To Kill a Mockingbird 分析(很全的)

To Kill a Mockingbird

Based on a

Famous American Novel

To Kill a Mockingbird

The

novel

was

published

in

1960.

It

was

awarded

the

Pulitzer

Prize,

translated

into

a

dozen

foreign languages and was made into a motion picture.

The

novel

captured

the

struggle

of

white

and

black

citizens

of

the

United

States

of

America

against racial discrimination and for social justice.

Main characters:

Atticus Finch

–

widowed attorney (lawyer) with 2 young children

his daughter, nicknamed

Scout

who tells us a story,

6 years old.

Jem

, his son, 10 years old

Dill

–

children’s friend

Calpurnia

–

the cook and family helper, negro.

Boo Radley

–

Mr. Arthur Radley

–

their neighbor

Tom Robinson

–

Negro, a field hand on trial for the rape of a white woman

Mayella

Ewell and her father -

Mr. Ewell

Judge

Taylor

Heck Tate

–

sheriff

To Kill A Mockingbird

Set in a small town in Alabama, the film focuses on two young children, Scout and Jem Finch who

embark on various small journeys throughout the film and learn many important lessons.

Most

importantly,

the

film

is

about

their

father

Atticus

(Gregory

Peck)

and

his

defense

of

an

African American man, Tom Robinson accused of assaulting and raping a white woman, Mayella

Violet Ewell.

To Kill A Mockingbird

Just the accusation of rape is enough to make most people in the town feel that Robinson is guilty,

but Atticus believes in equal rights and most of all believes in the importance of moral integrity.

He must represent Robinson to the best of his abilities because it is his duty as an attorney.

Scout and Jem also encounter troubles of their own and learn that a neighborhood

Radley is not nearly the scary man they think he is.

Themes:

1.

Prejudice and Fear

White prejudice against a black man make people decide he’s guilty

despite lack of evidence.

The children have a fear of

Boo Radley

and judge him to be a “monster”, but are wrong.

2.

Moral Courage during opposition

–

the lawyer,

Atticus

, defends a black man, which makes

some people hate Atticus.

Setting

Maycomb, Small

town in 1930’s Alabama, in the southern USA.

Because of the

Great Depression

, the economy was terrible at this time, and many people had no

money and no work.

African

Americans

were

not

treated

well

by

some

whites,

although

many

whites

had

good

relationships with blacks.

First screening

Opening credits

–

the music and names of the people who made the film

A child opens a box and draws a picture.

What’s in the box?

What is the feeling and emotion of this beginning? Why does the movie start this way?

Do you like to be scared?

In this movie the children are fascinated by

“Boo” Radley

, a mysterious neighbor who lives with

his parents but only comes out at night and never talks.

The children are curious about Boo and want to find out more about him, so they dare each other

to get close to his house or look in his window.

The children create a “spooky” feel to the story until

Halloween

comes at the end.

Scary

Jem

,

the

ten-year

old

boy,

also

becomes

scared

for

his

father

as

he

realizes

that

his

father

has

made some people angry, especially one man, Mr. Ewell.

At the end of the movie, the two scary people that Jem fears come together and we find out the

truth about them.

Guns

In America, people are free to own guns as long as they obey the law.

Often country folks had guns for hunting of protection from wild animals.

Jem wants a gun,

but Atticus won’t give him one yet.

His father tells a story about getting a gun as a boy and what his own father said:

“It’s a sin to kill a mockingbird….because they don’t do us any harm… only sing for us”

Mockingbird

The Mockingbird

is a symbol in the movie of someone who does

no harm

but maybe harmed by

others for no reason.

Who are two people in the story that represent a “Mockingbird?”

People may judge them even though they are harmless.

Vocabulary

Yonder

–

Old English and Southern US dialect for “over there” (direction)

Legal terms:

Charges

–

charged with (a crime)

Case (take a case)

–

the legal court proceedings involving a certain crime or charges

Appointed to / appoint

–

a judge chooses a lawyer to represent or defend a defendant, one who is

accused of a crime.

Vocabulary

Evidence

–

any object or story that supports one side of a legal case.

Witness

–

someone who saw or heard something during or about the crime or criminal

Testimony

–

the spoken description of what a witness saw or heard

Jury

–

the citizens chosen to hear the testimony and choose a conclusion of guilty or not guilty

Verdict

–

the jury’s legal judgment of whether the defendant is guilty or not.

Appeal

–

the request for a re-trial to a higher court.

Vocabulary

Swear /sworn

–

to legally promise that what you say is really true.

Other terms:

“company” –

a guest in your home.

Colored man

–

a negro

Nigger

–

an insulting word for negro person.

Nigger lover

–

an insulting word for a white person who supports black people.

Chifforobe

–

a wardrobe, a cabinet for clothes.

Take advantage (of a woman)

–

rape a woman

Vocabulary

Knothole

–

a whole in a tree caused by a branch being cut or broken off (Jem finds many small

“gifts” in the knothole of a tree)

Britches

–

pants or slacks.

“Cross your heart (and hope to die)” –

a very solemn promise to say or do (or not do) something.

Boo Radley’s House

Review

1. Who is

Boo Radley

? Why is he so mysterious? How does Jem descr

ibe Boo, even though he’s

never seen him?

Why do

you think the children are so curious? Have you seen children do this kind of thing to

strange people?