Ways to introduce points:
- Harper Lee makes us aware...
- Lee presents...
- The author makes it clear that...
- Harper Lee evidently sympthaises with...
- Lee makes Scout say...
- Lee tells us through Scout...
- Harper Lee wants the reader to know that...
General
- Harper Lee’s descriptions are vivid and cinematographic- one of the reasons. Perhaps why the novel translated so well into film.
- Referring to the epigraph and what it tells the reader about key themes will help to show your awareness of authorial purpose.
- Referring to any symbolism used by the author can be effective- for instance, the quiet, ominous feeling in the courtroom when the jury returns is like a old February morning, when mockingbirds were still. (ch21pg216)
- TKAMB is a novel with a mixture of nostalgia and criticism
- A microcosm of American society in the 1930s
- Consider the ideal of Southern Womanhood an women as delicate, fragile creatures, and how this would of affected and influenced men’s feelings towards Mayella Ewell in the trial.
- Scouts naivety is highlighted when the narrator understands
- All of Scouts educational experiences and growing up takes place outside school
- We see how entrenched the idealised view of women is when Atticus says he is ‘in favour of Southern womanhood as much as anybody, but not for preserving polite fiction at the expense of human life’
- Real courage in Lee’s view is when you continue what you are doing even though you are fighting a losing battle. This is explained in depth in relation to Mrs. Dubose, who Atticus describes as the bravest person he had met.
- Starting an essay: try link to a theme, show how language is presented, and how the chapter highlights themes. And does the narrator affect our response of the presentation of the theme.
- Jem’s definition of entailment (ch2 page 26) is an example of malapropism, which is a common technique used by the author for creating humour.
- Leitmotif of To kill a mockingbird?
- Lee’s tools are to create atmosphere, to reveal character, create symbolic structure, support and enhance key themes, show authenticity, provide information, make a social comment, and provide humour and to reveal irony.
- Juxtaposition of the mad dog incident and Mrs. Dubose’s death present strongly contrasting ideas of courage.
- Through the less tense, and casual tone of Part one we get valuable details for Part two. (e.g. history of characters, description of Southern ways.) The children’s prejudices in part one reflect more destructive implications of adult prejudices in part two.
- Lee’s epigraph flags to important elements- lawyers and children.
- Lee’s frequency of simple sentences makes the writing direct and incisive.
- In the court scene Lee doesnt tell people about the exclamtions to Tom’s allegations but instead says that Judge Taylor uses his gavel and that order is restored. This is a moment when Lee lets the reader use his own imagination.
- Story told entirley by Scout as the narrator, this technique is called the first-person narrative
- Lee uses metaphors, when Scout refers to Atticus in court, saying “he’d gone frog-sticking without a light” She’s trying to say Atticus is someone who tackles a task without the proper equipment. (Chapter 17)
- TKAMB is a very carefully structured novel whose pace and tempo changes gradually throught the book. Part of the way it is structures is we learn, like Scout, as the novel proceeds.
- Lee uses personification, when Scout refers to the fence as “ a picket drunkenly guarded the front yard” and the house as “droopy and sick”
- Lee uses imagery to establish a charcter, when Scout describes Calpurnia “hand as wide as a bed slat and twice as hard” Implying discipline.
- Imagery is linked to symbolism in TKAMB. For example the mockingbird of the title is a metaphor for innocence and vunerability. This is a theme woven throughout the novel.
- Childrens language is more colloquial and contains a lot more ellision.
- Lee uses language as a way of defining a character. For example Bob Ewell declares coarsley that “ I seen that black nigger yonder ruttin on my Mayella!” and “screamin like a stuck hog”
- A book with two climaxes
- Prejudice means pre-judgement or making up your mind about something because of a preconcevied view and without looking open mindidly at evidence.
- Racial prejudice (Tom), Community Prejudice (Dolphus & Boo), Gender Prejudice (women), Class Prejudice (shown by Aunt Alexandra.
- Lee explores prejudice from a range of angles. Maycomb is an insular society, a “ tired old town” steeped in racial prejudice and its ‘caste system’
- School closes even though theres hardly any snow this suggests Maycomb overreacts to unfamilarity.
- By making Scout inquistive Lee encourages the reader to question their own thoughts and feelings.
- Lee satirises classroom learning with the help of Miss Caroline.
- Unusual fire and snowfall creates a sense of foreboding at the end of Part One.
