Gothic Elements In To Kill A Mockingbird

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Empathic Coursework Proposal Form

State the character and moment, and provide page refs
Miss Maudie; fire that destroyed her house; pages 91 to 99
Write a brief outline of the facts of the situation – Who’s there? Where? When? What’s happening? What has led to this moment? Will it lead into other events in the novel/influence any other events?
Who’s there: nearly the whole town (even Boo Radley!)
Where: around Miss Maudie’s house
When: the night of the unusual snowfall
What happened? Miss Maudie’s house was on fire. The neighbors helped her save her furniture, and the fire truck arrived in time to stop the fire from spreading to other houses, but Miss Maudie’s house burnt to the ground.
What led to this moment? Unusual snowfall - the first
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Motifs
Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, and literary devices that can help to develop the story’s major themes. The two motifs in this scene are gothic details and small town life.

1) Gothic Details
In literature, the term Gothic refers to a style featuring supernatural occurrences, gloomy and haunted settings, full moons, and so on.
Some Gothic elements in To Kill a Mockingbird are the unnatural snowfall and the fire that destroys Miss Maudie’s house.

2) Small-Town Life
The Gothic motif of the unnatural snowfall and the outbreak of a fire is counterbalanced by the old-fashioned small-town values (When the town’s people try to help her get her furniture out of the house.)

Symbols
Symbols are objects, characters, figures or colours used to represent abstract ideas or concepts. The two main symbols in this scene are bird and fire.

1) Bird
When Miss Maudie's house catches fire, Scout says, "Just as the birds know where to go when it rains, I knew when there was trouble in our street." Bird imagery continues throughout the novel to be a pivotal symbol for sensing, and then doing, the right thing.

2)
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This jarring event awakens the neighborhood, and Scout, from their peaceful slumber. The heat of the fire contrasts sharply with the intense cold, providing an allusion to the sharply defined sides in the upcoming trial and conflict. Neither fire nor cold are common in Maycomb, and the community is forced to look at situations from a different perspective.

Are there any other elements of the author’s craft that you can illuminate in your response, e.g. character contrast or character alignment, setting and mood, cultural references eg stories/proverbs?
Miss Maudie’s house burns down and she is glad because now she can get a smaller house and a larger flower garden. She also joked about what happened to her house with Scout and Jem showing her make the best out of the situation. She is also a person who easily goes with the flow and seldom dwells in the past.
What will you do with language to make the character’s voice sound authentic?
Miss Maudie's speech may come across as bit tough and rigid but she is generally very straightforward (i.e. she speaks her mind) and she is very passionate about what she believes in. She usually calls people, even children, by their full names (i.e. instead of calling Scout and Jem “children” or “kids” like most adults would, she always called them by their proper full

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