Monday, 20 September 2010

What are some examples of metaphor, understatement, and hyperbole in To Kill a Mockingbird, chapters 12€“31?

Laurine Herzog

There's something in our world that makes men lose their headsthey
couldn't be fair if they tried. In our courts, when it's a white man's word against a black
man's, the white man always wins. They're ugly, but those are the facts of life. ()


This first quotation, spoken by , includes a : "that makes men
lose their heads." Atticus is talking about the emotional baggage of racial prejudice. Lots
of people at this time in America considered black people to be animalistic, dangerous,
lecherous, and violent, and, because they believed this, there was a great deal of hatred and
fear of black people. It is these emotions that Atticus says make people metaphorically
"lose their heads." The metaphor in this instance implies that this emotional baggage
that comes with racism makes people lose their capacity for rational thought, which of course
resides in the head.

As you grow older, you'll see white
men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you...

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