Week 2
America in the 1930’s
By the end of this week students should be able to:
• Research and create a mind map of the author Harper Lee
• Compare the childhood of Harper Lee and Scout Finch
• Understand the context of living in America in the 1930s.
Harper Lee-the Author
Many people say Harper Lee’s hometown of Monroeville and her childhood were the inspiration for To Kill A Mockingbird.
Like Scout, the narrator in the novel, Lee grew up in the 1930s in a rural Alabama town. Like Scout, Lee’s father was an attorney who served in the Alabama State Legislature. Like Scout, Lee’s older brother and neighbour (Truman Capote) were her friends and playmates. And like Scout, Lee was a big reader.
Although Lee has never confirmed it, there is a definite similarity between her experiences as a child and those of Scout. Lee’s father had quite modern ideas about women in the workforce and originally planned for his daughter to become a member of his law firm. But he was smart enough to realise that she needed to go to New York to pursue her dream as a writer.
Harper Lee Facts:
On November 5, 2007, Lee was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush at a White House Ceremony. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award in the United States and recognizes individuals who have made "an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavours."
Examples of Mind maps:
|Harper Lee |Similarities |Scout Finch |...