To Kill a Mockingbird

1. To Kill a Mockingbird Intro Notes

2. Beginning Stuff • Author: Harper Lee • Published: 1960 • Interesting Facts: • Won a Pulitzer Prize -1961 • TKAM is the only book Harper Lee ever wrote • The novel is semi-autobiographical which means it is partially based on Harper Lee’s actual life.

3. Similarities?

4. Similarities?

5. A Little History • The Great Depression began in 1930’s and many people struggled to live. • Poor people often lived “off the land” • This hardship made everyone more irritable and tempers often flared. • Slavery had ended in 1864 but attitudes were slow to change. • Racial Prejudice was common, the Jim Crow laws are an example. • All juries were WHITE and MALE • “A fair trial” at this time meant a white man’s word was believed over a black man’s.

6. A Little History • While African Americans were greatly oppressed, another social group was also used and abused. • Women were seen as “weak” and “inferior”. They were often not educated and were raised to nurture children. • Ironically, men were not seen as able to raise children –although this is not so in our novel.

7. Social Class in the Novel This is probably similar to how class structure existed during the 1930’s in the South. The wealthy, although fewest in number, were most powerful. The blacks, although great in number, were lowest on the class ladder, and thus, had the least privileges. • Examples of each social class: • Wealthy - Finches • Country Folk - Cunninghams • “White Trash” – Ewells • Black Community – Tom Robinson

8. Terms • Themes • Motif • Symbols • Characterization • Foil • Allusion

9. Themes To remind you: Themes are the essential and universal ideas explored in a literary work. • The Coexistence of Good and Evil • Are people naturally good or bad? • Truly innocent people, special individuals, children, or those with truly good hearts, are often destroyed by the evil of the world. • Coming of Age • Children grow up and learn harsh truths about the “real” world. • The Existence of Social Inequality (Prejudice) • Every society has a “pecking” order, an order of social classes. Is this right? Justifiable? Good? Children often see through this.

10. The novel is classified as two specific styles of fiction: • Southern Gothic– The book includes some dreamy and thoughtful writing (the main character’s memories) but it also contains brutal material (painful real life stuff) such rape and the effects of racial prejudice • Bildungsroman (Bill-duns-row-mon) – A literary term for a story that follows the growth and development of a character from childhood to adulthood.

11. Motifs Motifs are recurring elements that help to develop the text’s major themes. Examples: • Gothic Details • Small Town Life • The Innocence of children

12. Gothic details in setting and plot. • Gothic fiction features supernatural occurrences, gloomy and haunted settings, full moons, and so on. Gothic Details • Out of place in the normally quiet, predictable Maycomb, these details create tension and foreshadow the troublesome events of the trial and its aftermath.

13. Other Gothic elements in TKAM include: • An unnatural snowfall • A mysterious fire • The creepy, run down Radley House • A mad dog • The ominous night of the Halloween party at the conclusion of the story.

14. The slow-paced, good-natured feel of life in Maycomb. • Small-town values and Gothic images are often juxtaposed (put side by side) to examine more closely the forces of good and evil. • The horror of the fire, for instance, is lessened by the comforting scene of the people of Maycomb banding together to save Miss Maudie’s possessions. Small-Town Life

15. Symbols Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts. • Mockingbirds • Boo Radley • The Mad Dog

16. Miss Maudie explains to Scout: “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but . . . sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” • Mockingbirds eat bugs and sing beautifully, so it is sinful to kill a useful and innocent creature. In TKAM this bird symbolizes the destruction of innocence by evil. • Throughout the book, a number of characters (Jem, Tom Robinson, Dill, Boo Radley, Mr. Raymond) can be identified as mockingbirds—innocents who have been injured or destroyed through contact with evil. Mockingbirds

17. In the beginning Boo symbolizes fear of the unknown, the boogey-man in the closet. • By the end of the novel Boo symbolizes innocence and the desire to “be good” that is sometimes ruined by the world around us. Boo Radley The Mad Dog • Symbolizes good and normal things that become evil and dangerous for a variety of reasons.

18. Characters • Scout (Jean Louise Finch)– six-year-old narrator of story • Jem (Jeremy Finch)– her older brother (10) • Atticus Finch– A widower, Jem and Scout’s father, a prominent lawyer who defends a black man accused of raping a white woman. • Arthur (Boo) Radley – a thirty-three-year-old recluse who lives next door • Charles Baker (Dill) Harris– Jem and Scout’s friend who comes to visit his aunt in Maycomb each summer • Tom Robinson– a respectable black man accused of raping a white woman • Calpurnia – the Finches’ black cook • The Ewell’s- A poor white family, considered “white trash”

19. Other Terms • Foil – Characters that are opposites. Foil character make each other seem more extreme. • Example: A red stain looks bad on a dark colored shirt, but a red stain on a WHITE shirt looks REALLY bad. • A bad character next to a good character makes one look REALLY bad and the other REALLY good. • Allusion –a reference to a historical or literary event. • Many of the occurrences in TKAM seem like allusions to real life events from the 1930s.

20. Setting • The area where the action and story line take place. • The setting of TKAM is one of its most distinct and important features. • The setting is one of the major reasons it is considered a Southern Gothic novel. • Gothic novels rely on spooky and unworldly things and events, and Southern just means it takes place in the south. • For example, Frankenstein is a gothic novel, if it were set in Atlanta it would be Southern Gothic. • BTW, you will be expected to discuss the setting and how it impacts the novel.

21. Controversy There has been controversy surrounding the novel since its publication. Many individuals have even attempted to have it removed from classrooms, challenging the book’s treatment of black characters. These people do not realize that to educate students about the horrors of prejudice and racism, one must first show it to them. The book is not racist, it may contain terrible language but it has to so that you, the reader, can have a clear picture of how terrible these times were. And yes, black characters are treated terribly, but they were treated terribly in real life. This is history. These are facts. We cannot change what we do not acknowledge.

22. Yeah, is it really that good? • Yes. Just yes. You may not understand everything the first time through or at your current age, but you will. Trust me. • Overall, the book has become legendary worldwide. Librarians actually ranked the book ahead of the Bible as a book “every adult should read before they die.” • Like wise, Atticus Finch is one of the greatest heroes of American Literature. He is the symbolic perfect father, and he is an amazing character. Recently the American Film Institute ranked Atticus the number #1 greatest hero of film- Even over Indiana Jones & James Bond!

23. Harper Lee, now 84, still resides in Alabama and New York. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her contribution to literature in 2007.

24. When asked why she rarely grants interviews or gives speeches, she said: “Well, it's better to be silent than to be a fool.” Pretty ironic, considering she’s the author of one of the most influential and celebrated American books of all time.