1971. The significance of a title such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is so easy to discover. However, in other works (for example, Measure for Measure) the full significance of the title becomes apparent to the reader only gradually. Choose two works and show how the significance of their respective titles is developed through the authors' use of devices such as contrast, repetition, allusion, and point of view.
Often times, the title of a work has a significance to the piece as a whole, such as in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Other works, such as To Kill a Mockingbird, and Much Ado about Nothing have significant meanings as well. Through the use of literary devices such as point of view and repetition, the authors create a significant meaning for their respective works.
The work To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a great example of a title with a significance. The Mockingbird is a symbol of innocence, and the killing of the Mockingbird signifies the loss of innocence, which is exactly what happens in the novel. Seen mostly from Scout’s point of view, the novel has an innocent perspective for the most part. Scout thinks similar to a young child, but after the trial, Scout seems to have grown up, and is no longer as innocent as she was. Scout’s change of point of view shows that the title is indeed significant because it signifies Scout’s loss of innocence.
In the Shakespearean play Much Ado About Nothing, the use of a pun is in place with the title, giving it significance to the play as a whole. The entire play is centered around the mishaps that happen to a group of people, all of them interrelated. Many misfortunes occur in the play, all of them caused by eavesdropping, such as the entire misunderstanding between Hero and Claudio. Problems due to eavesdropping repeat themselves many times through out this novel. Due to this strong repetition of eavesdropping, it is clear that the word “nothing” in the title is a pun to the word “noting”, which means eavesdropping because the word “nothing” also can be pronounced “noting”.
Through the use of the point of view of an innocent child, the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee has given the title of the novel a significant meaning. Similarly, the play Much Ado About Nothing has also given a significance to the title, this time through the use of a repetitive theme.
In your first two sentences you set up a contrast between the two types of titles, but then you don't explain how they are different. When first introducing Scout, you should clarify that she is a child, also she is a child so you don't need to say that "Scout thinks similarly to a child". Your connection between the two works is weak, unfortunately I have yet to read Much Ado, so I don't have advice to fix that. But make sure when comparing the works, that you don't just make conclusions about them in two different sentences.
ReplyDeleteLiked your novel and play choices, they are both very different. When talking about Scout and how she "thinks similar to a young child" think about maybe adding a sentence to say how she thinks and then compare her thoughts after the trial and how she as a character has changed. Your last sentence in the Much Ado paragraph confused me the first time I read it, maybe condense it a little. You could also make your conclusion a bit longer, more comparison of titles. Overall, good job!
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