Tkam part one review

To Killa Mockingbird - PART 1

Chapters 1 – 11 Test Review

by Harper Lee

AUTHOR: Harper Lee• Born April 28th, 1926 in Monroeville, Alabama

• To Kill a Mockingbird (Lee’s only published novel) was published in 1960

• Youngest of four children

• Won a Pulitzer Prize in 1961, Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2007 (Highest civilian award in U.S.)

•Over 30 million copies, 40 different languages, 80 weeks on the best seller list

SETTING

Maycomb, Alabama

• 1930’s

• Great Depression • Prejudice and legal segregation

POINT OF VIEW

• 1st Person• Story told by Scout

• Coming-of-age story

• Harper Lee is a woman and Scout represents her as a child; although the story is not strictly autobiographical

Social class in the Novel

•This is probably similar to how class structure existed during the 1930’ s in the South.

• The wealthy, although fewest in number, were most powerful.

•The Black Community, although great in number, were lowest on the class ladder, and thus, had the least privileges

Examples of each social class:

Wealthy – Finches

Country Folk – Cunninghams

“White Trash” – Ewells

Black Community – Tom

Robinson

MAIN CHARACTERS• Scout (Jean Louise Finch) – six-year-old narrator of story

• Jem (Jeremy Finch) – her older brother • Atticus Finch – Jem and Scout’s father, a prominent lawyer

• Arthur (Boo) Radley – a thirty-three-year-old recluse who lives next door

• Charles Baker (Dill) Harris – Jem and Scout’s friend who comes to visit his aunt in Maycomb each summer

• Tom Robinson – a respectable black man

• Calpurnia – the Finches’ black cook

TKAM Characters – Family Tree Atticus Finch –

Father, lawyer, widower

Jean Louise “Scout” Finch - 

The narrator and protagonist of the story

Jem Finch Scout’s brother

& playmate

Arthur “Boo” Radley

A recluse whose whereabouts are unknown. Boo dominates the imaginations of Jem,

Scout, and Dill

Bob Ewell -  A drunken, mostly unemployed member of Maycomb’s poorest family

Charles Baker Harris “Dill” -  Jem and Scout’s summer

neighbour and friend

Maudie Atkinson - The Finches’ neighbour, a sharp- tongued widow, & old friend of the family

Calpurnia -  The Finch’s African American cook / maid

Aunt Alexandra -  Atticus’s sister, a strong- willed woman with a fierce devotion to her family

Mayella Ewell -  Bob Ewell’s abused,

lonely, unhappy daughter

Tom Robinson - African American field hand

accused of rape

Heck Tate -  The sheriff of Maycomb and a major witness at

Tom Robinson’s trial

Nathan Radley  Boo Radley’s older brother. Nathan cruelly cuts off an important element of Boo’s connection with Jem and Scout

Mrs. Dubose An elderly, ill-tempered ,racist neighbor

Dolphus Raymond has a black mistress & children. Pretends to be a drunk so to

explain his behavior

“ Mr. Underwood Publisher of Maycomb’s newspaper.

The Cunninghams - A poor farmer and his son Walter who is one of Scout’s classmates.

Link Deas - Tom Robinson’s employer.

Chapter one Introduction to Maycomb, Boo Radley Jem Scout and all 1. Why is Boo Radley imprisoned by his father?2. List all of the people that live on Atticus, Jem & Scout’s street.3. What do we learn about Atticus’ family in the first chapter?4. What is Dill’s big plan?5. What does Dill dare Jem to do? Chapter two Scout goes to school 6. What sort of relationship do Scout and Miss Caroline have? Come up

with 3 adjectives , and give supporting evidence for each.7. What do we learn about the Cunningham family this chapter?8. How does this fit with the wider setting of the Novel?9. What attributes do the Cunninghams display?

Chapter 3 Walter Cunningham comes home from school for lunch 1. What do we learn about Atticus’ character?2. What distinction is made between the Cunninghams,

and the Ewells?3. What does Atticus mean by… [complete the quote then

comment on it]

‘if you can learn a simple _______, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really _____________ a person until you __________ things from his point of view – ’’Sir?’’ – until you _______ into his ______ and walk around in it.’

Chapter 4 Jem and Scout find things in the tree and play ‘Boo Radley’. Scout rolls into the Radley house in a tyre. 1. What is the first thing Scout finds in

the live Oaks by the Radley place?2. What is the new game that Dill and Jem start playing? 3. What does Scout hear after her tyre hits the Radley house? Chapter 5 Jem, Dill and Scout try to make Boo come out, using a fishing line 4. Describe the relationship that Miss Maudie Atkinson has

with Jem and Scout. Find some evidence for you thoughts. 5. How do Jem and Dill try to lure Boo Radley out?6. What advice does Atticus give to

Jem and Scout concerning Boo Radley?

Chapter 6 Jem, Dill and Scout creep into the Radley yard at night and get shot at. Jem goes back for his pants. • Why do Jem, Dill and Scout go to the

Radley house in the middle of the night? • What does Nathan Radley do to scare Jem,

Scout and Dill away from the Radley place?• Why does Jem return to the Radley place that same night? Chapter 7 Nathan Radley plugs the hole in the tree, after Scout and Jem get more stuff from it.

• What further information does Jem tell Scout about the night they were scared off from the Radley house?

• List three other things that Jem and Scout find in the tree outside the Radley’s house

• What reason does Nathan Radley give for plugging the hole in the tree with cement?

Chapter 8 Snow in Maycomb. Miss Maudie Atkinson’s house burns down. • Whose house is on fire?• Where do Jem and Scout stand to watch the fire? • Who gives Scout a blanket to keep warm?

• Chapter 9 Scout taunted by Cecil, but walks away. Christmas: uncle Jack comes to stay, they go to Finch’s Landing for Christmas.

• Why does Scout fight Cecil Jacobs? • Which case do we hear about for the first time?• What provokes Scout to fight her cousin Francis? • Why is Scout upset with her Uncle Jack? • Re-read the conversation between Uncle Jack and Atticus on Pg 93.

What does this add about living with integrity?  Pg 92 “‘Uncle Jack, please promise me ________’, please sir. ______ you won’t tell Atticus about this. He – he _______ me one time not to let anything I heard about him make me ____, an’ I’d _______ him think we were _______’ about _________’ else instead. Please promise…’” 

Chapter 10 Atticus shoots Tim Johnson• What present does Atticus give to Jem and Scout? • Who is Tim Johnson?• Why does Heck Tate (the policeman) make Atticus shoot Tim

Johnson? • What nickname did Atticus have? This novel is about integrity. Find and complete the following quote. It comes from page 104 (or if your book is different to mine, the last page or two of chapter 10) “‘If your father’s anything, he’s ________ in his heart. _________________ a gift of God, a talent…. I think maybe he put his ____ down when he __________ that God had given him an unfair ____________ over most living things.’’People in their ______ ________ never take ________ in their talents,’ said Miss Maudie.”  • Look at the quote above. In your opinion, what does it say

about living with integrity?

Chapter 11 Jem reads to Mrs Dubose. What is Jem and Scout’s opinion of Mrs Henry Lafayette Dubose? What did Mrs Dubose say to really upset Jem? How does Jem get revenge on Mrs Dubose?What is Jem’s punishment for his revenge on Mrs Dubose? What is revealed about Mrs. Dubose at the end of the chapter?  Atticus ‘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.’ ‘…before I live with other folks I’ve got to live with myself. The one think that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a man’s conscience.’ Pg 111

‘ – I wanted you to see what real courage is…. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.’ Pg 118

1930’s – Great DepressionBegan when the stock market

crashed in October 1929Businesses failed, factories closed

People were out of work Even people with money

suffered because nothing was being produced for sale

Poor people lost their homes and were forced to “live off the land.”

Racial prejudice was alive and well. Although slavery had ended in 1864 , old ideas were slow

to change.

Gender Bias (Prejudice)

•Women were considered “weak”

•Women were generally not educated for occupations outside the home

•In wealthy families, women were expected to oversee the servants and entertain guests

•Men not considered capable of nurturing children

Legal Issues of the 1930’s that impact the story

•Women given the vote in 1920

•Juries were MALE and WHITE

•“ Fair trial” did not include acceptance of a black man’s word against a white man’s

To Kill a Mockingbird

SOCIAL ACCEPTANCE AS A THEME

Social acceptance in Maycomb during the Great Depression

• Families prestige is based on how long the family has lived in Maycomb.

• Black people are in the lower class.• Drunks are in the lower class.• Prejudice, racism, and discrimination are sociably accepted.• Girls are to be ladies and boys are to be gentlemen.• Kids go through phases, including swearing and fighting.• Politeness and being social are necessities.• Generally black people worked as servants and laborers.• Children respect their elders.• Kids don’t need to wear shoes.• Girls should wear dresses and boys should wear pants.• Murder and Rape trials are not fit for ladies to hear.

To Kill a Mockingbird

PREJUDICE AS A THEME

To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in the South during the 1930’s. In those years, many Southern states still followed a policy of racial segregation.

True or false?

• Black people during the 1930’s could not speak to white people on the street.

– TRUE: Although there was no law stating this; it was not socially accepted. White people would often walk right passed as if not seeing anyone.

True or false?

• Blacks and whites attended separate schools during the Great Depression.– TRUE: School segregation wasn’t legally abolished

until 1954 with the Supreme Court’s decision that schools could no longer be segregated in Brown v. Board of Education.

True or false?

• Blacks and whites lived in separate parts of town.

– TRUE: Although in the novel Calpurnia spends the night at the Finches to help out, the Finches had no black neighbors in the part of Maycomb that they resided. Blacks lived on the outskirts of town.

True of false?

• Even though segregation was practiced, it was never considered legal by the courts.

– FALSE: Jim Crowe laws were state and local laws in the United States enacted between 1876 and 1965 that mandated segregation in all public facilities, with a supposedly "separate but equal" status for black Americans. The reality was that Jim Crowe laws led to treatment and accommodations that were usually inferior to those provided for white Americans.

True or false?

• Segregation was a matter of wealth. Well-to-do blacks enjoyed the same legal rights and privileges as well-to-do whites.

– FALSE: Socially the poorest white person still had a higher social status than the wealthiest black person. In Maycomb, Mr. Ewell, the town drunk, has a higher social status than Tom Robinson.