To kill a mockingbird

1. To kill a mockingbird

{
By Alex Balova, 2PA

2. About the book

Published in 1960
Immediately became successful and sold
out
Won the Pulitzer Prize
Based on real events
Now is considered to be American classic
and is taught in most schools
The main themes: racial inequality and
southern life, gender roles, humanism and
tolerance, the ability to see the best in a
human being
About the book

3. About the plot

Set in Alabama during the days of severe racial
inequality
Revolves around the story of a black man sued
for raping a white girl
Based almost entirely on observations of the
author, who herself grew up in Alabama
POV of a little girl, whose father is a lawyer
defending the black man
About the plot

4. About the author

Born in 1926
Grew up in Alabama
Moved to New York, but wasn’t
successful at first and got many
refusals from publishing houses
Her first book immediately became a
success, but she refused to write
anything else, and “To Kill a
Mockingbird” was thought to become
her one and only novel until “Go Set a
Watchman” appeared in 2015
Avoided publicity and didn’t like being
interviewed
Died quite recently – in February 2016
About the author

5. Interesting characters

Scout – the girl herself
Atticus – her father who is and
example of justice and wisdom
Missis Dubose – a lady who is
very racist and unpleasant
person but, nevertheless, has
some good qualities
Boo Radley – a neighbour of the
girl who is very secretive and
scary at first, but then appears to
be a very good person
Interesting characters

6. Interesting quotes

You never really understand a person until you
consider things from his point of view... Until
you climb inside of his skin and walk around
in it.
“Atticus, he was real nice."
"Most people are, Scout, when you finally see
them.”
- You know something, Scout? I've got it all
figured out, now. I've thought about it a lot
lately and I've got it figured out. There's four
kinds of folks in the world. There's the
ordinary kind like us and the neighbors,
there's the kind like the Cunninghams out in
the woods, the kind like the Ewells down at
the dump, and the Negroes.
- Naw, Jem, I think there's just one kind of
folks. Folks
Interesting quotes

7. Explanation of the title

“Atticus said to Jem one day, "I’d
rather you shot at tin cans in the
backyard, but I know you’ll go
after birds. Shoot all the blue jays
you want, if you can hit ‘em, but
remember it’s a sin to kill a
mockingbird." That was the only
time I ever heard Atticus say it
was a sin to do something, and I
asked Miss Maudie about it. "Your
father’s right," she said.
"Mockingbirds don’t do one thing
except make music for us to enjoy.
They don’t eat up people’s
gardens, don’t nest in corn cribs,
they don’t do one thing but sing
their hearts out for us. That’s why
it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”
Explanation of the title

8. Interesting facts

Harper Lee wrote a book as a result
of a gift that their friends gave to her
– an amount of money to live for a
year, to write what she wanted and
not to work
Lee herself thought the novel would
fail
A character from the book – Dill, a
little boy from neighbourhood – was
based on Truman Capote
The screen version of the book won
an Oscar
Interesting facts

9. The screen version