DIY Book Discussion
To Kill A Mockingbird
by Harper Lee
Author Info:
• born April 28, 1926, in Monroeville, Alabama
• daughter of Amasa Coleman (a lawyer) and Frances (Finch) Lee
• attended Huntington College, 1944-45, and University of Alabama,
1945-50
• published To Kill a Mockingbird in 1960, which won a
Pulitzer Prize in 1961
• publishing Go Set a Watchman, Harper Lee’s second novel,
on July 14, 2015
Harper Lee. (2000). In Encyclopedia of World Biography (Vol. 20). Detroit:
Gale. Retrieved from http://bit.ly/1KmI6N8
Discussion Questions:
1. Why do you think Harper Lee chose as her novel’s epigraph this
quote from Charles Lamb: “Lawyers, I suppose, were children
once”?
2. Why does the adult Scout begin her narrative with Jem’s broken arm
and a brief family history?
3. How does Boo Radley’s past history of violence foreshadow his
method of protecting Jem and Scout? Does this aggression make him
more, or less, of a sympathetic character?
4. How does the town of Maycomb function as a character with its
own personality, rather than merely as a backdrop for the novel’s
events?
5. Atticus teaches Scout that compromise is not bending the law, but
“an agreement reached by mutual consent.” Does Scout apply or
reject this definition of compromise? What are examples of her
obedience to and defiance of this principle?
6. The novel takes place during the Great Depression. How do class
divisions and family quarrels highlight racial tensions in Maycomb?
7. Atticus believes that to understand life from someone else’s
perspective, we must “walk in his or her shoes.” From what other
perspectives does Scout see her fellow townspeople?
8. How does Atticus quietly protest Jim Crow laws even before Tom
Robinson’s trial?
9. What does Jem learn when Atticus forces him to read to Mrs.
Dubose as a punishment? Why does the lawyer regard this woman
as the “bravest person” he ever knew?
10.Since their mother is dead, several women-Calpurnia, Miss Maudie,
and Aunt Alexandra- function as mother figures to Scout and Jem.
Discuss the ways these three women influence Scout’s growing
understanding of what it means to be a Southern “lady.”
11.Why does Atticus Finch risk his reputation, his friendships, and his
career to take Tom Robinson’s case? Do you think he risks too much
by putting his children in harm’s way?
12.What elements of this novel did you find funny, memorable,
or inspiring? Are there any characters whose beliefs or actions
impressed or surprised you? Did any events lead you to revisit
childhood memories or see them in a new light?
13.Adult readers may focus so much on the novel’s politics that they
may neglect the coming-of-age story. What does Scout learn, and
how does she change in the course of her narrative?
National Endowment for the Arts. To Kill a Mockingbird Reader’s Guide Discussion
Questions. Retrieved from: http://www.neabigread.org/books/mockingbird/readers-guide/
discussion-questions/
Similar Reading Suggestions­
Peace Like a River by Lief Enger
A Time to Kill by John Grisham
Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell
Wolf Whistle by Lewis Nordan
Reviews:
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/archival/19600710tkamreview.
pdf
“A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout’s (Jean Louise)
recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her
brother Jem’s elbow, the death of her father’s enemy -- and the close of
childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion
and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored
cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930’s, remains aloof to
their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summertime companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference -- but not
from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable
past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their
fears of Atticus’ lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog;
his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is
followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is
the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is
Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella’s father when he attempts
to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding,
the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem’s emergence
into adulthood, Calpurnia’s quiet power, and all the incidents touching on
the children’s “growing outward” have an attractive starchiness that keeps
this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest
in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader’s Digest;
it should win many friends.”
(1960, July 11). [Review of the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee].
Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved from: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/
harper-lee/to-kill-a-mockingbird/
Published: July 10, 1960
Copyright © The New York Times
Published: July 10, 1960
Copyright © The New York Times