To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Small town racism; social inequality exist

The South  Divide between blacks and whites  Avoiding interracial marriages— especially black men and white women  Still angry about losing the war (which one?)  Don’t trust anyone from the North  Genteel society

Jim Crow Laws  Many of the discriminatory Jim Crow laws were enacted to support racial segregation in everyday life. They required black and white people to use separate water fountains, public schools, public restrooms, restaurants, public libraries, buses and rail cars

Who was Jim Crow?  “Jump Jim Crow”, a song-and-dance caricature of blacks performed by the white actor Thomas D. Rice in blackface, first surfaced in 1832 to satirize Andrew Jackson’s populist policies.  As a result of Rice’s fame, “Jim Crow” had become an expression synonymous with “Negro” by 1838  When the southern legislatures passed laws of racial segregation—directed against blacks—they became known as Jim Crow Laws

What happens if you break a Jim Crow law?  The Jim Crow Laws justified and perpetuated the use of lynching against African Americans, particularly by groups such as the Klu Klux Klan (KKK).

Ku Klux Klan  KuKlux- means ‘circle’ in Greek  Klan- group or club

Founded by former Confederate soldiers after the Civil War (1865), the Ku Klux Klan used violence and intimidation to prevent blacks from voting, holding political office, and attending school.

The Great Depression  1929, “Black Tuesday”, the stock market crashed, meaning the value of money had lost its worth  Businesses could no longer afford to pay their workers and began laying off hundreds of thousands of people  Because people had no money, harvesting and manufacture of new crops and products slowed drastically  Rural, southern towns were hit hard because they were largely reliant on agriculture

The Great Depression  In towns like Maycomb, communication with outlying houses depend on dirt roads, and all country inhabitants (whether professional or farmers) are poor  The Cunningham family in TKAM pays Atticus for legal work in crop or other goods instead of money

Harper Lee L. BRAVO BUCHANAN SPRING 2015

Early Life  Born in April of 1926 in Monroeville, Alabama  Youngest of 4 children, Lee was a self-confessed tomboy who enjoyed reading and writing from a young age  She grew up with author Truman Capote, upon whom the character Dill is said to be based

Monroeville, Alabama Story takes place in Maycomb County…said to be Harper Lee’s Childhood home

On the set Scout- Mary Badham- actress that portrayed (somewhat) Harper Lee in the story To Kill a Mockingbird (shown here with Harper Lee)

To Kill a Mockingbird  Published in 1960  Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1961  Deals with many issues, including racism, that Lee observed in her hometown as a child  Often criticized for its constant use of the ‘n’word throughout the novel

Presidential Medal of Freedom  November 5, 2007, President George W. Bush presented Lee with the Presidential Medal of Freedom  It is the highest civilian award in the United States and recognizes individuals who have made “an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavours”

 Overview  An historic literary event: the publication of a newly discovered novel, the earliest known work from Harper Lee, the beloved, bestselling author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, To Kill a Mockingbird.  Originally written in the mid-1950s, Go Set a Watchman was the novel Harper Lee first submitted to her publishers before To Kill a Mockingbird. Assumed to have been lost, the manuscript was discovered in late 2014.

THE COEXISTENCE OF GOOD AND EVIL THE QUESTION OF WHETHER PEOPLE ARE GOOD OR BAD. THE LOSS OF THE CHILDREN’S INNOCENCE WHEN AS THEY REALIZE THAT SOME PEOPLE ARE NOT WHAT THEY SEEM TO BE. APPEARANCE VS. REALITY- PEOPLE AND THINGS ARE NOT ALWAYS WHAT THEY SEEM. THE IMPORTANCE OF MORAL EDUCATION HOW THEY ARE TAUGHT TO MOVE FROM INNOCENCE TO ADULTHOOD. EDUCATION IS MORE THAN JUST BOOK LEARNING. THE EXISTENCE OF SOCIAL INEQUALITY DIFFERENCES IN SOCIAL STATUS ARE EXPLORED LARGELY THROUGH THE OVERCOMPLICATED SOCIAL HIERARCHY OF MAYCOMB, THE INS AND OUTS OF WHICH CONSTANTLY BAFFLE THE CHILDREN.

Motifs Motif is recurring structures, contrasts, and literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.  Gothic Details- forces of good and evil in To Kill a Mockingbird seem larger than the small Southern town in which the story takes place  Small-Town Life- Counterbalancing the Gothic motif of the story is the motif of old-fashioned, small-town values, which manifest themselves throughout the novel

Symbols objects, characters, figures, and colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.  Mockingbirds- innocents destroyed by evil, the “mockingbird” comes to represent the idea of innocence. Thus, to kill a mockingbird is to destroy innocence.  Boo Radley- the children’s changing attitude toward Boo Radley is an important measurement of their development from innocence toward a grown-up moral perspective