To Kill a Mockingbird

Section One: Harper Lee's whakapapa

Harper Lee is an American author who lived from April 28, 1926 until February 19, 2016. Her most famous novel is To Kill a Mockingbird which details the experiences of a white lawyer defending a black man wrongly accused of rape. The story is told through the lawyer's daughter's eyes. It is important to understand who Harper Lee was in order to understand her writing.

Pick at LEAST THREE of these sources and be able to write about what motivated Harper Lee to write her stories.

Section Two: Important Context for Harper Lee

Racial divide has long been a prominent part of the United States of America. To Kill a Mockingbird explores life in America in 1929. It is a time of poverty and extreme racism. African Americans are free but they live under the heavy weight of extreme racism. Read the following links and find out more about the context in which Harper Lee writes as this will help you understand her writing better.

Section Three: Close reading To Kill a Mockingbird

Read To Kill a Mockingbird for the first time. As you do, complete this task:

1. Character map - on a piece A3, write down each of the characters as you come across them. Draw arrows between the characters to denote their relationships and add in adjectives that describe each character and at least one quote for each characters.

After completing your first reading of To Kill a Mockingbird, complete these tasks to set you up for a close analysis.

1. Audience positioning. Write down five words that describe how you feel after reading this book. For example, sad, happy. These adjectives will become your tools for discussing the impact on the audience. So always keep them in front of you.

2. Figure out of the theme. What's this story about? To do this, work through these questions:

   1. Who's the main protagonist?

   2. What challenges do they face?

   3. How do they face these challenges?

   4. How do they change over the course of the narrative?

   5. What main ideas are thrown up by the adventures of the protagonist and what do you learn about these ideas?

3. Some big questions to consider about To Kill a Mockingbird (Source: ThoughtCo.)

• Since the era of enslavement, race relations in America have been largely defined and played out in the field of criminal justice. Take a look at the alleged crime and trial in the novel: What are the dramatic elements that make it compelling? Why is it such an effective narrative? Does it still resonate today?

• One of the book's greatest themes is compassion. Atticus tells the children several times that before judging others, they must "walk in their shoes." What does that mean and is it really possible?

• Discuss moments in the book when Atticus, Scout, or Jem attempt to metaphorically "walk in someone else's shoes." How does it change how they view the situations or people at hand?

• Talk about Mrs. Merriweather and the group of missionary women. What do they represent in the book and in the life of the town? What do you think about their attitude toward the Mrunas? Do they represent so-called Christian values? How do they represent the concept of compassion and "walking in someone's shoes?"

• Discuss the role that compassion plays in social justice and morality. Is compassion just a theoretical construct? How does it shape the story?

• How do you think Atticus manages his role as a single parent? What does his defense of Tom Robinson say about him as a man and about his parenting, if anything?

• What do you think of Aunt Alexandra? Did your opinion of her change during the book? Discuss her concerns with Atticus' parenting: was she justified?

• Talk about the racial attitudes of the town as revealed through the side characters: Why does Calpurnia speak differently around other Black people? Why does Mr. Raymond pretend he is drunk to help people cope with his mixed marriage?

• Discuss the Ewells and the role of lying and dishonesty in the story. What impact can that have on someone's life and on society as a whole? Conversely, what is the role of honesty and "standing up" both in the novel and in life?

• "To Kill a Mockingbird" is a literary representation of people dealing with all sorts of judgments and differences. Aptly, at one point Jem describes four kinds of people in Maycomb County: "Our kind of folks don't like the Cunninghams, the Cunninghams don't like the Ewells, and the Ewells hate and despise the colored folks." Is "otherness" rooted in people? How does our society deal with those differences today?

• A side plot to the trial centers around the recluse-outcast Boo Radley and his place in Jem and Scout's imagination and views. Why do they fear Boo? How do their views change and why? Why does Jem cry when the hole in the tree is filled with cement?

• At the end of the book, Scout says that telling people Boo Radley committed the murder would have been "sort of like shootin' a mockingbird." What does that mean? What does Boo represent in the book?

• How does the trial affect the town? How did it change Jem and Scout? Did it change you?

• In the last few lines of "To Kill a Mockingbird," Atticus tells Scout that most people are nice "when you finally see them." What does he mean? Do you agree that most people in the novel are nice after they're "seen"? What about people in general?

• Do you know people who are like Mr. Cunnigham, or like Mr. Ewell, or like Atticus? Which character are you?

4. Think about which chapter you remember best. It is now time to reread this chapter, thinking about these things as you go:

• 1. What is the title of the chapter?

  2. Who is the main protagonist of this chapter? What are they doing, thinking about, reacting to?

  3. Identify TEN main quotes from this chapter - note these and justify why you have chosen each one.

  4. Identify language features that the author employs in this chapter and explain why you think she used it.

Resources to help you analyse the story

Section Four: Some other takes on To Kill a Mockingbird - stretching your thinking

It's important to stretch your thinking on your book by reading some other people's interpretations of it. Have a read of these reviews and interpretations and then complete these questions:

• What do your reviews say about your text?

• What do the reviews say about the theme and characters?

• What do the reviews say about why the book was written?

• What questions do you start to think about as you read these reviews?

Guardian Review of To Kill a Mockingbird

9 reasons to read To Kill a Mockingbird

Why are we still 'teaching' To Kill a Mockingbird

Why To Kill a Mockingbird should be required reading, not banned

The impact of To Kill a Mockingbird

Section Five: Research

Below are the Level Two and Three research options. Work with your teacher to ensure that you are on the right pathway.

Level Two Research

Level Two research asks you to pull an issue out of your text and learn more about it so that it increases your understanding of your text. Click this link to find out what you need to do.

Level Three Unit Standard Written Texts Research

Level Three Unit Standard research asks you to use articles and book reviews to learn more about the author and what they are writing about so that it increases your understanding of your text. Click this link to find out what you need to do.

Level Three Achievement Standard Critical Texts Research

We are now going to stretch our thinking of the text by engaging in critical text research. What this means is that we read how experts have interpreted, understood and thought about the text so that we can understand better ourselves. Below are some critical texts that relate to this text and to understand what the research project is asking you to do (as well as how to do it), click here.

The following are critical texts that relate to Tu. Some will have a direct link, naming the novel directly, and others will be linked by the insight they provide about the background or motivation of the author to write her story.

In no way should you read all of these, cover to cover. You need to be more strategic; look at the titles, read the contents page to pick which sections of the book are best to read, skim and scan to identify sections of chapters that you need to read closely and take notes from - look for keywords from your questions, use subheadings to identify relevant sections.

Not all of these critical texts will answer your questions; so look for the ones that do. Pick three to four to read and take notes from.

Also, if you find that you aren't answering one of your questions, and/or your reading is taking you in a new and unexpected direction, simply change your questions and hypothesis in line with what you are reading - this is what research is; learning and changing what you think as you learn more.

• Macaluso, Michael. (2017). Teaching To Kill a Mockingbird Today: Coming to terms with race, racism, and America's Novel

• Stiltner, MitziAnn. (2002). Don't put your shoes on the bed: A moral analysis of To Kill a Mockingbird.

• Khokhar, Muhammad Ibrahim & Mashori, Dr Ghulam Mustafa. (2018). MARXIST ANALYSIS OF TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD ACCORDING TO PETER BARRY

• Winari, Bekti. (2013). AFFECTION AND PREJUDICE IN TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD NOVEL BY HARPER LEE (1960): A PSYCHOANALYTIC APPROACH