1. To Kill a Mockingbird Background Notes

2. Author – Harper Lee
Born in 1926 in Monroeville, Alabama, a small city w/ a population of about 7,000 people (the fictional Maycomb, Alabama)
Her own childhood reflects that of the character “Scout”
Her father “Amasa” was a lawyer whom she deeply admired
Her mother’s maiden name was “Finch”
Character Dill is based off childhood friend
Character Mrs. Dubose is based off mother’s mannerisms
Went to law school
Moved to New York and worked at an airline company to finance writing career
In 1960 she published her only novel – “To Kill a Mockingbird”
Since 1960, “To Kill a Mockingbird” has never been out of print
At age 88, she is still alive and has moved back to her childhood town
She rarely makes public appearances or gives interviews

3. Setting of TKAM Maycomb, Alabama (fictional city)
Small Southern town
Slow to change
Summer of end of Halloween 1935
Great Depression
Before WWII / when Hitler was elected to power
Prejudice and legal segregation
Although slavery was abolished in 1865, African Americans were still denied many rights
Southerners in Maycomb continue to believe in white supremacy.
Segregation exists in schools, public bathrooms, busses and many other public places

4. Point of View
1st person
Told through the eyes of 6 year old girl
What is important about a 1st person narrator?
Sometimes the language of Scout will be that of her as a child; other times, she will be speaking in the voice of an adult
Although the characters of the book harbor a lot of prejudice, Lee uses certain characters to express her point of view
Atticus
Mr. Raymond

5. Main Characters
Scout (Jean Louise Finch) – 6 year old narrator of the story
Jem (Jeremy Finch) – Scout’s older brother
Atticus Finch – Jem and Scout’s father, a prominent and respected lawyer who defends a black man accused of raping a white woman
Arthur Radley (Boo) – a 33 year old recluse who lives next door
Charles Baker Harris (Dill) – Jem and Scout’s friend who comes to visit his aunt in Maycomb every summer
Tom Robinson – a respectable black man accused of raping a white woman
Calpurnia – the Finches’ cook

6. 1930’s History – Great Depression
Result of the stock market crashed in 1929
Crashed because people borrowed loans on margin to buy stock
ON MARGIN =only need to invest 10% of loan
Could borrow $10,000 if you had $1000
USING MONEY YOU DON’T HAVE!
Investors speculated that stock prices would keep increasing but they didn’t
MARGIN CALL– bank could call back full amount
When stock values began dropping, investors panicked and started selling their stock to pay back their loan
BANK RUN – everyone tried to get their money back at the same time
At the same time, the average citizen was pulling their savings out in cash from banks
Couldn’t pay back average citizen because they citizens’ savings to give out loans
Banks collapse / Go out of business
Ended in 1939 due to WWII

7. 1930’s History – Great Depression

9. Prejudice in TKM Racial Prejudice Gender Roles Social Snobbery Ageism
Handicaps
Religion

10. Sexism / Gender Bias Women were considered weak.
Women were not educated for occupations outside of the home
Groomed to be wives and mothers
Men not considered capable of nurturing children
Women won the right to vote in 1920
Were still not allowed to serve on juries in legal cases

11. KKK
After the Civil War, The Ku Klux Klan was formed as a secret society that promoted white supremacy using violence and terrorism against African Americans
However, after the 1920s the KKK was no longer secretive about their work and public violence against Blacks, including lynching, became common occurrences.

13. Jim Crow Laws
From the 1880s to the 1960s most states enforced segregation through the “Jim Crow” laws
The idea was “separate but equal”
laws requiring the separation of whites from “persons of color” in public transportation and schools
Through these laws, legal punishments for having contact with members of another race.

15. Civil Rights Movement Civil Rights Movement – 1954 -1968
In 1954, after 2 years in court, the nation was shocked by a decision in Brown vs. Board of Education to grant Linda Brown, a Black fifth-grader, admission into a white elementary school in Topeka, Kansas.
“separate but equal” idea struck down
In the Fall of 1960, in the middle of the Civil Rights Movement, To Kill a Mockingbird was published.

16. Desegregation
A national and international call for desegregation of the South rang out and Blacks and Whites all over the country started putting pressure on governments to amend the segregation laws.
Those individuals, both Black and White, who fought for Civil Rights were under constant attack from White Supremacists who were unwilling to accept Black Americans as equals
Many freedom-fighters died for their efforts

17. Language in TKM Atticus uses formal speech
Calpurnia uses “white language” in the Finch house and switches to “black jargon” when amidst blacks
The Ewells use foul words and obscenities
Jem, Scout, and Dill will use slang words, typical of their age.
Tom Robinson uses language typical of the southern black such as “suh” fr “sir” and “chillun” for “children”
Various derogatory terms for blacks will be used such as “nigger,” “darky,” “Negroes,” and “colored folk” – Lee uses such language to keep her novel naturally in sync with common language of the times
Connotation vs. denotation
Although, it is shocking and offensive to us today, why is it important that these offensive words are used in the novel?