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Rough draft due: ____________
Final draft due: ____________
To Kill a Mockingbird-Related Personal Essay
To Kill a Mockingbird begins with the narrator explaining her family background and the background about the town she lives
in, especially in regards to the eccentric local legend Boo Radley. The author artfully explains the setting of the story by providing the
reader with a glimpse of everyday life in Scout’s 1930’s rural Alabama community and the assumptions about the characters on which
much of the action of the book is based.
Using Lee’s seminal text as inspiration, your first personal essay will be a creative expository piece in which you use more
interesting language and narrative techniques to explain something to your audience to provide a clearer picture of your life. Like
Lee, you will explain an element of your background using simple, logical organization; you will attempt to create vivid and
memorable descriptions using action verbs and colorful adjectives; and, you will attempt a variety of sentence combinations (and
perhaps the use of some of Lee’s wit). You may choose from the options below, or you may submit a proposal for a different topic to
be approved.
Option 1: What is your family like?
Introduction
Family ties … kinship bonds… the chains of generations. These phrases describe connections between members of a family.
They are positive phrases, arousing feelings of warmth, love, strength, and continuity. But as most members of a family know, family
bonds can be limiting as well as rewarding.
Harper Lee began her novel by introducing the reader to the history of the Finch family, demonstrating how important family
is to understanding the small community of Maycomb and its inhabitants. Moreover, her narrator is always referring to children as
products of their families, as when she and her classmates tried to explain the “Cunninghams” and the “Ewells” to the new “outsider”
teacher. While the ‘child’ Scout has a tough time relating the history behind these families to explain the actions of her classmates,
the older, wiser narrator is able to convey to us “outsiders” the implications of being members of these families.
Assignment
In an informative (but please, not boring) essay, explain and describe your own family. What is your family like, and how are these
family relationships important to understanding who you are? As you explain these bonds, introduce and describe some of the
important people in your family. Who are they? What are they like? What is important to them? Be sure to explore the
implications of the relationships you have with the different people in the family.
Option 2: Local Legend
Introduction
Sam Levenson once said, “One of the virtues of being very young is that you don't let the facts get in the way of your
imagination.” Myths, gossip, and ghost stories all have a place in our childhood; they help children make sense of the complicated
world around them before they are ready to understand life’s realities. Sometimes, imagination gets the best of people, and, as people
who had a childhood in a small town or community know, living intimately with extended families and neighbors makes it difficult to
mind your own business.
In the first chapter of the novel, Harper Lee introduces the reader to Boo Radley, a reclusive neighbor of the Finches. By not
seeing Boo and by noticing that the Radleys’ behavior differs from that of their neighbors’, the children’s speculations create the
details of Boo’s life that they doesn’t know, but only imagine, so that what was once only merely mysterious soon reaches the realm
of myth.
Assignment
In an informative (but please, not boring) essay, you will explain who or what your “Boo Radley” was. Similar to the way Maycomb
residents created the myth of Boo Radley's nighttime escapades, explain your own story about that mysterious element in your
childhood and how that experience influenced you. What person (or place or thing), which was once only mysterious, through the
imagination of you and your friends, has become part of the local mythology, in either a very public or very personal way? Describe
and explain the facts of the situation, what your imagination(s) led you to believe, and how things stand now.
Organizational Structure for Essays
Your essay should be well-organized to sufficiently convey your main topic and maintain focus. Your essay should include:
An Introduction: The beginning of your essay should introduce your topic and allude to the different subtopics you plan to
develop in the following paragraphs.
Body paragraphs: Separate major topics (it could be the different parts of the story or broader descriptions of the characters in
question). The order of your information is very important, as it should naturally carry the reader through your topic. Keep
in mind the transitions you need to bridge the different ideas.
A Conclusion: The last part of your essay should reflect upon what you have explained, further illuminating the significance of
what has been explained and allowing the reader to realize the importance of understanding your ‘setting’.
Other Requirements
 2-3 double-spaced typed pages (or a neatly handwritten equivalent), bare minimum three paragraphs, and approximately 700
words; of course, the final paper should be relatively free of grammatical errors.
 Focused on developing your topic ‘colorfully’, using vivid verbs, creative adjectives, and specific nouns, and succinctly,
combining sentences and ideas to eliminate repetitiveness and promote ‘flow’.