To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbirdby Harper Lee

Setting • Southern United States; 1930’s Depression Era • Historical background of legal segregation • Influence from the trial of the “Scottsboro Boy ‘s” in 1931 –Scottsboro, Alabama http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/scottsboro/SB_acct.html

Setting-Maycomb, Alabama

Depression’s influence • Stock market Crash October 1929 • Rural people were already poor so did not feel a lot of difference. • Alabama mainly rural and many poor. • Alabama made up of agricultural communities so they at least grew their own food and could barter (exchange) with this. • Some businesses did fail that were effected from the rest of the country

Racial separation-segregation

Making Connections • The Universal Themes of this Novel • The coming of age-growing up and fitting into one’s community • Confronting racism, prejudice, and intolerance of all people (all shapes and sizes too and beliefs!) • Family values: compassion and tolerance • The innocence of children regarding prejudice

Prejudice shown in this novel • Race • gender bias (women treated as incompetent • handicaps (Boo) • rich/poor (The Ewells and the blacks in the novel) • age • religion

Characters • Atticus Finch - an attorney whose younger wife has died, leaving him to raise their two children: Jem (10) and Scout (Jean Louise, 6 ). • Scout - She matures through the length of the story. Scout learns the true value of getting to know someone before judging them. • Jem (Jeremy) – represents the idea of bravery in the novel. At the beginning responding to a dare is bravery for Jem, but as the novel progresses Jem sees adults who have great challenges like addiction, mob or crowd control, and rabies. He then sees that bravery is not so easy as a dare.

Characters • Tom Robinson – a black man accused of raping a white girl; he is defended at trial by Atticus. • Boo Radley– the children’s fear, elevated by imagination, of Boo reflects the theme of ignorance rather than knowledge of other people. All learn that Boo is really a gentle soul who helps protect the children numerous times. • Dill – has a limitless imagination and instigates much of the activities the children get into over the summer. He and Scout decide they will marry. Charles Baker Dill Harris comes to stay every summer at his aunts, Rachel Haverford.

Characters • Calpurnia – is the cook and housekeeper for the family. She has Atticus respect for not spoiling, yet loving, his children. She is a few years older than Atticus. Calpurnia provides a disciplined mother figure for the children. • Aunt Alexandra – Atticus’s sister who represents the old southern ideas of ladies or females. She does not like Atticus rearing of his children but we see a softer side when she hears of Tom’s death. • Miss Maudie– a symbolic, like other characters, mockingbird since she is an unmarried, free spirited, and independent woman who is often misunderstood and harassed by others in town. She is a good friend of Atticus and the children.

Characters • Ewells– • MrEwell- lower class abusing man who seems mean to everyone. Has many underfed and dirty children. Ewell is ignorant and prejudiced; he accuses Tom of rape. • Mayella – overworked, young and starved for attention. Looks for it in the kindly Tom. Goes a long with the accusations of rape to save herself from her fathers beatings, and to save her dignity in a prejudiced society.

Point of View – First Person • Story told by Scout, a ten year old girl (from the mature perspective of looking back when she is older). • Harper Lee is actually writing somewhat autobiographically about her childhood: Scout is Harper in youth.

Reading the Novel • Setting – important-be aware of the “where” and “when” as you begin. • Point of View – the novel is shaped by the voice of a young girl who sees the story from a position of naïve acceptance. • Good (educated wisdom) versus Evil (uneducated ignorance) is an important theme.

Jeopardy • Topic-Mockingbird 1930’s Maycomb, Alabama Atticus Finches daughter the man who accuses Tom of rape one universal theme of the novel The rural society of Alabama made a living with? the stock market crash of_____ Two other prejudices, besides race, in the novel

Answers • What is setting? • Who is Jean Loiuse-Scout? • Who is Mr. Ewell? • The coming of age-growing up. • What is agriculture? • What happened in 1929? • What was gender bias and handicapped?

Mockingbird A picture from the 1963 Academy Award winning movie.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee