To Kill A Mockingbird
Essay Prompts
For your final essay on To Kill A Mockingbird, you may choose from among the following prompts:
1. A dominant motif in the novel is the symbolic importance of a mockingbird. In the story, Atticus
tells his children that “it is a sin to kill a mockingbird.” In a well-developed essay, explain how
Atticus Finch, Tom Robinson, and/or Boo Radley are metaphorically portrayed as mockingbirds.
Give specific examples and quotes to support these characterizations.
2. Atticus’s relationship with Jem and Scout – arguably a unique father-child relationship for their time
– is central to the novel’s plot. In a well-developed essay, explain why Atticus’s parenting style is
superior (or why it is not) to the parenting styles of his time period and/or our time period.
3. The novel was written in 1960, but is set in 1935. In a well-developed essay, write about how the
start of the Civil Rights Movement may have impacted Harper Lee’s themes.
4.
The epigraph for the novel is a quote from Charles Lamb: “Lawyers, I suppose, were children once.”
While Boo Radley is an adult, he acts quite like a child, and though Scout is only in elementary
school, she carries herself with the confidence of a young adult. In a well-developed essay, analyze
the so-called chiasmus of characters at once acting younger and older than their biological age.
5. In many ways, this is a quintessential “coming-of-age” story. In a well-developed essay, identify the
essential elements of a coming-of-age story, discuss their presence in this novel, and compare the
novel to another coming-of-age story you have read.
6. Many students like this book because it contains concrete morals, or lessons. In a well-developed
essay, write about one or more of the lessons Scout learns throughout the novel – lessons, therefore,
that you learn as a reader as well.
7. The simultaneous stories of Boo Radley and Tom Robinson provide an interesting narrative structure
for the novel. Boo Radley is a lesser character that opens and closes the novel; Tom Robinson is a
central character in the middle of the novel. In a well-developed essay, write about how Harper Lee
uses the stories of these two men to further develop her plot, themes, and characters.
8. I always “like” that Tom Robinson dies – not because I like death, but because I feel that the book
would have too much of a “Hollywood” ending. In a well-developed essay, write about how the
impact of the book may have been different if Tom had been found “not guilty” – or, at the very least,
if he had lived.
These essay prompts just represent my initial ideas. If anyone would like to explore another topic
(Scout’s narration, perhaps, or the influence the novel has had on other novels that came after it), by all
means feel free. Just be sure to discuss the topic with me before you begin writing. Good luck!
Please be sure to incorporate an interesting and complex title, as well as a comprehensive works cited
page. Your citations should be in MLA format, and you should reference at least two secondary sources
in addition to the text.
Introductory paragraph and outline (at least one page) due Thursday, February 11, 2010.
Rough draft (at least two typed pages) due Friday, February 12, 2010.
Final draft (at least three typed pages) due Monday, March 1, 2010.
English 11 Honors: American Literature  Mr. Ambrose