To Kill a Mockingbird

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To Kill a Mockingbird

• By Harper Lee

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1930s - Great Depression began when the stock
market crashed in October, 1929

• Businesses failed, factories closed
• People were out of work.
• Even people with money suffered because nothing
  was being produced for sale.
• Poor people lost their homes, were forced to
  live off the land.

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Racial prejudice was alive well.
Although slavery had ended in 1864, old
ideas were slow to change.
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Racial separation (segregation)
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Prejudice in the novel

• Race
• Gender
• Handicaps
• Rich/Poor
• Age
• Religion

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Prejudice

• 1. Injury resulting from an unfair judgment or
  action of another.
• 2. A judgment or opinion formed before
  considering or without knowing the facts.

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AUTHORS LINKS TO THE NOVELS PLOT AND CHARACTERS

• Harper Lees father was a Southern lawyer. He
  served as the prototype for Atticus Finch.
• Harper Lees age (6 to 8) correlates with Scouts
  age during 1933-1935, the time period of the
  book.
• The courtroom in Maycomb is patterned after the
  one in Monroeville where Harper Lee observed her
  father in courtroom proceedings.
• Some of the novels characters are composites of
  people Harper Lee knew personally for example,
  the author Truman Capote as Dill.
• Tom Robinsons trial appears to be a composite of
  many trials in the South, specifically the
  Scottsboro trials.

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"The Scottsboro Boys" Trials 1931 - 1937

• alleged gang rape of two white girls by nine
  black teenagers on the Southern Railroad freight
  run from Chattanooga to Memphis on March 25,
  1931. The story of the Scottsboro Boys is one of
  the most shameful examples of injustice in our
  nation's history.

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CHARACTERS

• ATTICUS FINCH lawyer, father of Scout and Jem
  widower
• JEAN LOUISE SCOUT FINCH adult narrator as
  story begins narrates story in retrospect
  relates events that begin when she is 6 years
  old.
• JEM FINCH Scouts brother, who is 4 years
  older than she.
• CHARLES BAKER DILL HARRIS 7- year-old visitor
  to Maycomb acts as a catalyst

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MORE CHARACTERS

• ARTHUR BOO RADLEY neighborhood recluse
• CALPURNIA the black housekeeper for the Finch
  family
• AUNT ALEXANDRA Scout Jems aunt
• MAUDIE ATKINSON friend of Finch family
• Mrs. Dubose-elderly neighbor, she seems scary to
  the kids

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MORE CHARACTERS

• TOM ROBINSON black man accused of raping a
  white girl
• MAYELLA EWELL the girl who accuses Tom of rape
• BOB EWELL Mayellas father
• HECK TATE sheriff of Maycomb

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Justice
ATTICUS
BOB EWELL
Innocence
Bigotry Or Prejudice
JEM SCOUT DILL
CHARACTERS AS SYMBOLS
CALPURNIA MAUDIE
TOM ROBINSON BOO
Helpfulness
Helplessness
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QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

1. What was America like during the time of this
   book?
2. What is the significance of the title with
   regards to the plot and symbolism?
3. What experiences and people did Harper Lee rely
   on in order to develop her plot and characters?
4. Is there still prejudice in America today?