N.Z. Herald 28.10.76
Could the “Tom Robinson case” actually happen? Is it
too fantastic to be real?
Well . . .
*
In 1911 Lawson Davis, a Negro after being nearly
lynched, was persuaded to plead guilty to sexual assault
after he had allegedly attempted to enter the bedroom of
a white woman. It took only seven minutes to impanel a
jury, present the evidence and impose a sentence of
ninety-nine years in prison.
*
The Tom Robinson case parallels the infamous
Scotsboro Case in Alabama:
1931 - nine Negroes ‘bumming’ a ride on a freight
train
- argument with a group of whites in same
freight car
- white group includes two girls
- white girls lay rape charges against Negroes.
- Negroes arrested - Scotsboro jail.
- trial a farce - judge hostile, defence lawyer
hostile all-white jury, talk of lynching.
- nine found guilty, sentenced to electric chair.
- one of the girls admits she lied, she made up the
rape story.
- she tours the country proclaiming Negroes’
innocence.
- convicted Negroes appeal - lose - Alabama State
names date of electrocution.
- Left wing civil rights groups take up the cause.
- defence fund gathered.
- three further High Court appeals by Negroes found guilty each time!
- case drags on.
1936 - four released, five kept in prison.
1944 - three released on parole.
1946 - One escapes Alabama, one commits crime in
prison.
- US Supreme Court passes law saying
defendants can not be electrocuted on this
charge.
1976 - State of Alabama finally pardons last Negro
(see newspaper clipping)
20
ALABAMA GRANTS
PARDON.
NZPA-Reuter
New York
Clarence Norris, who has finally
been pardoned by Alabama as one of the
nine Negroes charged with raping two
white girls 45 years ago, said yesterday he
felt no bitterness towards the southern jury
which sentenced him to the gallows.
The trial of the nine in 1931 aroused
a national storm of protest.
Mr. Norris, who now lives in New
York City, was one of the nine youths
accused of raping Ruby Bates and Victoria
Price on a goods train travelling through
Alabama.
He spent 15 years in prison, five of
them in solitary confinement in ‘death
row.’ He became a fugitive when he left
Alabama in 1946 to violation of parole.
His pardon by the Governor of Alabama,
Mr. George Wallace, finally came through
on Tuesday.
Eight of the defendants were
convicted on the testimony of the two girls
and were sentenced to death. The ninth
was only 13 years old.
The United States Supreme Court
twice ordered new trials and Miss Bates
changed her testimony, saying she and
Miss Price made up the rape story to avoid
prosecution for travelling on the train
illegally.
But the Alabama state authorities
pressed on with the case and court
procedures finally ended in 1937 with Mr.
Norris sentenced to death for the third time
and three others given prison terms
ranging from 75 to 99 years.
Mr. Norris avoided the gallows and
was eventually freed on parole in 1946.
He described his pardon as ‘one of
the best things that ever happened to me in
my life.’
A married man with two daughters,
he said he also felt no ill will towards Miss
Bates and Miss Price, who were still alive.
The National Association for the
Advancement of Coloured People praised
Governor Wallace for an ‘act of
compassion’ in pardoning Mr. Norris. But
one of its lawyers said the next step might
be to seek compensation for ‘the long
nightmare to which he was subjected.’
To Kill A
Mockingbird
Nelle Harper Lee
© International Education Services, 1999
May be copied for use within purchasing school.
www.ies.tradeplaza.co.nz
1
9.
-
What does Scout learn from the ‘Ewell attack’ incident?
[Chapters 28 - 29]
10. -
How does Harper Lee show that Scout has finally matured?
[Chapter 31].
11. -
What are the meanings of the novel’s title? There are several
possibilities for what ‘mockingbirds’ symbolise.
12. -
What is the symbolic significance of Jem’s snowman? [Chapter 8].
Harper Lee
Born in Monroeville, Alabama, on April 28, 1926, Nelle Harper Lee is the
youngest of three children of Amassa Coleman Lee and Francis Lee.
Miss Lee received her early education in the Monroeville public schools.
Following this, she entered the University of Alabama to study law, but left in
1950 without having completed the requirements for her law degree. She
moved to New York and worked as an airline reservation clerk.
Her law studies proved to be good training for a writing career: they
promote logical thinking, and legal cases are an excellent source of story ideas.
After she came to New York, she approached a literary agent with a manuscript
of two essays and three short stories. Miss Lee followed his suggestion that she
expand one of the stories into a novel. This eventually became To Kill A
Mockingbird.
Besides her prize-winning novel, Miss Lee has had several essays published.
For example, "Christmas to Me" appeared in the December, 1961, issue of
McCalls, and "Love - In other Words" appeared in the April 15, 1961, edition of
Vogue. These essays display the same easy, sympathetic style of her novel.
To Kill A Mockingbird was on the bestseller lists for a period of over eighty
weeks. Also the book was chosen as a Literary Guild selection; a Book-of-theMonth book; and a Reader's Digest Condensed Book. It was also published in
paperback by Popular Library. In April, 1961, Miss Lee was awarded the
Alabama Library Association Award. In May, 1961, she was the first woman
since 1942 to win the The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
2
19
5.
-
What incidents start to change Jem’s attitude towards Boo?
Plot:
[Chapters 6 - 8].
Chapter One
1. What is Dill’s full name, and where does he come from?
6.
-
What do the children think about Atticus (c.f. Mr. Avery) at the
Chapter Two
2. Scout gets into trouble with Miss Caroline, for what?
fire? [Chapter 8].
Chapter Three
7.
-
3.
What upset Calpurnia when Walter Cunningham came home for
lunch?
4.
What was Bob Ewell permitted to do out of season, and why?
What do the children learn about Atticus from the ‘one-shot’ Finch
story? [Chapter 10].
Chapter Four
5. What did Scout and Jem find in the knot-hole of the oak tree?
8.
-
What does Jem learn from the Mrs. Dubose incident? [Chapter 11]
This is the point of Jem’s maturity. [Note what Atticus said to Uncle
Jack at the end of Chapter 9. Note that he knew Scout was
listening].
Chapter Five
6. How does Miss Maudie describe the stories about Boo Radley?
18
3
Theme:
Chapter Six
7.
How did Jem lose his pants?
The theme is the underlying idea or message of the story. What is the
message we have learned from the story of To Kill A Mockingbird?
Perhaps it is about the social injustice that was prevalent in the ‘deep
south’ of the U.S.A. in the 1930s and later. [See page 20 for a couple of
case histories].
Chapter Seven
8. After Scout and Jem leave a letter in the knot-hole, what happens?
1.
-
People think in different ways.
How do the children react to the guilty verdict?
[Chapters 21 - 22 - note especially Dill’s attitude].
Chapter Eight
9.
Who does Jem’s snowman look like?
Chapter Nine
10. What did Cecil Jacobs say that made Scout forget she wasn’t to
fight any more?
Chapter Ten
11. Why did Heck Tate insist Atticus shoot Tim Johnson?
Chapter Eleven
12. Why did Jem ‘cut the tops of every camellia bush Mrs Dubose
owned?’
4
2.
-
How does Atticus react to the guilty verdict? [Chapters 21 - 23].
3.
-
How does Bob Ewell react to the trial? [Chapter 22].
4.
-
As we grow older our attitudes change towards people and life in
general. What do the children think about Boo Radley at the start
of the novel?
17
3) At times we, the readers, just get Scout’s limited ‘point of view.’ e.g. the
tree knot hole [Chapter 7] or the trial [Chapters 16 - 21 (not Chapter
Part II
20)] How does this apparent weakness, a limited point of view,
strengthen the story? Write your opinion below:
Chapter Twelve
13. When Lulu says ‘You ain’t got no business bringin’ white chillun
here - they got their church, we got out’n,’ what does Calpurnia
reply?
Chapter Thirteen
14. Maycombe welcomed Aunt Alexandra. What did Miss Maudie do?
Chapter Fourteen
15. Why is Dill hiding under Scout’s bed?
4) Find examples of American ‘southern’ speech from dialogue in the novel
- whites or negroes.
Quote examples below:
Chapter Fifteen
16. What does Scout say that breaks the tension at the Maycombe jail?
Chapter Sixteen
17. Why did Miss Maudie say Miss Stephanie might be handed a
subpoena?
5) List three other aspects of life in the southern states which are different
from where you live.
Chapter Seventeen
18. Atticus asks Sheriff Tate carefully about Mayella Ewell’s injuries.
Which side of her face was damaged?
16
5
Style:
Chapter Eighteen
19. How old is Mayella Ewell?
1) Draw a time line of the chronological sequence of the novel.
Chapter Nineteen
20. When had Mayella asked Tom to chop up the chiffarobe?
Chapter Twenty
21. In his summing up of the case, what did Atticus say Mayella did?
Chapter Twenty-one
22. When the jury returned, what was their verdict?
Chapter Twenty-two
23. After the trial, what is in the kitchen?
Chapter Twenty-three
24. What will happen to Tom Robinson if he loses his appeal?
Chapter Twenty-four
25. Why did Atticus want to borrow Calpurnia for a moment?
Chapter Twenty-five
26. How long was Maycombe interested in the news of Tom’s death?
6
2) What person is this story written in?
15
6.
Chapter Twenty-six
Choice 3
27. What is Jean Louise’s definition of democracy?
Chapter Twenty-seven
28. Atticus did one thing to Bob Ewell, and Judge Taylor did another.
What did they do?
Chapter Twenty-eight
29. How did Scout’s performance at the pageant affect Judge Taylor?
30. What injury did Jem suffer in the attack?
7.
Choice - Boo Radley
Chapter Twenty-nine
31. When Atticus says Bob Ewell was ‘out of his mind,’ how does Heck
Tate contradict him?
Chapter Thirty
32. How did Heck Tate explain Bob Ewell’s death?
[In other words, what are the good things about the characters you have
chosen, and Boo Radley, and what are the negative things?]
14
Chapter Thirty-one
33. Who wrote ‘The Grey Ghost?’
7
Minor Characters:
Setting:
Choose four of the minor characters from this list and note their strengths
and weaknesses. Miss Maudie Atkinson, Miss Stephanie Crawford, Mrs
Dubose, Boo Radley, Mayella Ewell, Bob Ewell, Aunt Alexander, Calpurnia,
1. On the map below, mark in :
-
Dolphus Raymond, Uncle Jack, Dill, Francis. [You must do ‘Boo
What sort of person are they?
the ‘deep south.’ These are the ‘Confederate’ states most in favour of
the system of slavery, and most resistant to change after the Civil War.
Show these states by outlining them with a coloured pencil.
-
the state of Alabama. Do this by colouring it in.
-
if you can, show the capital of Alabama.
-
Give the map a suitable title.
8
4.
Choice 1
5.
Choice 2
13
Radley’].
Characters:
Setting continued:
Find evidence from the text or your own conclusions, to compile the
2.
character studies below:
1.
-
“Maycomb was a tired old town.” [Chapter One]
List some of the details of what the town looked like.
Scout
Appearance and behaviour:
2.
Jem
Appearance and behaviour:
3.
-
“Maycomb was an ancient town.” [Chapter 13]
List some of the main details of Maycomb’s history.
3.
Atticus Was Atticus a good father?
12
Where possible quote directly from the text.
9
Setting:
4.
The Courthouse [Chapter 16] Describe the exterior of the courthouse -
The Motif: [a recurring idea or symbol which runs through the story].
the side facing north and the side facing south.
Facing North
Facing South
5.
1.
What is important about a mockingbird?
2.
In what ways are both Tom Robinson and Boo Radley mockingbirds?
3.
Are there any other characters who also appear to be harmless but
persecuted?
4.
What does Dolphus Raymond’s behaviour tell us about human
nature?[Chapter 20]
What is the significance of the difference?
6. Complete this street plan of the Finch neighbourhood. Mark in the
sections, the Radley tree, the oak tree, road to town, trouser fence etc.
School
Deer’s Pasture
Finch’s
7.
8.
This story is set when Nelle Harper Lee was herself a young girl in the
1930’s. Find out from your grandparents/history books what was
meant by the ‘depression.’ Make brief notes here:
Who told America she had nothing to fear but fear itself, and when?
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11