To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Pre-AP 9th grade Literature & Composition

Unit Objectives • Identify the characteristics of the Southern Woman in the early twentieth century • Analyze character growth exhibited by both Scout & Jim • Discuss the relationship of Atticus with his children • Explain Harper Lee’s themes of racism, loss of innocence and deceptive appearances • Explain the concept of the absent character

Unit Objectives Cont. • Analyze Atticus's character and what he represents • Describe the impact of social class on characters’ attitudes and actions • Explain Lee’s use of humor, suspense, and allusions as literary techniques • Identify an define the literary devices that Lee uses such as similes, metaphors, and idioms

Meet the Author • Harper Lee modeled the character of Scout after herself. • She was born in Monroeville, AL in 1926. • Lee’s father was also a small town lawyer. • The Scottsboro Boys – In April 1931, in Scottsboro, AL, nine African-American men were tried for raping two white women. • The all-white jury convicted the men and sentenced them to death. • Harper was 6 years old and had an impact on her.

Famous Childhood Friend • Lee’s close childhood friend was the famous author Truman Capote. • They spent summers playing together. • Capote was the model for Lee’s character, Dill in To Kill a Mockingbird.

Southern Social Structure of the Early 1900’s • Upper Class – doctors, lawyers, plantation owners, and business professionals • Middle Class – small farmers, and small-town business owners • Lower Class – African-American farmers and unskilled laborers, such as mill workers • The Great Depression – 1930’s – Between 1929-1932, farm prices fell over 50%, and the average income in 1929 was $750, but farm income was $275.

Sharecroppers & Landowners • The white people owned acres of land but had very little cash. • African –American farmers worked as sharecroppers. • The landowner divided land into shares and provided small houses, tools, and seeds. • Some also fed, clothed, and provided medical care for the sharecropper families. • The landowners received a part of the profits.

Southern Heritage • The Appearance of money of comfort was more important than the the lack of it. • Lack of money could not be the differentiating factor • The use of Southern ancestry as a differentiating factor

Racism in the South • Most significant issue of the South during the 1930’s was segregation. • Subtle interpretations of laws helped to keep African-Americans immersed in poverty. • Mill jobs were reserved for whites • Rules for lending money favored suburban areas • Southern States circumvented the Fifteenth Amendment • Stringent voter registrations requirements such as literacy tests and poll taxes

Racism in the South • Consequence for testing authority - LYNCHING • Murderers would not even stand trial for this crime. • Tar and feathering • Hanging from a tree until dead • The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was founded by the Confederate army vets to oppose changes that occurred during Reconstruction. • KKK used lynching as a means of intimidation.

The Scottsboro Boys • In 1931, five African-American teenage boys were falsely accused of raping two white girls on a train from Chattanooga to Memphis. • The teens were sentenced to terms ranging from 75 to 99 years in prison with several receiving the death penalty. • The US Supreme Court overturned the verdicts – twice. • Once because the defendants were given inadequate counsel • The grand juries did not have any African-Americans on them • The youths were retried in Alabama. One woman recanted. The boys were found guilty. • The state finally dropped the charges in 1937.

Civil Rights Movement • TKAM was published in 1960 and was a bestseller for over a year and a half. • The 1960’s was a time of turbulent civil protest in the this country. • Alabama was a predominantly segregated state. • 1954 – Brown vs. Board of Ed. • 1955 – Rosa Parks & the Montgomery Bus Boycott • 1956 – first African-American woman admitted to University of Alabama

Civil Rights Movement • Harper Lee won the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 . • Over 15 million copies of the book were sold in the early years • Critics hail TKAM as an accurate portrayal of racist discrimination in the South. • Considered quite controversial in school settings

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee