What are the important themes/ideas you will take from this book?

One of the most important themes of To Kill a Mockingbird is how Harper Lee portrays each character’s perspective of the moral nature of human beings. She first introduces the topic of whether people are essentially good or evil through innocent characters such as Boo Radley and Tom Robinson, who are not prepared for the adult world of prejudice and hatred and as a result are destroyed. Jem discovers the evils of racism from the events of the trial that causes his faith in humanity to become shaken, whereas Atticus is able to maintain and see the light in people even in the midst of darkness. Atticus has experienced and understands that every person has both good and bad qualities. Therefore he treats others with sympathy and tries to look beyond their flaws by seeing life from their points of view. He teaches Scout and Jem to never lose hope or be disrespectful to other people without knowing their situation, as portrayed through many experiences. For example, Atticus admires Mrs. Dubose’s courage even after her racist remarks: "According to her views, she dies beholden to nothing and nobody. She was the bravest person I ever knew (P. 112)."                                                                     
Lee also uses Scout’s understanding of human nature and her capability to grasp Atticus’ lessons to show her progression towards adulthood. While she is discovering the good and evil within people, she is also losing her innocence. In the final chapters, Scout no longer sees Boo as the childhood phantom, but as a human being. Just like Atticus, Scout hasn't given up hope in others even after all she’s been through.

What were Atticus’ past experiences that may have shaped his personal beliefs about individuals and society? Did you want closure on any of the minor characters that were never brought back (Miss Maudie, Dill, Mayella)? Were there any other unanswered questions?  

You’re reading this novel after writing your own short story. Are there things you have learned as a writer from reading this book?
The main thing that can be learned from the Novel as a writer is that you can do a lot with a little. For example, in chapter 28, even though Harper Lee including Cecil Jacobs scaring them on their way to the play seems like a simple halloween prank, it has a much deeper effect on the novel because on their way back from the play, when they hear a noise, they think its Cecil again and they scream for him to not try to scare them. If they had not screamed, then Arthur "Boo" Radley would not have come out to save them and in turn they would have been killed by Bob Ewell. But if Cecil had not scared them in the beginning they would not have screamed and would not have been killed. 
This concept of using a little to do a lot is very powerful because of its more hidden meaning. For example, if Harper Lee had just said that Bob Ewell attacked the kids and Boo Radley saw and saved them it would be much less exciting than her describing the little details and letting the reader figure out the big ones. This also adds effect to the story because it forces the reader to actually think hard about the book and concentrate on it more than if she had just flat-out revealed everything.
It also would help the effect if you used it in a short story because it would help the reader to, even in the short amount of time that they are reading it for, to really focus on the story and immerse themselves inside of it. You can use it in your writing by writing the entire scene, then adding smaller details, and then taking out any of the big details that are now unnecessary. 

Questions: What is another example of a time in the novel when little things have more effects than big ones?
How could you have used this in stories that you have already written? 
What kind of effect would the novel have had if she had not written it with the little details?

Do you think this book, written in 1960, is still relevant to us and our current culture/time?

            Although To Kill a Mockingbird was written 53 years ago, the classic story is still shared today. This novel holds some of the most important ideas in life; including racism (prejudice). Some people may question why the novel is significant to modern culture, for it was written 53 years ago. First of all, part of our culture is what we have learned and continued to share from past generations, To Kill a Mockingbird is part of the American culture. If you look around racism is everywhere. One of the differences between the book and modern culture is that many ideas are shown in different ways. For instance, racism is still explained as being a hatred against ones culture that allows "the hater" to overpower the hated person. In the novel, racism may have been displayed through the majority of white citizens overpowering African American citizens; racism was the base of their culture in the 1930’s. On the other hand when it comes to racism in modern culture, racism is still present, yet our culture isn’t fully revolving around racism. For example we might make comments such as, “That kid must be good at basketball because he is black.”  Racism is horrible because the  racist person may be killing a mockingbird through their racist actions. Racism is present in both the 1930’s culture and the 2013 culture, but in different ways. Reading To Kill a Mockingbird allows the reader to, in a way, experience how racism affected everyone's lives in the 1930's. Harper Lee's hope is that after the reader experiences racism, they will avoid being racist and stop others from being racist as well.

Did reading To Kill a Mockingbird allow you to think about how racism affects you in your daily life? Could you imagine living in a town like Maycomb in the 1930's? What other themes are shown in the novel that are present in modern culture?

 

Free Response; What adds suspense to chapter 28?

     Harper Lee adds many moments that made chapter 28 as suspenseful as it could have possibly been. Although this first thing isn’t in chapter 28, I still feel that it adds suspense in many ways to chapter 28. This is the last sentence in chapter 27 on page 340, it is where Scout says. “Thus began our longest journey together.” Harper Lee added this moment into this book because it is leading up to what is about to happen in the climax. In chapter 28 on page 341 at the end of the first paragraph in chapter 28, Harper Lee has Scout say that it was a really dark night with no moon. Harper Lee added this detail because a dark night, with no lights can be a very good place for something big to happen.    
     Another intriguing fact is that once Scout realizes that she forgot her shoes and Jem and her go back. The lights in the High School suddenly turn off. Harper Lee added this into the book because it is showing that everything is dark, therefor it adds to the fact of pure darkness that Harper Lee added early on in chapter 28. Then on page 348-349, Jem makes Scout stop. “Hush a minute, Scout......Be quiet.” Harper Lee added this detail to make the reader realize that something wasn’t right with the whole scenario that Harper Lee wrote it out to be.
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Questions

What do you think Scout is feeling during and after the fight scene with Mr. Ewell?  What do you think was crossing Scouts mind, when she realizes that Mr. Arthur Radley saved her life? Why does Harper Lee make the whole fight scene be under the tree? 

(Ch. 30, 31) Do you think this book, written in 1960, is still relevant to us and our current culture/time?

            Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird, many important lessons and ideas are brought to the readers’ attention. These lessons are very important to keep in mind in our current time. One of Atticus’s many lessons that he taught Jem and Scout was to have empathy and to not prejudge someone before you know them. “One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them (p. 374).” Society has changed significantly, but that doesn’t mean that these important lessons have to go to waste.  In times like today, many people are fighting and disagreeing but if they can remember this lesson of empathy, the world wouldn’t be so crazy.  Before taking negative actions towards anyone, it’s important to look back at this novel and try to put yourselves in their shoes. This book is still relevant to our time in terms of its lessons taught but also the incidents that took place in the story. Black people in our current time have equal rights as apposed to the novel, where Black people were completely downgraded by many people in Maycomb. Today, it is still important to remember the way that blacks were treated because it plays a major role in our history. This book is still relevant because it showcases yet another story about unequal rights between blacks and whites, furthering peoples understandings on this era. 

What are other important themes and/or ideas you took away from this book? Do you notice any connections between what this book is trying to teach us and what another book is? Do you think this book displays an accurate view on the era in the 1960's? 

Make a list of mistakes Jem and Scout make on their way home from school. Explain (briefly) why they are mistakes.

• It was a mistake going out the opposite way as other people, through the back of auditorium.

It was a mistake going out the back of the auditorium because nobody went through the back. Since nobody was there but Jem and Scout they are more vulnerable to get beat and harassed by Mr. Ewell rather than if there are a lot of people around them. If there were a lot of people with Jem and Scout Mr. Ewell cannot sneak up on them as easily. Also there is no lights the way Jem and Scout chose to go home, so they cannot see anything.

•   It was a mistake yelling for Cecil.

Yelling for Cecil was not smart for Jem and Scout because Mr. Ewell heard both of them yell, so now he knows exactly where they are and who they are because of Jem and Scout's voices. If they had not yelled for Cecil then Mr. Ewell might lose where Jem and Scout are because it was very dark outside. Also if they kept quiet then Mr. Ewell would not be certain if the kids he was following were Atticus's kids, because he could not see their faces in the dark and he would not have heard their voices.

• It was a mistake for Scout keeping her costume on.

Scout keeping her costume on was a mistake because Scout could not move very well while wearing the costume. "Though my head and shoulders were free, I was so entangled we didn't get very far" (Lee, 351). She was so tangled in her ham costume that she could not keep her balance and move very far, which helped Mr. Ewell catch up to them and beat Jem and Scout. The costume was shiny too, so that would help Mr. Ewell see Scout in the dark. "Your fat streaks are showin'. Mrs. Crenshaw painted 'em with some of that shiny stuff so they'd show up under the footlights" (Lee, 349). In this quote Jem is talking about Scout's costume and how it is painted shiny and it is possible to see her although it was hard to see outside.

• It was a mistake for Jem fighting Mr. Ewell.

Jem fighting Mr. Ewell was a mistake. Although it was for a good cause to try to defend Scout, he could not fight off Mr. Ewell very well and he eventually broke Jem's arm and knocked him unconscious.

Does Boo's act of helping Jem get home change your view on Boo? Why does Harper Lee choose Boo to be the one who carries Jem home?

What are the effective details that Harper Lee uses in Chapter 28?

                 Harper Lee sets up suspense before the climax (Jem breaking his arm), in chapter twenty-eight by craftily using effective details. The first effective detail was choosing to have the night be Halloween night. Halloween itself creates an aura of spookiness, which leaves everyone jumpy. So when Mr. Ewell is following Jem and Scout they think that they are just jumpy since it is the eerie holiday. The second effective detail was her stress on the type of weather there was that night. “The weather was unusually warm…there was no moon.” (341) The weather description creates an eerie foreshadow for climax later in the chapter upcoming climax later in the chapter. Scout and Jem’s walk is also in the pitch-black night making it hard to see one another or tell who someone is from a distance. Their inability to see behind themselves in the dark eerie night becomes an important factor in the struggle between the Finch children and Mr. Ewell. The kids cannot see their pursuer because of the darkness and Mr. Ewell could not aim as well with his murder weapon with no visible target. The next key detail in her suspenseful set-up is adding in Cecil Jacobs. Cecil Jacobs jumps out from behind the tree in front of the Radley’s, scaring the daylights out of Jem and Scout. The readers may not notice at first why the appearance of Cecil is deliberate because the scaring blends back in with the Halloween spookiness theme. His scare was placed in the chapter deliberately because when Scout and Jem later hear Mr. Ewell’s footsteps crunching  they crush it off, as they think it is just ol’ Cecil trying to scare them again. The next effective details Harper Lee adds to the chapter have to do with Scout's performance in the pageant. 

            The first part of the pageant is just Miss. Merriweather droning on and on. Scout in her awkward large wiry ham costume settles down in a somewhat position and waits. The speech of Miss. Merriweather is so long Scout quickly falls asleep. When Miss. Merriweather calls Scout’s queue Scout does not her immediately as she is dozing. “Pork…pork? Po-ork! When nothing materialized she yelled, ‘Pork’…she caught me backstage and told me I had ruined her pageant…” (346 and 347) Scout is so embarrassed she stays in her bulky costume, to hide, and asks Jem to hang back and not leave with the crowd so she will not have to have many people confront her on her performance. Scout’s actions from her embarrassment fit in with the situation but are also effective details as they play big roles in the result of the struggle. When Heck Tate examines Scout’s wrecked costume afterwards and sees that it has a large knife slice in it. If Harper Lee hadn’t added that Scout was wearing her costume she would have been killed or been more seriously injured. If Scout hadn’t even been embarrassed in the first place Jem and Scout would not have been a single walking target for Mr. Ewell. The kids could have gotten a ride or been mixed in with the herd, unreachable. Harper Lee adds multiple effective details throughout the chapter to fully setup the climax, the dramatic scene of Jem breaking his arm, which the reader has been waiting for the whole novel long.

Q’s: Do you feels as though this was a satisfying climax? Why or why not?

Why do you think Mr. Ewell targeted the kids and not Atticus?