In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, a small amount of comic relief could help soften the idea of all these difficult, but useful experiences happening to a young girl. Some of these experiences include encountering racism within her community, dealing with those who are against her father's morals, and learning about rape at the age of seven. With all of these serious occurrences happening around her, Scout, the young girl, is trapped in her own thoughts trying to wonder why all of these things are happening. Topics like this can get a little boring, I suppose, but there are simple tricks hidden in the text that we don't even notice are present some times. Dill is an example of a hidden comic relief found within To Kill a Mockingbird. Dill is a young boy around Scout's age. He is the quirky character who comes when he's needed for his purpose in the book: comic relief. What I mean is that Dill is not around all the time and I think that if he does not come in occasionally, the book would just be missing a needed piece. However, Dill's character is not all joking and funny, he adds a certain element by referencing his own hardships from home. We are made to feel sympathetic towards him because he is the funny characters we're all going to love and to image him going through tough times makes us feel for him because he is so innocent.
In terms of whether or not Dill's character adds or detaches to the main focus, I think that he adds to it because, as I stated earlier, the book would just be missing something if he weren't there. In terms of comic relief in other books, if done well, we should not notice that it helps us remain engaged in the story at all times. However, if done poorly we tend to hate the character because they are taking up useful space in the book. This should clearly state that the relief had been done poorly because it does the exact opposite of its purpose.
In conclusion, I think that comic relief is sometimes required in a book that may be slow to some readers. However, there are special cases in which a book envelopes you in the plot so well that comic relief would be nothing more than a distraction from all the amazing things happening. So, comic relief should be done well when it is required to keep the boring pieces of a story interesting and it is alright to be forgotten when the story is interesting as is.
In terms of whether or not Dill's character adds or detaches to the main focus, I think that he adds to it because, as I stated earlier, the book would just be missing something if he weren't there. In terms of comic relief in other books, if done well, we should not notice that it helps us remain engaged in the story at all times. However, if done poorly we tend to hate the character because they are taking up useful space in the book. This should clearly state that the relief had been done poorly because it does the exact opposite of its purpose.
In conclusion, I think that comic relief is sometimes required in a book that may be slow to some readers. However, there are special cases in which a book envelopes you in the plot so well that comic relief would be nothing more than a distraction from all the amazing things happening. So, comic relief should be done well when it is required to keep the boring pieces of a story interesting and it is alright to be forgotten when the story is interesting as is.
Reflection
I do not own the image and got it from the movie "To Kill a Mockingbird".