The Novel: To Kill a Mockingbird

**Who Wrote To Kill A Mockingbird?**

Nelle Harper Lee (born April 28, 1926) is an American novelist widely known for her novel To Kill a Mockingbird, published in 1960. It was immediately successful, winning the Pulitzer Prize, and has become a classic of modern American literature. The plot and characters are loosely based on her observations of her family and neighbors, as well as on an event that occurred near her hometown in 1936, when she was 10 years old. The novel deals with the irrationality of adult attitudes towards race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s, as seen through the eyes of two children. The novel was inspired by the racist attitudes she observed as a child in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama. Though Lee published only this single book for half a century, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her contribution to literature. Lee has received numerous honorary degrees, and declined to speak on each occasion. (Source)

To Kill A Mockingbird Part One - Chapters 1-11

Until the publication of its sequel, Go Set a Watchman, in July 2015, To Kill a Mockingbird remained the only published work by Harper Lee since its publication in 1960. Despite the controversies surrounding the novel, readers continue to be drawn to the characters of Scout, a young girl, and her father Atticus Finch, a lawyer who dares to defend a black man in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama, in the 1930s. So many readers love these characters that the novel has sold over 40 million copies worldwide, has been translated into over forty languages, won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1961, and was made into an iconic, black-and-white film in 1962.

In the first third of the novel, Harper Lee paints a picture of Scout's world. It's summer, and she spends most of her time with her best friend, Dill, and her older brother, Jem, laughing, having fun, and inventing stories about their mysterious neighbor, Boo Radley, who never leaves his house but can be glimpsed occasionally peeking through the front window. Scout herself tells the story, so we see Maycomb through her eyes, and she doesn't always fully understand what's happening around her. After all, she's only in the first grade when the story opens. 

This means you will have to be a careful reader. As you read, pay attention to how characters interact. Lee establishes the foundation for many of the tensions that will all but explode later in the novel, so pay attention now to how people of different genders, races, social classes, and generations treat one another. There's plenty here to suggest what will come later.

To Kill a Mockingbird Historical Background

To Kill a Mockingbird is rich in historical context. Because much of the novel is intertwined with actual history, it is important that we do some historical digging.

Take a look at the presentation below. You will need to know the information in the presentation.

To Kill a Mockingbird Vocabulary

You will need to study these vocabulary words as you read the novel, as well as know these words for the test in this unit.

CHAPTERS 1-4

1. assuaged - eased; relieved

2. impotent - powerless

3. imprudent - bold

4. malevolence - evil

5. persevere - to carry on

CHAPTERS 4-6

1. auspicious - promising

2. arbitrated - judged; decided

3. asinine - foolish; stupid

4. edification - illumination; instruction

5. ramshackle - broken down

CHAPTERS 7-9

1. unfathomable - impossible to understand

2. aberrations - changes from the norm

3. analogous - comparable

4. invective - insulting and/or vile language

5. obstreperous - unruly; hostile

 CHAPTERS 10-11

1. inconspicuous - unnoticeable

2. articulate - able to express oneself clearly

3. jubilantly - joyfully

4. passé - out of style or use

5. cantankerous - difficult; cranky

Reading To Kill a Mockingbird

For this section of the novel, you will be reading chapters 1 - 11. Please consult your course schedule to see when each chapter is due.

Self Assessment - Part 1

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