To+Kill+a+Mockingbird



The next novel on our list is //To Kill A Mockingbird//. This novel is much different than //Tuesdays with Morrie// in that it will give us the opportunity to have different literary discussions. We will be able to discuss theme, setting, plot, character development and many other literary topics as we go through the book together. Before we actually begin the book, we need to work together to have an understanding of the background of Harper Lee (author) and the setting of the novel.

Harper Lee Jim Crow Laws Southeastern U.S. during the 1930s Role of Women throughout the 1920s and 30s

__Study Guide__

__Characters in TKAM__

__Synopsis of Chapters 12-23__

12-15 · Jem is growing up. He goes off on his own a lot now and he treats Scout differently · Calpurnia calls Jem “Mister Jem” · Calpurnia takes Jem and Scout to church with her when Atticus leaves on business · Jem and Scout notice that Calpurnia talks and acts “differently” when she is around other colored people · Aunt Alexandra comes to live with the Finch’s · Aunt Alexandra is quick to judge people on their ways and habits · Jem and Scout (especially Scout) don’t like that Aunt Alexandra comes to live with them because she doesn’t approve of the way their father has raised them · Aunt Alexandra doesn’t approve of Calpurnia taking Jem and Scout to church with her (the colored church) · Atticus and Aunt Alexandra disagree on if Calpurnia should stay and help the family now that Aunt Alexandra is there. · Atticus begins to worry about Tom Robinson’s case and he starts to get stressed out · Dill runs away from home because he feels he is not needed there any longer. He goes to the Finch’s home and sneaks under Scout’s bed until she notices that he is there hiding. · Dill’s mother allows him to stay in Maycomb for the remainder of the summer · Boo Radley is still a mystery and a topic of interest between the children (especially Scout and Dill) · Dill, Scout, and Jem all follow Atticus downtown late at night · They find him in front of the county jail house reading a book. · <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">They think all is well until a crowd of people swarm Atticus until finally Scout jumps in and the other children follow her. They stop the people from harming Atticus. They want to hurt Atticus because he is defending and protecting Tom Robinson, a colored man 16 - 19  Tom Robinson’s trial starts and the whole town and the surrounding area farmers and their families all come into town to watch the trial. Scout learns that the town hadn’t expected Atticus to actually defend Tom, and she is confused because that’s his job. Mr. Heck Tate and Mr. Ewell testify, and Atticus questions them, and we learn that Mayella was beaten on the right side of her face. We also learn that Mr. Ewell is left-handed. Mayella also testifies and is questioned. She says that she called in Tom Robinson to chop up a chiffarobe, and that this was the first time she had ever asked him to come into the yard. She says that she had to go in the house to get a nickel to pay him, and that before she knew it, he was trying to rape her. She says that she tried to fight him off as hard as she could. She also says that he grabbed her around the neck. We learn that Tom is crippled, because his left hand got caught in a cotton gin when he was a boy. WE also start to realize that it just might have been her father that beat her. Finally, Tom Robinson testifies and is questioned. We learn that Mayella called him into the yard lots of times, to help her with odd-jobs. Tom says that Mayella told him that she had saved up nickels to send the little kids to town, to spend them. He says that she had him get a box off of the top shelf of a chiffarobe, and that when he was on the chair, she grabbed him around the legs, and that she kissed him. He also says that she said that she had never kissed a grown man, that what her pa did to her didn’t count. He says that the only reason he ran when her father got there was because he was scared that he would go to jail and be in court, like he is now. Mr. Gilmer question shim and is mean and hateful. Dill gets sick, so Scout takes him out, and he tells her that the reason he was sick was because of how mean Mr. Gilmer was to Tom Robinson. __Synopsis of Chapters 24-31__ <span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Synopsis of Chapters 24-31 <span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Molly <span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Courtney <span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Elizabeth <span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Emily

<span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">In the beginning Scout joins in on the lady’s Missionary Circle at the Finch’s house and tries to act lady-like to make Aunt Alexandra happy. They talk about the Mrunas and Mr. J. Grimes Everett. They also touched on the topic of the Tom Robinson court case and then Atticus came home. Atticus excused Cal, Scout, Maudie, and Aunt Alexandra to tell them bluntly that Tom has died. Cal and Atticus leave the house to tell Helen (Tom’s wife) that he had died. They meet up with Dill and Jem after they had been swimming, and go to Helen’s house. On the way to Tom’s house he tells them how he died, and he died by being shot while trying to escape the prison. <span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Mr. Underwood wrote an editorial about how he thought it was a sin to kill cripples. He thought it was a senseless slaughter of song birds by hunters and children. They had started school again; Jem went out for the football team, but was too slender and thin. And in Scout’s class they talk about Current Events. A topic that was brought up was Adolf Hitler, and Scout wondered why her teacher had hated Hitler, when Miss Gates hated colored people. Scout asks Jem about why she hates Hitler and colored and Jem gets mad at her and tells her that he never wants to hear about the court case again. <span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">After that, weird things begin to happen. Bob Ewell can’t keep his job; he gets fired because he is too lazy. Also one night, when Judge Taylor was home alone he heard strange noises outside. And when Mrs. Taylor comes home she finds him with a shotgun in his lap. Then Mr. Link Deas gives Helen Robinson a job, although she is not needed. In the midst of that, Mr. Ewell harasses Mrs. Robinson. <span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">On Halloween, Scout was in a play/pageant as a ham. The play/pageant was //Maycomb County: Ad Astra Per Aspera.// Atticus and Aunt Alexandra were not going to the play, so Jem took her to the play. So Jem walks Scout to the play and on their way to the play Cecil Jacobs scares them. Later, Cecil and Scout play games and spend their 30 cents. Then the play started and Scout missed her cue, because she was napping. After the play, Scout and Jem are walking home through the dark field when Jem heard footsteps and they thought it was Cecil. Scout realizes that she left her shoes and Jem tells her to wait until the next day to get them. After they realize that it wasn’t Cecil, they get scared. Then, they get attacked by a masked character. Scout falls then stands up looking for Jem but instead feels a prickly stubbly face. Then she runs into a man with a big belly. She follows this mysterious man who is carrying Jem to their house. She finds that it is Boo Radley who has saved him. After they got home they find that Mr. Ewell is dead and Jem is badly hurt. And Boo killed Bob Ewell. By standing on the Radley porch Scout was beginning to understand “You never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them.” Atticus ends the book with “most people really are nice, when you finally see them.”

__Themes__

** Good & Evil ** The theme of //To Kill a Mockingbird// is carried out through Atticus Finch. Atticus is unique throughout the novel because of his unfaltering faith in the goodness in people, even though he has experienced a lot of evil in his life. He understands that people are not just good, or not just bad. He knows that every individual has good characteristics and bad characteristics. Atticus tries to live by the philosophy that you shouldn’t judge someone until you’ve seen life from their eyes. He passes this on to Jem and Scout so they know to treat other people with sympathy and are able to have a good conscience. Atticus is able to admire people and see past their flaws. He recognizes the good in people, while also acknowledging the bad. He doesn’t let a person’s bad qualities effect the way he treats them. Scout is able to grow by looking towards Atticus for judgment and guidance. Atticus is the character that everyone admires not only because of his status in the community, but for his ability to keep his faith in the fact that there is good in everybody.

How people education, learning, and maturing throughout life is a reoccurring theme in To Kill a Mockingbird. This theme is mainly showed through Jem, Scout and Atticus’s relationships. Throughout the book you witness the maturing of the two children. Even small things like Jem being old enough to receive a gun are examples of the theme. The novel’s conclusion about education is that, the most important lessons are those of sympathy and understanding, and that a sympathetic, understanding approach is the best way to teach these lessons. Atticus’s ability to see things from his children’s perspective makes him a great teacher. On the other hand Miss Caroline’s devotion to the teaching techniques she learned in college makes her a teacher who is ineffective.

The Existence of Social Inequality  There are many social classes in Maycomb, and they are very different from each other. The well-off finches are at the top of Maycomb’s social hierarchy, most of the townspeople are beneath them. Ignorant country farmers like the Cunningham’s are beneath them, and the white trash Ewell’s are under them. Under all of these category’s come the black people. The social divisions between the adults make up so much of the reasons of things happening in this book.

__Symbols__

__Pocket watch__- a symbol of time going by, Scoot and Jem getting older. And time never stops for anyone. __Title of book “To kill a Mockingbird__”- a crime because he did no harm, and a symbol how Tom was killed because he did no harm to anyone but did only good. Was wrongly accused of rapping someone and was killed. Also the mockingbird is a symbol of a innocence. __Cocoon__- Jem feeling that he is trapped and stuck in Maycomb. Boo Radley is another example because he is trapped in his own house. __Dress__- This symbol means Scoot growing for be a lady, and learning how to act around others. __Swastika__- this is the symbols the hatred towards the blacks in there time. The same way Hitler was predejuse the Jews and persecuted them. Just like the KKK, and people of the south against the black people. __Gun__- represents fear and false strength. It both instills fear in others whenever it is pointed at them. And the person using the gun is afraid since they are hiding behind there gun. Leading to violence and hatred. __Gabel__- represent judgment, and power over someone. Whenever the judge uses the gabel everyone grows silent, and uses it to show power over the court to make them silent. Whenever it is used it is final. But it isn’t always just __Rabid dog__- symbolizing knowing something is wrong, but nothing can be done about it. Atticus tried very hard to defend Tom but due to racism from the jury there was no way to win. Atticus also had to kill the dog because it had Rabies. He didn’t feel like it was right to kill the dog, but he realized there was no choice. If he hadn’t killed the dog it would have harmed someone else. __Settings__ __Study Guide for Chapters 12-31__