To Kill a Mockingbird

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To Kill a Mockingbird

• Harper Lee

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OVERVIEW OF THE NOVEL

• AUTHOR Harper Lee
• PUBLICATION DATE 1960
• SETTING Maycomb, Alabama
  1933-1935
• POINT OF VIEW First person
  narrative
• THEMES Lack of and need for human
  compassion
  Need for individual conscience

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HARPER LEE

• (Nellie) Harper Lee
• BORN April 28, 1926
• PLACE OF BIRTH Monroe, Alabama
• PARENTS Amasa C. and Frances (Finch) Lee
• Related to Robert E. Lee

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AWARDS

• 1960 Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Fiction by
  an American author
• National Conference of Christian and Jews
  Brotherhood Award
• Paperback of the Year Award
• Book-of-the-Month Club

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EDUCATION

• Monroe, Alabama Public School
• Huntington College in Montgomery, Alabama (1944)
• Attended Oxford College one year as a Fullbright
  scholar

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AUTHORS LINKS TO THE NOVELS PLOT AND CHARACTERS

• Harper Lees father was a Southern lawyer. He
  served as the prototype for Atticus Finch.
• Harper Lees age (6 to 8) correlates with Scouts
  age during 1933-1935, the time period of the
  book.
• The courtroom in Maycomb is patterned after the
  one in Monroeville where Harper Lee observed her
  father in courtroom proceedings.
• Tom Robinsons trial appears to be a composite of
  many trials in the South, specifically the
  Scottsboro trials.
• Some of the novels characters are composites of
  people Harper Lee knew personally for example,
  the author Truman Capote as Dill.

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CHARACTERS

• ATTICUS FINCH lawyer, father of Scout and Jem
  widower
• JEAN LOUISE SCOUT FINCH adult narrator as
  story begins narrates story in retrospect
  relates events that begin when she is 6 years
  old.
• JEM FINCH Scouts brother, who is 4 years
  older than she.
• CHARLES BAKER DILL HARRIS 7-year-old visitor
  to Maycomb acts as a catalyst

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MORE CHARACTERS

• ARTHUR BOO RADLEY neighborhood recluse
• CALPURNIA the black housekeeper for the Finch
  family
• AUNT ALEXANDRA Scout Jems aunt
• MAUDE ATKINSON friend of Finch family

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MORE CHARACTERS

• TOM ROBINSON black man accused of raping a
  white girl
• MAYELLA EWELL the girl who accuses Tom of rape
• BOB EWELL Mayellas father
• HECK TATE Sheriff of Maycomb

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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

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SETTING OF THE NOVEL

• Southern United States
• 1930s
• Great Depression
• Prejudice and legal segregation
• Ignorance

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1930s - Great Depression

• 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.

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Racial prejudice dominated the time period.
Although slavery had ended in 1864, old ideas
were slow to change.
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Racial separation (segregation)
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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

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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

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Legal Issues of the 1930s

• Women given the vote in 1920
• Juries were male and white
• Fair trial did not include acceptance of a black
  mans word against a white mans

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Prejudice in the novel

• Race
• Gender
• Handicaps
• Rich/Poor
• Age
• Religion

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QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

• What was America like during the time of this
  book?
• What is the significance of the title with
  regards to the plot and symbolism?
• What experiences and people did Harper Lee rely
  on in order to develop her plot and characters?
• Is there still prejudice in America today?

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Literary Terms to Consider

• Idiom- a construction or expression in one
  language that cannot be matched or directly
  translated word-for-word in another language
• Green with envy
• Raining cats and dogs
• Colder than brass comode

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Literary Terms to Consider

• Hyperbole- the use of deliberate exaggeration to
  achieve an effect
• Parody- an imitation of a specific literary work
  or the style of an author for comic effect,
  usually to ridicule or criticize that work,
  author, or style

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Literary Terms to Consider

• Paradox- a statement that seems
  self-contradictory or nonsensical on the surface
  but that, upon closer examination, may be seen to
  contain an underlying truth
• Allegory- the presentation of an abstract idea
  through more concrete means, type of extended
  metaphor

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Literary Terms to Consider

• Personification- attributing human
  characteristics to anything nonhuman, this can be
  an abstract, inanimate object, or a living
  organism