Author's Note and Discussion Questions

Author's Note

I am on my first draft of the paper, about to start the revisions and seeing what needs to be added or taken out for it to make sense to the reader. I like this piece because it has a different view on writing an essay, instead of just having to summarize a story, we have to make it our own and make it into something everyone would want to possibly talk about by making it into a film version. But I didn't really like this piece because it is hard in some to make references to who characters could be. Because I chose the lottery, there wasn't much background to all the characters that I wanted to portray, so it made the casting part of the essay a little harder and had to go on just what I thought would be best for the movie instead of putting people in who fit descriptions. I'm not feeling so well on the character part of my essay, or of my conclusion. I have never been one for writing the best papers but hopefully I did well on this paper.

The Conscience of the Court Discussion Questions

I believe that Laura Lee had a right to be loyal to Celestine for all the help she had done. It doesn't seem right that it almost looks like slavery, but had it not been the race difference, it would just be two friends looking out for one another. She could have taken the money and had her own place with her husband on the third chance, but she didn't feel it was right in her eyes because she was so loyal to Celestine. But I don't think that Laura Lee not leaving was a wrong decision, I just feel that Laura Lee thought it was what was the right thing to do at the moment.

Her side does clarify everything that happened, and does ring true to a court wanting to hear both sides even if she didn't have a lawyer to talk her through it. Her rambling through the testimony got a bit excessive and could have been stopped a long time before it did, but it just helps tell the story of how Laura Lee is true to everyone and how she got to be who she is. But if the story would have been told in someone elses eyes, it would not have been the same.

I think the verdict was hopeful because it shows that even though at that time, the nation was barely changing its views, it did bring hope to Laura Lee because she was allowed to tell her side of the story and because she ended up being innocent of her charges. At the time it might have been a bit unrealistic, especially if it took place in the south, but it could have been a possibility of showing how the tide was changing to view all sides instead of one side.