To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Novel Assignments:
Journals
# 1- Describe a childhood memory including visual details in your writing.
# 2- Find at least 1 idiom, 2 Southern slang expressions, and 3 vocabulary words with definitions that you were not familiar with while reading.
# 3- How would you describe Atticus as a parent? What are his strengths or weaknesses in regards to raising his children?
# 4- Atticus says that courage is “when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what.” Write a few paragraphs analyzing a character in the book, focusing on how Atticus’s definition of courage is displayed through the character’s actions and behavior.
#5- Conflict- At the heart of every novel is conflict, the struggle between two opposing forces. External conflict involves a character’s struggle against some outside force, another person, nature, society, or fate. Internal conflict is a struggle within the mind of one character- two opposing thoughts or desires. Select an example of each type of conflict from the second part of the novel and describe them. (Chapters 12-21)
#6- In the final section of the novel, two characters are compared to the mockingbird. Skim through Chapters 25 and 30 to find these references. Which two characters are identified? Why is the mockingbird an appropriate symbol for these two characters? How are they alike and different? Cite evidence to support your claims.
Essay Assignments
#1- Write a one page essay that reflects on the historical realities important to the story. How does Lee use the culture of the south in the 1930’s to enhance the realism of her novel? Cite evidence from the novel in your response.
#2 Argumentative Essay (on Google Classroom)
You
are going to construct an argumentative essay of one and a half to two pages.
Use your notes from Wednesday's iPad research of the Bill of Rights
(specifically Amendments 5 and 6), your Active Reading comments from the trial
witnesses, and your interpretation of the trial of Tom Robinson to address the
essay question. Make sure you cite evidence from the book to support your
opinion.
In his summary to the jury, Atticus says:
"There is one way in this county in which all men are created equal- there
is one human institution that makes a pauper the equal of a Rockefeller, the
stupid man the equal of an Einstein, the ignorant man the equal of any college
president. That institution....is the court."
Debate the truth of the statement above. Use
information from the Constitution and from the book to argue both sides of the
statement. A good debater acknowledges that there are two sides to the story,
then presents solid evidence to support their claim. You may want to watch the
attached film clip, but its reference is not necessary in your response.
# 3 Personal Reflection
Write an individual response about how the novel affected your ideas of personal courage in the face of injustice. How did the events of the novel affect you? What events were most memorial to you? Why? Refer to elements of the plot and specific characters to support your comments.
Artistic Representation
Use the descriptive information Harper Lee provides her readers to create an artistic representation of a place, event, or characters. This may be any creative representation that is not the written word.
