of ‘Action’ were so determined to get their message across to young and impressionable readers such as me, that they chose the perfect medium in which to do so? Image + text + the anchoring caption. Show the disaffected and angry youth an alternative to the oppression he feels he is suffering, use an attractive medium he already loves and subvert it, and then hammer the message home. They apparently thought so; my school, the responsible citizens, the newspapers, the courts, otherwise I might still be reading new stories in Action to this day.

I tended to stick to the comics I knew were written with boys in mind, avoiding those comics specifically marketed towards a female readership. It is only later in life that I learned that many of the writers I admired as a teenager, such as Alan Moore, Pat Mills, and John Wagner, were in fact the same writers working on the girls’ comic titles I avoided, such as ‘Misty’, ‘Jinty’, and ‘Tammy’. Some of these writers were in fact the same ones who were creating outrage in the ‘Action’ comic. These girls’ comics were also trying to do something new with the medium, moving away from the old-fashioned “Jolly hockey sticks” stereotype. “Tammy’s stories were often bleak, and many were variations on the darkest aspects of Cinderella. “Alison All Alone” saw a contemporary girl locked up by step-parents for reasons that are never really articulated.[footnoteRef:8] [8: John Wagner’s “The Blind Ballerina” has been described by acclaimed comic book writer Alan Moore as “cynical and possibly actually evil” for example. James Coomray Smith, The dark, forgotten world of British girls’ comics is about to be resurrected (27th September 2016) [accessed 10 July 2019].]

I was aware of feminism at the time and considered myself to be unaffected by discrimination against females. I was after all male. I was however exposed to anti-feminist feminist stereotypes in the media, and the struggle of females was often reduced to jokes about the burning of brassieres. Feminist Literary Theory did exist, but as with its Marxist counterpoint, I was unaware of it, and indeed the need for it. It did not cross my mind to question my reluctance to explore comics written specifically for girls or to question why stories for girls needed to be any less enjoyable than stories written for boys. If Virginia Woolf is correct her essay ‘A Room of One’s Own’, when she “…suggests that language use is gendered…[and] quotes an example and says ‘That is a man’s sentence’” what do I say about a young boy who is uncomfortable reading certain comics, simply because the main character is female, and yet at the same time, the writers creating these comics are not only the same writers working on the stories in the boy’s own, self-approved reading material, they are men. Looking at Feminist criticism, there appears to be nothing that directly represents females in a positive light; the creators are male, and a young male reader regards the stories to be of less worth to him than those stories written for boys. Our reader has conspired against himself because of a lack of awareness; awareness of himself, awareness of the differences between himself and others around him, and awareness of Literary Criticism.

Kes

It is during this tumultuous period that I read ‘A Kestrel For A Knave’ by Barry Hines for the first time. The book was read aloud during English classes; pupils took turns reading out parts of the book. In hindsight I believe that this in fact distanced ‘us’, the readers, from the story itself; concentrating more on our ability to read than our understanding of what we were reading.

It is no surprise that this book had such a huge impact on me, both as a reader and as a writer. I knew as soon as we read the opening pages that this book was different. Here was a character in a world doing things not dissimilar to me; a working-class boy, a reader of comics, a paperboy, living in a council estate somewhere in the North of England. Not only that, the characters spoke the same way I did, and the author spelled the words as I said them. “You had better get up” became “Tha’d better get up”, ”You will be late” became “That’ll be late” and so on. It was reading ‘A Kestrel For a Knave’ that helped me put the pieces together. It was the closest I had come to identify with fictional characters since reading the comic they had declared dangerous for me. Here was a character who could easily have been a pupil in my school. Here was the sadistic Physical Education teacher, here was the pompous headmaster, and here was the kindly teacher who took an interest in a difficult-to-reach pupil. Here it all was, and they were teaching us this book in school which meant it had to be a ‘proper book’.

Hines himself shared my lack of representation in literature and mentions it in ‘This Artistic Life’, where he points out that: “English literature was reading books about people who had been dead for hundreds of years. They had to be dead for that long or it wasn’t literature. (…) It was all too posh. I resented it. I felt I was being imposed upon by middle-class teachers in a middle-class institution glorifying upper-class values. I wanted to read about a world I could identify with, where people had to work for a living[footnoteRef:9].” [9: Hines attended Grammar School and it was here where he first experienced class divide firsthand, according to his introduction to the book. Hines, Barry, This Artistic Life, (Pomona, Hebden Bridge, 2009), pp. 67 & 68]

In the book, Billy Casper is an outcast, failed by his family, his school, and society. He has been in trouble in the past with the police, doesn’t excel academically, and is reluctant to follow his older brother, Jud, down the mines.

Casper finds and trains a young kestrel and the reader follows him for this brief period in what it is safe to assume is a usually grim and depressing existence.

[bookmark: _Hlk14941322]Casper appears to reverse the school dichotomy in ‘A Kestrel For a Knave’ when he is invited by his teacher Mr. Farthing to come to the front of the class and teach both the teacher and the boy’s peers; to explain in detail about how he has trained his kestrel. However, even here, Mr. Farthing maintains control, continues to be one of ‘them’, and instructs Casper throughout his talk, telling him to write particular words on the board. I enjoyed this reversing of the roles and assumed that I was looking at the pupil becoming the teacher for once, the tables having been turned. Had I been schooled in literary criticism however, I might have considered whether this could in fact be an example of what Althusser calls ‘interpellation’, where we are made to “…feel like free agents”[footnoteRef:10] but are still the agents of state control. This subtle switch of perspective would certainly have opened up a whole new way of looking at literature for me, and increased the personal value of the texts I was reading. With this knowledge, I might have broken away from the restrictiveness of structuralism, which might in turn have made reading my father’s copy of Last Exit to Brooklyn less intimidating and frightening for me than it was. As a writer I might not have been so hung up on remembering and sticking to the “rules” of grammar and might have felt more comfortable experimenting with my prose, knowing I would be able to back up my attempts to subvert literature by quoting literary precedents to argue my case. [10: I was aware of the concept of ‘interpellation’ at the time because I knew the famous quote by Ford about the color of his cars: “You can have any color you like…as long as it’s black”. However, I wasn’t given the knowledge necessary to identify it. Peter Barry, Beginning Theory – An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory, seventh end (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1995), p. 158.]

Here was a writer I could maybe aspire to be. Up until now, I had assumed that working-class people like me did not become writers or poets for a living. In fact, by the time I left school, it was the height of Thatcherism, and there were even fewer jobs to go around. There would soon be no mining industry to fall back on or local manufacturing industry. Barry Hines does explore the Thatcher years in his book, ‘Looks and Smiles’, where the story follows the thwarted attempts of its main character, Michael (Mick) Walsh, to secure a job when he leaves school. Unlike Casper in ‘A Kestrel For A Knave’, Mick doesn’t have the local mining industry in place to act as a safety net. Like Casper, Michael might not be particularly book smart but neither does he lack intelligence.

Casper demonstrates his own particular skills by teaching himself how to train a kestrel from a book he steals. Mick on the other hand is adept at fixing motors.

I didn’t feel as though I was being let down by the teachers or the system, however. They introduced him to “Of Mice and Men” and so I discovered that books can make a reader cry. We read “Lord of the Flies” and “Animal Farm” together in class and now understood that books can tell two stories at the same time. I knew Orwell wasn’t really writing about talking animals because I had been taught to recognize and understand the symbolism. We discussed in class what Orwell wanted the pigs in his story to represent, but we were never invited to ask why Orwell wrote what he did.