1. To Kill a Mockingbird
By Harper Lee

2. Did you know?
Harper Lee is a woman and TKAM is loosely based upon her childhood.
Harper Lee is actually a descendant of Confederate general Robert E. Lee
“Dill” Capote- (Scout’s childhood friend) is based on Harper Lee’s real-life childhood friend, Truman Capote. Capote wrote the bestselling true-crime book In Cold Blood.

3. Reading the Novel Setting is all important –be aware of the
“where” and “when” as you begin
Small town, southern life
Point of View – the novel is shaped by the voice of a young girl who sees the story from a position of naïve acceptance, a coming of age novel
Themes
Good, Evil, and Human Dignity
Prejudice
Growing Up- Coming of Age

4. SETTING OF THE NOVEL Fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama 1930’s
Great Depression
Scottsboro Trials
Prejudice
legal segregation
Ignorance

5. 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.”

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

7. Racial prejudice was alive & well
Racial prejudice was alive & well. Although slavery had ended in 1864,old ideas were slow to change.
Segregation, the separation of people based on race, was still accepted, especially in the South.

8. “White trash” Poor, uneducated white people who lived on “relief ”
lowest social class, even below the poor blacks
prejudiced against black people
felt the need to “put down” blacks in order to elevate themselves

9. Related Historical Event
The Scottsboro Trials
1931, nine black teenage boys were accused of rape by two white girls
Trial lasted 6 years with numerous retrials, reversals and convictions
Despite the fact that one girl retracted her accusation, five of the nine boys were convicted of rape

10. Questions to consider
Why did Harper Lee title the book To Kill a Mockingbird?
How does the Great Depression dictate the actions of Scout and the other townspeople of Maycomb?
Being different in TKAM comes in many shapes, sizes, and colors. As a result, prejudice rears its ugly head. What examples of prejudice are evident in TKAM?