To+Kill+a+Mockingbird



To Kill a Mockingbird

Author: Harper Lee Publisher J. B. Lippincott & Co. Publication date July 11, 1960


 * Bad language is a stage all children go through, and it dies with time when they learn they're not attracting attention with it.... **

To Kill a Mockingbird is Harper Lee’s classic tale of community and equality. It was written in 1960, and is a controversial book, because of some of the words used in the book. Jem and Scout Finch are children that think of their town as boring and lonely, except for the Radley home which they ride by daily to get to school. Jem tells stories of horrific things that supposedly happened at the Radley house, and they all think that it is haunted. They ride by and find things in the tree in front of the Radley house. Their father, Atticus Finch is a lawyer, and it a very quiet, kind man. As the story unwinds, Atticus, a white man ends up having to defend a black man that supposedly raped another woman. The man accused of rape, Tom Robinson is clearly not guilty, but you will have to read to find out the verdict. The story goes on and you will see who survives, dies, and who is guilty of the crimes that Tom Robinson is accused of.

Characters

 * Atticus Finch -A lawyer in Maycomb County.
 * Calpurnia -The black housekeeper for the Finch family.
 * Jeremy “Jem” Atticus Finch -The son of Atticus. Scout's brother.
 * Jean Louise “Scout” Finch -The daughter of Atticus, and the narrator of the story. Jem's sister.
 * Charles “Dill” Baker Harris-A summer neighbor of the Finch children.
 * Arthur “Boo” Radley -A mysterious neighbor of the Finch family.
 * Miss Maudie Atkinson -A widowed neighbor of the Finches and a confidant to Scout.
 * Heck Tate -Maycomb County sheriff
 * Aunt Alexandra -The sister of Atticus.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Bob Ewell -Cocky, drunken, and dirty. Mayella's father.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Mayella Ewell -One of Bob's many children. The supposed rape victim.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Theme in “To Kill a Mockingbird”

 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The coexistence of good and evil- this theme is by far the most important theme within the book. It examines if people are essentially good or evil.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The importance of moral education- The children’s education plays a big role in the novel.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The existence of social inequality- social inequality is discussed greatly throughout the book in the Maycomb trials. The children are bewildered constantly throughout the story about how unfair the justice system is to people of different race.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Symbols

 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Mockingbirds- represents the idea of innocence
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Boo Radley- represents the children’s development from innocence to the grown-up moral perspective.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: center;">About the Author
<span style="display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: center;">Harper Lee

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Harper Lee was born by the name Nelle Harper Lee on April 28, 1926, in Monroeville, Alabama. Lee Harper is best known for writing the Pulitzer Prize-winning best-seller To Kill a Mockingbird which happened to be her one and only novel. Harper Lee was the youngest of four children, she grew up as a tomboy in a small town. Her father was a lawyer, a member of the Alabama state legislature, and also owned part of the local newspaper. For most of Lee’s life, her mother suffered from mental illness forcing her to be able to rarely leave the house. It is believed that she may have had bipolar disorder.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">In high school, Lee developed an interest in English literature. After graduating High School in 1944, she went to the all-female Huntingdon College in Montgomery where she stood apart from the other students. Lee didn’t care about fashion, makeup, or dating. Instead, she focused on her studies and on her writing. Lee was a member of the literary honor society and the glee club. Eventually, Lee transferred to the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa where she known for being a loner and an individualist. Her junior year, Lee was accepted into the university’s law school, which allowed students to work on law degrees while still undergraduates. The demands of her law studies forced her to leave her post as editor of the Rammer Jammer. After her first year in the law program, Lee began expressing to her family that writing—not the law—was her true calling and passion. She went to Oxford University in England that summer as an exchange student. Returning to her law studies that fall, Lee dropped out after the first semester. She soon moved to New York City to follow her dreams to become a writer.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: center;">Awards
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Despite "To Kill a Mockingbird" being Harper Lee's only published book, it led to Lee being awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom of the United States for her contribution to literature in 2007. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">President George W. Bush awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom to author Harper Lee during a ceremony Monday, Nov. 5, 2007, in the East Room. “To Kill a Mockingbird has influenced the character of our country for the better. It’s been a gift to the entire world. As a model of good writing and humane sensibility, this book will be read and studied forever,” said the President about Harper Lee’s work. White House photo by Eric Draper. [|link]

<span style="display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: center;"> Multimedia
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Below the movie, "To Kill a Mockingbird"

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">media type="youtube" key="chF28P_apfw" height="390" width="480"

<span style="display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: center;">Teacher Resources
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 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Prepare a mock courtroom in your classroom to display what a courtroom looks like and how a courtroom would be ran. Have students pretend to be a judge, jury, attorney, and defendant. The students that are left could be the audience that would exist while this case is happening. Pretend this case is actually happening in your classroom.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">There is a movie that was made in 1962 of “To Kill a Mockingbird” that would be a great tool to show after the book has been completed.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[|Link]- This website gives teachers questions to ask while reading the story in class.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Have the students think about what it would be like to spend a day in someone else’s shoes just like what Atticus explains to Scout. Give each student a different scenario to write about. Examples could be a girl living in New York City or a homeless person. Have then write a couple pages on what a typical day in the life of this person would be.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: center;">Additional Resources
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[|Harper Lee] - Biography on Author <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> [|Student Survival Guide] - A website to help interpret the novel from Nancy Louise Rutherford. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> [|Sparknotes for T.K.A.M.] <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> [|American Civil War] <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> [|The Scottsboro Trials Martin Luther King Jr.] - Nobel Peace Prize 1964 <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> [|Martin Luther King Jr.] - Biography on MLK Jr. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> [|The Jim Crow Laws]- Black Segregation <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> [|Black History (History.com)] <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> [|Civil Rights Timeline (History.com)] <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> [|American Civil Rights Act (1964)] <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> [|The Great Depression in Canada] <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> [|Photos of the Great Depression] <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> [|The Miniature Earth Project] - The way the world would look if. ..

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Created by: Kelli Deters, Jenny Chase, Shelby Hutt, Michelle Ponce