To Kill A Mockingbird

Notes on York Notes for GCSE/Cliff Notes

HARPER LEE: AUTHOR AND CONTEXT1926 Nelle Harper Lee is born in Monroeville, Alabama1929 Following the Wall Street Crash, the Great Economic Depression causes

widespread poverty and unemployment1931 The Scottsboro incident occurs; nine black young men are falsely charged and

found guilty of raping two white women in Alabama1933 President Roosevelt introduces policies to alleviate the effects of the Depression1945-1949 Harper Lee starts but never completes a law degree at the State University

of Alabama1950s Harper Lee gives up work as an airline reservations clerk in New York to write

full-time, fine-tuning her novel over many years1954 The Civil Rights Movement, with Martin Luther King as an important leader,

begins in Montgomery, Alabama1960 To Kill A Mockingbird is published and is an immediate bestseller1962 After winning the Pulitzer Prize and several other literary awards, the novel is

made into a filmPresent Day Harper Lee divides her time between New York City and Monroeville,

Alabama, keeping out of the public eye

CHARACTERS

Scout (Jean Louise Finch) – Narrator, aged 6-9 but tells the story as an adult looking back, tomboy who is violent, develops a new understanding of human nature, societal expectations and her own existence

Atticus Finch – Maycomb attorney and state legislative representative who is assigned to defend Tom Robinson

Jem (Jeremy Atticus Finch) – Scout’s older brother, aged 10-13, Scout’s “protector” and best friend, he deals with many difficult issues throughout the story

CHARACTERS

Aunt Alexandra – Atticus’ sister, lives at Finch’s Landing, moves in with Atticus during Tom Robinson’s trial, she is very concerned that Scout have a feminine influence to emulate

Francis Hancock – Aunt Alexandra’s grandson, he taunts Scout about Atticus, getting her in trouble

Uncle Jack – Atticus and Aunt Alexandra’s bachelor brother who comes to visit every Christmas, he is a doctor who, like Atticus, was home-schooled

CHARACTERS

Cal (Calpurnia) – The Finch’s black housekeeper, grew up at Finch’s Landing and moved to Maycomb with Atticus, mother figure to Scout and Jem, one of the few black people in town who is literate, taught Scout to write

Zeebo – The town rubbish man, Cal’s son, he is one of four people who can read at the First Purchase African M.E. Church

CHARACTERS

Boo (Mr. Arthur Radley) – The mysterious neighbour who piques the children’s interest. They’ve never seen him and make a game of trying to get him to come outside

Nathan Radley – Boo’s brother who comes to live with the family again after Mr. Radley dies

Mr and Mrs Radley – Boo and Nathan’s parentsDill (Charles Baker Harris) – Jem and Scout’s

neighbourhood friend. Living in Meridian, Mississippi, Dill spends every summer with his aunt, Miss Rachel Haverford

CHARACTERS

Miss Rachel Haverford – Dill’s aunt who lives next door to the Finches.

Miss Maudie Atkinson – One of Maycomb’s most open-minded citizens, Miss Maudie lives across the street from the Finches. An avid gardener, she often spends time talking to the children, helping them to better understand Atticus and their community

Miss Rachel Crawford – The neighbour gossip

CHARACTERS

Mrs Henry Lafayette Dubose – A cantankerous, vile, elderly woman who teaches Jem and Scout a great lesson in bravery

Mrs Grace Merriweather – A devout Methodist, wrote the Hallowe’en pageant

Mrs Gertrude Farrow – The “second most devout lady in Maycomb” belongs to the local Missionary Society

Tom Robinson – The black man who is accused of raping and beating Mayella Ewell

CHARACTERS

Helen Robinson – Tom’s wifeLink Deas – Tom and Helen’s employer, he makes

sure that Helen can safely pass by the Ewell’s after Tom is arrested

Bob Ewell – The Ewell patriarch, spends his welfare cheques of bootleg alcohol, he claims to have witnessed Tom assaulting Mayella

Mayella Violet Ewell – Tom’s 19-year-old accuserBurris Ewell – One of Bob Ewell’s children. He

attends the first day of school.

CHARACTERS

Reverend Sykes – The pastor at First Purchase African M.E. Church, helps the children understand the trial and finds them seats on the coloured balcony.

Judge John Taylor – The judge at Tom’s trial, appoints Atticus

Mr Horace Gilmer – The state attorney representing the Ewells

Sheriff Heck Tate – Maycomb’s sheriff, accompanies Atticus with the mad dog and delivers the news about Bob Ewell at the end

CHARACTERS

Mr Braxton Bragg Underwood – The owner, editor and printer of The Maycomb Tribune. Although he openly dislikes blacks, he defends Tom’s right to a fair trial

Dolphus Raymond – Father to several biracial children, lives on the outskirts of town, when he comes to Maycomb he pretends to be drunk

Walter Cunningham Senior – One of the men who to lynch Tom, one of Atticus’ clients, calls of the mob after talking to Scout

CHARACTERS

Walter Cunningham Junior – One of Scout’s classmates, Jem invites him to lunch after Scout accosts him in the playground

Miss Caroline Fisher – New to teaching at Maycomb and its ways, Scout’s first grade teacher

Cecil Jacobs – A schoolmate of the children, scares them on the way to the pageant

Little Chuck Little – One of Scout’s classmates who stands up to Burris Ewell in defense of Miss Caroline

CHARACTERS

Miss Gates – Scout’s second grade teacherLula – A parishioner at First Purchase African

M.E. Church who is upset when Scout and Jem attend services there

Eula May – The local telephone operatorMr Avery A boarder at the house across from

Mrs Dubose’s

PLOT SUMMARY

PART ONE

• The book starts with adult Scout looking back at what happened it the three years from 1933-1936

• They play their little games; Tarzan, Dracula• Jem stays in his tree house for a day• We meet Dill• Scout starts school and, to the annoyance of Miss

Caroline, she can read• Walter Cunningham hasn’t got any lunch and when

Miss Caroline offers him money and he doesn’t take it she gets annoyed. Scout tries to explain by saying that he is a Cunningham and that they do not borrow anything that they cannot pay back, Miss Caroline gets annoyed

• Scout attacks Walter in the playground and Jem tells Walter to eat at their house. Scout is openly appalled at his table manners and is apprehended by Cal

• Burris Ewell is rude to Miss Caroline and Little Chuck Little defends her and he is sent home

• They play the Boo Radley game, Jem touches the Radley porch, Scout rolls to the Radley Place in a tyre

• They try and get Boo to come out, Jem loses his trousers and they are nicely folded for him when he returns for them

• They find the knot-hole in tree with presents from Boo. They take them and then keep getting more. Mr Nathan Radley fills up the hole with concrete and says that the tree is dying, which Atticus later says to be incorrect

• Jem and Scout are playing in the road when they see the mad dog. They tell Cal who calls Atticus. Atticus shots it in one shot.

• The children would race to meet Atticus from work and pass Mrs Dubose’s house and receive verbal abuse from her. One day when she wasn’t on the porch, Jem takes Scout’s new baton and cuts the heads of her camellias and then breaks the baton

• Jem has to go and read to her and then when she dies she leaves him one camellia. They learn a lesson about bravery from her because she was coming off a morphine addiction

PART TWO

• Cal takes the children to the First Purchase African M.E. Church and Lula gets angry

• Aunt Alexandra comes to stay• Tom Robinson is moved to the local jail and Atticus

is warned of the lynch mob• He goes to protect him and the children follow• Scout recognises Walter Cunningham Senior and

talks to him, he calls of the lynch mob• Summer 1935 – the trial • Atticus establishes that Mayella’s injuries were

caused by a strong left hand, Tom cannot use his and Bob Ewell is ambidextrous

• Tom is shown to be polite and honest, in contrast to Mayella and Bob

• Jem thinks they won but Scout isn’t sure• Jem and Scout are surprised, angry and upset that

the white jury found Tom guilty• Bob Ewell seeks revenge upon Atticus for his

humiliation in court• Atticus interrupts the Missionary Society meeting

with news that Tom was shot whilst “trying to escape,” and asks Cal to accompany him to tell Helen

• As the children return from the Halloween pageant, Bob Ewell attacks them with a knife

• Boo Radley comes to their rescue, Jem is injured and carried back unconscious to the Finch house by Boo

• Bob Ewell is found dead on top of his knife• The sheriff convinces Atticus to keep the detail of

the incident quiet to protect Boo• Scout finally gets to see Boo and says ‘he is really

nice.’ Atticus replies, rounding off the story with message that he reiterates throughout: ‘Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them.’

Quotes

• “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view...until you climb into his skin and walk around it” Pg. 35

• "Mocking birds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat peoples gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing there hearts out for us. That why its a sin to kill a mocking bird."Page 96

• "I certainly am. I Do my best to love everybody...I'm hard put, sometimes - baby, its never an insult to be called what somebody thinks is a bad name. It just shows you how poor that person is, its doesn't hurt you"Page 115

Quotes

• "Tom Robinsons a colour man, Jem. No jury in this part of the world's going to say " We think your guilty but not very" on a charge like that. It was either a straight acquittal or nothing"Page 225

• "In our courts, when its a white mans word against a black mans word, the white man always wins. They're ugly but those are the facts of life"Page 226

• "Atticus was right, One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough"Page 285

Themes

• Growing up/maturity• Prejudice/social inequality• Courage/bravery• Symbolism• Innocence• Education• “You never really understand a person until you

consider things from his point of view...until you climb into his skin and walk around it”

• “It is a sin to kill a mockingbird”• Law