TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD Writing the Essay ESSAY

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD Writing the Essay

ESSAY QUESTION They've done it before and they did it tonight and they'll do it again and when they do it—seems that only children weep" (Atticus to Jem, Chapter 22, p 235) To Kill a Mockingbird explores ideas about prejudice by critiquing Maycomb's perception and stereotyping of certain individuals and groups, and then revealing the true reality of the situation throughout the plot. What is Harper Lee's message about prejudice and how does she develop this message through characterisation, setting and events in the novel?

STEPS The Quote The Question The Mind map Thesis Statement The Plan The Paragraphs – PEEL Write the Essay Edit the Essay

THE QUOTE They've done it before and they did it tonight and they'll do it again and when they do it—seems that only children weep" (Atticus to Jem, Chapter 22, p 235) What does this tell us? Analyse this quote and look at the message that it provides to readers. How might this help us with our essay?

THE QUESTION Highlight key words Write around the question explaining key words and concepts Rewrite the question in your own words To Kill a Mockingbird explores ideas about prejudice by critiquing Maycomb's perception and stereotyping of certain individuals and groups, and then revealing the true reality of the situation throughout the plot. What is Harper Lee's message about prejudice and how does she develop this message through characterisation, setting and events in the novel? In my essay, I need to…

THE MIND MAP Use a spider diagram, list or other note taking form to list as many ideas related to the question that you can think of. Now group these together under different headings / categories – you may want to colour code ideas. You may also want to identify the most relevant or significant information – highlight this or number the information in terms of importance.

POSSIBLE CATEGORIES How did you categories all your ideas? What categories did you use? How can this help in writing the essay?

THE THESIS The thesis should provide an overall guideline for your essay. It needs to clearly respond to statement and should include ideas from your mind map. It should be one sentence long. To Kill a Mockingbird explores ideas about prejudice by critiquing Maycomb's perception and stereotyping of certain individuals and groups, and then revealing the true reality of the situation throughout the plot. What is Harper Lee's message about prejudice and how does she develop this message through characterisation, setting and events in the novel?

GROUP THESIS STATEMENTS Working in groups, come up with a thesis statement. We will then decide on a class thesis statement. Harper Lee uses literary devices such as setting, characterization and events to convey the message of the truth after being lost in a small town’s prejudice. Harper Lee explores the issue surrounding Maycomb of prejudice through the use of racist/bias elements, the demonstration of social classes and the idea of mystery and town gossip surrounding the character Boo Radley. Harper Lee’s message is that only innocence can understand innocence but there is so much guilt in the world. Harper Lee incorporates the use of literary devices to depict Maycomb’s traditions, biased opinions and views on innocence. Through literary techniques, Harper Lee develops the message of how prejudice can bring unjust effects on minorities and destroy innocence and the truth.

In the novel, ‘To Kill a Mockingbird, ’ Harper Lee uses characterization, setting and events to position readers to understand the destructive power of prejudice in the context of a racist small town in the deep south of America in the 1930 s.

THE PLAN You need to be able to prove your thesis statement. Thesis Statement for Practice: To do this you need a ‘body’ of paragraphs that support your main idea (thesis) Each paragraph should have a clear topic or idea. What paragraphs could we use to prove our thesis? We will decide on five possible paragraphs that we could include to prove our ‘thesis statement’.

POSSIBLE PARAGRAPHS Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 Group 5

CLASS PLAN Introduction – Thesis Statement: Paragraph 1: Paragraph 2: Paragraph 3: Paragraph 4: Paragraph 5:

PARAGRAPH STRUCTURE Topic Sentence: The topic sentence should be clearly linked to thesis statement. � It should also provide clear guidance for your paragraph. This is what your paragraph should be about. � Supporting Details This is PEEL. � You need to make points, use evidence, explain and elaborate on this evidence and then link to your next point or back to the hypothesis. � Concluding Sentence � This should sum everything up and provide one last link to your thesis statement. This could also link to your next paragraph.

PEEL How does cold weather impact cats? Cold weather impacts cats in many ways. For example, they will stay inside more. This means they will not be hunting as much. This shows how cold weather impacts cats because they spend more time indoors.

Explore how Steinbeck presents the character of Curley’s wife. You should focus on his use of language. Steinbeck has chosen to place Curley’s wife, a female character, onto a ranch where there are only men. He presents her as a weak character that needs the attention of others. For example she is described as, “leaning against the door frame so that her body was thrown forward. ” The way Steinbeck has focused on her flirtatious body language shows the importance of her seeking male attention. Steinbeck describes her throwing her body forwards because it highlights to the reader her need for physical attention. Comment: Grade B The point is explored in more detail. The use of ‘because’ in the last sentence shows the analysis of the quote and thinking about Steinbeck’s presentation. Well written and clear presentation of ideas. Improvement: Deeper analysis of Steinbeck’s language. Possible second quote to back up.

Explore how Steinbeck presents the character of Curley’s wife. You should focus on his use of language. Steinbeck has chosen to place Curley’s wife, a female character, onto a ranch where there are only men. He presents her as a weak and occasionally vulnerable character that needs the attention of others. Ultimately this leads to her downfall. For example she is described as, “leaning against the door frame so that her body was thrown forward”, and, “heavily made up. ” The way Steinbeck has focused on her flirtatious body language shows the importance of her seeking male attention. Steinbeck describes her throwing her body forwards because it highlights to the reader her need for physical attention. “Thrown” is a powerful verb that suggests she fully intends to show off her body and attract male attention. “Heavily” describing her make-up again suggests she has spent a lot of time on her appearance. As a woman in the 1930 s she would be socially inferior to men, and perhaps is trying to use any advantage, like physical appearance, to get close to men and up the social hierarchy. Comment: Grade A. Deep analysis of the quotes at word level. Writer’s intentions explored analysed in more than one way. Showing not only understanding but intelligent thinking through the different ideas.

EXAMPLE #1 The Radley place is described by Scout as ‘rain-rotten’ and ‘darkened’. (no topic sentence) This description gives the Radley place a sense of being unkempt and unused. Scout sees one of the residents of the house, Arthur (Boo) Radley, as a ‘malevolent phantom’ who locked a ceremonial officer of the church in a court house out house and got out of being sent away to a school because of his parents. Arthur hadn’t ever been seen outside the Radley house after that. There was a rumor that Arthur randomly ‘drove (the) scissors into his parent’s leg’ while he was doing collage one day and all the towns children have been making and hearing rumors about the Radley place ever since. (needs to be more concise) Townspeople are afraid to go near the house which is evident when Scout observes that ‘A Negro would not pass the Radley place at night. ’ (p…. ) , he would cut across to the sidewalk opposite and whistle while they walked’ this passage shows the Radley’s are seen by the town as merciless and to be feared. ‘The shutters and doors of the Radley house were closed on Sundays’ this act only occurs when there is cold weather or illness within the house. Sundays are the time of church and socializing in Macomb County ‘But to climb the Radley’s front steps and call, ‘hey’, of a Sunday afternoon was something their neighbors never did. ’ Overall Radley place is an area that contains millions of rumors and fears shared by the townsfolk by simple standing there.

STRUCTURING OUR PARAGRAPHS Let’s look at our paragraphs again. Form groups. Groups will rotate around stations. Each station will be one paragraph. Use a laptop and a word document as we will share these as a whole class at the end. For each paragraph, we are going to come up with a PEEL chain or Points of Proof that we could possibly use in the essay. You will then rotate and move on to the next paragraph and create a new PEEL chain or Point of Proof there. This means we will have many PEEL chains that we can use.

LET’S REVIEW PARAGRAPH STRUCTURE Topic Sentences Supporting Details – PEEL / Points of Proof Concluding Sentences

EXAMPLE PARAGRAPH TOPIC SENTENCES Lee positions readers to understand how innocence and truth is lost in small town prejudice through the use of symbolism. This is achieved through images such as the mockingbird, and the juxtaposition of gothic elements with wholesome country life. Through the use of characterization, readers are given insights into how the racism rife in Maycomb is a dangerous threat to truth and justice. Descriptions of setting are instrumental in positioning readers to understand how small town gossip and rumours can overshadow the reality of a situation. The plot of the story is pivotal in the development of the message that racism and small town prejudice leads to injustice.

PARAGRAPH TOPIC SENTENCES Paragraph 1: Paragraph 2: Paragraph 3: Paragraph 4: Paragraph 5:

PARAGRAPH SUPPORTING DETAILS 1 2 3 4 5

PARAGRAPH CONCLUDING SENTENCES OR LINKING SENTENCES

THE PLANNING SHEET Look over all the planning we have done. Use the practice planning sheet to organise this planning properly. Complete this for homework

WRITE THE ESSAY You will now have time to write your essay. This is under exam conditions Remember to use connectives and linking works. See next slide for some ideas. Your essay should be well structured because of all the planning you have done!

ADDING SEQUENCING ILLUSTRATING and first, second, third… for example also finally such as as well as next for instance moreover meanwhile in the case of too after as revealed by… furthermore then illustrated by additionally subsequently COMPARING QUALIFYING CAUSE and EFFECT because so therefore thus consequently hence CONTRASTING EMPHASISING similarly but whereas above all likewise however instead of in particular as with although alternatively especially like unless otherwise significantly equally except unlike indeed in the same way. . apart from on the other hand. . notably as long as conversely if

EDIT THE ESSAY Remember to edit your work carefully. Read through your essay at least twice. Look at spelling, punctuation and grammar. In particular, take care with run on and fragmented sentences.