Exploring To Kill a Mockingbird: Characters, Themes & Why it's a Classic

1. Everything You Need to Know Before Reading

2. Before We Start… • Think of a place that was important to you during your childhood (grandparents’ house, pre-school, playground, etc.). • In the appropriate box on your handout, draw a map/picture of this place, the more detailed, the better! • On the lines underneath, describe a memory involving this location. Again, the more detailed, the better. • What kinds of emotions do you attach to this place? Why?

3. Text bites • To Kill a Mockingbird won the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 • Published in 1960 • Instant bestseller • Movie made of it only two years after publication • Voted “Best Novel of the Century” in 1999 in a poll by the Library Journal.

4. Harper Lee • Born April 28, 1926 • 85 years old • In Monroeville, Alabama • Author of To Kill a Mockingbird • Her only published book • Why she never wrote again: "Two reasons: one, I wouldn't go through the pressure and publicity I went through with To Kill A Mockingbird for any amount of money. Second, I have said what I wanted to say and I will not say it again." • Awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bush in 2007 • Despite winning numerous awards, always declines to make a speech • Mother’s maiden name was Finch, father was a lawyer • Hero of the novel & narrator’s father’s name is lawyer Atticus Finch

5. Narration & storytelling • Story told from “Scout” Finch’s point of view • First-person perspective • Six year old girl • Let’s play a quick game! • Why is it not a good idea to have such a young narrator? • Unreliable • May not understand events’ meaning or gravity • Why is it a good idea to have such a young narrator? • Truthful • Innocent

6. Major characters • Jean Louise “Scout” Finch • The narrator and protagonist of the story. • Scout lives with her father, Atticus, her brother, Jem, and their black cook, Calpurnia, in Maycomb. • Intelligent tomboy, combative streak and a basic faith in the goodness of the people in her community • Atticus Finch • Scout and Jem’s father, & a lawyer in Maycomb descended from an old local family. • Widower with a dry sense of humor, Atticus has instilled in his children his strong sense of morality and justice. • One of the few residents of Maycomb committed to racial equality. • Functions as the novel’s moral backbone. • Jeremy Atticus “Jem” Finch • Scout’s brother, four years older • Typical American boy, refusing to back down from dares and fantasizing about playing football.

7. Time & Place • Action of the novel takes place in Depression Era • 1930s • Before Civil Rights Movement & push for equality regardless of race • Maycomb, Alabama • Loosely based on Lee’s own hometown of Monroeville, AL • One of the biggest conflicts in the book centers around a trial in town where Atticus Finch defends a black man accused of assaulting a white woman

8. themes at play • Southern life & racial injustice • Class & social status • Courage & compassion • Gender roles • Courage & compassion • Laws, written & unwritten • Loss of innocence & growing up • Coming of age tale • Bildungsroman • literary genre focusing on the growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood; moral & psychological growth VERY IMPORTANT

9. Why are we reading this book? • Involves crucial life lessons about growing up, seen simply through a child’s eyes • EVERYONE reads To Kill a Mockingbird at some point during high school. • Still a part of American culture & pop culture 51 years after its original publication • One of the most beloved books of all time • Provides insight into the Depression & into Civil Rights Era literature • And most importantly… • You might like it, so give it a chance & a few chapters before writing it off.

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