1. To Kill a Mockingbird Themes
By Harper Lee

2. Preview of the Novel The setting The characters Conflicts Prejudice
The Great Depression
The characters
Conflicts
Prejudice
Social Hierarchy

3. The Great Depression

4. 1930’s - Great Depression began when the stock market crashed in October, 1929
Businesses 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, were forced to “live off the land.”

5. Bank Failures

6. Prejudice in Maycomb County, Alabama, 1930’s
“Now gentlemen, in this country our courts are the great levelers, and in our courts all men are created equal. I'm no idealist to believe firmly in the integrity of our courts and of our jury system. That's no ideal to me. That is a living, working reality.”
-Atticus to the jury

7. “You never really know a man until you crawl into his skin and walk around for awhile.”--Atticus Finch
Atticus Finch
Jeremy (Jem) Finch
Jean Louise (Scout)
Charles Baker Harris (Dill)
Aunt Alexandra
Boo Radley
Tom Robinson
Robert E. Lee Ewell
Mayella Ewell
Calpurnia

8. The Narrator Jean Louise Finch (Scout) Tomboy
Narrator switches perspectives from a six year-old girl to one with the wisdom of an adult looking back.

9. “Scout, yer starting to act like a girl!”
Gender bias
Racial prejudice
Economic prejudice
Social Hierarchy
Religious Prejudice

10. Social Hierarchy in Maycomb 1933
Aristocrats - White upper class
White middle class
White lower class
White trash
Negroes

11. Aristocrats -White upper class
Educated
Legitimate claim to “Old South” plantation families.
Wealth
Aunt Alexandra

12. White middle Class White Lower Class White Some education
Property owners
Miss Maudie
White Lower Class
White
Little or no education
Sharecroppers/ Farmers
Walter Cunningham

13. Poor White Trash Refuse education Often alcoholic
Few or no work skills
No work ethic
Same opportunities as other white classes

14. Negroes Lowest on the social hierarchy Education prohibited
Placed here only because of race

15. Race Gender Handicaps Rich/Poor Age Religion
Prejudice in the novel
Race
Gender
Handicaps
Rich/Poor
Age
Religion

16. Courage -It’s not a man with a gun in his hand.
“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.”
-Atticus Finch

17. Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose “She was the meanest lady I ever met.” Jem
Supposedly holds a Confederate pistol under her shawl.
Yells insults and false accusations at the children walking by her house.
Ignites Jem’s slow-burning fuse by insulting his dead mother.

18. Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose “She was the bravest person I ever knew
Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose “She was the bravest person I ever knew.” Atticus
She was sick for a long time…probably cancer.
Pain-ridden -Took morphine for years prescribed by a doctor, acceptable use.
Morphine affected her disposition, made her more “contrary”(mean) than normal.
Wanted to rid herself of her addiction before dying. The reading time prolonged her “fits.”
Died with pain, but overcame morphine addiction

19. “If you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view—until you crawl into his skin and walk around in it.”