1. To Kill a Mockingbird (Slavery in America extra reading link)
Introduction
To Kill a Mockingbird (Slavery in America extra reading link)

2. Themes and Ideas
One of the major themes and ideas in the novel is the ability of ‘doing what is right’ rather than ‘following the crowd’.
Think of a time that you have gone against the crowd.
Why did you decide to go against the crowd?
How did you know it was the right thing to do?
And how did you feel when you were in the minority?
Can you think of any examples in history or society when people have gone against the crowd for the greater good? Find an example.

3. Write answers to the following:
Is it ever okay to lie?
Have you ever acted and thought in a prejudicial way towards others?
Are children immune to racism, prejudice and hatred?

4. Looking at the text in more detail
Chapter 1

5. Elements of a novel study
Plot / Events
Characters
Setting
Themes and Ideas
Symbols
Narrative style / voice
Language Techniques
Context
Representations
Message
Positioning

6. As you read Chapter 1 Make notes: Answer Chapter 1 Questions:
Plot / Events
Characters
Setting
Themes and Ideas
Symbols
Narrative style / voice
Answer Chapter 1 Questions:
What do you learn in this chapter about Maycomb, Atticus Finch and his family?
What do you learn about Dill's character?
What, briefly, has happened to Arthur “Boo” Radley.
Why does the Radley place fascinate Scout, Jem and Dill?
What do you notice about the narrative voice and viewpoint in the novel?

7. Deeper Analysis Childhood / Innocence / Naivety / Imagination
Plot / Events
Themes and Ideas
Broken arm – Jem
Reflection on childhood
Family history – Simon Finch / Atticus / Calpurnia
Meet Dill – learn he comes from the city with picture shows
The children play together – imagination
The Radley Place and Boo Radley are introduced – rumours discussed
Jem is dared to touch the Radley Place
Childhood / Innocence / Naivety / Imagination
Conservative rural towns grounded in tradition
Knowledge / Understanding – consider the idea of reading
Prejudice / Fear / Isolation from the community

8. Deeper Analysis
Symbols
Narrative style / voice
The Radley Place – a place that is ‘droopy and sick’ – becomes a symbol of the lies that exist in small communities as people try to protect their reputations.
Isolation and alienation
First person narrative
Personal
Reflective – an adult reflecting on childhood but told from a child’s viewpoint – sense of innocence

9. Deeper Analysis – Characters
Scout
Jem
Atticus
Dill
Boo Radley
Calpurnia

10. Deeper Analysis – Characters
Scout
Jean Louise Finch
Protagonist / Viewpoint
Likes to read
Tells the story with a touch of humour
Admires her brother
Battles with Calpurnia
Nearly 6
Jem
Older brother - leader
Jeremy Atticus Finch
Jem touches the Radley Place after being dared by Dill – never refuses a dare - courage
Clear admiration for Jem
Jem is 10
Atticus
Father
Lawyer
His first two clients were hung – dislikes criminal law
Economical
Helps other – i.e. brother
Dill
Charles Baker Harris
Childhood friend
Nearly 7
From Meridian, Mississippi
Fascinated by the Radley Place – wants to make Boo come outside
Boo Radley
Mysterious figure
Arthur
Truth and rumours about Arthur
Trouble as a teenager
Boo supposedly attacked his father
Boo’s brother moves home after his father’s death and Boo remains locked away
Calpurnia
Housekeeper / Cook
A feared and respected presence
Orders Scout about
Dislikes Old Mr Radley

11. Deeper Analysis – Setting - Maycomb
Draw a picture of the setting
Use quotes around your picture to justify your response
How does the setting develop the mood of the opening chapter? What mood is created through this setting? What themes and ideas are developed through this setting?

12. Looking at language in detail
“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 somehow it was hotter then . . . bony mules hitched to Hoover carts flicked flies in the sweltering shade of the live oaks on the square. Men’s stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning. Ladies bathed before noon, after their three-o’clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County. But it was a time of vague optimism for some of the people: Maycomb County had recently been told that it had nothing to fear but fear itself” (page 5 – 6).

13. Setting – The Radley Place
Using evidence from the novel, explain how the Radley Place is a house of mystery and fear.
Look at how the language creates this mystery and fear.
Draw out specific evidence to support and develop your paragraph
Use PEE chains to develop your response
See pages 9 – 10

14. Thinking about Themes and Ideas
Can you think of any examples where you or someone you know has been the victim of gossip or rumour.
Why do people gossip?
Make a T-Chart in their notes.
Consult the first chapter and make a list of things that they know are true about Boo Radley, and things that are rumour.

15. T – Chart
Rumours
Truth – Known Fact

16. T – Chart Rumours Truth – Known Fact
He creeps around and peers in windows
Malevolent phantom
6 ½ feet tall
Drools
Eats rats and squirrels raw
Pecans from Radley tree are poisonous
Kills children
Chained to the bed
Arthur Radley
Hasn’t been seen in 15 years
Got in trouble as a teenager
Father refused to have Arthur go to “reform school”
Arthur was locked in the house

17. Maycomb Enquirer Think about newsstand gossip magazines.
Consider how these articles might affect people’s lives.  How much is fact and how much is fiction?
You are to write an article for the Maycomb Enquirer.
Their articles should have one foot planted lightly in fact, but can be sensational and largely invented.
Use gossip to develop your story.

18. Thinking points
How is Maycomb represented by the author? What message is being developed in the opening chapter?
How is the reader positioned to view the town and its attitudes?
How is the reader positioned to view Boo Radley and the Radley Place?