To Kill a MockingbirdBy Harper Lee
Background to the Novel
SETTING OF THE NOVEL• Alabama
• 1930’s– Great Depression– Prejudice– Legal segregation– Ignorance
America in the 1930s
• WWI was over – WWII had not yet started
• Stock market crashed in 1929
• Franklin D. Roosevelt becomes President in October 1932
1930’s - Great Depression• Stock Market Crash –
October 1929
• Businesses failed and factories closed
– People were out of work
– Even people with money suffered because nothing was being produced for sale.
• Poor people lost their homes, were forced to “live off the land.”
StatisticsPopulation: 123,188,000 in 48 states Life Expectancy: Male, 58.1; Female, 61.6Average salary: $1,368 Unemployment rises to 25% Food Prices: • Milk – 14 cents a quart
• Bread – 9 cents a loaf
• Round Steak – 42 cents a pound
Prices in 1930
• $100 Converted from 1930 to 2005 it would be equivalent to $1204
• Average new house – $7,145.00
• Average income per year – $1,970.00
• Gallon of gas –10 cents
• Average new car – $640.00
Fashion
Jim Crow Laws
• Slavery ended in 1864 but racial prejudice was alive and well
• Jim Crow Laws referred to the legal separation of races
• Blacks were not protected from discrimination by individuals or private companies
Racial separation (segregation)
Gender Bias (Prejudice)
• Women were considered “weak”
• Women were generally not educated for occupations outside the home
• In wealthy families, women were expected to oversee the servants and entertain guests
• Men not considered capable of nurturing children
Social Hierarchy in Alabama
1. Aristocrats - White upper class
2. White middle class
3. White lower class
4. White trash
5. Blacks
Aristocrats -White upper class
• Educated
• Legitimate claim to “Old South” plantation families.
• Real Wealth
White middle Class
• White
• Some education
• Property owners
• White Lower Class
• White• Little or no education• Sharecroppers/
Farmers
Poor White Trash
Refused educationOften alcoholic
Few or no work skillsOften had poor work ethic
Had the same opportunities as other white classes
Blacks
• Lowest on the social hierarchy
• Formal public education was prohibited
• Placed in lowest social class only because of race
Legal Issues of the 1930’s
• Women given the vote in 1920
• Juries were MALE and WHITE
• “Fair trial” did not include acceptance of a black man’s word against a white man’s
TO KILL A MOCKINBIRD
Prejudice
Race
Gender
Handicaps
Rich/Poor
Age
Religion
~ Characters ~▪ Atticus Finch ▪ Jeremey Atticus “Jem” Finch▪ Jean Louise “Scout” Finch▪ Tom Robinson
▪ Arthur “Boo” Radley
▪ Miss Maudie Atkinson
▪ Charles Baker “Dill” Harris
▪ Calpurnia
▪ Aunt Alexandra
▪ Mayella Ewell
Point of View
• First person– Story is told by Scout, a 10-year-old girl
– Harper Lee is actually a woman; Scout represents the author as a little girl although the story is not strictly autobiographical
Reading the Novel
• Setting is all important –be aware of the “where” and “when” as you begin
• Point of View – the novel is shaped by the voice of a young girl who sees the story from a position of naïve acceptance
• “Goodness vs. Ignorance (Evil)” is an important theme
“If you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all
kinds of folks.
You never really understand a person until you consider things
from his point of view—until you crawl into his skin and walk around
in it.”
– Atticus Finch
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