Discrimination Information

In To Kill A Mockingbird  there is a lot about the discrimination against blacks that was around in the 1930s. This link has a lot of information about the discrimination going from Africa before slavery until after civil rights:
http://www.ferris.edu/htmls/news/jimcrow/timeline.htm

The Court Case in Part 1

The Court Case in To Kill A Mockingbird is the basis of the book, and most of the action about it happens in part two. However there are lots of hints about it in part one of the book:


Why does Atticus take the case?

• "If I didn't, I couldn't hold up my head in town"- Atticus is a good person and doesn't discriminate  This means that if he didn't take the court case then he would be going against his own personal beliefs and he would be a hypocrite.
• "I couldn't go to church and worship God if I didn't help that man" -Atticus has faith and a conscience. If he didn't take the case then he would feel guilty and embarassed
• Courage is "when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what"- Atticus is brave and this helps with the fact that he knows that he has got to take the case
• "I think we'll have a reasonable chance on appeal"- Atticus has determination and won't give up
• "He's a member of Calpurnia's church"- Atticus has a personal connection with Tom Robinson and he treats Calpurnia well, so he feels he ought to do the same to Tom.

What hints are there that the case is going to be hard?

• "Your father's no better than the niggers and trash he works for"-The case will be hard because most of Maycomb are prejudiced and discriminate against black people, including Tom Robinson and look down on Atticus for trying to help him
• "Scout's got to keep her head and learn soon with what's in store for her these next few months" - This implies that there is going to be a lot of talk about the Scout, a lot of which will insult Scout and make her angry.
• "When summer comes you'll have to keep your head about far worse things"- This implies that the insults is only going to get worse

A story when I disappointed an adult

In Primary School I really liked my year 5/6 teacher and I also helped her out in the mornings, before school when my mum came into work at the school.

One day she was on a training course, so we had a supply teacher. At break time me and a friend of mine found some letters on her desk, so we thought we would be helpful and hand them out, thus saving her a job when she got back. We went round the classrooms handing out the letters, which were for people who had auditioned for a dance show, and told them whether they had got in or not.

The next day when the teacher discovered the letters had been handed out, she was very cross with us. This was because some people had had a 'yes' letter and a 'no' letter because she hadn't decided yet. We were in big trouble and I still remember this now because I was ashamed as I had let her down and disappointed her. This also sticks out because I have a lot of good memories with this teacher as she was one of my favourites.

To Kill A Mockingbird -Chapter 1

In this chapter:

-Jem and Scout get in an argument as to who caused Jem's accident

-We get a brief family history of the Finches

-Scout and Jem meet Dill for the first time

-Scout and Jem tell Dill about the Radley place and the story of Boo radley

-Dill dares Jem to touch the Radley house and he does

This is the opening chapter to the book which, in any good book, will draw the reader in and make them want to read on. In my opinion, Harper Lee doesn't do this as successfully as many other authors that I like, such as the opening of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, which is intriguing and the reader becomes curious.

In To Kill A Mockingbird, I was not intrigued by the opening. On page 1, a long family history of Jem and Scout starts, which I think is not appropriate for the start of a book.  When i read it, I found myself switching off and I didn’t really take in the words on the page.

The action gets going when Dill is mentioned for the first time (excluding the brief mention on the first page). My first impression of Dill is that he is quite confident and that he wants to show off. In his first introductions to Jem and Scout he says “I can read”, without any mention of the subject. This shows that he wants them to know that he is clever, possibly under the impression that this is how to make friends.

Dill, Jem and Scout get talking and get on the topic of Boo Radley, a “malevolent phantom” that lives in a house near where Jem and Scout live. The description of the Radley house is, in my opinion, an excellent. Lee describes the house in a way that makes it really easy to picture and with just the right amount of detail.

At the end of the chapter, Dill dares Jem to touch the Radley House, which he does. For me, this is the turning point in a change of Jem’s character. My initial opinions of him were that he was a loving brother and a child who loves to play outdoors in the countryside. I think after the dare, he starts to become more like Dill, and starts to treat Scout differently, claiming that she is “gettin’ more like a girl every day”