To Kill a Mockingbird. It’s just some book about some stuff, not really 100% sure myself. I think kids these days have to read it in school, so it must be ok, I guess. But we’re a news site, not a book club, so what is this literary analysis. Well, sometimes what you don’t need is the clickbait headlines of the breaking news, but instead some inspriation and motivation. A loyal Hecrenews reader had an old literary analysis found and stolen voluntarily offered to share their literary analysis of a passage from the Mockingbird, and this is some new stuff that does provide some good information, so I guess it qualifies as news.

“Let’s get into it”

This google doc doesn’t look that big, but it sures packs a lot, so let’s unpack it. We start off with a quote.

“You might hear some ugly talk about it at school, but do one thing for me if you will: you just hold your head high and keep thosoe fists down. No matter what anybody says to you, don’t you let ‘em get your goat,” (Lee 101).

Before we even start that analysis, I think we should go through this quote. There is an air of mystery, as there is ugly talk about ‘it’ at school, but from the quote given it is hard to determine what ‘it’ exactly is. Am I going to read the book to figure it out, of course not! We’ll get back to what ‘it’ could be in a little bit. Next up is “hold your head high and keep those fists down.” Keeping those fists down might refer to not resorting to violence, or it could refer to just beating up people smaller than you, they would be so small that you would keep your fists down while beating them up. I don’t really know. From the 1st half of this portion, holding your head high, this is not literally holding your head like you are the headless horseman, but instead it means to be proud. Personally, I think beating someone with your fists down is something to be more proud of than just resorting to non-violence. I don’t know, authors are kinda sus, they could mean anything. The last part reveals some big stuff. “No matter what anybody says to you, don’t you let ‘em get your goat.” When a noun like goat is tossed around like this, it could mean anything, and I mean anything. Let’s get through the talk part first. “No matter what anybody says to you,” is probably relating to that ugly talk that is being heard at school. I think I got it. The pieces are fitting together like a detective in a show solving a case. There is a goat about to be stolen, and people will say ugly things, probaly to lower your guard and offset your emotional state. To prevent the robbery of this goat, you must keep your fists down, beat up the people lower than you so they can’t steal your goat and keep your head held high, so the people higher than you would be too intimidated to steal your goat. What people say doesn’t matter, you can’t let them get your goat.

Wow. That was a lot, but now, we can finally analyze the analysis, and see what is going on, maybe get some more context.

“The device, metaphor, is used to compare Scout’s self-confidence or free will to a goat which would symbolize what would need to be protected to maintain social stature of a person as farmers would protect and preserve their goats and keep their stature to other farmers.”

I think some commas are missing, as well as some words, but I’m probably wrong as I doubt our loyal Hecrenews readers can produce anything less than perfection. “The device, metaphor.” Woo ee, that’s no electronic device, that’s a literary device. They are like electronic devices but for books, extra tools to add some depth to a text. The device at hand is a metaphor. This compares two things, usually using one thing to represent another. A simile is more straightforward, it compares two things using key words like like, as, so, or, or than. For example, he was fast like a cheetah is a simile because it uses like. Scout’s (Scout is a character I assume?) self-confidence, or free will, is being compared to a goat. First of all, I’m not sure how self-confidence and free will are interchangable. Nevertheless, they are being compared to a goat. That is the metaphor. Now, this may not make much sense at first, but the analysis tells us what the goat symbolizes. See, I told you those nouns that they use are going to come paired up with symbolism. Goats are “what would need to be protected to maintain social stature of a person as farmers would protect and preserve their goats and keep their stature to other farmers.” That’s a lot to unpack. First it makes a bit of sense. Nomadic farmers would use goats as a sort of stature, or maybe it’s their currency, I would need to ask an expert on that one. Farmers would not only protect their goats, but also preserve them! How do you preserve live livestock?? Pickling? Perhaps, who knows for sure. Anywho, farmers need their goats to keep their social status relative to other farmers, we can roll with that. Scout’s confidence or free-will is the goat, it needs to be preserved so Scout can keep her status in the community, whether it’s relative to farmers or just other people is unknown. If Scout keeps her fists down and doesn’t mind the ugly talk at school, they will not ruin Scout’s goat, or her free will. No matter what anybody says, Scout should keep her goat, her self-confidence.

Man, what an analysis, maybe we should do this kind of thing more often. Well now we need to talk about the big things, how do you get your goat? Well, there are many ways you can secure your goat. For one, make your bed in the morning. That way, no matter how bad your day has been, you can end the day knowing you have a nice bed to sleep on. Wake up early, don’t waste a bunch of time on social media, watching random YouTube videos, or doing work or schoolwork the hours before you sleep, and sleep well. One thing to note, I am not a motivational speaker, I am a journalist, and if you want the expert advice on motivaion, energy, and life, then check out this blog. Just now I was talking about getting your goat in life, but life is big and complex so it’s a lot to focus on. It may be best to procure your goat in other places. Maybe aim smaller, if you’re playing a video game, get your goat in that. Figure out the mindset, the strategies, and have fun, but win and get that goat. If you become a master of getting your goat, I assure you you will be going places.

This has been Mister Mjir, popping in and now popping out.