Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird
Envelope Close Reading Activity
Letitia Hughes- Barren County High School
Directions:
Each student will be given an envelope with one of the following close
reading topics on it.
Throughout his/her reading the student is to copy passages onto index
cards or small slips of paper and put them in the envelope. Be sure to
record the page number, chapter number and speaker of each quote you
select.
Groups will meet periodically and share the contents of each student’s
envelopes and discuss why the passage was selected and the effect of
the quoted passage on the meaning of the work as a whole. Some days
groups will be formed by students with the same topic and on others the
group will consist of different topics. Envelope contents may also be
used to guide discussion in Socratic seminar and as quiz grades. Write
legibly on the slips as some days the envelopes will be swapped and
students will write an analysis of the excerpts in a classmate’s
envelope.
Envelope 1. AFI
The American Film Institute (AFI) recently published the 100 Years ...100 Heroes and
Villains list which features the top 50 heroes and top 50 villains in American films made
in the last 100 years. Atticus Finch was awarded the number one spot. Track quotes /
excerpts / passages that could be used as support in an essay that would denote Atticus as
a hero.
Extra info: You should google that list and check it out to see if your favorite heroes and
villains made the cut. Indiana Jones ranked in as second to Attticus and Hannibal Lecter
scored the number one villain spot over the likes of Darth Vader, and The Wicked Witch
of the West.
Envelope 2: Lessons Learned
Look for passages that establish the contrast between the lessons Scout learns at school
versus the lessons she (and we) learns from the other characters including but not limited
to Atticus, Calpurnia, Aunt Alexandra, etc.
Envelope 3: Things are not what they seem.
Harper Lee uses Mrs. Dubose and Boo Radley as well as other characters (Dill, Dolphus
Raymond, Calpurnia, Mayella, Mr. Underwood) and symbols to develop the idea that
things aren’t always what they seem. Look for passages that would serve as evidence for
an essay on this premise.
Envelope 4: Minor Character = Major Impact
Boo Radley is a character who appears briefly or sometimes not at all in the novel.
Sometimes the mere mention of him affects the novel. Trace how Boo Radley AND
ANY OTHER MINOR CHARACTER affect the novel as a whole without really being a
dominant character.
Envelope 5: Refuting Prejudice
Look for passages that show how the attitudes of the prejudiced are refuted by the author.
This prejudice can be racial or socio economic or gender biased.
Envelope 6: Parenting Style
For the time period, Atticus was not a normal father. He was a single parent in a time
that thrived with two parent households. Trace passages that demonstrate Atticus's
unique and at times different parenting style. You may include parenting given to the
children from outside sources in the parenting role such as Calpurnia, Uncle Jack or Aunt
Alexandra.
Envelope 7: Humor
The tone of the first part is often humorous. Find examples/passages from the novel that
make you smile or chuckle. Why are these parts funny? How does the use of humor
impact the novel as a whole?
Envelope 8: Maturation
Although the novel is told from the first person point of view of Scout, her narrative
begins with Jem breaking his arm. Jem is revealed as a character who will have just as
much influence in the novel as Scout. Look for passages that denote how Jem matures
and changes his point of view throughout the novel.
Envelope 9: Uniting symbols
Look for passages that relate to symbols in the novel. For example, how is the
mockingbird symbol/theme used to unite the two plot elements of the Radley mystery
and Tom Robinson's trial? Tim Johnson is symbolically parallel to another character?
Mrs. Dubose’s flower symbolizes something significant to Jem’s maturation, what is it?
What other passages address symbols in the novel?
Envelope 10: The Character of Scout
Create a list of adjectives (minimum of 5) that outline who Scout is and who she
becomes. Think of these as a progression into the woman who actually narrates the story
from the beginning. Then find passages that reflect your chosen adjectives.
Envelope 11: Feminism
Being called a girl is about the worst thing possible – or so thinks Scout, the
female protagonist of To Kill a Mockingbird. Girls wear frilly pink dresses, and
don’t get to play outside, swear, or pretty much do anything fun. Even less
appealing to the tomboy Scout, at least at first, is the thought of growing up into a
lady, and being plunged into a confusing world where no one says what they
mean. As the novel progresses, however, so do Scout’s views on femininity, as
she realizes that being a lady requires skill, and sometimes even courage.
Look for passages that support the theme of feminism in the novel. Examples
include passages that support why Scout takes being called a girl as an insult,
the effect that the lack of a mother has on Jem and Scout and the models of
femininity that the different female characters in the novel demonstrate for Scout.
Envelope 12: Family
In To Kill a Mockingbird, family is destiny. Within the confines of a small town
where the same people have lived for generations, no one can
escape…becoming their parents. Either the parents raise their kids to be like
them, for good or ill, or the pressure of community expectations that a person live
up, or down, to their family is too much to resist. While on the one hand, this
attitude creates a comfortable familiarity and a cozy predictability, it also makes
progress, both for the individual and the community, very difficult.
Look for passages that indicate what Maycomb’s African-American community
thinks about the idea of family. Look for passages that focus on why Aunt
Alexandra is so obsessed with Old Family and Finch pride and heredity. Look for
passages that focus on how family intersects with class in the novel.