To Kill a Mockingbird

Radio NZ presenter Kim Hill interviewed book reviewer Kate Camp in 2010 for the 50th anniversary of TKAM. Listen to the podcast of the interview and answer the following questions:

1. Kate Camp’s biggest criticism of the book is that the trial is unnecessary. Do you agree? Why? Why not?

2. Kate Camp states she has two main concerns with the trial scene. What are they?

a. the style is too preachy – author tries to tell reader what to think.

b. in order for Tom to be found innocent, Atticus had to question the testimony of a victim of rape and incest.

3. Kate Camp says she enjoys the “sensual language” of the novel. Interviewer Kim Hill agrees and says it “smells like the South”. Give examples of descriptive language from the text that support that idea. Think about words that appeal to your senses – what does the South “look like”, “smell like”, “taste like”, “feels like” and “sound like”?

4. Kate Camp gives examples of what she doesn’t like about the novel. Note down three:

- too preachy

- morally simplistic

- no shades of grey

- sexist

- racist

5. Despite her concerns, Kate Camp says there are also many reasons she also enjoys reading To Kill a Mockingbird. What are three things she enjoys about the story, and the way it is written?

-  memorable scenes

-  rich language use

-  ending passages, last 50 pages

-  details of childhood

-  action

-  suspense

6. A review is a mixture of fact and opinion (supported by examples). Give three facts from the interview and three opinions

Facts

-  TKAM was 50 in 2010

-  TKAM is best suited for young adults

-  Different people take different meanings from TKAM

-  Kate Camp didn’t start taking notes until page 179

-  Malcolm Gladwell wrote an article for The New Yorker questioning the underlying themes of TKAM

-  Gregory Peck played Atticus Finch in the movie

Opinion

-  the trial is the weakest part of the story

-  the novel has not aged well – its themes are outdated

-  the author is sexist

-  the author is racist

-  Moby Dick would have been a better story without the whale

Glossary of terms and phrases:

A foot in both camps – no clear preferences; agrees with more than one opinion

A repository of cracker box epigrams – a storage place for witty remarks that may have two meanings, a bit like the jokes you get in Xmas crackers.

Atmospheric – (ADJ) – the main tone or mood or feeling

Complexity – (N) made up or many parts, complicated

Contentious – (ADJ) – tending to quarrel, causing a dispute

Echo chamber – A room with walls that reflect sound. In this text it means a repeat of.

Emasculate – (V) – to remove manhood; to make ineffective

Equivalence – (N) – equal in value

Evokes – (V) – to stir up a memory, to provoke

Flippant – (ADJ) – to make light of something in an inappropriate way

Immersed – (V) – to dip in liquid, to involve deeply, to be engrossed in (right into) something

Moral – (ADJ) – good and bad, right and wrong behaviour, generally accepted ways of doing things

Moral universe – the generally accepted ways of doing something within defined boundaries (in this case, the universe)

Shades of grey - something is not necessarily black or white (right or wrong), there are a range of factors to think about. The shades of grey are the areas/issues/opinions/thoughts between black and white (right or wrong).