To Kill A Mocking Bird By Harper Lee

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To Kill A Mocking BirdBy Harper Lee
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Story Overview

• Story is based on a false accusation of rape by
  a white woman against a black man who turns down
  her advances

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Story Overview

• Racial issues
• Story of one man standing up for what is right
  when no one else will.

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Time and Place

• Small town in rural Alabama in early 1930s
• Set during the Great Depression

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Time and Place

• About half of the African American population
  lived in the south
• Racial tensions, which existed since the Civil
  War, increased
• Discrimination Laws, segregation, and a strict
  social code governed interactions between races.

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Jim Crow Laws

• These laws influenced the ways African
  Americans lived and interacted with others
• White people were innocent until proven guilty,
  while black people were not given the same
  justices

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Jim Crow Laws

• Many whites administered their own justice to
  accused African American citizens themselves.
• Lynchings dramatically increased in the 1930s.

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The Great Depression

• To Kill a Mockingbird is set in the midst of the
  Great Depression
• In 1933 the United States had a 25 unemployment
  rate

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The Great Depression

• Millions of American without jobs- no homes,
  land, food
• Black people not allowed to have the jobs that
  there were. White people got them.
• The Great Depression ended in the late 1930s
  with the need or war materials b/c of WWII

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Main Characters

• The Finch Family
• Atticus
• Jem
• Scout- first person/her point of view (Jean
  Louise Finch)

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Main Characters

• Calpurnia- maid, housekeeper
• Tom Robinson
• Boo Radley
• Scouts Classmates
• Ewell family
• Walter Cunningham

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Purpose

• Mockingbirds dont do on thing but make music
  for us to enjoy. They dont eat up peoples
  gardens, dont nest in corncribs, they dont do
  one thing but sing their hearts out for us.
  Thats why it is a sin to kill a mockingbird.

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Themes

• Prejudice and superstition can lead to injustice
• Individuals have a responsibility to protect the
  innocent
• One persons wrongdoings can release evil into
  the entire community

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Themes

• People often fear what they dont understand
• The most important part of a childs education
  may take place in the home and the community,
  rather then the school
• Insight, maturity, and integrity have no
  necessary relation to age, social position, or
  formal education.
• Appearances do not always reflect easily

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Southern Style and Dialect

• Chilun- Southern pronunciation for children
• Collards- A variety of greens grown in the South
• Crokersak- Originally a crocus sack a burlap
  sack, named b/c the bulbs of crocus flowers were
  shipped in similar sacks

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Southern Style and Dialect

• Britches- Pants or trousers
• Knowed- Variation of knew
• Po- Pronunciation of poor
• Sho- Pronunciation of sure
• Tolable- Pronunciation of tolerable, meaning
  fair, pretty good
• Totin- Pronunciation of toting- meaning to carry

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Atticus Finch