A brief explanation...

... for the reason of the design of my blog. I did not put birds on here because I'm an aspiring ornithologist. I chose birds because of the symbolism they bring. While different birds stand for different meanings a few I found important were wisdom, justice, family, and new growth. Kind of appropriate for the theme of my books. As I continue to read, I'm finding the bird design more and more fitting. Those 4 traits are something I have already discovered within the first 100 pages of A Lesson Before. Grant, the teacher, of course stand for wisdom. Justice is why Jefferson is on death row. Family is the reason why Grant is going to visit Jefferson. And new growth is what Grant is slowly discovering, and hopefully Jefferson will too. I'm eager to see how I can relate these traits, or other traits of birds to The Help as I read it.

The pink coloring also has a reason behind it. The meaning of pink is, essentially love, but it also goes into self-worth and acceptance. That's also become very suitable for the events that have taken place in the book so far. Something Jefferson lacks is self-worth. That's the reason Grant is going to visit him, to prove he is worth something. To prove to Jefferson that he is a man. Grant, however, is the one who need acceptance. He wants acceptance in the society he lives in. He wants to be recognized as a educated teacher, not a black man. Once again, we'll see how well this also ties into The Help, but it is set during the same time period so the characters will face the same racial discrimination.

Just wanted to prove I do have a reason behind my design other than I thought it just looked pretty.


If you want to know more about bird meanings and the color pink:

http://www.lindamackenzie.net/chartbird.htm

http://crystal-cure.com/pink.html





Mackenzie, Linda. "Bird Symbol Chart by Linda Mackenzie." Linda Mackenzie's Mind Center. Linda A. Mackenzie, 2006. Web. 9 Jul 2011. <http://www.lindamackenzie.net/chartbird.htm>.


"Color Pink meaning." Emily Gems. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Jul 2011. <http://crystal-cure.com/pink.html>.