Franklin Guardado

Mrs. Aponte
Tech Prep 11
2015 January 21

Adlai E. Stevenson once said the truth is often unpopular In other

words, he is saying that the truth isnt always good to hear. Sometimes the truth
hurts for its facts. This statement is true. There is evidence of this quote in to kill a
mockingbird a story by Harper Lee. There is also evidence in Tuesdays with
Morrie a memoir by Mitch Albom. The authors of both works use various literary
elements and techniques to convey their ideas of this subject.
Adlai E. Stevenson's words are reflected in to kill a mocking bird by Harper
Lee. The story is about a little girl named scout whose mind is young and does not
know much about how the real world is and how bad some people are. Throughout
the book she realizes things arent how she thought they were. She saw how unfair
life is and how nothing is as easy as it looks. Lee uses imagery, setting, conflict,
symbolism, characterization, to illustrate the problem of the book and how it
changes from the beginning to the end. The author uses imagery to create an
image In the readers head of what is going on in the story. The setting of the story
takes place in Maycomb Alabama during 1933 to 1935. The conflict of the story
was growing up and understanding life. Her life was changed when her teacher said
to her that they lived in a place where everyone was treated equal, she later found
out that what her teacher told her was completely a lie. Characterization is used to
describe how Tom , a black male who was accused of raping a white girl looks and
its importance of his dark skin. Scout found out it was a lie about being equal with
Tom. All evidence pointing to Tom being innocent he was blamed guilty because he

was black. Symbolism is used in the story by scout being symbolized with a
mockingbird, meaning innocence is destroyed by evil. Therefore, Adlai E.
Stevenson's words are true.
Adlai E. Stevenson's words are reflected in "Tuesday's with Morrie" by Mitch
Albom. This book is about a man who is diagnosed with ALS and is giving with an
amount of time to live. He spends the rest of his days with an old student of his.
Mitch uses setting, symbolism, conflict, characterization and imagery to tell the sad
story of Morrie. In Tuesday's with Morrie, Mitch uses setting by telling the reader this
happened in 1990's in Massachusetts. Symbolism is used when Morrie is symbolized
by hibiscus plant. The plant's pink petals wither and fall as Morrie grows increasingly
dependent on his aides and on oxygen. The conflict of the story is death. Morrie has
being diagnosed with a mortal disease and will die in a short amount of time. The
conflict is impossible to solve, the only way to change it into somewhat positive is
changing perspective on death. He is described with the use of characterization. He
is said to be old but very smart. Through out the book the effects of the disease are
described and can be seen by the reader in their heads also using imagery.
Therefore, Adlai E. Stevenson's words are true.
"...the truth is often unpopular, a true quote by Adlai E.Stevenson. In
both"To kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee and "Tuesday's with Morrie" by Mitch
Albom the use of setting, imagery, symbolism, characterization and conflict prove
the quote true. One thing readers can learn from these two works is that life isn't
like fairy tales, always with happy endings.