PERSONAL RESPONSE PORTFOLIO TKAM

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NAMA
: SITI AMIEZA BINTI HAMZAH
NUR AFIFAH BINTI MUSTAFA YUSOF
KUMPULAN / UNIT : TESL 3
TSL1034
LITERATURE IN ENGLISH
NAMA
PENSYARAH : PN. DASHIMA BINTI ABDUL WAHAB
JABATAN : JABATAN BAHASA-BAHASA
TARIKH HANTAR : 4 NOVEMBER 2020
MARKAH
KESELURUHAN

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Based on the novel that I have read which is “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, there are
many different opinions regarding the plot development of this novel. Here is some evidence.
First and foremost, for the plot exposition, according to (Alice Hall, 2007), she stated that
Miss Caroline, who is Scout’s teacher, tried to shame Scout instead of being happy to have a
superior student like Scout. Miss Caroline should be very amazed to have such a genius student
like Scout because not every student has the same thinking as Scout. Miss Caroline should use
the opportunity by having a student like Scout to share the knowledge with the other students.
Miss Caroline is supposed to polish Scout’s potential more as she has the special ability that not
every student has. But instead of doing all that, the novel mentioned that Miss Caroline hit Scout’s
palm with a ruler for no specific reason. That is clearly not the attitude of a teacher. Whoever they
are teaching, they must hold the responsibility of treating all students fairly and teach them
patiently from the start till the end. Hence, it explains being a teacher is one of the noble jobs that
not everyone can do.
Another point of view is from (Wilkinson, 2016), he commented about the rising action, he
described how the voice and limited thoughts of the child in terms of knowledge, experiences and
understanding can offer an effective model for the critique of social and political problems,
because of its straightforward and unselfconscious nature. In this rising action, we can see that
Scout is wondered why everyone is very worried about her father who defends a black man, Tom
Robinson, who has been charged with assaulting Mayella Ewell, a white woman. This is shown
when Jem said, “That’s because you can’t hold something in your mind but a little while. It’s
different with grown folks”. Hence, Scout seems like she does not understand what is happening
in an adult's life and started questioning why adults act differently when something happens, as
a child she just lives in her own life.
Next, according to (Armstrong and Lee, 1987) point of view in the rising action, they stated
that Scouts works hard to keep her dignity and attempts to overcome fighting with other children
so that she can make her father and her brother Jem proud of her because she succeeds to keep
calm in any difficult situation. In this plot, Scout received so much hatred from her neighbours and
her family members because of her father, during the Christmas dinner, her cousin, Francis has
assaulted her father saying that he will bring harm to Maycomb and mortify their family. In this
novel, Francis said “Just what I said. Grandma says it’s bad enough he lets you all run wild, but
now he’s turned out a nigger-lover we’ll never be able to walk the streets of Maycomb again. He’s

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ruining’ the family, that’s what he’s doing”. However, Scout keeps calm and does not fight back
as she wants to prove that she is a resilient girl and good at controlling her anger for her father’s
sake despite her age.
As for the climax in the novel, Mohammed, Mushtaq & Abdulhadi (2020) had given a
commentary on this plot development, in their research, they claimed that Scout tried to describe
the world of adults from their point of view saying that if people have levels and categories, they
are different in their families, races, incomes, and heritage. But for Scout, they are still people,
because as a child, these things do not matter and have no crucial change for her view toward
others. In this plot, many people bashed and slurred Scout and her family as Atticus is in favour
of the black man, Tom Robinson. During that time, there is a huge gap between white and black,
all the villagers assume that black people are bad and bring obliteration to them, so they are
treated differently. The young child Scout is very curious why there is oppression between these
two races, even though they are from the same village. From the novel, Scout said, “Naw, Jem, I
think there’s just one kind of folks. Folks.”. This showed that Scout thinks everyone is the same
and should receive the same treatment despite their races because they are also a person and
are created in the same way.
Last but not least, another plot for resolution is from (Darren Felty, 2015), he stated that it
is rare for children to face the social rejection caused by racial bias. The children, both Jem and
Scout, become victims of exclusion and insult, which they never expected. As a result, Jem faces
major emotional issues. At such a young age, Jem and Scout realise the unfairness that has been
given towards Tom Robinson. They could not believe that black people received such behaviour
and falsely accused just because of his skin colour. In the plot, they feel sad that black people are
always wrong, especially the fact that Tom Robinson is completely innocent makes both children
more sorrowful. Thus, they come to realise how the world they live in is corrupt and unfair. They
feel so sorry towards Tom Robinson. Luckily, both of them are genius enough to think which one
is good and which one is bad. Somehow, it sets us a lesson which we cannot judge and be racist
towards the other races. We are all humans that deserve to be treated equally.
In conclusion, everyone has their own opinion regarding the plots in the novel. The plot
development provides us with a different impact and somehow gives us a moral lesson that can
be applied in our daily life. From what we have identified, the plot written has a different impact

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that makes us want to read more. Hence, it is very popular and very highly recommended novel
to read in your free time.

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REFERENCES
Armstrong, J. and Lee, H.. (1987). To Kill a Mockingbird by harper lee. Basingstoke: Macmillan.
Enotes. (2014, May 9). “In To Kill A Mockingbird why did Scout fight her cousin after the Christmas
dinner at Finch's Landing?" eNotes Editorial. Retrieved from https://www.enotes.com/homeworkhelp/kill-mockingbird-why-did-scout-fight-her-cousin-468806.
Felty, Darren. (2015) "An Overview of To Kill A Mockingbird." Critical Essay, p.298-300. Print
IvyPanda. (2020, July 9). To Kill a Mockingbird. Retrieved from https://ivypanda.com/essays/tokill-a-mockingbird/
Lee, H. (1999). To kill a mockingbird (40th Anniversary ed.). New York: HarperCollins
Publishers.
Mohammed, Mushtaq & Abdulhadi, May. (2020). Child Narration in Harper Lee's To Kill A
Mockingbird.
Petry, Alice Hall. (2007). On Harper Lee: Essays and Reflections: “Humor and Humanity in To Kill
A Mockingbird”. Knoxville: University of Tennessee.
Wilkinson, R. (2016). Broaching themes too large for adult fiction: The child narrator in no violet
Bulawayo’s we need new names. English Academy Review, 33(1), pp. 123-132.

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APPENDIX
This is the screenshot taken from the research that shows the point of view from Wilkinson(2016)
for the rising action in the novel
The sentences highlighted above showed the point of view from Mohammed, Mushtaq &
Abdulhadi (2020) about the climax in the novel
This is the statement given by Armstrong and Lee(1987) about the rising action in the novel

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This is the screenshot from the article that shows the point of view from Alice Hall Petry (2007)
about the exposition of the novel
This is the screenshot taken from the analysis that demonstrates Darren Felty’s (2015) point of
view for the resolution in the novel