Prereading Information for TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee

The novel To Kill a Mockingbird, a study of American society's people and attitudes in the 1930's, is seen through the eyes of the main character, Scout, an eight year old girl in Maycomb, Alabama. The powerful themes of racial prejudice, loss of innocence, and courage, allows students to make connections to their own lives by bringing personal experiences to their reading. To prepare for reading this novel, general knowledge of the novel, author and the time period is essential.

These four articles build on one another and should be read in order. The first, Harper Lee Biography, is general background family information. A current article, Privacy Over Publicity reveals the unique personality of Lee. Mockingbird Won't Sing is the third, an even more recent personal article, explaining why Lee, who is still alive and well, continues to refuse all interviews. Harper Lee's hometown, Monroeville, Alabama, serves as the model for the novel's town, Maycomb.

BACKGROUND

The time period of this novel needs some explanation. The story's setting, the early 1930's in the South, occurred during the Great Depression. The initial incident of this tragedy was the day of the Stock Exchange crash, a day called Black Tuesday.

One man vividly recalls the time of the Great Depression and shares his memories in his first person account - Harold L. Nix's Great Depression.

One of the major themes in the novel is prejudice/race relations in the South. Tom Robinson's case is reminiscent of the Scottsboro Boys, nine young African Americans from Alabama who were charged with raping two white women in the 1930's.

"Interview: Growing Up White in the South in the 1030's" is the recollection of three women who grew up in the deep South in the 30's.

THE MOCKINGBIRD

The novel has a number of important symbols. The most significant is the mockingbird which has ties in other genres of literature, i.e. Shakespeare's plays and sonnets and Whitman's poetry. General background knowledge of this unique bird is helpful in understanding the significance of the mockingbird in the novel.

THE FILM

After the novel To Kill a Mockingbird spent over seventy weeks on best-seller lists and won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1961, it went on to become an astounding Hollywood movie winning many Academy Awards. This 1962 movie and the novel are today considered American classics.