Novel Study

1. Novel Study

2. Characterization • Complete the following poem on one of the characters from your novel Bio Poem • First Name of Character • 4 adjectives that describe the character • Relative of… • Lover of…. • Who feels…. • Who needs… • Who fears… • Who gives… • Who would like to see… • Resident of … • Last name of Character

3. Characterization • Now complete the following poem on another character from the novel: I am… I understand… I say “… I dream… I try… I hope… I am…. I am… I wonder… I hear… I see… I want… I am… I pretend… I feel… I touch… I worry… I cry…

4. External conflict and Internal conflict: • Name and describe one major external conflict from the novel in your journals: • In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird the character ____________ has an external conflict with _______________ because ________________. • Now think of an external conflict that you have experienced in your own life and compare and contrast the two conflicts =========================================================== • Name one major internal conflict and describe why the conflict is occurring and then compare and contrast with an internal conflict from your own life. • In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird the character _______________ has an internal conflict because ________________________.

5. Setting and Mood In your novel find a passage that describes a setting and write it in your journal: To Kill a Mockingbird pg. 5 • “Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop; grass grew on the sidewalks, the courthouse sagged in the square. Somehow, it was hotter then: a black dog suffered on a summer’s day; bony mules hitched to Hoover carts flicked flies in the sweltering shade of the live oaks on the square. “ Find at least 3 adjectives or descriptive verbs that are used to create the setting and underline or highlight them: Complete the following sentence in your journal: In the novel _________________________, the author creates a _________________ mood by describing ___(place)_______________ as (words)________________________. Example: • In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird , the author creates an oppressed and worn outmood by describing the town of Maycomb as old, tired, sagging, hot, sloppy, bony, suffering, and sweltering.

6. To Kill A Mockingbird Journal • Why does Scout take being called a girl an insult? What models of femininity do the different female characters in the novel demonstrate for Scout? • How does the novel portray its African-American characters? How is the African-American community similar to the White community in Maycomb? How is it different?

7. To Kill Mockingbird Journal • After To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee never wrote another novel. If she had written a sequel continuing Scout’s story, what might it be like?

8. Symbolism • Choose an object in the novel that a character treasures or needs. Then complete the poem based on this object • State the item's name • Give a literal description of it • Give a figurative description of it • Give one adjective for it • Give another adjective for it • State what the thing does for the person • Give a final description (adjective then noun) • EX: • Scarlet Ibis • Red, Tropical Bird • Exotic but beaten by the forces of nature • Weather beaten • Graceful • Gives Doodle a reason to mourn • Doodle’s prophecy

9. TKMB: Theme quotes • Pg. 30 “First of all, he said, if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really know a person until you consider things from his point of view--- Sir? Until you climb into his skin and walk around in it”

10. TKMB: Theme quotes • Pg. 75 “if you shouldn’t be defendin’ him, then why are you doin’ it? For a number of reasons, said Atticus. The main one is, if I didn’t I couldn’t hold my head up in town, I couldn’t represent this county in the legislature, I couldn’t even tell you or Jem not to do something again.”

11. TKMB: Theme quotes • “Scout, said Atticus, when summer comes you’ll have to keep your head about far worse things…it’s not fair for you and Jem, I know that, but sometimes we have to make the best of things, and the way we conduct ourselves when the chips are down--- well, all I can say is, when you and Jem are grown, maybe you’ll look back on this with some compassion and some feeling that I didn’t let you down.”

12. TKMB: Theme quotes • “ I wanted you to see something about her (Mrs. Dubose)---I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do. Mrs. Dubose did.”

13. TKMB: Theme quotes • Pg. 105 “Atticus, you must be wrong.... How's that? Well, most folks seem to think they're right and you're wrong.... They're certainly entitled to think that, and they're entitled to full respect for their opinions, said Atticus, but before I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience."

14. TKMB: Theme quotes • "She has committed no crime, she has merely broken a rigid and time-honored code of our society, a code so severe that whoever breaks it is hounded from our midst as unfit to live with. She is the victim of cruel poverty and ignorance, but I cannot pity her: she is white. She knew full well the enormity of her offense, but because her desires were stronger than the code she was breaking, she persisted in breaking it. […] "What did she do? She tempted a Negro. "She was white, and she tempted a Negro. She did something that in our society is unspeakable: she kissed a black man. Not an old Uncle, but a strong young Negro man. No code mattered to her before she broke it, but it came crashing down on her afterwards."

15. TKMB: Theme quotes • Pg. 218 "Jem, see if you can stand in Bob Ewell's shoes a minute. I destroyed his last shred of credibility at that trial, if he had any to begin with. The man had to have some kind of comeback, his kind always does. So if spitting in my face and threatening me saved MayellaEwell one extra beating, that's something I'll gladly take. He had to take it out on somebody and I'd rather it be me than that houseful of children out there. You understand?"

16. TKMB: Theme quotes • Pg. 276 “Mr. Finch, taking the one man who’s done you and this town a great service an’ draggin’ him with his shy ways into the limelight– to me, that’s a sin. It’s a sin and I’m not about to have it on my head.”

17. Theme and Symbolism • As a Group: • Complete the “Story Map” worksheet that is provided for you. One worksheet per group. • Discuss and record in your journal three lessons the characters learned in the novel. Each student records lessons in journal. • Discuss and decide on a statement of Theme of the novel. Write your statement of theme on the back of the “Story map” worksheet. Remember that theme is universal and a statement of life. • Create a Theme visual (like from “Scarlet Ibis”) on the chart paper provided for you. You may be as creative as possible and use any materials. Just ask for what you need.

18. To Kill Mockingbird Essay Questions 1. Compare and contrast two of the following characters: Atticus, Aunt Alexandra, Bob Ewell, Arthur Radley, and Maudie Atkinson. Consider the characters’ actions, motivations, and goals. 2. Discuss the symbol of the mockingbird used in the novel. Give instances of its use and details that support its representation. 3. Discuss what you believe to be the most important theme of the novel. Identify the theme, and tell how the plot, setting, characters, and narrator convey the theme. Be sure to support your opinion with concrete examples from the novel.

19. Lord of the Flies Journals • What are people generally afraid of? Do people mostly fear things they can or cannot control? Are personal fears similar to the fears of a society? • What do you think will happen to the boys on the island? Will they establish a working society? Will they be rescued?

20. Lord of the Flies Journal • At what point in the novel do you think Ralph starts thinking that the boys or “mankind” is really just evil and savage underneath it all? • Go back and look at all the chapter titles. What do you think they mean and why are they important to the plot, theme, symbolism of the novel?