To Kill A Mockingbird

In your exam, you will be expected to accurately use key terms that are associated with the text To Kill A Mockingbird.

These include:

• ostracised - excluded from society
• scapegoat - blamed by a society/community for wrong doings, even when that society knows they're wrong
• prejudice - against a group of people that are different to you (hair, race, religion, sport etc.) [mainly thoughts]
• discrimination - treating a group of people poorly because they're different to you
• Typecast - characterisation of a group of people based solely on their stereotypes
• Marginalised - pushed to the margins of society (synonym for ostracised)
• Segregated - separation of people into different areas based on colour (e.g. blacks sitting apart from whites in the courthouse)
• Juxtaposition - placing contrasts together to emphasise their differences

Here are some key websites that can assist with your revision:

http://www.shmoop.com/to-kill-a-mockingbird/mayella-violet-ewell.html

The whole point of the text is summed up in the following quote:

In the above highlighted quote, Atticus is telling Jem that it's not alright to kill a mockingbird because they don't hurt anything, and just sing for all of us to enjoy.  This one quote represents the major theme of the text, where Scout learns that it's wrong to judge people based on gossip or their looks, and instead get to know what they're like.  Throughout the text there are numerous metaphorical mockingbirds, characters that are pre-judged based on mis-information.  These include, but are not limited to:

• Mayella Ewell
• Mrs Dubose
• Scout Finch
• Tom Robinson
• Boo Radley
• Dolphus Raymond