To Kill a Mockingbird is…
To Kill a Mockingbird
Guided Notes
A picture of ________________ American society seen through the eyes of_______________________,
an eight-year-old girl in____________________________________________.
Scout’s world is divided, segmented, and separated by:
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
A Bildungsroman
Meaning:
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
German: Bildung=maturing; Roman=novel
In a____________________________________________, the central character grows from a state of
innocence and naïvete to one of experience and enlightenment.
It is a coming-of-age novel, about the______________________ of growing up.
The Author: Harper Lee
Wrote To Kill a Mockingbird (1st & only novel) in 1960 while working in the reservations
department of an overseas airline.
She based the novel on ____________________________________________________________________________in
Monroeville, Alabama.
Lee was awarded the _______________________________________________________________________in 1961.
The Setting
2 Things define the novel’s setting:
1)______________________________________________________________________________________________________
2)______________________________________________________________________________________________________
A Different World
Even though we can identify with Scout’s character and experiences, her world is
dramatically different from ours.
Today, we ______________________________ prejudice.
Scout’s world: it was _________________________________________________________________________________
There were even laws that enforced prejudice!
Jim Crow Laws
Jim Crow Laws: a _____________________________________ (a system that separates people into
levels of society) that operated_____________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________.
States could impose __________________________________________ on people for having social
contact with members of another race.
Laws ____________________________________________________.
Laws ordered business owners and public institutions __________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________.
 _________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
 _________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
• Water fountains
• Door entrances & exits
• Hospitals, churches, prisons and public schools
• Public restrooms
• Separate accommodations were inferior to those given to whites.
• Often, there were no facilities offered at all.
A Black male could not offer his hand (to shake hands) with a White male ___________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________________.
A Black male could not offer his hand to a White woman, because he risked_________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________.
Blacks and Whites were not supposed to _______________________________.
If they did, Whites were to be served first, and some sort of partition was to be placed
between
_________________________________ directed their hatred against one (sometimes several) victims.
The victim was an example of what happened to a Black man who _____________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________.
The Use of the “N” Word
It should be no surprise that novel set in the racist atmosphere of 1930s Alabama contains
repeated use of the “N” word.
It is right to feel uncomfortable with this word.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________.
– In a novel about tense racial and social issues in the 1930s
south, it is Lee’s responsibility to correctly reflect the beliefs and
language of the people she is writing about.
Social Expectations
______________________________________________________________________:
Children must be very polite to all white adults. ___________________ has the right to scold
and/or punish any disrespectful child.
People must be friendly and hospitable.
On Sundays, neighbors visit each other; ________________________________________________, as that
looks like you don’t want to socialize.
___________________________________ goes to church.
Men work to support their families; women stay at home, care for their families, & visit
friends.
Anyone who didn’t do these: viewed with suspicion.
A Comfortable World
Even though Scout’s world may sound stifling and cruel, there are many good things about
it, too:
• _________________________________________________________________________________________
• _________________________________________________________________________________________
• _________________________________________________________________________________________
The Great Depression
A depression: a _______________________________________________________ (so people don’t make as
much money) _______________________________________________________________________________________.
The Great Depression in America began with a __________________________________________________.
Millions who once had enough money were now poor.
Poor people became poorer.
Because of the Depression, some children in Scout’s class have ______________________ to bring
for lunch and ______________________________ to buy one.
Many children __________________________________________________________________ because every
year they have to leave school to help their families with the farming.
Some of her father’s law clients can’t pay him in money; instead, they give him things from
their farms—such as firewood.