Transcript Mockingbird Twenty Six to End finished

Kelso High School
English Department
‘To Kill a Mockingbird’
Chapters Twenty Six, Twenty Seven, Twenty Eight,
Twenty Nine, Thirty & Thirty One– Learning
Intentions
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Plot Summary
Circular Structure
Key Incident: CLIMAX
Characterisation –Scout Finch
Characterisation – Atticus Finch
Characterisation – Bob Ewell
Characterisation – Boo Radley
Theme - Prejudice and Intolerance
Theme –Courage
Theme – Growing Up
Symbolism
Ending
Plot Summary / Key Incidents
• Chapters 26 -31. September and October 1935.
• Bob Ewell attempts revenge on Judge Taylor &
Helen Robinson.
• Bob Ewell attacks Jem and Scout.
• Boo Radley saves the children by stabbing Bob.
• Atticus thinks Jem has killed Bob Ewell, but Heck
Tate proves it was Boo.
• Boo and Scout visit Jem.
• Scout takes Boo home.
Circular Structure
• Novel’s structure comes full circle.
• Novel ends by explaining how Jem breaks his arm in the attack
by Bob Ewell.
• Jem’s broken arm is the opening line of the novel,
“When he was nearly thirteen my brother Jem
got his arm badly broken at the elbow”.
• The circular structure links the beginning and the end of the
novel and suggests that all the events in the novel are
interconnected – leading up to the final act of violence.
Key Incident - Climax
•Chapter 28 - Bob Ewell’s
attack on Jem and Scout and
Boo comes out to save them.
Scout finally sees Boo, but Jem
does not.
Key Incident - Climax
Foreshadowing of Climax:
1. Scout says that three things of interest happened during the
Fall that did “not directly concern us – the Finches, but in a
way they did”.
Bob Ewell loses another job.
 Bob Ewell tries to break into Judge Taylor’s house.
 Bob Ewell harasses Helen Robinson .
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These three incidents suggest that Ewell is serious
about his earlier threats to get even with Atticus.
Key Incident - Climax
• Why is Bob Ewell so desperate for revenge?
1. “He thought he’d be a hero, but all he got for his
pain was ….okay, we’ll convict this Negro, but
get back to your dump”.
2. He realises that despite the verdict, people know
that he is a liar and that he has been made to look
a fool.
3. He is trying to get his revenge for what he regards as
Atticus’s betrayal in court.
Key Incident - Climax
There is a build-up to the climax:
1. Previous chapter begins, “Boo Radley was the least of our
fears”.
2. Aunt Alexandra feels a sudden sense of doom before
the children leave, but she ignores her
“pinprick of apprehension”.
3. As the children leave for the pageant, Scout
mentions setting out “on our longest journey together”.
4. Cecil Jacobs jumps from the tree so scare them on the
way to the pageant so they initially think he is
following them on the way home.
Key Incident - Climax
• Why is the attack so surprising?
1. All clues so far have suggested that Ewell would attack
Atticus, not the children.
How does Lee make the attack dramatic?
1. They first hear the noise of their pursuer, but presume it
is Cecil Jacobs.
2. They are vulnerable as they are all alone.
3. They are near their home in an area they assume to
be safe.
4. Scout is still in her pageant costume so cannot see. . We can
only experience what she can remember feeling, hearing and
smelling, “I felt the sand go cold under my feet”.
Characterisation - Scout
• We are given the idea that she has matured by the end as she
is thoughtful and considerate of Boo and makes it look as
though he is escorting her.
• As she looks at the street from Boo’s house, she realises that
she has never seen it from this angle before.
• Scout sees Boo for the first time as someone who belongs to
to the neighbourhood and she imagines how Maycomb must
have seemed to Boo through his shuttered windows.
• She now realises that Atticus is right – “you never really know
a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around”
• She can now stand with tolerance and understanding in Boo’s
shoes – or at least on his porch.
Characterisation - Scout
• Atticus is concerned that Scout will not understand why they
have decided to say that Bob Ewell fell on his own knife.
• She does understand and says Mr Tate is right because to tell
the truth would be, “like shootin’ a mockingbird”. This would
be like shooting someone who has only done good.
Characterisation - Atticus
• Atticus makes an error of judgement over Bob
Ewell as he does not believe his threats.
• Atticus believes that Jem has killed Bob Ewell
and does not want there to be a cover up. He
wants the facts dealt with fairly in a court of law,
“ I don’t want him growing up with a
whisper about him”.
Characterisation - Atticus
• He eventually realises that Heck is right,
but he is still troubled by the example he is
setting for his children.
• When Scout shows she does understand,
Scout says his “youthful step had
returned”.
Characterisation – Bob Ewell
• Negative portrayal continues:
i) fired for laziness
ii) Suspected of breaking into Judge Taylor’s house
iii) He follows Helen Robinson and harasses her.
iv) He attacks the children rather than Atticus.
v) He does not have the courage to face the children
in the daylight, but attacks them in the darkness.
• Why is he so bitter?
Atticus “I proved him a liar, but John made him look
like a fool”.
Characterisation – Boo Radley
• As the name suggests. Boo is a sort of ghost, but this is not to
do with his appearance out of no-where after the pageant,
but with Scout’s hollow understanding of him.
• Scout does not recognise her saviour as Boo, thinking he is
“some countryman I did not know”.
• This failure to recognise him symbolises the inability of Scout
and the people of Maycomb throughout the novel to see Boo
as a human being.
Characterisation – Boo Radley
• When Scout finally realises who has saved her, Boo the
childhood phantom becomes Boo the human being:
“His lips parted into a timid smile, and our neighbour’s
image blurred with my sudden tears. ‘Hey, Boo,’ I said.”
Characterisation – Boo Radley
• “Boo’s children needed him”
• Boo is ill-treated by his family and misunderstood by most of
the Maycomb residents.
• Yet Boo is a normal human being in that he thrives on being
needed.
• For a long time he has watched the children from a distance
and wanted to be friends with them.
• When they are attacked by Bob Ewell, he can at last do
something positive.
Characterisation – Boo Radley
• Boo is extremely pale, very thin and twitches nervously.
• Atticus suggests they sit on the front porch as the lights inside
are too strong for Arthur Radley.
• He is unused to strangers, very timid and doesn’t like people
looking at him.
• Heck Tate therefore wants to protect Arthur, not from prison,
but from all the attention he would get if people realise he
had saved the children. Arthur is too shy to enjoy being a
hero.
Characterisation – Boo Radley
• Boo is another victim of the town’s prejudice.
• He is a kind man who is misunderstood.
• Think back to our impression of him at the beginning of the
novel.
• Over the course of the novel he:
i) put a blanket round Scout when she was watching
the fire
ii) tried to sew Jem’s trousers when he caught them
on the wire
iii) left presents in the hollowed out tree for Jem
and Scout to find
iv) saved the children when they were attacked by Ewell
Characterisation – Boo Radley
• As Jem and Scout grow up they learn to empathise with
Arthur.
• They realise he is simply a shy man who needs his privacy.
• Jem finally realises that “Boo Radley’s stayed shut up in the
house all this time … because he wants to stay inside”.
• Jem and Scout have been hugely important in Arthur’s lonely
life. He may have enjoyed watching their games and leaving
them treasures, but they only succeed in making him come
out when they are in danger and he is there to protect him.
Theme – Prejudice & Intolerance
• Miss Gates is a hypocrite and unable to recognise her own
prejudice.
• She tells her class that in America they, “don’t believe in
persecuting anybody”.
• After the trial, however, Scout heard her say that the verdict
was the right result because it was time somebody “taught
‘em a lesson” and “they were getting’ way above
themselves.
Theme: Courage
• Boo Radley confronting Bob Ewell.
Theme – Growing Up
• “Boo Radley was the least of our fears”
• Since the trial, the children have become
involved in the more serious concerns of the
adult world.
Theme: Growing Up
• As Jem and Scout grow up and gain a better understanding of Boo,
he seems less like the town freak to them and more like a plaything.
• Jem finally realises that “Boo Radley’s stayed shut up in the house
all this time … because he wants to stay inside”.
• Standing on Boo Radley’s porch and when she sees the world
through Boo’s eyes she has become the person her father has
wanted her to be throughout the novel as she realises:
“Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know
a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them.
Just standing on the Radley porch was enough”.
Symbolism – The Mockingbird
• At the end of the novel Heck Tate tells Atticus that to bring
Boo Radley to justice would be a sin:
“It’s a sin and I’m not about to have it on my head”.
• Heck Tate is trying to protect Boo as to highlight what he did
would put an end to the quiet life he chooses to lead.
• Scout explains to Atticus that she understands this by saying,
“Well, it’d be sort of like shootin’ a mockingbird,
wouldn’t it?”
Symbolism - Mockingbird
• Boo is seen as a mockingbird because
he is an innocent figure who has done
only good.
• Two strands of the novel are linked
within this one image as Tom
Robinson was also linked to a
mockingbird.
Ending - Effective
1. Scout attains her childlike wish to see Boo Radley in person.
2. When she sees him, she realises that she, Jem and Dill have
judged Boo in a similar way to the way in which the
residents of Maycomb judged Tom Robinson.
3. Scout’s reaction to Heck Tate’s decision not to charge Boo
“ would be sort of like shootin’ a mockingbird”,
shows that the lessons Atticus taught his children about
human nature, compassion and respect have sunk in,
“you never really know a man until you stand in his
shoes and walk around in them”.
Ending - Effective
4. Although maturing, Scout is still only eight and still only
a little girl. This is why the novel ends with Scout sitting
on her father’s lap being read to.
5. The story Atticus is reading is about a boy who has been
misunderstood. People thought he was horrible, but he
turned out to be “real nice”. Atticus tells Scout that most
people are nice “when you finally see them”.
The ending provides hope for the future as
things are beginning to change by the end of
the novel:
• Lee makes Atticus an honourable man to encourage readers to
agree with his point of view.
• Lee makes many of the racist characters seem horrible and
unable to see how prejudiced they are – e.g. Mr Ewell, Mrs
Merriweather, Mrs Dubose.
• Examples of racist behaviour are described in a way that
makes clear how wrong they are.
• The jury takes several hours to reach a verdict. One jury
member believes Tom is innocent. This is a “baby-step”
towards a more equal and tolerant society.
• Link Deas gives Helen Robinson a job and threatens to take
Bob Ewell to court of he carries on harassing Helen.
The Ending provides hope for the future as
things are beginning to change by the end of
the novel:
• Miss Maudie explains that Atticus is trusted by many to do the
right thing and even Aunt Alexandra starts to accept that
Atticus might be right towards the end.
• Atticus is re-elected by the people of Maycomb to the State
Legislature.
• The fact that Jem , Scout and Dill are children who learn
about the injustices of their society suggests hope for the
future as it shows that the next generation could be different.
Success Criteria : Chapters Twenty Six, Twenty Seven, Twenty
Eight, Twenty Nine, Thirty and Thirty One
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Plot Summary
Circular Structure
Key Incident: CLIMAX
Characterisation –Scout Finch
Characterisation – Atticus Finch
Characterisation – Bob Ewell
Characterisation – Boo Radley
Theme - Prejudice and Intolerance
Theme –Courage
Theme – Growing Up
Symbolism
Ending
Chapters Twenty Six, Twenty Seven, Twenty
Eight, Twenty Nine, Thirty and Thirty One
The End!!
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