KAMALA NIKETAN MONTESSORI

SCHOOL [CBSE] TRICHY

ENGLISH PROJECT

SUBMITTED BY:
M.RASENA NILOFER
XII-J
 INDEX:

1. INTRODUCTION

2. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

3. CHARACTERS INFO

4. BACKGROUND OF THE STORY

AND WRITING STYLE

5. THEME

6. SUMMARY

7. CRITICAL COMMENTS

8. CONCLUSION
 INTRODUCTION:
If you're going to write a one-hit wonder you couldn't do much
better than To Kill a Mockingbird. Winning the Pulitzer Prize
in 1961, it's never been out of print, it leads at least one list
of top-whatever books, and it's been a staple of middle- and
high-school English classes for generations.

The story of a young girl confronting deep-seated prejudice, it

pits a six-year-old Scout Finch and her (relatively) anti-racist
family against the segregation of an American South in the grip
of Jim Crow. Author Harper Lee drew on her own childhood
experience for the events of To Kill a Mockingbird.

 More than one critic has noticed some similarities between

Scout and Lee herself—and between Scout's friend Dill and
Lee's own childhood friend, Truman Capote. Like Scout, Lee's
father was an attorney who defended black men accused of
crimes; like Scout, Lee had a brother four years older.

But Lee has said that the novel wasn't intended to be

autobiography—she was just trying to write what she knew. Full
of historical detail from the pre-Civil Rights Movement era, the
novel may even have been influenced by the Scottsboro Trials
of the 1930s, in which two poor white women accused nine
young black men of rape. Makes Sense: That's Exactly the
Accusation Scout's father Atticus Ends Up Defending.

It's hard to argue with To Kill a Mockingbird's message of

standing up for what's right even when the costs are high. But
not everyone agrees that the book holds the moral high ground.
 While the main reason it frequently appears on lists of banned
books is its use of profanity, it's also been challenged for its one-
dimensional representation of African-Americans as docile,
simple folk who need whites to protect them. 

Some people see the novel as taking a powerful stand against

racism. Others just see it as promoting a kinder, gentler form of
racism.

 ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Nelle Harper Lee (April 28, 1926 – February 19, 2016) was an
American novelist best known for her 1960 novel To Kill a Mockingbird.
It won the 1961 Pulitzer Prize and has become a classic of
modern American literature. Lee published only two books, yet she was
awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2007 for her contribution
to literature.

She also received numerous honorary degrees, though she declined to

speak on those occasions. She assisted her close friend Truman Capote in
his research for the book In Cold Blood (1966). Capote was the basis for
the character Dill in To Kill a Mockingbird.

Nelle” Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926, the youngest of four
children of Amasa Coleman Lee and Frances Cunningham Finch Lee.
She grew up in Monroeville, a small town in southwest Alabama. Her
father was a lawyer who also served in the state legislature from 1926–
1938. As a child, Lee was a tomboy and a precocious reader. After she
attended public school in Monroeville she attended Huntingdon College,
a private school for women in Montgomery for a year and then
transferred to the University of Alabama. After graduation, Lee studied at
Oxford University. She returned to the University of Alabama to study
law but withdrew six months before graduation.
 She moved to New York in 1949 and worked as a reservations clerk for
Eastern Air Lines and British Overseas Airways. While in New York, she
wrote several essays and short stories, but none were published. Her
agent encouraged her to develop one short story into a novel. In order to
complete it, Lee quit working and was supported by friends who believed
in her work. In 1957, she submitted the manuscript to J. B. Lippincott
Company. Although editors found the work too episodic, they saw
promise in the book and encouraged Lee to rewrite it. In 1960, with the
help of Lippincott editor Tay Hohoff, To Kill a Mockingbird was
published.

To Kill a Mockingbird became an instant popular success. A year after

the novel was published, 500,000 copies had been sold and it had been
translated into 10 languages. Critical reviews of the novel were mixed. It
was only after the success of the film adaptation in 1962 that many critics
reconsidered To Kill a Mockingbird.

To Kill a Mockingbird was honoured with many awards including the

Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1961 and was made into a film in 1962
starring Gregory Peck. The film was nominated for eight Academy
Awards, including Best Picture. It actually was honored with three
awards: Gregory Peck won the Best Actor Award, Horton Foote won the
Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar and a design team was awarded an Oscar
for Best Art Direction/Set Decoration B/W. Lee worked as a consultant
on the screenplay adaptation of the novel.

Harper Lee had many childhood experiences that are similar to those of
her young narrator in To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout Finch.

 CHARACTERS INFO:

Scout Finch
The Narrator and Protagonist Of the Story. Jean Louise “Scout” Finch
lives with her father, Atticus, her brother, Jem, and their black cook,
Calpurnia, in May comb.  Scout has a combative streak and a basic faith
in the goodness of the people in her community.

Atticus Finch
Scout and Jem’s father, a lawyer in May comb descended from an old
local family. A widower with a dry sense of humour, Atticus has instilled
in his children his strong sense of morality and justice. 

Jem Finch
Scout’s Brother and Constant Playmate at the Beginning of the story.
Jeremy Atticus “Jem” Finch is something of a typical American boy,
refusing to back down from dares and fantasizing about playing football.
Four years older than Scout, he gradually separates himself from her
games, but he remains her close companion and protector throughout the
novel. 

Arthur “Boo” Radley

A recluse who never sets foot outside his house, Boo dominates the
imaginations of Jem, Scout, and Dill. He is a powerful symbol of
goodness swathed in an initial shroud of creepiness, leaving little presents
for Scout and Jem and emerging at an opportune moment to save the
children.

Bob Ewell
A Drunken, Mostly Unemployed Member of May comb’s poorest family.
In his knowingly wrongful accusation that Tom Robinson raped his
daughter, Ewell represents the dark side of the South: ignorance, poverty,
squalor, and hate-filled racial prejudice.

Charles Baker “Dill” Harris

Jem and Scout’s Summer Neighbour and Friend. Dill is a diminutive,
confident boy with an active imagination. He becomes fascinated with
Boo Radley and represents the perspective of childhood innocence
throughout the novel.

Calpurnia
 The Finches’Black Cook. Calpurnia is a stern disciplinarian and the
children’s bridge between the white world and her own black community.

Tom Robinson
The black field hand accused of rape. Tom is one of the novel’s
“mockingbirds,” an important symbol of innocence destroyed by evil.

Mayella Ewell
Bob Ewell’s abused, lonely, unhappy daughter. Though one can pity
Mayella because of her overbearing father, one cannot pardon her for her
shameful indictment of Tom Robinson.

Nathan Radley
Boo Radley’s older brother. Scout thinks that Nathan is similar to the
deceased Mr. Radley, Boo and Nathan’s father. Nathan cruelly cuts off an
important element of Boo’s relationship with Jem and Scout when he
plugs up the knothole in which Boo leaves presents for the children.

 BACKGROUND AND WRITING

STYLE :

"Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make

music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up
people's gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they
don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for
us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."
------BACKGROUND
 The style of To Kill a Mockingbird is generally humorous and
conversational, but also deceptively sophisticated, which reflects the mix
of straightforward story-telling and complicated ideas.

Because the book is framed as the recollection of the narrator, the

opening pages use complex, elevated language: “brethren,” “dictum,”
“impotent fury.” Once the narrator has set the scene, she reverts to a more
childlike narration, mixing elegant metaphors (“it drew him as the moon
draws water”) with frank statements (“Mrs. Dubose was plain hell.”)
Language and speech play significant roles throughout the book.

Overall, the vernacular speech works with the content of the novel to give
us a sense of each character’s identity and place within the community.
However, a possible criticism is that these abbreviations encourage us to
judge characters based on their education, race, and class before we get to
know them as individuals.

 THEME:
The Coexistence of Good and Evil
The most important theme of To Kill a Mockingbird is the book’s
exploration of the moral nature of human beings—that is, whether people
are essentially good or essentially evil. 

The Importance of Moral Education

Because exploration of the novel’s larger moral questions takes place
within the perspective of children, the education of children is necessarily
involved in the development of all of the novel’s themes. In a sense, the
plot of the story charts Scout’s moral education, and the theme of how
children are educated—how they are taught to move from innocence to
adulthood—recurs throughout the novel (at the end of the book, Scout
even says that she has learned practically everything except algebra). 

The Existence of Social Inequality

Differences in social status are explored largely through the
overcomplicated social hierarchy of Maycomb, the ins and outs of which
constantly baffle the children. 
 Prejudice
Discussions about prejudice in general, and racism in particular, are at the
heart of To Kill a Mockingbird. Conflicts over racism drive some of the
most compelling and memorable scenes in the novel. Racial conflict
causes the two dramatic deaths that occur in the story. On one level, To
Kill a Mockingbird represents a simplistic and moralistic view of racial
prejudice.

On one level, To Kill a Mockingbird represents a simplistic and

moralistic view of racial prejudice. White people who are racist are bad,
and white people who are not racist are good. Atticus risks his reputation,
his position in the community, and ultimately the safety of his children
because he is not racist, and therefore good.
 Summary:
To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in Alabama during the
Depression, and is narrated by the main character, a little girl
named Jean Louise "Scout" Finch. Her father, Atticus Finch, is a
lawyer with high moral standards. Scout, her brother Jem, and
their friend Dill are intrigued by the local rumours about a man
named Boo Radley, who lives in their neighbourhood but never
leaves his house. Legend has it that he once stabbed his father in
the leg with a pair of scissors, and he is made out to be a kind of
monster. Dill is from Mississippi but spends his summer in
Maycomb at a house near the Finch's.

The children are curious to know more about Boo, and during
one summer create a mini-drama they enact daily, which tells
the events of his life as they know them. Slowly, the children
begin moving closer to the Radley house, which is said to be
haunted. They try leaving notes for Boo on his windowsill with
a fishing pole, but are caught by Atticus, who firmly reprimands
them for making fun of a sad man's life. Next, the children try
sneaking over to the house at night and looking through its
windows. Boo's brother, Nathan Radley, who lives in the house,
thinks he hears a prowler and fires his gun. The children run
away, but Jem loses his pants in a fence. When he returns in the
middle of the night to get them back, they have been neatly
folded and the tear from the fence roughly sewn up.
Other mysterious things happen to the Finch children. A certain
tree near the Radley house has a hole in which little presents are
often left for them, such as pennies, chewing gum, and soap
carved figures of a little boy and girl who bear a striking
resemblance to Scout and Jem. The children don't know where
these gifts are coming from, and when they go to leave a note
for the mystery giver, they find that Boo's brother has plugged
up the hole with cement. The next winter brings unexpected
cold and snow, and Miss Maudie's house catches on fire. While
Jem and Scout, shivering, watch the blaze from near the Radley
house, someone puts a blanket around Scout without her
realizing it. Not until she returns home and Atticus asks her
where the blanket came from does she realize that Boo Radley
must have put it around her while she was entranced by
watching Miss Maudie, her favourite neighbour, and her burning
house.
Atticus decides to take on a case involving a black man
named Tom Robinson who has been accused of raping a very
poor white girl named Mayella Ewell, a member of the
notorious Ewell family, who belong to the layer of Maycomb
society that people refer to as "trash." The Finch family faces
harsh criticism in the heavily racist Maycomb because of
Atticus's decision to defend Tom. But, Atticus insists on going
through with the case because his conscience could not let him
do otherwise. He knows Tom is innocent, and also that he has
almost no chance at being acquitted, because the white jury will
never believe a black man over a white woman. Despite this,
Atticus wants to reveal the truth to his fellow townspeople,
expose their bigotry, and encourage them to imagine the
possibility of racial equality.

Because Atticus is defending a black man, Scout and Jem find

Them Selves whispered at and taunted, and have trouble
keeping their tempers. At a family Christmas gathering, Scout
beats up her cloying relative Francis when he accuses Atticus of
ruining the family name by being a "nigger-lover". Jem cuts off
the tops of an old neighbour's flower bushes after she derides
Atticus, and as punishment, has to read out loud to her every
day. Jem does not realize until after she dies that he is helping
her break her morphine addiction. When revealing this to Jem
and Scout, Atticus holds this old woman up as an example of
true courage: the will to keep fighting even when you know you
can't win.

The time for the trial draws closer, and Atticus's sister
Alexandra comes to stay with the family. She is proper and old-
fashioned and wants to shape Scout into the model of the
Southern feminine ideal, much to Scout's resentment. Dill runs
away from his home, where his mother and new father don't
seem interested in him, and stays in Maycomb for the summer
of Tom's trial. The night before the trial, Tom is moved into the
county jail, and Atticus, fearing a possible lynching, stands
guard outside the jail door all night. Jem is concerned about
him, and the three children sneak into town to find him. A group
of men arrive ready to cause some violence to Tom, and threaten
Atticus in the process. At first Jem, Scout and Dill stand aside,
but when she senses true danger, Scout runs out and begins to
speak to one of the men, the father of one of her classmates in
school. Her innocence brings the crowd out of their mob
mentality, and they leave.
The trial pits the evidence of the white Ewell family against
Tom's evidence. According to the Ewells, Mayella asked Tom to
do some work for her while her father was out, and Tom came
into their house and forcibly beat and raped Mayella until her
father appeared and scared him away. Tom's version is that
Mayella invited him inside, then threw her arms around him and
began to kiss him. Tom tried to push her away. When Bob
Ewell arrived, he flew into a rage and beat her, while Tom ran
away in fright. According to the sheriff's testimony, Mayella's
bruises were on the right side of her face, which means she was
most likely punched with a left hand. Tom Robinson's left arm is
useless due to an old accident, whereas Mr. Ewell leads with his
left. Given the evidence of reasonable doubt, Tom should go
free, but after hours of deliberation, the jury pronounces him
guilty. Scout, Jem and Dill sneak into the courthouse to see the
trial and sit in the balcony with Maycomb's black population.
They are stunned at the verdict because to them, the evidence
was so clearly in Tom's favour.

Though the verdict is unfortunate, Atticus feels some

satisfaction that the jury took so long deciding. Usually, the
decision would be made in minutes, because a black man's word
would not be trusted. Atticus is hoping for an appeal, but
unfortunately Tom tries to escape from his prison and is shot to
death in the process. Jem has trouble handling the results of the
trial, feeling that his trust in the goodness and rationality of
humanity has been betrayed.
Meanwhile, Mr. Ewell threatens Atticus and other people
connected with the trial because he feels he was humiliated. He
gets his revenge one night while Jem and Scout are walking
home from the Halloween play at their school. He follows them
home in the dark, then runs at them and attempts to kill them
with a large kitchen knife. Jem breaks his arm, and Scout, who
is wearing a confining ham shaped wire costume and cannot see
what is going on, is helpless throughout the attack. The elusive
Boo Radley stabs Mr. Ewell and saves the children. Finally,
Scout has a chance to meet the shy and nervous Boo. At the end
of this fateful night, the sheriff declares that Mr. Ewell fell on
his own knife so Boo, the hero of the situation, won't have to be
tried for murder. Scout walks Boo home and imagines how he
has viewed the town and observed her, Jem and Dill over the
years from inside his home. Boo goes inside, closes the door,
and she never sees him again.
 CRITICAL COMMENTS:

BY OTHER CRITICS

Although To Kill a Mockingbird was a resounding popular success when

it first appeared in 1960, initial critical response to Lee's novel was
mixed. Some reviewers faulted the novel's climax as melodramatic, while
others found the narrative point of view unbelievable.

For instance, Atlantic Monthly contributor Phoebe Adams found Scout's

narration "frankly and completely impossible, being told in the first
person by a six-year-old girl with the prose style of a well-educated
adult."

Other early reviews of the novel focused on Lee's treatment of racial

themes. Several observers remarked that while the plot of To Kill a
Mockingbird was not particularly original, it was well executed; New
Statesman contributor Keith Waterhouse, for instance, noted that Lee
"gives freshness to a stock situation."

 In contrast, Nick Aaron Ford asserted in PHYLON that Scout's narration

"gives the most vivid, realistic, and delightful experiences of child's
world ever presented by an American novelist, with the possible
exception of Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn."

 Richard Sullivan, on the other hand, claimed in the Chicago Sunday

Tribune that To Kill a Mockingbird "is a novel of strong contemporary
national significance. And it deserves serious consideration. But first of
all it is a story so admirably done that it must be called both honourable
and engrossing." The Pulitzer Prize committee agreed with this last
opinion, awarding the novel its 1961 prize for fiction.

To Kill a Mockingbird, Reviews

Novel by Harper Lee
 5/5Common Sense Media
4.3/5Good
reads

MY OWN COMMENT:

AFTER READING THIS NOVEL WHAT I REALLY FELT IS THAT,

MUST NOTABLE NOVEL AND SUCH A GOOD MORAL GIVEN BY
THE AUTHOR.

IT TEACHES WONDERFUL LESSONS ABOUT TOLERANCE,

JUSTICE, RACISM, PREJUDICE AND COURAGE, AMONG
OTHERS.

SOMETIMES HARD TO UNDERSTAND THE WRITINGS THAT

THEY HAVE USED AND WHAT I PERSONALLY FELT IS THAT,
THEY COULD HAVE USED SOME EASY WORDS SO THAT EVEN
THE KIDS AT SMALL AGE COULD UNDERSTAND EASILY.

OVERALL IT CONTAINS INTERESTING CONTENTS AND GOOD

NOVEL I COULD RECOMMEND TO ANYONE.

I WOULD LIKE TO GIVE 4/5 RATING STARS.

 CONCLUSION:

Atticus demonstrates that he is fair, compassionate, and courageous

throughout the novel. He teaches the reader that people should not think
anything less of other people just because of the colour of their skin.
 He began to create a path toward equality—a path which would not have
been expected back in the time of the Great Depression. In the 1930s,
racism was prevalent, and no one would have taken a black man’s side
over a white man’s. Even though Atticus knew he was not going to win
the case, he still defended Tom Robinson, which showed how good of a
person he really was.

If he did not make an impression on every person in Maycomb through

his actions, he certainly taught his children what it means to love and
respect people of all races. He showed the reader that it does not matter
what is on the outside; on the inside is what counts.
.