BY HARPER LEE

To Kill a Mockingbird

Historical Context and Setting

Historical Context – Time period in history when a work take place

Setting – The time and place where the action occurs

The historical context plays an important role in the plot, setting and characters What decade is To Kill a Mockingbird set in? Important events

What are some events that we discussed last week? Important people

Who are some people we discussed last week?

Life During the 1930s

The Great Depression sweeps the nation – Many families do not even have money for basic needs such as food, clothing, and shelter.

Hitler is Chancellor of Germany He believes that Jews, African

Americans, and other races are inferior to Anglo-Saxons.

The per capita income for families in Alabama (and Oklahoma) is $125 - $250 a year

Franklin D. Roosevelt is PresidentLegal Segregation

Separate schools No interracial marriages Segregated water fountains Segregated theatres

Setting

The time and place where the action in the novel happens

Maycomb, Alabama (fictional town) Small town in Alabama

– All of the characters know one another

1933-1935

Theme

Theme = topic + author’s opinion on the topic A Theme is the fundamental and often universal idea

explored in a literary work.Topics for themes in To Kill a Mockingbird:

Racial Prejudice Social Snobbery Morality Tolerance Patience Equality The Need for Compassion The Need for Conscience

Characterization

The way that an author uses descriptive language including dialogue to give a character personality traits in a text. Indirect characterization – When an author uses

dialogue and actions to teach the reader something about the character. (Example: You learn through the characters speaking to one another that one of them is lying. Therefore, you judge that character is dishonest.)

Direct characterization – When an author tells you about the character. (Example: The author tells you what the character looks like.)

Characters in To Kill a Mockingbird

Jean Louis Finch – “Scout” The story’s narrator Scout is six when the story begins She is naturally curious about life

Jem Fincho Scout’s older brother

o Looks up to his father Atticus

o Usually looks out for Scout but the typical older brother at times

o Smart and Compassionate

o Matures as the story progresses

o Direct characterization – “his left arm was somewhat shorter than his right...”

More Characters...

Atticus Finch Father of Scout and Jem A widower A highly-respected attorney by profession Instills good values and morals in his children Honest and Brave Typical southern gentleman

Calpurnia The Finch’s black housekeeper and nanny A positive influence on the children Indirect Characterization – Calpurnia takes the

children to her church where she interacts with other people. We learn she has good standing in the community and is well respected from her interactions.

Motifs

Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes

Gothic DetailsGothic Details Gothic refers to a style of fiction first popularized

in eighteenth-century England, featuring supernatural occurrences, gloomy and haunted settings, full moons

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

Tone and Mood

Tone is set by the author’s word choice, use of motifs, and other literary devices – The author attitude towards the subject makes you feel a certain way....The author’s tone creates a...

MOOD – The way the reader feels when reading the novel

You know that Lee will use Gothic and Small-town motifs...what moods may be present due to this choice?

Tones to look for in To Kill a Mockingbird

Humorous (at times)SomberSeriousThought-provoking

Moods that Harper Lee’s Tone Creates

Child-like inquisitivenessCloseness of family tiesProtective SuspensefulCommunity prideEmbarrassmentAngerCompassion

Symbolism/Symbols

Symbolism is when an author has a figurative meaning for a thing...it is literally a red rose, but it stands for love...and just any love...romantic love

Common symbols Four-leaf clover White doves Olive branches Fire Water Ice

Symbol – Mockingbird

The title Atticus tells Scout, “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.”

In this story of innocents destroyed by evil, the “mockingbird” comes to represent the idea of innocence. Thus, to kill a mockingbird is to destroy innocence.

Symbol – 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

Pay attention to how they interact with Boo throughout the novel

How does this symbol go hand in hand with the mockingbird symbol?

Personification

Literary element where an author gives human qualities to non-human things Example: The leaves danced in the wind.

What is being personified? What human characteristic is the item given?

Let’s practice!

Personification

“Mr. Radley’s older son lived in Pensacola; he came home at Christmas, and he was one of the few people we ever saw enter or leave the place. From the day Mr. Radley took Arthur home, people say the house died” (Lee 12).

Personification

“The house was the same, droopy and sick, but as we stared down the street we thought we saw an inside shutter move. Flick. A tiny, almost invisible movement and the house was still” (Lee 15).

Personification

“There he was, returning to me. His white shirt bobbed over the back fence and slowly grew larger. He came up the back steps, latched the door behind him, and sat on his cot” (Lee 55).

Metaphor

A figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance Example:  “A mighty fortress is our God.”

What 2 things are being compared? Why would the writer make this comparison? What is s/he trying to say?

Let’s practice!

Metaphor

“Then I heard Atticus cough. I held my breath. Sometimes when we made a midnight pilgrimage to the bathroom we would find him reading” (Lee 57).

Metaphor

“I knew when there was trouble in our street. Soft taffeta-like sounds and muffled scurrying sounds filled me with helpless dread” (Lee 69).

Simile

A figure of speech where two unlike things are explicitly compared. The phrase uses “like” or “as”  “She is like a rose.” What is being compared here?

Let’s practice!

Simile

“The Radley place fascinated Dill. In spite of our warnings it drew him as the moon draws water…” (Lee 8).

Simile

“Ladies bathed before noon, after their three-o’clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum” (Lee 6).

Simile

“It must have been two o’clock. The moon was setting and the lattice-work shadows were fading into fuzzy nothingness. Jem’s white shirt-tail dipped and bobbed like a small ghost dancing away to escape the coming morning” (Lee 57).

Quick Discussion – Chapters 1 and 2

What does Dill dare Jem to do? What do the children think they see at the

end of chapter 1? How does this add to suspense?

How does the description of the Radleys home and family fit in to the gothic motif?

Who is Miss Caroline Fisher? What is the problem with Walter

Cunningham?

Characterization – Chpts 1-5

Walter Cunningham and his family How does Scout describe Walter? What 2 events take place that give us insight into

Walter’s home life? Hint: Miss Caroline Hint: Lunch with Calpurnia

What does Scout tell us about her father’s interaction with the Cunninghams?

How do you feel about the Cunningham family based on this instances in the novel?

Characterization – Chpts 1-5

Burris Ewell and his family What are the Ewell’s reputation at school? What is Burris Ewell’s problem on the first day? What interaction does Burris have with Mis Caroline? How do you feel about Burris and his family based on

the information presented already?

Two Poor Depression-Era Families

The CunninghamsPoor white familyHard-workingHonestProudSurvive on very littleAlways pay back their

debts – even if it is with hickory nuts, turnips, or holly.

The EwellsPoor white trashDirtyLazyGood-for-nothingNever done a day’s

workFoul-mouthedDishonestImmoral

Preparing to Write – Mood

Mood: The atmosphere that pervades a literary work with the intention of evoking a certain emotion or feeling from the audience.

For example: The moods in a Edgar Allen Poe story, might be gloomy, horrific, or desperate.

Mood is used to: create a feeling in the reader Show how the characters are feeling Foreshadow upcoming events in the text

Test Review for Chapters 4 & 5

What does Scout find in the tree at the Radley house first? What do Scout and Jem find in the tree at the Radley

house second? Who comes back to Macomb for the summer? How much

time has gone by between chapter 1 and chapter 5? What does Scout hear inside the house at the end of

Chapter 4?Who’s Miss Maudie? What do we find out about Arthur from Miss Maudie?How does Atticus react when he sees Jem and Scout

playing the Boo Radley game?

The Black Community

SimpleHonestCleanHard-workingGod fearingProudWould never take

anything with paying it back

RespectfulHad stronger

character than most of the whites

OppressedUneducatedDiscriminated againstTalked about badlyDeserve better than

what is dished out to them by society

LanguageSometimes the language of Scout will be that of

her as a child; other times, she will be speaking in the voice of an adult

Atticus uses formal speechCalpurnia uses “white language” in the Finch

house and switches to “black jargon” when amidst blacks

The Ewells use foul words and obscenitiesJem, Scout, and Dill will use slang words, typical

of their ageTom Robinson uses language typical of the

southern black such as “suh” for “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

Morphine: A Southern Lady’s Drug

1930s Typical Morphine Addict: White female Middle-aged or older Widowed Homebound Lives in the south Property owner Began using morphine

for medical reasons (pain relief)

In “To Kill a Mockingbird,” the Finch children will become acquainted with a morphine addict named Mrs. Dubose. Although only a fictitious character, she personifies the American morphine addict of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.