Related Topics: Harper Lee | Lesson Plan

SYNOPSIS:

Scout Finch recalls three years of her childhood during the Depression in Maycomb, Alabama, beginning the summer before her first grade. She lives with her older brother Jem and their lawyer father, Atticus, a widower. That summer they find a new friend named Dill Harris, whose interest in stirring up drama leads the children to try to entice the town bogeyman, Boo Radley, to come out. Meanwhile, a drama affecting the adults begins as Mayella Ewell, the daughter of a drunk and violent white farmer, accuses Tom Robinson, an African-American, of rape. Atticus is called on to defend the accused while Scout and Jem struggle to understand issues of prejudice and justice. The two dramas intersect as one person is killed, Jem’s arm is broken, and Boo Radley does indeed come out.

REVIEWS:

Harper Lee’s first and probably only novel tells many stories, principally the story of Jean Louise “Scout” Finch and her family during a particularly significant period of her life and in the life of American race relations. According to Frank H. Lyell, “Harper Lee writes with gentle affection, rich humor, and deep understanding of small-town family life in Alabama” (“One-Taxi Town,” The New York Times Book Review, July 10, 1960, p. 5). “The style is bright and straightforward; the unaffected young narrator uses adult language to ender the matter she deals with, but the point of view is cunningly restricted to that of a perceptive, independent child,” according to Richard Sullivan (“Engrossing First Novel of Rare Excellence,” Chicago Sunday Tribune, July 17, 1960, pl. 1). Another reviewer comments that the story is “dominated by [Scout’s] complete love and devotion for her father and older brother, her admiration for a boy her own age [the real-life young Truman Capote], her acceptance of Negroes as fellow human beings with the same rights and privileges as those of white people, and her hatred of all hypocrisy . . .” (Nick Aaron Ford, The Atlanta University Review of Race and Culture, 1961, Atlanta University, PHYLON, Vol. XXII, June, 1961)

WEB SITE ADDRESSES:

Harper Lee & To Kill a Mockingbird

Biography of Miss Lee and information on her novel. Links to other Mockingbird sites. List of further readings.
(Note:***Excellent source of information about author and novel--Ed)
http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Culture/HarperLee/

The To Kill a Mockingbird Student Survival Guide

Annotated guide to Lee's novel, containing over 400 definitions for vocabulary, idioms, and allusions found in the text
http:/www.lausd.k12.ca.us/Belmont_HS/tkm

To Kill a Mockingbird:Then and Now

This website was created by the Prince William Network in honor of the 35th anniversary of the release of the Academy Award winning film To Kill a Mockingbird. It contains primary source documents, leson plans and student works.
http://library.advanced.org/12111/

Monroe County Heritage Museums

Information on Monroeville where Truman Capote spent his childhood years. http://www.tokillamockingbird.com