Nate Burchfield
English Critical Lens Essay
Michael Dorrie once said: “Nobody can predict the future, but some things you take into your own hands.” In other word this means that sometimes you have to take control of your future. Since the book To Kill A Mocking Bird by Harper Lee, and Hamlet, by William Shakespeare both are related to this, Michael Dorrie is correct.
To Kill A Mocking Bird by Harper Lee is related to the fact that you must sometimes take control of you own future. An example from this piece of literature is Atticus and what he knows what he must do with his life. He realizes that he must take the Tom Robinson case even though the town is against Tom and Atticus for it. This is an example of Man vs. Self. Atticus works up the guts to take the case, knowing that if he didn’t he wouldn’t even be able to take authority with his own children. Another example from this piece of literature can include Tom running from the prison. He knew that he would die trying to escape this prison, yet he still did it. Both of these examples prove my interpretation.
Another piece of literature, Hamlet by William Shakespeare, also can support the fact that you must sometimes take you future into your own hands, and decide your own actions. One example from this piece of literature can include when Hamlet is on the boat on its way to England. He knew that he was going to be put to death there, but Hamlet sensed own future and took it into his own hands. He changed the letters to save his own life, but took the life of his best friends. Another example is at the beginning of the book, when Hamlet sees the spirit of his dead father. He now knows that he must take revenge for his father’s death. He takes the situation into is own hands and in the end successfully gets revenge at the cost of his mother’s, lover’s and friends’ lives. This is an example Man vs. Man conflict. All of these examples prove the fact and my interpretation.
In the end I agree with the quote and my interpretation, because all of these pieces of literature I have read. Both of these books deal with the conflicts Man vs. Man and Man vs. Self because in the end they are fighting themselves on whether or not to take life into their own hands. Many people still have that problem today.