Exploring To Kill a Mockingbird: Southern Setting & Historical Context

1. An Introduction to “To Kill a Mockingbird” By Harper Lee

2. Write three words that express what you are thinking as you view these pictures.

3. SETTING OF THE NOVEL • Southern United States • 1930’s • Great Depression • Prejudice and legal segregation • Ignorance

4. Setting • Maycomb, Alabama (fictional city) • 1933-1935 • Although slavery has long been abolished, the Southerners in Maycomb continue to believe in white supremacy.

5. Visual Time LineOpen your notebook and draw a “timeline” from a vertical perspective.

6. The Author Nelle Harper Lee born in 1926 died 2016

7. Author’s place of birth: Monroeville, Alabama --population 7,000

8. Population of Cave Creek/Carefree • Cave Creek = 5,476 • Carefree = 3,724 9,200

9. Crash of the Stock Market, 1929

10. 1930’s - Great Depression began when the stock market crashed in October, 1929 • Businesses failed, factories closed • People were out of work • Even people with money suffered because nothing was being produced for sale. • Poor people lost their homes, were forced to “live off the land.”

11. Pictures of bread lines, like this one, are among the most enduring and poignant images of the Great Depression. Great Depression 1929 -1939

12. What is a Depression ? An economy with high unemployment, falling income, failing business, and declines in production and sales. In other words…a “broken” economy that needs to be fixed!

13. The Current U.S. Economy • Americans have been living beyond their means, buying too often on credit • Foreign competition, a decrease in the production of goods, and corporate bailouts have led to economic problems in the U.S. • This led to high unemployment, rising prices, and inflation and the recession during the Bush administration in 2007-8

14. But less than 85 years ago, events were much worse…

15. The Great Depression • An economic slump in North America, Europe, and other industrialized areas of the world began in 1929 and lasted until about 1939.

16. Causes for the Great Depression • Risky Investments False Prosperity in the 1920’s led to: • Oct. 1929 Stock Market Crash • Banking Crisis - Most uninsured - Money runs • Trade Collapse

17. Effects of the Depression on the Common Citizen • Unemployment - At the height of the depression, 3 out of 10 Americans were jobless. • Poverty - Millions homeless, hungry, penniless • Injustices committed by the powerful against the powerless • - Unfair pay, working conditions • - Increased racial tensions

18. To Kill a Mockingbird takes place from 1933 to 1935, during the Great Depression. The story is set in Maycomb, a fictional city in southern Alabama.

19. Trial of Walter LettMarch, 1934 • Accused of raping white woman • Has alibi for time of rape • Found guilty/sentenced to execution • Citizens of Monroe County object • Sentence changed to life imprisonment • Lett dies of TB in 1937

20. Semi-autobiographicaldetails • Scout Finch/Harper Lee, author • Atticus Finch/A.C. Lee – Harper Lee’s attorney father • Maycomb/Monroeville • Tom Robinson trial/William Lett trial • Dill was childhood friend Truman Capote who became a famous writer.

21. World War II, 1939-1945

22. Brown vs. Board of Education 1954Brown vs. Board was about a 3rd grade black girl, named Linda Brown.  She lived in Topeka, Kansas.  She had to walk a mile to attend an all black school (through bad conditions) when there was a white school, only 7 blocks away.  Her father decided to solicit the help of the NAACP, and they took the case to court, which was fighting for Linda's right to attend the white school.  This was happening during the 1950's, when racial segregation was the norm.  In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of deeming desegregation unconstitutional.  The law did not end desegregation overall, as it still existed in restaurants and public facilities.  It also did not put a time-frame on when the schools had to combine the population, and in many states, it took a long time to end desegregation

23. Martin Luther King Jr. Montgomery,Alabama 1959

24. To Kill A Mockingbird, published 1960

26. Voting Rights Act Section 4 Struck Down By Supreme Court 2013 • For example, mere hours after the high court ruling, Texas implemented a strict photo ID law, which had previously been rejected under Section 5. That summer, the North Carolina legislature passed a sweeping law that also instituted a stringent photo ID requirement, eliminated same-day registration, and cut back on early voting. • All of these laws respond to phantom complaints of voter fraud, and all disproportionately hurt the ability of minorities to vote. In October 2014, a federal judge found 600,000 registered Texas voters do not have acceptable ID. Testimony showed African-American and Hispanic registered voters are two to four times more likely than white registered voters to lack photo ID. In North Carolina, data showed African Americans used early voting and same-day registration at much higher rates than whites. • Overall, since the 2010 election, 21 states have imposed new voting restrictions. In 2016, 15 states will have more strict rules than they did in 2012. The storm of discriminatory changes forecast by Ginsburg has apparently come to pass. • Many of these measures have been aggressively challenged under the remaining sections of the Voting Rights Act. Two major cases are pending in Texas and North Carolina, where attorneys laid out strong evidence showing how these laws prevent citizens from voting, and disproportionately discriminate against blacks and Hispanics.

27. Racial prejudice was alive & well. Although slavery had ended in 1864, old ideas were slow to change.

28. Racial separation (segregation)

29. Gender Bias (Prejudice) • Women were considered “weak” • Women were generally not educated for occupations outside the home • In wealthy families, women were expected to oversee the servants and entertain guests • Men not considered capable of nurturing children

30. “White trash” • Poor, uneducated white people who lived on “relief “ • lowest social class, even below the poor blacks • prejudiced against black people • felt the need to “put down” blacks in order to elevate themselves

32. Legal Issues of the 1930’s which impact the story • Women given the vote in 1920 • Juries were MALE and WHITE • “Fair trial” did not include acceptance of a black man’s word against a white man’s

33. Prejudice in the novel Race Gender Handicaps Rich/Poor Age Religion

34. Themes • Racial Prejudice • Social Snobbery • Morality • Tolerance • Patience • Equality • The Need for Compassion • The Need for Conscience

35. Symbolism • The Mockingbird: Symbolizes Everything That is Good and Harmless in This World

36. Jean Louis Finch – “Scout” • The story’s narrator • Although now an adult, Scout looks back at her childhood and tells of the momentous events and influential people of those years. • Scout is six when the story begins. • She is naturally curious about life.

37. Scout’s Character Traits • Tomboy • Impulsive • Emotional • Warm & Friendly • Sensitive • Adorable • Gains in Maturity throughout the Novel

38. Atticus Finch • Father of Scout and Jem • A widower • An attorney by profession • Highly respected • Good citizen • Instills good values and • morals in his children. • His children call him “Atticus” • Honest • Typical southern gentleman • Brave, Courteous, Soft-spoken

39. Jem Finch • Scout’s older brother • Looks up to his father Atticus • Usually looks out for Scout • Typical older brother at times • Smart • Compassionate • Matures as the story progresses

40. Calpurnia • The Finch’s black housekeeper • Has watched the children since their mother’s death • Has been a positive influence on the children.

41. Arthur “Boo” Radley • An enigma • An adult man, whose father has “sentenced” him to a lifetime confinement to their house because of some mischief he got into when he was a teenager. • Has a reputation of being a lunatic • Basically a harmless, well-meaning person • Sometimes childlike in behavior • Starving for love and affection • Saves Jem and Scout from certain danger

42. Tom Robinson • A young, harmless, innocent, hardworking black man • Has a crippled left hand • Married with three children. Works on a farm belonging to Mr. Link Deas, a white man • Will be falsely accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell

43. Dill • A close friend of Jem and Scout • Usually lives in Maycomb only during the summer (stays with a relative) • Tells “big stories” • Has been deprived of love and affection

44. Poor white family Hard-working Honest Proud Survive on very little Always pay back their debts – even if it is with hickory nuts, turnips, or holly. Poor white trash Dirty Lazy Good-for-nothing Never done a day’s work Foul-mouthed Dishonest Immoral Two Poor White Families:The Cunninghams The Ewells

45. Simple Honest Clean Hard-working God fearing Proud Would never take anything with paying it back Respectful Had stronger character than most of the whites Oppressed Uneducated Discriminated against Talked about badly Deserve better than what is dished out to them by society The Black Community

46. Language • Sometimes the language of Scout will be that of her as a child; other times, she will be speaking in the voice of an adult • Atticus uses formal speech • Calpurnia uses “white language” in the Finch house and switches to “black jargon” when amidst blacks • The Ewells use foul words and obscenities • Jem, Scout, and Dill will use slang words, typical of their age • Tom Robinson uses language typical of the southern black such as “suh” for “sir” and “chillun” for “children” • Various derogatory terms for blacks will be used such as “nigger,” “darky,” “Negroes,” and “colored folk” – Lee uses such language to keep her novel naturally in sync with common language of the times

47. Tone • Somber • Serious • Humorous (at times)

48. Characters • Atticus Finch - an attorney whose wife has died, leaving him to raise their two children: -Jem – 10-year-old boy -Scout – (Jean Louise), 6-year-old girl • Tom Robinson – a black man accused of raping white girl; he is defended at trial by Atticus

49. Point of View • First person • Story is told by Scout, a 6-year-old girl • Harper Lee is a woman; Scout represents the author as a little girl although the story is not strictly autobiographical

50. Reading the Novel • Setting is all 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 • “Goodness vs. Ignorance (Evil)” is an important theme