To Kill a Mockingbird

1. To Kill a Mockingbird In the beginning… The context of the novel

2. In the Beginning… • In this lesson you will learn about the importance of the first chapter of the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, in introducing the main characters and providing a context to the text. • The first chapter of any novel is important. It is the ‘hook’ that draws the reader in and it sets up the story. It is similar to the opening sequence of a movie where you learn the information that you need to understand the: • narrator • main character(s) • setting • atmosphere. • By the end of the chapter, you are likely to know what the ‘catalyst’ is. What has happened that means that the characters have to react and ‘change’?

3. The story begins with Jem’s broken arm: ‘When he was nearly thirteen my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow...His left arm was somewhat shorter than his right;’ (Chpt 1) We are taken to the end – this is called a circular structure.

4. The Setting

5. Understanding the setting • The novel To Kill a Mockingbird, first published in 1960, • is still a best seller today and • is widely studied by high school students in many countries around the world. • has been a controversial novel that has been, at times, banned in some parts of USA. Harper Lee is a mysterious author. She has not written another novel since To Kill a Mockingbird, has rarely talked about her novel and declines most interviews.

6. At the time To Kill a Mockingbird was written and published (late 1950s – early 1960s) the Black Civil Rights movement in USA was developing strength. Like the Civil Rights movement, Lee’s novel presents ideas of justice and equality. • Lee set the story in the 1930s, Alabama. The story was inspired by a similar case in Monroeville, Lee’s home town. It was also inspired by other cases of injustice of the time – The Scottsboro Boys and Emmett Till.