To Kill A Mockingbird

HARPER LEE

1960

Big news!

Go Set A Watchman

    July 14, 2015 Set 20 years after the event in To Kill a Mockingbird Originally written first, rejected by her editors Recently unearthed

So exciting!

Essential Questions

 How can citizens, particularly ourselves, break through barriers of prejudice to promote tolerance?

 What does it mean to be an individual in society? Does society force its citizens to take unpopular, but moral, stances in order to promote change?

Nelle Harper Lee

    Born 1926 in Monroeville, Alabama Best friends with Truman Capote  Wrote In Cold Blood together Very Private Person Early 1950s  Studied law   Airline hostess Began writing some during this time 5

Harper Lee cont’d

   

To Kill a Mockingbird published in

1960  Very Popular   Coming-of-age story Racial prejudices in the South  Made into a Oscar winning movie (1962) 1960: 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.

Similarities Between Novel and Author’s Life

   Novel is

NOT

autobiographical Towns  Monroeville & Maycomb: similar layout and size Fathers  Both Lawyers  Lee’s father’s middle name is Finch; Finch is the last name of family  Both had genuine humility and natural dignity Time Frame  Lee same age as Scout at the time the story takes place

Setting

   Maycomb, Alabama While set in the 1930s, book was published in 1960 in the early years of the Civil Rights Movement. 1933-1935  During the Great Depression  Deep South  Segregated and Racist 8

Southern Gothic

 Sub-genre of the Gothic writing style, unique to American literature. Like its parent genre, it relies on supernatural, ironic or unusual events to guide the plot. Unlike its predecessor, it uses these tools not for the sake of suspense, but to explore social issues and reveal the cultural character of the South.

 The Southern Gothic author usually avoids perpetuating antebellum stereotypes such as the contented slave, the demure Southern belle, the chivalrous gentleman and the righteous Christian preacher. Instead, the writer takes classic Gothic archetypes, such as the damsel in distress or the heroic knight, and portrays them in a modern and realistic manner, transforming them into a spiteful, reclusive spinster or a white-suited, fan-brandishing lawyer with ulterior motives.

 One of the most notable features of the Southern Gothic is the grotesque, a stock character who possesses some cringe-inducing qualities, typically bigotry and self righteousness, but enough good traits that the reader finds himself empathizing nevertheless. Deeply flawed characters, while often disturbing to read about, provide the author with greater narrative range and more opportunities to highlight unpleasant aspects in Southern culture without moralizing.

To Kill a Mockingbird’s

Point of View

In this novel the story is told from Scout’s point of view (1

st

person).

The novel is primarily told by the child, Scout, but the narrator also uses the fact that it has been years since the event to fill in other details (showing maturity).

Historical Significance

     The setting of the novel 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 1930s.

Both trials involve black men wrongfully charged with raping white women. In both trials the justice system (or lack thereof) progresses very similarly

Jim Crow Jigsaw

Objective

Over the next few days we will be discussing Jim Crow laws and the

Scottsboro Trial in order to give us

some understanding of the context of Lee’s novel

Jim Crow laws

    State and local laws enacted after the Reconstruction period in Southern United states that continued in force until 1965 Mandated racial segregation in all public facilities in Southern United States “Separate but equal” Institutionalized a number of economic, education and social disadvantages

Prep Work

     You will each be assigned one of three different stories/essays to read.

Each of these pieces provides insight into the Jim Crow South that Harper Lee portrays in

Mockingbird.

Your task:

Read the story or essay that has been assigned to you. Answer the following questions about your assigned reading (your response to each question must be at least a paragraph, must have evidence from readings)

Individual Questions 1.

2.

Who is telling the story (or, what information/statistics are given)? What is his or her perspective on Jim Crow? Cite two examples to support your answer.

How does life under the Jim Crow

system affect the people (of every race) living in the South? Give two specific examples.

2

nd Article 1

Chase B, Caitlin, Chase H, Jack, Jenny, Kyle, Liam, Jay, Sandra, Connor K

Article 2

Zach, Andrew, Kosay, Jillian, Tiffany, Alec, Hannah, Shelby, Natalie, Alli

Article 3

Brian, Cali, Diana, Connor W, Stephanie, Madisen, Val, Johanna, Paul

3

rd

/4

th Article 1

Adrian, Spence, Joe, Courtney, Blake, Grant, Tyler, Jordan Shim, Jaxon, Alexandra, Jordyn, Burdekin, Andrew Fox, Annika, Katherine, Emily M, Michael, Patty, Tommy

Article 2

Eleni, Shawn, Sarah, Maya, Emily H, George, William, Matthew, Dalen, Drew, Cassie, Taylor, Jack, Darian, Alexa, Rachael, Mason, Sam, Mario

Article 3

Ellie, Gianna, Sienna, Lindsey, Abigayle, Andrew S, Ashley, Oliver, Braden, Brooks, Cam, Rachel, Nate Jensen, Binita, Zach, Pooja, Jordan Stuber

5

th Article 1

Maddie, Ryan, Max, Ilaina, Skylar, Tyler, Kaleigh, David

Article 2

Greg, Carlos, Jeremy, Sophie, Alec, Alena, Zach

Article 3

Isaac, Daniel, Giles, Jake, Andrea, Nick, Emily

6

th Article 1

Hana, Tushon, Luke, Luc, Khadija, Sean, Mariesa

Article 2

Jackson, Olivier, Serena, Conor, Malcolm, Cal

Article 3

Abbie, Connor, Bailey, Heather, Ev, Daniel

Expert Groups

 Get together with the people in your expert group, who read the same article  Discuss your reactions to the reading, and compare your responses to the three questions, and discuss:  How did your essay/article affect your perception of life in the South under Jim Crow?  Do you feel differently now than you did before you read it?

Mixed Groups

 Each member of the group will summarize their reading and briefly share their answers to the questions.

 Then, the entire group will answer questions based upon your collective understanding of all of the readings. Use specific examples from each reading to support your responses.

 One set of answers per group

Jigsaw Questions

1.

2.

3.

Taken as a whole, what is the image of the Jim Crow South that develops after reading and discussing these essays/articles? Support your response with examples from the texts. How were African-Americans oppressed under Jim Crow? Give at least three different examples.

What new information do you have now that you did not have before? How have these essays/articles changed your perspective on life in the South during the time period of the novel?

Homework….

Great Gatsby Final Paper DUE HARD COPY IN CLASS

Turnitin copy by the end of the day (midnight)