1. To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee
“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”
-Atticus Finch
"God forbid you ever had to walk a mile in his shoes 'Cause then you really might know what it's like to sing the blues.
Then you really might know what it's like"
-Everlast -

2. “Mockingbirds don’t do anything but make music for us to enjoy
“Mockingbirds don’t do anything but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”

3. Background Notes 1. Harper Lee a. First novel – 1960
b. Pulitzer Prize – 1961
c. a daughter of a southern lawyer

4. Harper Lee 2. Born in 1926 in Monroeville, Alabama
1960 – To Kill a Mockingbird (her only novel) published

5. 3a. Southern Alabama - 1933-35 Maycomb
SETTING
3a. Southern Alabama
Maycomb
As you read, determine what was it like to live in a small southern town in the 1930’s. Also, notice the social status of characters.

6. 4. Historical Background of Novel
a. Early South -large cotton plantations ,000 black slaves from Africa

7. Background Continued civil war - 1861- North and South – North Win
i. slaves given equal rights (forced)
ii. free black men are seen as a symbol of defeat for the south and become a scapegoat for failure for the “typical” white southerner.

8. Background Continued
c. cotton gin invented i. does the work of many men ii. profitability and treatment of slaves decreased

9. D. Post War - 80 years later i. 1929 - stock market crash ↕
ii. 1930's - Great Depression
a. loss of homes, business, land affects millions of people
b. common to see unemployed men and women looking for food, work, shelter

10. The Great Depression
They lived in flimsy shacks and stood in bread lines to receive government handouts of food.
a person worked 55/60 hours a week and earned about $ annually in Alabama
 rivalry for few jobs, attitude toward black people intensifies, they are competing for the same work

11. Racial Tension Increases
5. lynching occurred - murder of a person by a group of people who take the law into their own hands (usually over race relations)

12. 6. The Scottsboro Trials
March nine African American youths were arrested and charged with raping two white women.
In spite of evidence of the men’s innocence, 8 of the 9 men were found guilty and sentenced to death. By 1937, after several appeals, 4 of the defendants were freed, while the others were sentenced to long prison terms.
The Scottsboro Trials share several similarities with the fictional trial of Tom Robinson in To Kill a Mockingbird.

13. The Scottsboro Boys

14. 7. 1960's - Time Era when To Kill A Mockingbird was written
a. written during the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement ( )
b. Alabama was in the news because of;
i. Montgomery bus boycott (Rosa Parks)

15. And… ii. Martin Luther King was rising to leadership “I Have A Dream”

16. 8. Jim Crow Laws
rules which segregated blacks and whites

17. 9. Flashback
Using a literary technique called flashback, Lee interrupts Scout’s chronological narrative to reach back in time and enhance and amplify the story with prior events.
As you read, examine Harper Lee’s use of flashback.

18. 10. Speech
first-person point of view-that is, the narrator uses “I” and “me”.
Scout Finch looking back at her childhood, the perspective is limited to what she saw and felt at the time. Scout recalls childhood events with an adult vocabulary.

19. Major Characters
a. Scout (Jean Louise Finch) – six-year-old narrator of story
b. Jem (Jeremy Finch) – her older brother
c. Atticus Finch – Jem and Scout’s father, a prominent lawyer who defends a black man accused of raping a white woman
d. Arthur (Boo) Radley – a thirty-three-year-old recluse who lives next door
e. Charles Baker (Dill) Harris – Jem and Scout’s friend who comes to visit his aunt in Maycomb each summer
f. Tom Robinson – a respectable black man accused of raping a white woman
g. Calpurnia – the Finches’ black cook

20. Themes:
By the end of the novel, try to develop theme statements based on the following categories:
*Appearance vs. Reality
*Racism vs. Acceptance
Prejudice vs. Tolerance
*Good & Evil
*Innocence & Experience
What does this novel reveal about human nature?

21. Enjoy!
"Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."

22. TKMB Relevance
“…not ready to vote a black man for president” Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell (2008)
“Philadelphia Flyers winger Wayne Simmonds was the victim of what has been described as a racist attack after someone threw a banana at him during a pre-season game in London, Ont., Thursday night”. Toronto Star – November 2012

23. Exploring human nature
Why does racism happen?
Exploring human nature

24. DID YOU KNOW?
Harper Lee based her character Dill upon the famous actor and author, Truman Capote, who lived next door to Harper. Truman was raised by his cousins in a similar manner as Dill. Truman is famous for his works In Cold Blood and Breakfast at Tiffany's.
Ewell is an old form of the word e-v-i-l, according to the Oxford English Dictionary.

25. To Kill a Mockingbird-Movie Trailer

26. In Your Binders Create 3 Separate Sections
Part I – Questions and Summaries
Literary Terms
Additional Characters

27. Setting – Time, place, mood
a good setting allows for development of atmosphere or mood in the novel. ”Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it” (Lee, 3). This quote illustrates the slow and traditional nature of Maycomb. People not only move slowly, but their thinking is slow to change as well.

28. Literary Terms
Simile: a comparison between 2 unlike things using as, like, or than. Ie. “like soft tea cakes”(11). “her hand was wide as a bed slat” (12). Metaphor: a comparison between 2 unlike things without using as, like, or than. Ie Satire: a literary technique wherein a writer pokes fun at an institution by stressing its worst features. Ie.

29. Literary Terms Cont’d
Allusion: a literary method, refers to a person, place, or event that the readers are expected to recognize.
5 types
Literary Allusions – Robert Munch
Historical Allusions -
Pop Culture Allusions –
Biblical Allusion –
Mythological Allusions -

30. The Rosetta Stone

31. Literary Terms
Irony: meaning intended is opposite of what is expressed. It usually deals with serious topics, allows the speaker to better get his/her point across.
Ie. “Choose a lighter topic, like the death penalty”

32. Literary Terms
Alliteration: is the repetition of a consonant sound (the same first sound or letter), in a group of words or a line of poetry.
ie. “From rape, to riot, to runaways”(152).
Foreshadow – gives hints of future events
Ie.

33. Reflection on Chapters 1 - 4
In your journal, answer the following questions:
As the novel begins, we are introduced to the town of Maycomb and its inhabitants through the recollections of the narrator, Jean Louise Finch (Scout).
a) What does Scout tell us about the history of the town? What is life like there when Scout is growing up?
b) What do we learn about the history of Scout’s family? How is this history linked with that of Maycomb?
c) Briefly relate the history of the Radleys. What do you find odd about them? In what ways do the Radleys differ from the Finches?
Dill’s curiosity about Boo Radley sparks a series of attempted encounters with this mysterious, invisible neighbour. Examine each of the following “encounters” with Boo, and answer the questions below:
the dare
the runaway tire
the new game
a) What do the children find so fascinating about Boo Radley?
b) What is the children’s motive in each of these incidents?
c) What evidence is given to illustrate that their actions are not going unnoticed?

35. Reflection on Chapter 3
In your binder, answer the following questions:
Add the following characters to your character list – briefly describe each one.
a. Miss Caroline Fisher
b. Walter Cunningham
c. Burris Ewell
What lesson does Atticus teach Scout in understanding other people (pg 36)?
Provide a brief description of the Ewells’ based on pg 37 in your novel. You may list these descriptions in point form.

36. Questions, Chapter 6
1. Why did the children wait until this particular night to peep in the Radley window? (find 3)
2. Give an obvious example of racism from this chapter.
3. Why did Jem go back to the Radley place alone?
4. How did Dill prove he was imaginative and quick thinking on his last night in Maycomb.

37. Quiz #1 Literary Terms Questions regarding Intro Notes 1930’s 1960’s
Setting of the novel ---
C. Content questions on the characters and plot

38. Reflections for further ahead…
As you are reading the novel for the first time, make entries in your journal at the points indicated below in response to the questions asked. Feel free to write other thoughts and feelings about other parts of the novel as you are reading!
After finishing chapter 11, give your opinion of Atticus. Would you like to have him as a father?
As you finish chapter 13, record your reaction to Aunt Alexandra. What will the relationship between her and Scout be like, in your opinion?
In chapter 14, Dill explains to Scout why he ran away. Have you ever felt like this?
Describe your feelings at the end of chapter 22. Was this the verdict you expected?
Write down your immediate feelings after finishing the novel.