Background
I believe that To Kill a
Mockingbird should be required reading for every American and certainly
every high school student. But I believe it should be accompanied by open and
honest discussion about some of the issues that arise in the book. There are
lots of reading guides and discussion questions about To Kill a Mockingbird, but here’s some background information about
the book, its author, and a few things you might discuss with your teenager
when you read it together.
Harper Lee was born in Monroeville, Alabama in 1926. Her father was a lawyer
and state senator. She was childhood neighbors with Truman Capote—he would stay
with an aunt who lived next to Lee each summer and it’s speculated that the
character of Dill was based on him. When they were adults she went on a
research trip with him while he was writing In
Cold Blood and he made editorial suggestions for To Kill a Mockingbird.
Lee first wrote Go Set a Watchman,
which wasn’t published until 2015. Her editor suggested she write more about
Scout’s childhood, and thus To Kill a
Mockingbird was written. They hoped to sell 25,000 copies. The last time I
checked, it has sold over 40 million copies. When it was written it was on the
best sellers lists for 88 weeks. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and a movie
starring Gregory Peck was made in 1962.
Discussion Questions
To Kill a Mockingbird was
voted best book of the century. It has been studied in countless classrooms.
It’s also frequently challenged and censored for things like profanity, racial
slurs, and rape. Do you agree with censoring this book? Or do you think it
should be read in high school classrooms? Why?
Scout, Jem, and Dill make up games around the myth of Boo Radley.
What’s the purpose of role playing for them? What’s the purpose of role playing
childhood?
Atticus shows great respect for Mrs. Dubose despite the fact that she
“had her own views about things, a lot different from mine. . .” How do you
think Atticus can see past such a big difference in world view and admire Mrs.
Dubose? How can we do the same?
After Jem and Scout attend church with Calpurnia, the mention that she
speaks two different languages. “Suppose you and Scout talked colored-folks’
talk at home—it’d be out of place, wouldn’t it? Now what if I talked
white-folks’ talk at church, and with my neighbors? They’d think I was puttin’
on airs to beat Moses.” Do you speak two languages like this? Do you speak
differently at home than you do at school?
Discuss discrimination you see in your world. Do you see inequality
among different sexes? Races? Economics?
