To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Chapter 22-31 –... Essential Question
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To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Chapter 22-31 – It Ain’t Right Essential Question: What factors influence our moral growth? What kinds of experiences help us learn how to judge right from wrong? Part VI: Chapter 22-31 – It Ain’t Right Essential Questions What is justice? What are the responsibilities of citizens in a democracy? What must citizens do to create a just and democratic society? How can examining the changes in the characters and setting of a work of fiction help us better understand the relationship between human behavior and social change in our society? How can a community seek justice and healing after an act of injustice and violence? Journal Prompt 1. Identify a time when you went out of your way to help somebody else—a friend, a family member, a neighbor, or a complete stranger. What were the consequences of your actions for you and for others? _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. Identify a situation when you knew something was wrong or unfair, but you did not intervene to improve the situation. What were the consequences of your actions for you and for others? _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ 3. Compare these two situations. What led you to act in one situation but not to intervene in the other? _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Chapters 22-31 Questions 1. Who is most responsible for the injustices that Tom Robinson and his family endure in To Kill a Mockingbird? Use evidence from the book to support your position. _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. Which characters behave as bystanders in the novel? In what circumstances did they behave that way? What choices did they make that made them bystanders? What other options were available to them? What factors encouraged them to behave as bystanders? _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ 3. Which characters behave as upstanders in the novel? In what circumstances did they behave that way? What choices did they make that made them upstanders? What other options were available to them? What factors encouraged them to stand up to injustice? _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ 4. Do you think there is a hero in To Kill a Mockingbird? If so, who is it? Explain your thinking. _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ 5. What role does the “secret court of men’s hearts” play in changing a society? Is changing the hearts of citizens necessary in order for society to change? Is it enough? _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ 6. Scout says that shortly after the Tom Robinson verdict, Maycomb “became itself” again. What does it mean for Maycomb to “become itself” again? What role does forgetting play in the community’s response? Who wants to forget? Who cannot? When is forgetting helpful, and when is it destructive? _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ 7. Has Maycomb society become more just? How do you measure progress toward bringing about a more just society? Should “baby steps” be celebrated as progress or lamented for not going far enough? _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ 8. What is the relationship between the trial of Tom Robinson and the Boo Radley subplot in the novel? How does Harper Lee weave the two stories together to reinforce common themes? _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ 9. How do the resolutions of the stories of Tom Robinson and Boo Radley complicate the relationship between the law and justice? _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ 10. By the end of the novel, how does Scout reconcile the pressure on her to be a “Southern lady” with the fact that she prefers her “father’s world”? _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Journal Prompts 1.) Judge William Hastie, the first African American to serve as a federal judge: “Democracy is a process, not a static condition. It is Becoming, rather than being. It can easily be lost, but never is fully won. Its essence is eternal struggle.” • What does Judge Hastie mean? How would you explain his definition of democracy in your own words? • In what ways does the story of To Kill a Mockingbird reflect the idea of democracy as a process rather than a static condition? • In what ways has democracy been lost in Maycomb? In what ways has Maycomb come closer to realizing the ideals of democracy? _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ 2.) What are the responsibilities of being a citizen in a democracy? In Maycomb, what factors get in the way of those responsibilities, even for those who wish their community was more just? What factors get in the way in your community? _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ 3.) What has Scout learned about being a responsible adult and citizen over the course of the novel? What people and experiences were most influential in her growth and development? What people and experiences have had the greatest impact in your life? _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Close Reading F for Chapter 26 Student Handout Questions created by David Pook. PASSAGE BEGINS: “Cecil Jacobs knew what one was, though . . . .” PASSAGE ENDS: “Time for arithmetic, children.” 1. In Chapter 26, Miss Gates defends America through an analysis of the meaning of democracy. What clues are there in the text that her analysis may be faulty? More generally, how does the story of Tom Robinson challenge her claim that America is fully democratic? _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Handout 6.1 “The Trouble I’ve Seen” Use the following questions to guide your note-taking and reflection on the video “The Trouble I’ve Seen”: 1. Summarize the story of Della McDuffie. How was justice denied in her case? How was the history of her murder erased? _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. What does the film suggest about how people in Wilcox County, Alabama, remember Sheriff Lummie Jenkins, the perpetrator of McDuffie’s murder? _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ 3. What did the work of Bayliss Fiddiman, the law student, reveal about the truth of the McDuffie murder? _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ 4. Summarize the story of Malcolm Wright. How was justice denied in his case? How was the history of his murder erased? _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ 5. How did Robert Sanderman, the law student, help correct the history of Malcolm Wright’s murder? Where did he go to get information and firsthand accounts? _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ 6. What did Margaret Burnham mean when she said that the Malcolm Wright case had “the appearance but not the reality of justice”? _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ 7. Why does Chickasaw County resist attempts to acknowledge the injustice that occurred at the expense of Malcolm Wright and his family? _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ 8. The film quotes the Mayor of Houston, Mississippi, as saying: “If we’ve already closed it, you start the healing process of a wound. You have another wound that you want to reopen. Reopening a wound, it takes longer to heal.” Do you agree with him? Does correcting the historical record of past violence and injustice reopen old wounds? Does it help or hinder the chance for a community to heal? _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ 9. Summarize the story of John Earl Reese. How was justice denied in his case? How was the history of his murder erased? _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ 10. What did Kaylie Simon, the law student, do to try to correct the injustice done to Reese? Did she succeed? _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ 11. What effect did Simon’s work have on the community? What effect did it have on John Earl Reese’s family, friends, and descendants? _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ 12. Which part of Simon’s work in Mayflower, Texas, do you think had the greatest positive impact? _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ 13. How has this film helped you think about the consequences of forgetting or ignoring past violence and injustice? What about the consequences of remembering? _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ 14. How does Maycomb respond to Tom Robinson’s conviction and death? How does it affect individuals in the town, and which individuals? Does the town remember or forget? _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Jigsaw Activity Work on your Identity Chart for Scout, Jem, or Atticus Finch After reading and discussing Chapters 22-31, answer the essential questions. Essential Question: What factors influence our moral growth? What kinds of experiences help us learn how to judge right from wrong? _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Part IV: Chapters 16-21 – Stand up Essential Questions What is justice? What are the responsibilities of citizens in a democracy? What must citizens do to create a just and democratic society? _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ How can examining the changes in the characters and setting of a work of fiction help us better understand the relationship between human behavior and social change in our society? _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ How can a community seek justice and healing after an act of injustice and violence? _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________
