mockingbird

A Chronology of Events in the Novel Chapter 1 Introduction of Scout as narrator: recounting a childhood story. Jem's broken arm: connects beginning with ending. Simon Finch and Finch's Landing. Intro. to Capurnia and Dill. Description of Boo Radley legend. Chapter 2 Scout's first day at school: September. Miss Caroline and Scout argue about reading. Miss Caroline humiliates Walter Cunningham: Scout explains. Chapter 3 Walter comes to dinner: Scout is rude. Miss Caroline meets Burris Ewell. Atticus talks to Scout about reading and Miss C. Chapter 4 Jem and Scout find presents in the tree stump from Boo. Dill arrives for the Summer: children enact Radley story. Chapter 5 Children talk to Miss Maudie. Children try to put note through Radley's letter-box: Atticus stops it. Chapter 6 Children look into Radley house: Jem's pants get caught. Dill leaves: Jem goes back fro his pants in the night. Chapter 7 Scout in 2nd Grade: truth about Jem's trousers, more presents from Boo, tree stump is cemented up by Mr Radley Chapter 8 First snow. Fire at Miss Maudie's house. Chapter 9 Scout tries to hit Cecil Jacobs for calling Atticus a "nigger lover". Scout talks to Atticus about racism. Christmas at Finch's Landing: Aunt Alexandra and Uncle Jack. Atticus explains to Uncle Jack why he is taking the Tom Robinson case. Chapter 10 Atticus as a father, and the mad dog incident. Chapter 11 Jem is 12 years old. Mrs Henry Lafayette Dubose is described. Jem cuts off her flower heads. Atticus makes him read to Mrs Dubose. Mrs Dubose dies. End of part one Chapter 12 Scout explains how Jem is going through adolescence. Jem and Scout go to Calpurnia's church: racial incident. Calpurnia describes her own family and community. Chapter 13 Aunt Alexandra comes to stay. Maycomb is described. Atticus is instructed to glorify his family to the children. Chapter 14 Atticus defines rape for Scout. Aunt Alex wants to get rid of Calpurnia. Jem and Scout argue. Dill is found under the bed. Chapter 15 Sheriff Heck Tate comes to Atticus' door with Maycomb men. Atticus guards Tom Robinson at the jail. Confrontation with Maycomb men, children diffuse the situation. Chapter 16 Atticus explains racial tension and the reasons for the confrontation over breakfast. Build-up to the trial: children describe Mr Dolphus Raymond. Trial begins. Chapter 17 Mr Heck Tate is the first witness. Mr Robert Ewell is the rude witness. Chapter 18 Miss Mayella Ewell is questioned as the plaintiff. Chapter 19 Mr Tom Robinson is questioned as the accused. Chapter 20 Recess: children talk to Mr Dolphus Raymond. Atticus makes his summarising speech to the jury. Chapter 21 Calpurnia approaches the Judge with info for Atticus regarding the children being in court. They plead with Atticus to stay to hear the verdict. Verdict of "guilty" is given: black people stand as Atticus leaves the court. Chapter 22 Jem cries. Food from the black community. Miss Maudie talks to the children about Atticus' role. Chapter 23 Ewell spits at Atticus in the streets. Atticus and Jem have a discussion about the trial. Atticus and Aunt Alexandra argue about the children: dub the Cunninghams. Chapter 24 Aunt Alex and her missionary circle meet. Tom Robinson's death is announced by Atticus who needs Calpurnia. Chapter 25 Dill and Jem recount what happens when they go to Helen Robinson's. Mr B.B. Underwood writes a poetic article about Tom's senseless death. Chapter 26 Scout in the 3rd grade: reflection on Boo Radley no longer seeming frightening. Miss Gates teaches Scout's class about Hitler. Contradiction as she is racist after trial. Chapter 27 Ewell gets and loses a job: blames Atticus. Judge Taylor has a secret visitor. Helen R is harassed by Ewell on the way to work Chapter 28 Hallowe'en pageant organised by the missionary ladies: Scout in her costume. Scout forgets her shoes. Jem and Scout are attacked on the way home Chapter 29 Bob Ewell is dead at the scene of the attack Chapter 30 Boo Radley is introduced to Scout as Jem's saviour Heck Tate orders Atticus to accept that Ewell fell on his knife Chapter 31 Scout stays with Boo, and then walks him home. She imagines their story from Boo's viewpoint Scout and Jem sleep: Atticus watches over them. This book summary was found at www.englishresources.co.uk © 1999 English Resources, all rights reserved. Date competed……………… Teacher signs……………………….

No 1: To Kill a Mockingbird sites to consult

Chronology

http://www.englishresources.co.uk/workunits/ks4/fiction/killamockingbird/chronol.html

Resources

http://www.englishresources.co.uk/workunits/ks4/fiction/killamockingbird/smallpackageresources.html#startof

Harper Lee info: at SwissEduc

http://www.swisseduc.ch/english/readinglist/lee_harper/index.html

Chapter guides

http://www.lausd.k12.ca.us/Belmont_HS/tkm/index.html

No 2

Source: http://www.englishresources.co.uk/workunits/ks4/fiction/killamockingbird/cdnsextract.pdf">

Title: Native Son by Richard Wright

Any Negro who has lived in the South knows that times without number he has heard of some Negro boy being picked up on the streets and carted off to jail and charged with rape. The thing happens so often that to my mind it had become a representative symbol of the Negro's uncertain position in America. Let me describe this stereotyped situation: A crime wave is sweeping a city and citizens are clamouring for police action. Squad cars cruise the Black Belt and grab the first Negro boy who seems to be unattached and homeless. He is held for perhaps a week without charge or bail, without the privilege of communicating with anyone, including his own relatives. After a few days this boy 'confesses' anything that he is asked to confess, any crime that handily happens to appear unsolved and on the calendar.

Why does he confess? After the boy has been grilled night and day, hanged up by his thumbs, dangled by his feet out of twenty storey windows, and beaten (in places that leave no scars, (cops have found a way to do that), he signs the papers which are usually accompanied by a verbal promise to the boy that he will not go to the electric chair. Of course, he ends up by being executed or sentenced for life. If you think I'm telling tall tales, get chummy with some white cop who works in a Black Belt district and ask him for the low-down.

When a black boy is carted off to jail in such a fashion, it is almost impossible to do anything for him. Even well-disposed Negro lawyers find it difficult to defend him, for the boy will plead guilty one day and then not guilty the next, according to the degree of pressure and persuasion that is brought to bear upon this frightened personality from one side or the other..... So far removed are these practises from what the average American citizen encounters in his daily life, that it takes a huge act of his imagination to believe that it is true, yet the same American citizen, with his kindness, his American sportsmanship and goodwill, would probably act with the mob if a self respecting Negro family moved into his apartment building to escape the Black belt and its terrors and limitations...

Show any intertextual links your find here with "To Kill a Mockingbird."

This is the html version of the file http://www.englishresources.co.uk/workunits/ks4/fiction/killamockingbird/cdbbextract.pdf.

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An extract from Black Boy by Richard Wright

Richard Wright was brought up in the "Jim Crow" southlands in the

1930s and 40s, the time that To Kill a Mockingbird was set. As a young

black man, this fascinating autobiography shows what it is like to live in

hunger and fear, fear from prejudice by day and the fiery lords of the

KKK by night.

My life now depended upon my finding work, and I was so anxious
that I accepted the first offer, a job as a porter in a clothing store selling
cheap goods to Negroes on credit.....
One morning, while I was polishing the brass out front, the boss
and his son drove up in their car. A frightened black woman sat between
them. They got out and half dragged and half kicked the woman into the
store. A white policeman watched in the corner, twirling his night stick;
but he made no move. I watched out of the corner of my eye, but I never
slackened the strokes of the chamois upon the brass.
After a moment or two I heard shrill screams coming from the rear
room of the store; later the woman stumbled out bleeding, crying, holding
her stomach, her clothing torn. When she reached the sidewalk, the
poilceman met her, grabbed her accused her of being drunk, called a
patrol wagon and carted her away.
When I went to the rear of the store, the boss and his son were
washing their hands at the sink. They looked at me and laughed uneasily.
The floor was bloody, strewn with wisps of hair and clothing. My face
must have reflected my shock, for the boss slapped my reassuringly on
the back.
"Boy, that's what we do to niggers when they don't pay their bills", he
said.
His son looked at me and grinned.
"Here, hava cigarette", he said.
.....
Later, I was walking along the hot, dusty road, sweating, when a car
slowed at my side.
"What's the matter here boy?" a white man called. I told him that I was
walking back to town.
"Hop on the running board", he said.
He stopped the car. I clung to the side of the car. The car started. It was
full of young white men. They were drinking. I watched the flask pass
from mouth to mouth.
"Wanna drink, boy?", one asked
The memory of my six-year-old drinking came back and filled me with
caution. But I laughed, the wind whipping my face.
"Oh no!" I said
The words were barely out of my mouth before I felt something hard and
cold smash me between the eyes. It was an empty whisky bottle. I sawe
stars, and fell backwards from the speeding car into the dust of the road.
The car stopped and the white men piled out and stood over me.
"Nigger, ain't you learned no better sense'n that yet?" asked the man who
hit. "Ain't you learned to say sir to a white man yet?"
Dazed, I pulled to my feet. My elbows and legs were bleeding. Fist
doubled, the white man advanced.
"Nigger, you sure ought to be glad it was us you talked to that way.
You're a lucky bastard, 'cause if you'd said that to some other white man,
you might've been a dead nigger now."
I was learning rapidly how to watch white people, to observe their every
move, every fleeting expression, how to interpret what was said, and what
was left unsaid.

TASK

Write down your reaction to this eye witness account, how you feel about what happened to the black population in Southern USA States.
How did the whites feel about the blacks? Give reasons for your answer.
What do you think made whites feel superior to black people?
Why didn't the black people complain and protest about their treatment to the state or government?

10 B English Worksheet 8 Name.................................

Write a short appreciation of the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird with Gregory Peck.










Peck won Best Actor award for his brilliant portrayal of the Southern lawyer who defends a black man falsely accused of rape. How would you describe Pecks performance and interpretation of Harper Lees Atticus Finch?









Comment on cinematography:

How does it help to use stark black and white?





Nominate a scene your found powerful and state why.







How is the tension in the courtroom built up and sustained?







Is the Scout and Jem point of view sustained, and how does their view from childhood innocence dramatise the film?







How did this film inform you about racism and prejudice?


10B English 2004 Term 4

Student name ................................................

This handout: 27-10-03

Theme topic: Racial Prejudice

Resources: To Kill a Mockingbird, book and movie, The Power of One, green Course book: Racial Prejudice, websites.

Assessments:

I. Bookmark: 9 Worksheets in class:
1. Reading journal- sign chapters as read. (A4 double sided) 10/10 2. Expand key quotations on Atticus Finch (100 words) 14/10 3. 4 bullet point responses to Black Boyextract by Richard Wright. 4. 200 word character profile of Atticus Finch.(respond to 7 points on handout) 5. Relevant Websites 13/10 6. Identify the characters in the novel. A3 sheet. 3 questions. 17/10 7. Role of physical settings in the film/novel. 27/10/03 8. Appreciation of the film, 7 questions, in class 24 October. 9. Mrs. Grace Merriweather: 6 November: read and respond sheet.


II. Talk to class week of 3-5 November. Draw in class 27/10. 10B English TV News oral script (3-5 mins.) Model Name........................................ Use this planning sheet. Hand up the green criteria sheet with your script when you go forward to do the oral. Speaking order is already posted. Absolute silence during orals must be met as everyone deserves the best situation for assessment. Disregard for otherschances will be noted as penalty against you. Name the novel I am drawing from: _____________________________________________________________________ Tone I want to achieve: ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ My 'umbrella lead' sentence that sums up this news story (refer Course Book pp. 34-40). __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Story/incident1:___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Story Incident 2: _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Story Incident 3: ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Summing up: Key element___________________________________________________________ Key words I will emphasise: _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Mark I intend to achieve: Key criteria I am striving to meet:

III. Editorial: Exam Block 24-28 November. See green Criteria sheet in Course Book.

The editorial: Structure it this way in order:

Headline to grab attention (is relevant)

Topical point

History; update readers on its progress to now

Significance of it today.

Implications

Possible courses of action in response

Preferred course of action outlined

Supporting Reasons

Reiteration and motivation to act

Devices to use:

Echoes, repetition of key words

Use of emotive slogans

Use of various appeals

Focus on action

Simple diction
__________________________________________________________________

Handout sheet 4:

Using the plan below, write a 200 word character profile of Atticus Finch.

TOPIC: Is Atticus too fantastic as a character?
1. strong and pure • makes demands • widowed 2. learned and clever • balances tradition and insight 3. a just man • respected by Negro and white alike • defence attorney/ barrister • always a final arbiter • a child's view of a perfect father • fails in Alexandras opinion out of leniency(140) 4. Bravery • shot the frothing dog • one shot Finch(101-2) • Jail House lynch mob 5.A merciful patient man • advises let the Radleys be • re Mrs Dubose (106) • dignity dealing with Ewells insult in the street; spittle.

Worksheet 7: Discuss the role of the physical settings in To Kill a Mockingbird.

Why does racism and prejudice flourish in Maycomb County?

1. the Radley House 14 & 15. mystery/history
2. the Negro Church 122 generosity
3. Jail house 153-4 protection
4. Court House 166 Justice? With a capital J
5. Ewells house 173f drink
6. Courtroom 168f moral worth of Maycomb.

6 November worksheet:
In Chapter 24, at the Missionary Circle tea, what does Miss Maudie mean when she says, "His food doesn't stick going down, does it?"


There are at least two lines of thought. I have been thinking one thing, but in August 2001 received mail from two people, both with another explanation.

At the tea, Mrs. Grace Merriweather has been saying that "some people" in Maycomb have been misguided in thinking they have been doing right, but all they have done is stir things up. She is referring to Atticus without naming him. Then Mrs. Merriweather complains her cook, Sophy, is 'sulky' after the news of Tom Robinson's conviction for raping Mayella Ewell. Mrs. Merriweather says she is keeping Sophy on, out of the goodness of her own heart. Maudie says, "His food doesn't stick going down, does it?"

I think Maudie is referring to Mr. Merriweather, suggesting that since his food is apparently still consumed with gusto, it must be good, and Sophy is still doing her job, and doing it well and Mrs. Merriweather should, to use more modern phrasing, get a life.

But K in Colorado says "Miss Maudie asks if his (Atticus's) food sticks referring to the fact that Mrs. Merriweather just severely insulted Atticus, in his own house, in front of his sister and daughter, while eating his refreshments (food paid for by Atticus, prepared in his kitchen by his sister and housekeeper.)"

Source: http://mockingbird.chebucto.org/faq.html



The values and prejudices in the Maycomb Missionary Circle describe in miniature the prevailing ones in that town in that era. What are they precisely and how do they set up the film?



Your Name......................................................
5. Report on your Reading
1. Identify these characters in the novel

Miss Caroline Fisher .........................................
Walter Cunningham .........................................
Chuck Little .........................................
Burris Ewell .........................................
Miss Blount .........................................
Mrs Henry Layfayette Dubose .........................................
Miss Maudie Atkinson .........................................
Miss Stephanie Crawford .........................................
Mr Avery .........................................
Miss Rachel Haverford .........................................
Arthur Radley .........................................
Mr Nathan Radley .........................................
Hack Tate .........................................
Dr Reynolds .........................................
Judge Taylor .........................................
Mr Underwood .........................................
Mr Dolphus Raymond .........................................
Mr Gilmer .........................................
Jean Louise Finch .........................................
Aunt Alexandra .........................................
Calpurnia .........................................
Jeremy Atticus Finch ...........................................


2. Significance of the Raids on the Radley House

Action________________________________Reaction
p 21 touch the wall............................................21.4 tiny movement inside
p 45 runaway tyre...............................................47.2 low laughing
p. 52 note on fishing pole...................................Atticus' rebuke
57 night foray in collards......................................64.2 pants repaired
39.6 tree knot hole.............................................68.3 ???


Q: Outline the incidents the children had resulting from their curiosity about the Radley Place. How well does this show that the narrators are normal children?

Write your piece on this 'game' of action and reaction, not summarising the steps but explaining how it parallels the central theme of overcoming misunderstanding and stereotyping.
3. "I wanted to see something about her - I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is aman with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what . . . Mrs Dubose was the bravest person I ever knew." (p. 118)

What events led up to this revelation by Atticus?

4. How did the children learn to fight adult cruelty?

5. "To walk round in another's skin is to feel and suffer with them." Comment. TV NEWS SCRIPT Good evening viewers!

Topping the news tonight: Black rapist shot dead escaping custody! Sheriff exonerates his men as exercising proper security.

Tonight's story in detail:

Today in Maycomb County, a runaway escapee, local man Tom Robinson, was shot dead in the street outside the County Jail when he was in transit to the State Penitentiary for his own safety. Sheriff Heck Ewell claims his staff were only exercising proper securitywhen the convicted prisoner make a break for it. Witnesses say he was handcuffed and in low spirits after his very public trial concluded with a prosecution for rape of the Sheriffs niece. The town was divided and tonight remains divided on the justice of the trial and now this shooting.

This shooting culminates a series of three key events in Robinsons adventuring life. First, he was arrested for attempted rape, alleged to have taken place in the victims own house when she was alone. Robinson was an odd-jobs man who cut up kindling for the family fire. Mayella Ewell has bruises and a stubborn conviction to prove that he did it.The court was satisfied that her firm and unflinching evidence beat the machinations of a clever Counsel.

Then earlier this week, the local all-male jury endured the inconvenience of the recent heat wave to hear the long awaited trial in the Maycomb County Courthouse with the defence being led by respected pro-Negro lawyer Atticus Finch. In quite a rhetorical sifting of evidence, the mans lame left hand was put forward as irrefutable evidence that he could not have attacked Ewell. This publicized trial divided the town between upstanding citizens and the bleeding hearts. Maycomb has long been a defender of Gods true order for Man, true Southern hospitality and our white supremacy. Calls that the trial was biased from the start were easily dismissed. The prosecution reached the right result and the dissembling Negro was put in chains at last.

Then today in a somewhat ironic end, the accused and now convicted Robinson was shot escaping the rule of law. Where the judge showed cowardice about imposing an appropriate sentence for deterrence of others, circumstances intervened and Gods Providence protected the just and the offender is no more.

No details of funeral arrangements are available, but it is thought that a private interment out of town will avoid the public gaze and due obloquy that this most heinous act deserves.
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Author and Webmaster G. Smith Brisbane Australia October 2003 revised 11/12/06
This page's address is: http://home.pacific.net.au/~greg.hub/mockingbird.html