To Kill A Mockingbird

To Kill A Mockingbird ∙ historical content ∙ ∙ the author ∙ ∙ the novel ∙ ∙ themes ∙

∙ historical content ∙ • The Great Depression • five factors: • the Stock Market Crash of 1929 paralyzed the nation’s economy • Farmers had not shared in the prosperity of the 1920s (economic boom after WWI) • In the workplace (industries), rising wages for workers during the 1920s were rooted in increasing efficiency. Industrial production increased faster than industrial employment; profits increased even faster. Fewer workers were needed to produce more goods. • Increase in consumer debt (installment plans) • Interconnection of the U.S. and European economies (U.S. began to lend money to other countries)

∙ historical content ∙ • The Jim Crow Laws • the 13th Amendment (1865) abolished slavery • the 14th Amendment (1868) African-Americans granted citizenship and guaranteed Civil Rights • 1880s the era of Jim Crow through the Civil Rights Movement (1955) • laws provided a systematic legal basis for segregating and discriminating against African-Americans, creating an American caste system based on race • legalized racial segregation in every facet of life – from education to public facilities to religion • African-Americans who violated the Jim Crow laws risked their lives and the lives of their family (lynching) • Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896 • the most influential decision supporting Jim Crow Laws, the U.S. Supreme Court upheald the “separate but equal” philosophy (this made segregation legal)

∙ historical content ∙ • Education in the 1930s • the goals and ideals of education in the 1930s were in sharp conflict with the economic bottom line • enormous class and racially based barriers to educational success • Scottsboro Boys Trial • no crime in American history – let alone a crime that never occurred – produced as many trials, convictions, reversals, and retrials as did the alleged gang rape of two white girls by nine black teenagers on a Southern Railroad freight run on March 25, 1931. • over two decades (1951) that followed, the struggle for justice of the “Scottsboro Boys,” as the black teens were called, made celebrities out of anonymities, launched and ended careers, wasted lives, produced heroes, opened southern juries to blacks, exacerbated sectional strife, and divided America’s political left.

∙ the author ∙ HarperLee

∙ the author ∙ • descendant of Robert E. Lee • born in Monroeville, Alabama, on April 28, 1926 • began writing at the age of seven • drew upon her own childhood experiences as the daughter of a lawyer in Alabama • together with her brother and childhood friend, Truman Capote, Lee enjoyed many of the small-town adventures depicted in the novel; however, the novel is NOT autobiographical • wrote To Kill a Mockingbird in 1957 • her only novel and it won the 1961 Pulitzer Prize for fiction

∙ the novel ∙ • about two children growing up in the South during the Great Depression • a Southern lawyer who, in the face of murderous threats and impossible odds, stands up for what he believes is rights and tries to show those around him a better way • focuses on the people, attitudes, and laws of the South during the 1930s • told from Scout’s POVas she reflects on her childhood • has been translated into ten languages and has been adapted into a movie

∙ the novel ∙ • the language • Scout’s language will be that of her as a child; other times, she will be speaking in the voice of an adult • Atticus uses formal speech • Calpurnia uses “white language” in the Finch house and switches to “black jargon” when amidst African-Americans • The Ewells use foul words and obscenities • Jem, Scout, and Dill will use slang words, typical of their age • Tom Robinson uses language typical of the southern African-American (ie “suh” for “sir” and “chillun” for “children” • Lee uses derogatory terms for African-Americans in her novel to keep in sync with the common language of the time

∙ themes ∙ • racism/prejudice • preconceived notions (stereotypes) • treatment of others due to ignorance • justice/injustice (the Court System) • empathy/compassion • parent/child relationships • hypocrisy • trials (“personal trials”) • courage • coming of age/loss of innocence • education

To Kill A Mockingbird