TO KILL A

MOCKINGBIRD
By Harper Lee
Bush presents Harper Lee with the
nation's highest civilian award
 • Lee, the author of the beloved
novel "To Kill a Mockingbird," was
honored for her contribution to
American literature. The book, one of
the 20th century's best-selling
novels, gives a child's view of racial
injustice in a rural, Depression-era
Southern town, much like her
hometown of Monroeville.
 CHAPTER 1
 Narration – 1st person Narrator, told through the eyes
of Jean Louise Finch, “Scout”
 Narrative Parts – narrator is an adult Scout

 Dialogue – spoken as Scout, the child in the story

 Contrast of Dill’s family situation and Scout and Jem’s

 Jem and Scout have been motherless since Scout

was two/ Scout has no recollection of her mother

and does not feel her absence/Jem does have
periods when he misses her
 Dill is also without a mother and father by reason
of divorce/he has been shifted between
relatives/Dill has the skill of imagination and
fabrication because of his unstable home life
 Jem and Scout have Atticus and Calpurnia to

provide a stable home life for them

 CHAPTER 2
 Satire of Education
 Miss Caroline’s displeasure w/ Scout’s
skills in reading and writing satirizes
schools’ preoccupation w/ structure and
sequence
 Story about the cunning little kittens
reveals the tendency to impose
standards of one’s own experience
instead of identifying and relating to the
learner’s situation
 CHAPTER 3
 Contrast of Buris Ewell and other kids
 Physical Description – Miss Caroline’s reaction
to his body lice/ that he is the dirtiest person
Scout has ever seen/ implies that the other
children are much cleaner/ lays the foundation
for the Ewell family later in the book

 Atticus’ advice to Scout

 “You never really understand a person until
you consider things from his point of view –
until you climb into his skin and walk around in
it.”
 Shows need for compassion and empathy/she

must learn to consider other people’s points of

view
 CHAPTER 4
 The Boo Radley Game
 Children can be imaginative, but they can
also be unintentionally cruel
 Scout wants to quit the game because
Atticus doesn’t approve and she heard
laughter coming from the Radley house
when she was rolled into the yard in the tire
 Oak Tree knothole – Jem and Scout find
gum and Indian head pennies
 CHAPTER 5
 Miss Maudie Atkinson’s Function
 Characterize others through her
comments to Scout

 Has a positive effect on Scout

 Helps to shape Scout’s understanding

and character
 CHAPTER 6
 Jem, Dill, and Scout attempt to peek into the
window to get a look at Boo
 They were apparently discovered, so they
bolt.
 Jem gets his pants caught and has to take
them off to get away.
 Jem returns to get his pants because he know
Atticus will be angry.
 Jem discovers that the pants were sewn and
folded, lying across the fence.
 Apparently, someone was trying to keep Jem
out of trouble
 CHAPTER 7
 Jem and Scout find more stuff in the
knothole.
 Soap Dolls carved in their images. They
realize the things they’ve found are for
them.
 Nathan Radley cements the knothole
shut, so that no more things can be put
there, which makes Jem understand that
Boo must have been the one leaving
things.
 Jem Cries, which shows he understands
Boo Radley’s loneliness.
 CHAPTER 8
 Miss Maudie’s house burns down

 Boo wraps a blanket around Scout

because she is shivering.
 CHAPTER 9
 Atticus’ Character
 Takes Tom Robinson’s case
 Defends him because he wants to
remain true to his convictions
 Knows he is beaten before the trial even
starts, but he feels he must try
 CHAPTER 9 (cont.)
 Aunt Alexandra
 Concerned w/ appearances
 Wants Scout to be a lady
 Has influenced cousin Francis
 Characteristics of passivity, obedience, and good breeding
 Atticus
 More concerned w/ how his children behave at moments of
stress
 Not concerned w/ superficial manners and dress
 Influence shown in Scout, who is open, not deceptive, has
a fighting spirit, has an inner glow of sincerity
 Ready and willing to defend the helpless and the underdog
 Has a respect for well-kept silence
 CHAPTER 10
 Symbolic meaning of the Mockingbird
 “a sin to shoot a mockingbird”
 Cause no harm to anyone
 Gentle and give of themselves through
song
 Refers to people whose natures are like
that of mockingbirds
 It is a sin to destroy a gentle person
 CHAPTER 10 (cont.)
 Ol’ One-shot
 Beginning of the chapter, Jem and Scout
viewed Atticus as old and feeble/ not
physically active/ his modest
accomplishments (making a will air
tight) are a source of shame
 Atticus shoots the rabid dog/ Jem and
Scout are proud of his courage and skill,
but they overlook his modesty
 CHAPTER 11
 Mrs. Dubose
 Sickly and sourly old lady who shouts nasty
comments at Jem and Scout when they pass
 Criticizes Atticus for the way he raises them
 Casts sarcastic remarks for Atticus’ defense
of Tom Robinson
 Jem releases his pent-up emotions by
destroying her camellia bushes with Scout’s
baton
 Jem’s punishment is to read to her
 CHAPTER 11 (cont.)
 Mrs. Dubose’s affliction
 Was suffering from a terminal illness
 Stopped taking her morphine for the pain
 Wanted to die without being addicted
 Jem’s gain from the experience
 Learns what real courage is
 Courage is when a person fights until the
end even when he knows he is beaten
 Also learns a lesson in tolerance – Scout
and Jem lengthen their stays at Mrs.
Dubose’s
 CHAPTER 12
 Insights Jem and Scout gain by attending
church with Calpurnia
 Generous unity among First Purchase Church
members
 Show of support for Tom and his family which contrasts
the white community’s reaction toward Atticus
 Gain insight into Cal’s dual life
 Is in command of two languages
 Has had long involvement with the Finch family
 Learned and taught reading from Blackstone’s
Commentaries
 Are informed by Cal that it is not necessary to
tell everything one knows
 Blackstone’s Commentaries
 Blackstone, Sir William (1723-1780), an
English judge, author, and professor, won
recognition for his Commentaries on the
Laws of England (1765-1769). This book
presented a comprehensive picture of the
English law of his time, and became the
most influential book in the history of English
law. It was the basis of legal education in
England and America for years. Blackstone's
book greatly influenced American colonists.
The colonists used it as their chief source of
information about English law.
 CHAPTER 13
 Aunt Alexandra comes to stay with
the Atticus and his children/drives
home the point that Atticus is very
different
 CHAPTER 14
 Dill has run away from home and
ended up at the Finch’s
 Dill explains that his parents give him
everything he needs but themselves
 He feels unneeded
 CHAPTER 15
Contrast Between Two Groups of Men
 Tradition for men to stand in another’s
front yard for death or politics
 Group led by Heck Tate there for a
little of both
 Warn Atticus of Old Sarum bunch
thinking of lynching Tom Robinson
 Express fear for Atticus and his family

 Crowd disperses in laughter

 CHAPTER 15 (cont.)
Contrast Between Two Groups of Men
 Mob at the jail smells of pigpens and

stale whiskey
 Serious in their intent to lynch Tom

Robinson
 Tension is pierced by Scout’s

innocent talk
 CHAPTER 15 (cont.)
 Mobs are powerful when they act as groups
 Scout causes Mr. Cunningham to see through
Atticus’ eyes
 Mr. Cunningham feels shame for endangering
Atticus’ children
 Scout reminds them of their individuality with
talk of entailments
 Once the individual members of a mob think
as individuals, the mob mentality disappears
 CHAPTER 17
Heck Tate’s Testimony
 Had been no medical confirmation of
Mayella’s alleged assault
 Wants to establish that Mayella was
beaten by a left-handed assailant
 Had marks the whole way around her
throat which suggests that someone
choked her with both hands
 Wants Heck to repeat the points
made in the testimony
 CHAPTER 17 (cont.)
Characterization of the Ewell’s
 Have existed as parasites of the county
 Live behind the town dump
 Live in a shack of patched, corrugated
iron sheets with a tin can roof
 Shack surrounded by junk that
resembles the playthings of a mad child
 CHAPTER 17 (cont.)
Description of Bob Ewell
 Mayella’s father
 Struts like a rooster
 Chinless face and a red neck
 Beaklike nose
 Crows when he speaks
 CHAPTER 17 (cont.)
Bob Ewell’s Testimony
 Confirms Heck Tate’s testimony
 Mayella was beaten on right side of her
face
 Mayella was not examined by a doctor
 Establishes that Bob Ewell is left-handed
 Shows that Bob Ewell could have
beaten his own daughter
 CHAPTER 18
Mayella’s Testimony
 Depicts a deprived background
 Her day is extraordinary and almost
animalistic survival
 Lives in isolation, no contact with
other people and other life-styles
 Tries to keep her story straight, but
falters
 Suggests that her father beat her, not
Tom Robinson
 Tom rises and it becomes apparent
that his left arm is 12 inches shorter
that his right and is useless
 CHAPTER 19
Tom’s Testimony
 He was kind to Mayella and often
did chores for her because he
“felt sorry for her”
 Resisted Mayella’s advances to
kiss him by running away
 Declares he would never strike a
white woman
 Establishes that Bob Ewell saw
Mayella make advances to kiss
him and had threatened to kill her
 CHAPTER 19 (cont.)
 Tom’s motivation to help Mayella were
only a show of kindness, but kindness
can be so uncommon that it is
unrecognized and reacted to with
hostility
 Tom’s only resistance to Mayella’s
advances was to run; striking a white
woman would mean certain death
 Attorney Gilmer’s treatment of Tom
racially offensive
 CHAPTER 20
Dolphus Raymond
 Considered to be the town drunk
 Married to a black woman
 Has mixed children
 Entrusts Dill and Scout with his
deepest secret – that he doesn’t drink
 Believes that if people believe he is
under the influence of whiskey, then
they are more comfortable with their
prejudice of him and his lifestyle
 CHAPTER 20 (cont.)
 “Things haven’t caught up with that
one’s (Dill’s) instincts yet. Let him get
a little older and he won’t get sick and
cry. Maybe things’ll strike him as
being – not quite right, say, but he
won’t cry, not when he gets a few
years on him.”
 As a person gets older, he/she gets
hardened toward the way some
people treat other people.
 CHAPTER 20 (cont.)
Atticus’ Closing Remarks
 Condemns the social code (Blacks don’t mix
with Whites) that imposes guilt on those who
break it / In this case caused Mayella to place
Tom’s life at stake by accusing him of rape
 Condemns the assumption that all Blacks lie,
are immoral, and are not to trusted with
White women
 Condemns the denying of one source of
equality – the courtroom – because of
prejudice
 Hopes to make the jurors see Tom Robinson
as an individual, not merely as a black man
 Hopes the jurors will stand in Tom Robinson’s
shoes
 CHAPTER 21
 Scout knows the verdict before it is
read because the jury does not look
at Tom Robinson (a jury does not look
at a defendant it has convicted)
 This also suggests a sense of
collective guilt
 CHAPTER 22
 Before the verdict, Jem expressed a
belief in justice, rationality, and
individual integrity
 The verdict is cruel and crushing to Jem
 This signifies that Jem has finally gone
over the threshold to adulthood. This
was his first experience toward
becoming hardened to conform to the
expectations of society
 Bob Ewell spits in Atticus’ face and
threatens him
 CHAPTER 23
Atticus’ Explanation of Bob Ewell’s Threat
 Wants revenge because the Ewells never
had much credibility and whatever they
had left, Atticus stripped him of it in
court
 Atticus walks in Bob Ewell’s shoes

 Bob Ewell will seek revenge where he

can easily get it
 If spitting in Atticus’ face spares Mayella
a beating, then it is worth it
 CHAPTER 23 (cont.)
Atticus Explains the Result of the Trial
 Attributes the verdict to where the

trial was held

 Tom was convicted because he was

Black
 Prejudice cannot be screened when

selecting jurors
 CHAPTER 24
Irony in Missionary Circle’s Conversation
 The women are capable of compassion
as long as it is long distance and they
don’t get their hands dirty
 Concerned with an African tribe, but
they don’t see how they perpetuate
prejudice and poverty in their own town
 Are hypocrites who view themselves as
“Good Christians”
 CHAPTER 24 (cont.)
 Tom supposedly tries to escape
 Is shot 17 times
 Atticus believed that Tom was tired of
white man’s chances
 Tom was not treated as an individual
in court nor in prison
 CHAPTER 25
Mockingbird Symbolism
 Mr. B. B. Underwood’s editorial in his
newspaper is about Tom Robinson’s
death
 Says Tom was as harmless as a
mockingbird
 Says Tom’s death was like the
senseless slaughter of songbirds by
heartless hunters
 CHAPTER 27
 Bob Ewell fired from the WPA (an
allusion to the Works Progress
Administration created in 1935 to
provide paying jobs for unemployed
workers) for laziness
 Allusion: reference to something in
literary, historical, or biblical past
 Ewell tries to burglarize Judge Taylor’s
home
 Ewell harasses Helen Robinson as she
is on her way home from working at
Link Deas
 CHAPTER 27(cont.)
 Misses Tutti and Frutti Barber (Sarah
and Frances) missing all of their
living room furniture
 Group of kids playing a prank by
sneaking in and taking the furniture
to the cellar
 Introduces Halloween
 Provides some comic relief
 CHAPTER 28
 Suspense at the beginning of chapter
creates an ominous feeling and tension
 Scout’s “ham” costume is confining
 Aunt Alexandra’s apprehension @ the kids
going to the celebration without an adult
 Halloween, moonless night
 Strange shadows cast on the Radley house
 School yard is black as pitch
 Jem’s talk of “haints”
 Scout’s tripping on a root
 Cecil Jacobs leaping out from behind the
lone oak tree to scare them
 Scout decides to wear the costume home
CHAPTER 28 (cont.)
 Scout and Jem attacked on way home from the
pageant
 Sense someone is stalking them
 At first, think it is Cecil Jacobs again
 Break into a run, Scout falls
 Feels Jem pulled away from her
 Hears a crunching sound and scream
 Scout is grabbed herself
 Scout’s assailant is jerked away from her
 Scout stumbles into a body on the ground
 Scout sees someone carrying Jem toward their
home
 Jem has a broken arm
 Bob Ewell is dead with a kitchen knife stuck up
under his ribs
 CHAPTER 29
 Heck Tate asks Scout to explain what
happened
 Scout goes through the entire story
 Points out a man in the bedroom as
the one who carried Jem away
 Recognizes him as Boo Radley
 CHAPTER 30
 Atticus at first thinks that Jem killed
Bob Ewell in self-defense
 Heck Tate’s interpretation is different
 Insists that Jem did not and could not
have killed Bob Ewell
 Believes that Boo defended Jem and
Scout, preventing a crime from being
committed
 Public trial would destroy Boo Radley
 So, Bob Ewell fell on his knife
 CHAPTER 30 (cont.)
 Atticus and Scout realize the truth
must be sacrificed to protect Boo
Radley
 Dragging Boo Radley through a
public trial would destroy him
 Scout tells Atticus that it would be
like killing a mockingbird
 CHAPTER 31
 Scout demonstrates her sensitivity and
compassion when guiding Boo to the front
porch
 Allows Boo the role of gentleman when she
walks him home
 Slips into Boo’s point of view while standing
on the Radley porch
 Feels sorrow for not being giving to Boo in the
same way he has been giving to her and Jem
 Boo had given them their lives