To Kill a
Mockingbird
By Harper Lee
The Setting of the Novel
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

Southern United States
Maycomb, Alabama: Alabama is
renown as a site of racial tension,
historically.
1930s
- The Great Depression
- Racial segregation
The 1930s – The Great Depression
 Businesses
failed,
factories closed
 People were out of work
 Even people with
money suffered
because nothing was
being produced for
sale.
 Poor people lost their
homes, were forced to
“live off the land.”
Racial Segregation
 Racial
prejudice was alive & well.
Although slavery had ended in 1864, old
ideas were slow to change.
Sexism

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Despite that women were declared “equal”
and given the right to vote in the 1920s,
women were still viewed as the “weaker sex.”
Women were generally not educated for
occupations outside the home
In wealthy families, women were expected to
oversee the servants and entertain guests
Men were not considered capable of
nurturing children
Legal Issues of the 1930s & their
impact on the novel’s setting
 Women
given the
vote in 1920
 Juries were MALE
and WHITE
 “Fair trial” did not
include
acceptance of a
black man’s word
against a white
man’s
“White Trash”
 Poor,
uneducated white people who
lived on “relief “
 lowest social class, even below the poor
blacks
 prejudiced against black people
 felt the need to “put down” blacks in
order to elevate themselves
Prejudice/Discrimination in
To Kill a Mockingbird
 Race
 Gender
 Handicaps
 Rich/Poor
 Age
 Religion
To Kill a Mockingbird Characters
 Atticus
Finch - an attorney whose wife
has died, leaving him to raise their two
children:
 Jem – 10-year-old boy
 Scout – (Jean Louise), 6-year-old girl
 Tom
Robinson – a black man accused of
raping white girl; he is defended at trial
by Atticus
To Kill a Mockingbird –
Point of View

First person narration

The story is not told by the younger Scout
Finch. It is told by an older Scout, looking
back. However, the point of view is mostly a
first-person limited one; that is, limited to the
knowledge of the younger Scout.

In this way, the narration presents a sort of
“doubled” perspective on the events.
Question:
 Why
would the author choose to
present a first-person limited point of
view, rather than an omniscient
one? What advantage is there to
using the first-person limited?
To Kill a Mockingbird –
Themes
Review:
Theme is the controlling idea, meaning, or
message of a work of art.


Themes in the novel are based on the
concept of racial prejudice which was so
much a part of society at that time:
Lee stresses the need for human
understanding to destroy the evils off racial
prejudice..
Autobiographical Elements –
Harper Lee vs. Scout Finch
Harper Lee:
 Born & raised in
Alabama
 Grew up in 1930s
 Father was a lawyer
 Mother’s maiden
name = Finch
Scout Finch:
 Born & raised in
Alabama
 Grew up in 1930s
 Father was a lawyer
 Last name is Finch
While the story is fictional, there are elements
of it that are undeniably autobiographical.
Keep in mind while reading…
 Setting
is all important –be aware of the
“where” and “when” as you begin
 Point
of View – the novel is shaped by the
voice of a young girl who sees the story
from a position of naïve acceptance
 “Goodness
vs. Ignorance (Evil)” is an
important theme