Discourse analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Discourse analysis - Essay Example The essay concentrates on scout since she is a key character as well as portraying the author when she was young as well as when she grew up and came to understand the various things that were different for her to understand when she was young. Prejudice is defined as an opinion on an individual that is usually based solely on religion or race before even all the facts are known (Johnson 1994). This essay will seek to explain the various instances of prejudice that are shown in the book especially those that touch on Tom Robinson, Boo Radley and Atticus Finch since they are the key characters in the book. I will also have a look at aunt Alexandria and her role in the book. She was introduced in the story as a defender of the tried and tested status quo in the southern society that the book was set in. The novel I used to work on this essay has no published Coda. The discourse analysis is on Lee Harper’s To Kill a Mockingbird hence this will be the principle form of literature in this narrative. The other books played a mostly supplementary role to this book. I also intend to make use of Understanding to Kill a Mockingbird: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historic Documents. This will be of help to me since it pinpoints the main issues in the novel such as racism and prejudice which are the main topics of the narrative. This makes it much easier to understand and critique where necessary as I read along. Zakrzweski Janelle’s Reading Race: Exploring Racial Themes in to Kill a Mockingbird will also be particularly useful since race is the most critical issue in this book as it was written in the thick of the civil rights movement in the south. The book resonated with the prevailing mood in the society. The study of identity plays a significant role in modern sociological thought. I had to come up with the various ident ities in the narrative and this was helped by going through Karen Cerulo’s essay titled Identity Construction: New