To Kill a Mockingbird

For those of you who really want to do To Kill a Mockingbird in the exam...and also for the rest of you...if not now then over the holidays...

Firstly, if you haven't already read it, i would not recommend you trying to prepare it for the exam.

Secondly, I would only recommend you doing this if you are extremely confident that you will make a better job of it than you will of Animal Farm...

That said - firstly make sure you have chapter summaries and quotes for each chapter - be certain that you are clear about the structure of the book and the fact that the episodes both before and after Tom Robinson's trial are as important to the story as the dramatic events in the courtroom.

Now...for your first tasks...

1.Background - check where Alabama is on a map. Harper lee had To Kill a Mockingbird published in 1960 but it is about events in the Deep South of the USA in the 1930's. it may in fact have been inspired by a real trial - that of the Scotsboro Boys. Don't spend too much time on background, but do make a list of five to seven aspects of life in Alabama at that time, with a special focus on race relations and consider why this may have been relevant still in 1960 (or even today...)

2.Narration - who is the narrator? What might make her biased? Make a list of events where we as readers have to fill in the gaps in the narrators knowledge to know what actually happened. Consider why Harper Lee chooses to tell the story from this narrators point of view. What do we gain from this as readers?

Answer the above questions in a series of short paragraphs. Make sure you use examples (with page numbers) from the book, particularly when constructing your list.

3. "Being Southerners..." What does it mean to be a Southerner? What are the different sets of value/morals/ethics that different characters in the book represent. make a list of at least Eight characters and beside them list the "Southern values/morals/ethics they represent in the book along with at least one (page numbered) example of each. Write two to three paragraphs (with examples) of what it meant to "Be Southerners..." at the time the book is set.

This should get you started. I will have some essay questions for you to practice on as well as some more tasks around characters and ideas in the novel.