To Kill a Mockingbird
Context and Introduction
What do you think??
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
All men are created equal.
Girls should act like girls.
It's okay to be different.
Nobody is all bad or all good.
Some words are so offensive that they should never be stated or written.
Under our justice system, all citizens are treated fairly in our courts of
law.
7. The old adage, "Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words will
never hurt you," is true.
8. Speaking standard grammar proves that a person is smart.
9. A hero is born, not made.
10. No one is above the law.
11. Education is the great equalizer.
12. When the law does not succeed in punishing criminals, citizens should
do so.
Nelle Harper Lee
http://www.charlesjshields.com/images/pa
ge/excerpt_photo02.jpg
• Born April 28, 1926 in Monroeville,
Alabama.
• Her first and only novel To Kill a
Mockingbird was published in 1960.
• In 1960 she won the Pulitzer Prize
for fiction.
• Lee continued to receive awards after
the book’s publication.
• In November of 2007 she was
awarded the Presidential Medal of
Freedom (the nation’s highest
civilian award) for her contribution
to American literature.
Historical Significance
• Maycomb, AL bears a striking resemblance to
Monroeville, AL.
• Lee was six years old at the start of the Scottsboro trial
and Scout is six years old at the beginning of the
Robinson trial.
• Similarities exist between the Robinson trial in the text
and the Scottsboro trial of the 1930’s.
• Both trials involve black men wrongfully charged with
raping white women.
• In both trials all white juries ignored evidence that
would have exonerated the defendants.
Setting: Depression-era
Maycomb, Alabama
• 1930’s – allusion to FDR in 1932:
• “[Maycomb County] had recently been told it
had nothing to fear but fear itself” (6).
Introduction to the Novel
Exploring Symbols
…Be on the lookout for:
SYMBOL:
A word or object
that represents
another word or
object
Small-Town Life
“Boo” Radley
Mockingbirds / Birds
What do these symbols
represent!?
The novel takes place during the mid-1930s at a time when the government
was attempting to stop the Great Depression. The President at the time,
Franklin Roosevelt, famously said, “the only thing to fear is fear itself” as his
government created programs to create jobs, house the homeless and feed the
starving.
25% of
population
had no job
Hundreds of
thousands lost
homes, farms
and
possessions
Even those with jobs
were affected
because nothing was
being produced
GREAT
DEPRESSION
A period of extreme
drought, poverty and
hardships during the
1930s.
Average family
income dropped
to 50% by 1935
Stock Market Crash
caused people to lose
billions. Entire banks
were wiped out and
by 1933 over 60% of
population was
considered poor
Background Information
Background Information
Although slavery was abolished in the
1890s racism and discrimination were
alive and well during the time of the
novel.
Racism and
Social Classes
The novel is based on many historical
facts that help to drive the story,
(and allow the readers to explore a
sad time in American history)
including:
Jim Crow Laws (1890s – 1960s)
Scottsboro Trials (1931)
Social Inequality (Forever)
Social Status
Social Inequality
The Finches
White folks of Maycomb &
Maycomb County
The Ewell Family
Tom Robinson
Even the law was one-sided: Juries were always all-white and all-male.
The word of a black man meant nothing against the word of a white
man.
Introduction to the Novel
About the Author
To Kill A Mockingbird is semiautobiographical for a number of
reasons:
Lee grew up in
Alabama
Father was prominent
lawyer
Experienced Great
Depression, Scottsboro
Trials
“Scout” based on her life;
“Dill” based on life of
childhood friend Truman
Capote
Reading Questions
• Explain each literary term using details given in the first
chapter of To Kill a Mockingbird as evidence:
• ex: setting- where and when a story takes place.
Maycomb, AL in the 1930’s.
– characterization
– tone
– protagonist
– allusion
– metaphor and simile
– imagery