introduction chapter 1 story is circular– it begins and ends with jem’s broken arm. novel...

Introduction Chapter 1

• Story is circular– It begins and ends with Jem’s broken arm.

• Novel flashes back to the events leading up to his accident.

• As the adult world encroaches on childhood throughout the novel, Dill fades from the story

• Process of growing up and developing a more mature perspective on life.

• The narrative voice goes from a child’s naive point of view and the adult voice of Scout, looking back on her childhood.

• Boo Radley becomes the focus of the children’s curiosity in Chapter 1.

• Boo’s trouble with the law and his imprisonment by his father is relayed.– Initially he is seen as a recluse with no identity

apart from the youthful superstitions.

Chapter 2-3

• Dill leaves Maycomb

• Scout starts school– Finds Ms. Caroline deals poorly with children.

• When Scout defends Walter by explaining his situation to Ms. Caroline, she is punished– She takes it out on Walter by Jem stops it and

invites Walter to have lunch

Education in Maycomb

• Scout is victimized by her teacher Ms. Caroline, an unexperienced teacher who has rigid impersonal protocols demanded by the law

• Ms. Caroline’s methods of teaching are insufficient and irrational (shows how well meaning, but rigid thinking can fail).

• Education fails to account for individual necessities of the students.

Chapters 4-6

• The children find the presents left by Boo in the knothole of the tree (chewing gum, Indian head pennies).

• The kids end up acting out the entire Radley family melodrama by the end of summer, until Atticus catches them, then they wonder if it is safe to play this game anymore.

Chapter 5

• Jem and Dill grow closer, but Scout feels left out.

• Scout spends time with Ms. Maudie who fills her in on Boo’s childhood and life with “foot-washing” Baptist who believed most people were going to Hell.

• Jem and Dill use a fishing pole to sneak a note in to Boo inviting him for icecream.

Chapter 6

• Jem and Dill try to sneak over and peek through a shutter in the Radley house, but Jem gets his pants caught in the fence and Nathan Radley comes out shooting at “a Negro” in his yard.

Chapters 4-6

• Mostly a record of childhood experiences• Serves to establish their childhood

attitudes.• Boo’s character is transformed from a

monster into a human being which allows readers to gain a sympathetic perspective on his story.

• Boo epitomizes the loss of innocence that the book dramatizes.

• Miss Maudie is established as one of the book’s strongest, most resilient female characters. She serves as a conscience for the town’s women, just as Atticus does for the men.

Chapter 7

• Jem’s mended pants are returned

• Carved soap figures are found in the knothole, then a spelling bee medal and an old pocket watch.

• The knothole was then cemented up, supposedly because the tree was dying.

Chapter 8• Maycomb has a real winter and school is

closed.• Miss Maudie’s house catches fire and

neighbors help her save her furniture. • Boo drapes a blanket over Scout’s shoulders,

but she doesn’t know it was him.• Jem tells Atticus about Boo leaving presents

in the knothole, it being cemented up and he being the one her put the blanket on Scout’s shoulders and Atticus tells him to keep it to himself.

Chapters 7-8

• Lee uses an elliptical technique to tell Boo’s story– she hints and implies at what is happening without ever showing the reader directly.

• Reader must infer- read between the lines- that it was Boo who mended the pants and left things in the tree

• Because Jem is older and more mature, his understanding of the world is more evident.

• His strong sense of justice is tested when Nathan Radley plugs up the knothole. Scout is only a little disappointed, but Jem is brought to tears because he grasps that Boo’s brother is being cruel.

• How Jem reacts to Nathan’s unjust cruelty foreshadows his reaction to Tom’s trial later on. Jem undergoes severe disillusionment as part of his “growing up”

Inferences made to Boo’s Personality

• Mending Jem’s pants – considerate

• Leaving gifts in the knothole – kind/thoughtful

• Ms. Maudie’s story about him– polite/kind

Gothic vs. Small Town life

• Both fire and snow bring out the best in people

• Fire (Gothic element), the unseasonable snow (Gothic element) and the mad dog all create a sense of foreboding leading up to the trial.

• All of the small town elements and the Gothic elements mirror the novel’s theme:

• In a world in which innocence is threatened by injustice, cruelty, prejudice and hatred, goodness can prevail in the form of sympathy, understanding, and common sense.

• This is seen in the townspeople as they affectionately help one another overcome the Gothic elements.

Chapters 9-11

• Scout questions Atticus about why he is defending “a nigger”. He tells her even though he cannot possibly hope to win, he must argue this case in order to uphold his own sense of justice and self-respect.

• Scout has to endure Francis and Aunt Alexandra over Christmas.

Chapter 10

• Atticus kills Tim Johnson, hitting him on the first shot, which amazes Scout and Jem, who have always been a bit embarrassed because Atticus is so much older than most fathers.

Chapter 11• Jem destroys the camellia bushes in front of

Mrs. Dubose’s home because she insulted his father. He is punished and made to read to Mrs. Dubose everyday.

• She dies about a month after he stops reading to her .

• Atticus then reveals to Jem that she was addicted to morphine and the reading was part of her successful effort to combat her addiction.

• Atticus gives Jem a box containing a single white camellia flower that she left for Jem.

Chapters 9-11

• The fire is an important turning point in the novel. After the fire, the drama of the trial takes over and this shift begins the gradual dramatization of the loss-of-innocence theme, as adult problems and concerns begin to disrupt the happy world of the Finch children.

• The townspeople who up until this point, have been portrayed in a positive light, suddenly turn against the Finches, as the ugly, racist underbelly of Southern life is exposed.

• Atticus’ parenting style is revealed: his focus on instilling justice, restraint, and honesty, avoiding getting into fights, and most importantly, practicing “quiet courage” are advised.

• Jem and Scout’s air rifles prompt Atticus to warn the children that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird. This, of course, being the title of the book, reflects the book’s preoccupation with injustices inflicted on innocents.

• The mad dog incident demonstrates the town’s dependence on Atticus for protection, both physically and morally.

• To Atticus true bravery has nothing to do with weapons. To him, real courage is viewed through Mrs. Dubose

• Mrs. Dubose, who serves to represent the worst that the South has to offer

• She is an unforgivable racist, cursing the kids and Atticus

• Atticus describes Ms. Dubose as possessing “real courage” which he explains as “when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what.”

• The camellia she leaves Jem symbolizes the purity that Atticus attributes to everyone.

• Jem is not yet mature enough though to see that good and evil can coexist in a person and rejects the flower given him.

Chapters 12-13

• The first glimpse into the black community is overall a positive one. Though an air of poverty hangs over the church, this adversity seems to bring the people closer together and creates a stronger sense of community.

• The devotion of the black church contrasts with the hypocrisy of the white ladies’ missionary circle Scout attends.

• Lee casts the racism in Maycomb in an extremely harsh light, just as the trial of Tom Robinson is about to start.

• Remember the theme of sympathy and understanding throughout the novel? Whites are portrayed here as unwilling to “put themselves in someone else’s shoes” which makes them appear mean-spirited and stubborn.

• The theme that involves the threat that evil and hatred pose to innocence and goodness becomes clear and shows how ignorance and unsympathetic racism complicate the trial.

Calpurnia

• She serves as the bridge between two worlds

• Readers get a sense of her double life where she is split between the Finch household and the black community.

• This is evident through her language, which shows how class distinctions and bigotry are not the only things dividing this Maycomb.

Aunt Alexandra

• Imposes her vision of social order on Scout.

• She naturally clashes with Calpurnia because of her rigid notions of class.

• Though she is narrow-minded and inflexible, she has some redeeming qualities such as her love of family

Chapters 14-15• The arrival of Aunt Alexandra embodies the

rules and customs of the adult world Scout must face eventually.

• The reappearance of Dill allows Scout to escape (for a short time) the encroaching adult world.

• The growing gulf between Scout and Jem is emphasized through his urging her to act more like a girl and his breaking the final code of childhood by telling on Dill.

• Dill’s account of his family trouble reminds us just how fortunate the Finch household is.

• The now mature Jem leads Scout and Dill into town the night Atticus faces the lynch mob. SYMBOLICALLY, THIS SCENE MARKS JEM’S TRANSITION FROM BOY TO MAN AS HE STANDS BESIDE ATTICUS AND REFUSES TO “GO HOME” SINCE ONLY A CHILD WOULD DO SO.

• Scout remains convinced of other people’s essential goodness and rather than marking them as inherently evil, she shows how the mob members racism shrouds their humanity, and essentially, their goodness.

• Scout’s attempt at conversing with Mr. Cunningham proves that, “a gang of wild animals can be stopped, simply because they’re still human.”

Chapter 16-17

• Though the trial targets Tom Robinson, it is essentially the town that is on trial.

• While Atticus eventually loses the court case, he succeeds in revealing the injustices of a society that allows the word of a despicable, ignorant man like Bob Ewell to prevail without question.

• It is fitting that the children sit with the Black community and Miss Maudie doesn’t attend the trial. All of them lack the racism that is so prevalent in the white courtroom crowd.

• There is no real suspense in the trial, the verdict is a forgone conclusion. Lee creates suspense in this scene though through Atticus’ slow dismantling of the prosecution’s case.

• Jem doesn’t understand why his father’s brilliant effort are in vain b/c he still has youthful illusions about life.

How was Tom Proven Innocent?

• Bob Ewell is shown to be left-handed and Mayella’s bruises are concentrated on the right side of her face.

• Tom Robinson’s hand was useless b/c it had been caught in a cotton gin.

Bob Ewell

• Bob epitomizes its darker and less respectable side, dominated by thoughtless prejudice, squalor, and meanness.

• He is arrogant, lazy, abusive fool laughed at by his fellow townsfolk.

• Yet, in the racist world of Maycomb, even he has the power to destroy an innocent man– this is probably the most tragic example of the threat posed by ignorance to innocence.

Mayella Ewell

• Reveals her life consists of seven unhelpful siblings, a drunken father, and no friends.

• The only orderly corner of the yard is planted with well-tended geraniums rumored to belong to Mayella.

• Why did Tom feel sorry for her? (Remember: In Maycomb, blacks aren’t supposed to feel sorry for a white)

• Her miserable existence almost allows her to be seen as an innocent victim

WHY???? She is injured beyond repair by the forces of

ugliness, poverty, and hatred around her.Her father beats her and possibly

molests her, has unhelpful siblings to care for, has lacked kind treatment by others and Scout sees her as, “the loneliest person in the world.”

BUT…..

• No matter what her sufferings, she inflicts a worse cruelty on Tom Robinson and his family.

SO WHO SHOULD YOU PITY?

TOM ROBINSON

Hardworking and honest and has enough compassion of make the fatal mistake of feeling sorry for Mayella Ewell.

Judge Taylor

• Expels Link Deas because his interjection during the proceedings threatened the integrity of the formal manner in which court proceedings are run;

• The irony of course, lies in the blatant prejudice of the jury does so as well, but he does nothing to alleviate this prejudice.

• Did try to help by appointing Atticus to defend Tom Robinson

Mr. Dolphus Raymond

• Pretends to be a drunk to provide the other white people with an explanation for his lifestyle, when he simply prefers black people to white.

• He is another innocent destroyed by hatred and prejudice; a moral and conscientious man, but unhappy and cynical after witnessing too much evil in the world.

• Raymond never explains why he prefers blacks just as the white community never explains why it hates blacks– it just does.

• He does not attend the trial just like Miss Maudie because they do not share the guilt like the other whites in the community.

During the Trial Atticus….

• Speaks to the jury with confidence and hope, urging them to find confidence and dignity within themselves.

• Understands that goodness/evil coexist in people; that people are capable of great goodness and great evil, which is the key to his own moral strength.

After the trial…

• Even after the verdict has been handed down, there is a sense that progress has been made as Miss Maudie puts it, the town has taken “a step– it’s just a baby-step, but it’s a step”.

WHY?

Because one man on the jury wanted to aquit. WHO? A Cunningham.

The Missionary Ladies

• After they first discuss