To Kill a
Mockingbird
Notes
By Harper Lee
Harper Lee
• Born in 1926 in the small town of
Monroeville, Alabama
• Father: Lawyer
• Mother: Maiden name ‘Finch’
• Based ‘Scout’ on herself
• Published one novel: TKAM in
1960
• Received Pulitzer Prize for
Literature in 1961
• Since 1960, “To Kill a
Mockingbird” has never been
out of print
• At age 86, she is alive and resides
in New York
• She rarely makes public
appearances or gives interviews
Setting
• Maycomb, Alabama (fictional)
• 1933-1935
• Although slavery has long been
abolished, the Southerners in Maycomb
continue to believe in white supremacy.
• Gothic mood (motif):
o
o
o
o
o
Boo Radley house
Mad dog
Fire that destroys Miss Maudie’s house
Unnatural snow fall
Halloween night
Themes: Racial Prejudice
• Social hierarchy: white mid. class, white
poor, white trash, blacks
o Segregation: Neighbourhoods, hospitals and
churches, division within buildings (court house)
• Lee uses children’s confusion of
segregation and hostility to criticize
human prejudices
o Scout doesn’t understand why she can’t play
with the Cunningham boy
o Scout needs Atticus to explain what a ‘nigger
lover’ means
Themes: Moral Education
• Education of the children:
o Small town mentality stifles anything that isn’t the norm:
'Your father does not know how to teach. You can have a
seat now.‘ – Teacher
o Atticus’s own teachings (read ahead, only ignorant
people use the ‘n’ word, be the bigger man and walk
away, the respect for the Cunninghams, don’t make fun
of Boo, etc.)
• Loss of innocence; Coming of age:
o Being subjected to bullying and torments about Atticus’s
trial forces the children to make their own decisions
(building empathy)
o "Naw, Jem, I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks.“ –
Scout begins to realize that adults aren’t always right
o Scout teaches Uncle Jack how to handle children fairly.
Themes: Empathy
• Scout is prejudice against Boo Radley
o Atticus explains that you never know a person until
you “climb inside his skin and walk around in it”
o Boo reveals himself to be misunderstood and ends
up saving the children in the end
• Symbol: Mockingbird
o Never kill a mockingbird because they don’t hurt
anyone; they just sing to us
o Boo Radley: helps children but is widly feared.
o Tom Robinson: helped Mayella out of kindness and
was persecuted by townsfolk
o Prejudiced people lack empathy
Themes: Courage
• Atticus and the trial
o "This case, Tom Robinson's case, is something that goes
to the essence of a man's conscience-Scout, I couldn't
go to church and worship God if I didn't try to help that
man.“ -- Atticus
o Despite the social consequences (name called,
Ewell spits in face), Atticus takes the case
seriously and does all he can for Tom.
• Mrs. Dubose
o "I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of
getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his
hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin
but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter
what.“ – Atticus
o Mrs. Dubose had the courage to withstand the intense
pain of being off morphine, so she could die sober
Jean Louise Finch – “Scout”
• Narrator, 1st person
• As an adult, Scout
looks back at her
childhood
• Scout is six when the
story begins.
• She is naturally
curious about life.
Scout’s Character Traits
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Tomboy
Impulsive
Emotional
Warm & Friendly
Sensitive
Inquisitive
Gains in maturity
throughout the Novel
Atticus Finch
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Father of Scout and Jem
A widower
An attorney by profession
Highly respected
Good citizen
Instills good values and morals
in his children.
His children call him “Atticus”
Honest
Typical southern gentleman
Brave
Courteous
Soft-spoken
Jem Finch
• Scout’s older brother
• Looks up to his father
Atticus
• Usually looks out for
Scout
• Typical older brother at
times
• Smart
• Compassionate
• Matures as the story
progresses
Calpurnia
• The Finch’s black housekeeper
• Has watched the children since
their mother’s death
• Has been a positive influence
on the children.
• Has a child and lives in the
black neighborhood.
• Educated; but uses black
neighbourhood dialect when
home.
Arthur “Boo”
Radley
• An enigma
• An adult man, whose father has “sentenced”
him to a lifetime confinement to their house
because of some mischief he got into when he
was a teenager.
• Has a reputation of being a lunatic
• Basically a harmless, well-meaning person
• Sometimes childlike in behavior
• Starving for love and affection
• Saves Jem and Scout from certain danger
Tom Robinson
• A young, harmless,
innocent, hardworking
black man
• Has a crippled left
hand
• Married with three
children. Works on a
farm belonging to Mr.
Link Deas, a white man
• Will be falsely accused
of raping a white girl,
Mayella Ewell
Dill
• A close friend of Jem and
Scout
• Usually lives in Maycomb
only during the summer
(stays with a relative)
• Tells “big stories”
• Has been deprived of love
and affection
Two Poor White Families:
The Ewells
Poor white trash
Dirty
Lazy
Good-for-nothing
Never done a day’s
work
• Foul-mouthed
• Dishonest
• Immoral
•
•
•
•
•
The Cunninghams
•
•
•
•
•
•
Poor white family
Hard-working
Honest
Proud
Survive on very little
Always pay back their
debts – even if it is with
hickory nuts, turnips, or
holly.
The Black Community
•
•
•
•
•
Oppressed
Uneducated
Discriminated against
Talked about badly
Deserve better than
what is dished out to
them by society
Simple
Honest
Clean
Hard-working
God fearing
Proud
Would never take
anything with paying it
back
• Respectful
• Had stronger character
than most of the whites
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Language
• Sometimes the language of Scout will be that of her
as a child; other times, she will be speaking in the
voice of an adult
• Atticus uses formal speech
• Calpurnia uses “white language” in the Finch house
and switches to “black jargon” when amidst blacks
• The Ewells use foul words and obscenities
• Jem, Scout, and Dill will use slang words, typical of
their age
• Tom Robinson uses language typical of the southern
black such as “suh” for “sir” and “chillun” for
“children”
• Various derogatory terms for blacks will be used such
as “nigger,” “darky,” “Negroes,” and “colored folk” –
Lee uses such language to keep her novel naturally in
sync with common language of the times