To Kill A Mockingbird Tone /Mood /Narrative

Mood Generally light and humorous   Underlying mood is dark and somber   Setting Maycomb County Descriptions "Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it." - Scout   "Tired and Old" Used to show the contrast between the adults and children. These adjectives are chosen instead of positive ones to represent the hard times and reflect how different parts of society react "In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop, grass grew on the sidewalks, the courthouse sagged in the square." - Scout   "Somehow, it was hotter then; a black dog suffered on a summer's day; bony mules hitched to hoover carts flicked flies in the sweltering shade of the live oaks on the square." - Scout   "Men's stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning. Ladies bathed before noon, after their three o'clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft tea-cakes with frostings of sweat and talcum." - Scout   "People moved slowly then. They ambled across the square, shuffled in and our of the stores around it, took their time about everything." - Scout   "A day was twenty-four hours long but seemed longer." - Scout   "There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb Country." - Scout   "Maycomb Country had recently been told that it had nothing to feat but fear itself" - Scout   "Nothing is more deadly than deserted waiting street." - Scout   Negroe's cabins Positive descriptions, "their cabins looked neat and snug"   Sensory Images: "there were delicious smells about: chicken, bacon frying crisply"   Appealing/attractive descriptions juxtapose with the Ewell's cabin - a "playhouse of an insane child"   Despite these descriptions, the location of these cabins - next to the garbage dump - reminds us of the Negroe's status as bottom of the social class conventional racist attitudes of Maycomb folk   These descriptions do not suggest a reason as to why they are so heavily discriminated against

Plot analysis There are two parts, part two being the longer   Part one Focuses on Jem, Scout and Atticus Children introduced to racial prejudice Miss Maudie's house burns down Atticus shoots mad dog Obsession with Boo Radley Children meet Mrs. Dubose   Part two Focuses largely on Tom Robinson's trial Tom Robinson loses and is shot dead Boo Radley saves scout from Bob Ewell   Unifying factors Boo Radley is present in both parts, tying the story together   Foreshadowing Scout standing up for Walter Cunningham and Atticus helping Mr Cunningham foreshadow Mr Cunningham leaving them alone at the jail later on We meet the vulgar Burris Ewell, foreshadowing the even more menacing figure, Bob Ewell, whom we meet later The introduction of the Black Community foreshadow Tom Robinson's trial and help us understand his innocent nature/background Boo gives Scout a blanket at the fire, foreshadowing the greater role he plays when he saves her from Bob Ewell Atticus shows Bob Ewell to be left-handed, foreshadowing the fact that Tom Robinson has a deformed left arm Bob Ewells threats to Atticus, Aunt's remark, "Someone just walked over my grave", and the dark stormy conditions of Halloween night foreshadow Mr Ewell's attacks on the children on Halloween

Narrative Written in hindsight Looking back on the past/her childhood Scout as an adult Mix of emotions and thoughts as she reflects Significant event that has shaped her as an adult She is 5 when the story begins, 8 by the ending Written from a child's perspective - as she understood the events at the time   Effect of this narrative Child's point of view = innocent, naive and not tainted by experience Writing as an adult = she relates experiences Scout did not understand = this contributes to the reader's engagement and humor Injustice stands out. Only the children realize the prejudice making the whole idea of racial prejudice absurd   Why does Harper Lee use Scout to narrate the novel? To create humor Emphasize the theme of child innocence To show how innocence is corrupted by society 1. Create humor: "fruitless efforts to teach me group dynamics" "my teachers thought essential" 2. Child innocence "I examined my loot" "What you reckon... Jem?" "Lived a malevolent phantom" "Why couldn't I mash him?" "I think there's one under my bed. Can you come look? "How does a snake feel?" 3. Innocence corrupted "He's just a Cunningham" "Thats nigger talk" "Well Dill, after all he's justa Nego"