advanced higher english dissertation to kill a mockingbird

Home > ETDS > DISSERTATIONS > 2991

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Fulfilling the search for completeness in harper lee’s to kill a mockingbird and delia owens’ where the crawdads sing.

Kyra M. Sica , Seton Hall University Follow

Date of Award

Spring 5-21-2022

Degree Type

Degree name.

John P. Wargacki, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Russell Sbriglia, Ph.D.

"individuation" "personality development" "Delia Owens" "Harper Lee"

Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird (1960) and Delia Owens’ Where the Crawdads Sing (2018), set in the 1930s and 1960s, respectively, portray coming of age stories narrated from the points of view of two female protagonists, Scout and Kya. In Mockingbird , Lee conveys Scout’s maturation via a first-person narrative, recounting the events she witnesses between 1933 and 1935 as a linear flashback when she is an adult, whereas Owens conveys maturation in Crawdads , which happens over the course of Kya’s life, from a roving third-person narrative point of view, between 1952 and 2009. Both novels immerse the young protagonists in communities impacted by social phenomena, such as racism, prejudice, gender-norms, and the marital complex, all of which have a profound impact upon their lives and, subsequently, the personalities they develop as a result. Both only six years old at the onset of each novel, Mockingbird’s Jean Louise (“Scout”) Finch, and Crawdads ’ Catherine Danielle (“Kya”) Clark negotiate societies and their own values in order to obtain a share of power, and reject the metaphorical and material subjugation that normally attends paradigms inherent to the Deep South in the 1930s and 1960s. Lee and Owens utilize narrative points of view, in conjunction with symbols and images that function as objects for the projection of Scout’s and Kya’s psychic energy, to portray the struggles of young protagonists subject to morally challenging social phenomena, and to comment on how interactions with social and cultural values can both reflect and inform identity and personality development, broadly.

Recommended Citation

Sica, Kyra M., "Fulfilling the Search for Completeness in Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird and Delia Owens’ Where the Crawdads Sing" (2022). Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs) . 2991. https://scholarship.shu.edu/dissertations/2991

Since May 16, 2022

Included in

American Literature Commons

Advanced Search

Notify me via email or RSS
Collections
Disciplines

Author Corner

ETD submission
University Libraries
Seton Hall Law
eRepository Services

Home | About | FAQ | My Account | Accessibility Statement

Privacy Copyright

THE ANTI-RACIST EDUCATOR

Jul 11, 2021
11 min read

The White Literary Canon: Why Mockingbird Gets More Protection Than It Deserves

#mockingbirdnotantiracist.

Allan Crosbie, an English curriculum leader at the James Gillespie's high school in Edinburgh, shared that his department, in their efforts to decolonise the curriculum, would stop teaching To Kill a Mockingbird for its dated depiction of race and promotion of the white saviour narrative. Instead, the department would be teaching more contemporary fiction written by authors of colour.

For any educator doubting the professional judgement behind that decision, or unsure about the benefits of that decision, I am sharing my reflections here in the hope that more school leaders will be brave enough to take similar anti-racist action. I am writing as a non-Black teacher of colour in Scotland who has spent several years researching anti-racism in Scottish education and who has, in the past, taught To Kill a Mockingbird and Of Mice and Men .

Sensationalist Media Response:

It didn’t take much time for the press to sensationalise what should really be deemed a sound exercise of professional judgement and the practice of anti-racist education. The professional decision to stop teaching an American classic written by a white author became distorted by the media as “scrapping,” “cancelling,” “banning” and “woke.” Instead of using inverted commas around those inflammatory words, the headlines included the words “dated” and “white saviour” in quotation marks to instantly dismiss the valid description of the American classic.

This is no surprise and no coincidence. The press tends to capitalise on the emotional topic of race, causing school leaders to second-guess themselves when doing the right thing, all in fear of the press. This in turn works to preserve the status quo ( racism and white supremacy ) without leaving space for addressing the complexities of education and anti-racism.

advanced higher english dissertation to kill a mockingbird

School leaders (understandably) fearing the press, ask yourselves what matters most: the learning outcomes of children and young people in your school, or the temporary noise of the press?

If you genuinely believe you are doing the right thing, then the answer should be clear. I will do my best to support those teachers deciding to stop teaching To Kill a Mockingbird and having to defend their decisions. That is because, contrary to Geoff Palmer, I believe that "dropping" To Kill a Mockingbird is one way to start beating racism.

Roll in The Race Expert:

As an anti-racist activist, I am often seen as an “expert” in many spaces. When an Advanced Higher pupil chose To Kill a Mockingbird for their English dissertation, I was asked to be their supervisor as the “race expert” in the school. In that instance, I was glad to do it because I did actually know what I was doing, but I generally don’t like seeing myself as the expert because there is always so much more to learn about anti-racism. Being rolled in as the “race expert” in spaces that are new to us can lead to brilliant learning opportunities, but we should also be wary of the people (and the press) capitalising on our ignorance as we learn.

I hold Professor Geoff Palmer in very high regard and I am grateful for the scientific and historical wisdom he imparts every time I hear him speak. Palmer has been instrumental in the movement to decolonise Scottish History, bringing light to the role of Henry Dundas in delaying abolition of the slave trade by 15 years. The press turned to Palmer as the “race expert” to comment on the school’s decision to stop teaching To Kill a Mockingbird . Unfortunately, the distorted narrative that the press presented – that of “banning” a text – may have led to Palmer’s decision to warn, if not condemn, the school. Without an understanding of Scotland’s English curriculum or even having recently read To Kill a Mockingbird , I can understand how any "race expert" might not realise the complexity of decolonising an English curriculum.

Problematising the White Literary Canon

First published in 1960, To Kill a Mockingbird was written by white American author Harper Lee and it is stocked in the cupboards of many English departments in Scotland. Mockingbird has a reputation of being a seminal anti-racist text, an iconic classic about racial justice, primarily because of the court case it presents where a white man tries to defend an innocent Black man who is falsely accused of raping a white woman. In the recent headlines about the James Gillespie school, one journalist argues that “to cancel Mockingbird is to kill the past” and Palmer shared similar concerns that not teaching this text would lead to young people’s ignorance about racism in the justice system. However, the English curriculum leader under attack had precisely chosen a contemporary text which addresses racism in the justice system and police brutality: The Hate U Give by Black author Angie Thomas. This decision was also criticised for “dumbing down” literature for teenagers, even though the person behind that critique confessed not having read the book and admits judging it by the letter "U" in the title. Or does it have anything to do with the fact that The Hate U Give is written by a Black woman making the Black Lives Matter movement, and thus racial consciousness , more accessible to young people? Either way, if teachers are really concerned about challenging literature, then there are definitely other older classics written by Black authors worth considering.

Because of the whiteness of the literary canon, Mockingbird receives far more attention than the play A Raisin in the Sun by Black American writer, Lorraine Hansberry, which was published in 1959, only one year before Mockingbird . Having taught A Raisin in the Sun several times, I can confirm that Hansberry’s insights into the intersectional experiences of racism, sexism and poverty, along with the intergenerational resistance against slavery and movements of Pan-Africanism, are far more valuable and authentic that anything vaguely anti-racist in Mockingbird . While teaching it, my S3 and S4 pupils were able to:

make connections between the historical racism in the USA and the UK, drawing parallels between the racial segregation in the housing system at the time and that of contemporary Glasgow,

gain a deeper understanding of the intergenerational wealth gaps caused by enslavement in the USA

identify the intersectionality of sexism, racism and poverty alongside the myth of the (white) American Dream.

empathise with Black American characters, while enjoying diverse representations of Blackness (from the Black American student to the migrant Nigerian Professor, the Black aristocrat to the Black chauffeur, the Black son to the Black grandmother, etc.)

reflect on the way “nice” people can be racist too.

To me, it is a true anti-racist classic.

Yet A Raisin in the Sun isn’t widely stocked in the cupboards of English departments and there are no headlines about this American classic being “cancelled” or “banned.” That is how the white literary canon operates: it does nothing to protect the seminal work of Black writers.

Essentially, Palmer and the news articles about the James Gillespie school fail to address what decolonising the English curriculum actually involves:

Questioning the whiteness of the literary canon

Finding those other anti-racist books that tend to be left at the margins, precisely because they are written by authors of colour.

Considering that an English teacher tends to have about 4 hours per week with secondary school classes, decisions have to be made all the time about which texts to teach. That doesn’t mean pupils can’t get books like Mockingbird out of the library to read for themselves. A Raisin in the Sun is one of the many texts out there which does a better job of sensitively helping young people understand the historical and contemporary manifestations of racism, both in the US and the UK (if the teacher helps make those connections). To find out more, and to build your own racial literacy, check out the Anti-Racist Educator and the Lit in Colour (incomplete) reading lists.

If, for some unfortunate reason, you have no choice but to teach Mockingbird , then please consider the many problems with the text before you proceed.

The Dehumanising White Gaze

First of all, To Kill a Mockingbird is a story about white people, not Black people. It was written by a white author and it is narrated by a white girl whose gaze regularly dehumanises the very few Black characters:

- the housemaid who speaks “funny” according to the white child, encouraging the reader to internalise the idea that white people naturally have a superior way of communication

- the housemaid’s church friend who is dismissed as “aggressive,” reproducing the trope of the angry Black woman

- the innocent Black male victim of the court case who needs to be saved by a white person, having no agency and hardly any lines in the entire novel.

This white gaze is present in many texts taught in Scottish schools (such as Ian Crichton Smith’s short story, Home ) and teachers should encourage their learners to critically reflect on whose perspectives are missing, especially when they are the object of the white gaze. Unchallenged stereotypes (e.g. angry Black woman), omissions (e.g. Black resistance) and distortions (e.g. Black people speaking “funny”) all contribute to the formation of racial prejudice in young people and thus reproduce racism.

The White Saviour Narrative

Mockingbird presents a narrative of white saviourism, whereby Black people have no agency, no power to resist oppression, and rely entirely on benevolent rich white male characters who fail to reflect on their own inherited privileges (e.g. wealth accumulated as a result of slavery). This narrative is false because it omits the important legacy of Black resistance across the globe. One significant example of Black resistance was brought to the stage by the Black British intellectual, C. L. R. James, whose play preserves the incredible story of Toussaint Louverture , leader of the Haitian revolution.

Going back to Mockingbird , learners should be supported to think critically about the problems behind the white saviour narrative which has historically been used to justify colonisation, as seen in Rudyard Kipling’s poem “ The White Man’s Burden ,” and which continues to be enacted in the unequal power dynamics of the international charity industry.

The Classist, Good-Bad Binary of Racism

The simplistic, classist portrayal of racism in Mockingbird encourages the reader to believe that only “bad” people, especially poor, uneducated white people, are guilty and complicit in racism. Meanwhile, none of the white protagonists and heroes think about their racial identity and their role in racism as a system of advantage based on race. Learners should be encouraged to reflect on the ways that racism operates as a system, rather than simply isolated acts of cruel behaviour.

Pupil Voice and Teacher Racial Illiteracy :

Palmer called for pupils’ views before deciding to stop teaching Mockingbird . I agree that pupils should be centred in those decisions and journalists should have included the views of Black pupils in Scotland by contacting anti-racist organisations supporting young Black people such as Intercultural Youth Scotland . In the report by Intercultural Youth Scotland, In Sight , the majority of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic young people felt that, in English, the class did not read books that were about experiences that related to their culture, heritage and background. It is worth noting that Mockingbird relates to a white American person’s culture, heritage and background, as it does nothing but belittle Black American culture and, of course, it focuses on the USA. In England, the recent Lit in Colour report found that 34% of students are of Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic background but only 0.7% of students study a book by an author of colour at GCSE and only 0.1% of students study a book by a woman of colour at GCSE. There is no reason to believe that in Scotland the situation is much different.

When it comes to teaching Mockingbird , there already exists research on pupils’ experiences. Teaching While White has an entire podcast episode dedicated to American students’ experiences of being taught Mockingbird in secondary school. All the pupils interviewed were disappointed by their white teachers’ discomfort and unwillingness to talk about race even though the book was presented as an anti-racist text. The teachers had not reflected on their positionality, their white racial identity, and did not have the racial literacy or tools to lead those uncomfortable conversations about racism. This mirrors the findings in Scotland where teachers tend to lack confidence in talking about race ( Teaching in a Diverse Scotland , 2021). In England, confidence in talking about race was equally identified as a major barrier for teaching diverse texts ( Lit in Colour , 2021).

When teaching Mockingbird , difficult conversations about race are central to challenging the formation of racial prejudice from the text, deconstructing the white saviour complex and minimising the risks of racial trauma caused by the excessive use of the n-word.

If a teacher does not have the class time or racial literacy to support learners in thinking critically about the racist stereotypes, omissions and distortions in literature, then texts like To Kill a Mockingbird will definitely do more damage than good. As a teacher with a fair amount of confidence and racial literacy , I was able to supervise a white pupil writing their dissertation on the text by regularly talking about race with them and framing their arguments around the problematic nature of Mockingbird as an anti-racist text. At Advanced Higher, there is much more time and space to sensitively do this but I would have struggled with a Third Year class.

In the research carried out by Teaching While White , every pupil agreed that Mockingbird had no value as an anti-racist text and it risked causing more damage than good considering the racial trauma it can cause for students of colour. Similarly, a colleague of mine recently taught the novel in Scotland, surveyed their class afterwards and the consensus was that To Kill a Mockingbird should no longer be taught because there are more appropriate texts out there. I have no doubt that other English department’s making such decisions would consider their pupils’ views and keep their best interests at heart.

The Excessive use of the N-word and Racial Trauma

The racial slur, the n-word, appears almost 50 times in To Kill a Mockingbird and when the text is read out loud in class this creates a major safe-guarding issue for Black pupils at risk of experiencing racial trauma . The verbalisation of that word so many in times in class trivialises the harm it causes and it can lead to non-Black pupils thinking that they have permission to say that word whenever they want. Black respondents to the student survey on the Teaching While White survey shared the stress it caused them in classroom which made them unavailable for learning for the entire novel. In comparison, A Raisin in the Sun contains the n-word only once and the Black characters immediately address the harm behind the word, without requiring any input from white characters. This probably has to do with Lorraine Hansberry's deeper understanding, as a Black playwright, of the psychological harm the word would cause for Black audiences watching the play.

Since the n-word in the classroom is such a requested topic for our blog to cover, and since it does not only apply to the English curriculum and the teaching of To Kill a Mockingbird , I will be posting more guidance on this shortly.

*Click here for my blog post with more guidance.*

To Kill a Mockingbird : Not an Anti-Racist Text

It should now be clear that To Kill a Mockingbird is not an anti-racist text. Analysing it with an anti-racist lens, such as Critical Race Theory , has the potential of creating valuable anti-racist learning outcomes for white pupils, as I did when supervising an Advanced Higher dissertation. However, without that racial literacy and the tools for engaging in difficult conversations about race in education, the book does more damage than good in the classroom. No anti-racist text should require so much time, effort and racial literacy for a classroom teacher to unpack in a way that doesn't create more risks of perpetuating racial prejudice and narratives of white saviourism. And the racial trauma caused by the excessive use of the n-word is a strong enough reason for not counting it as an anti-racist text, let alone teaching it in the classroom.

If any teacher is looking for support in their decision to stop teaching To Kill a Mockingbird or other problematic texts written by white authors, please don't hesitate to get in touch by emailing [email protected]

Please spread the word by using the hashtag #MockingbirdNOTAntiRacist on social media and share your Mockingbird stories on Twitter by tagging us with @AntiRacistEd

References:

Mockingbird in the Classroom: The Student Experience (Teaching While White podcast)

Lit in Colour report

Teaching in a Diverse Scotland : 3 Years On

One example of the numerous articles attacking Allan Crosbie's department for their decision to stop teaching Mockingbird .

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry

Toussaint Louverture by C.L.R. James

In Sight: Perceptions and Experiences of Black Asian and Minority Ethnic Young People in Scotland , by Intercultural Youth Scotland

Recommendations:

The Anti-Racist Educator blog post on Critical Literacies by Navan Govender

The Anti-Racist Educator webinar on Decolonising the English Curriculum

The Lit in Colour reading list

The Anti-Racist Educator reading list

The Scottish Government Race Equality and Anti-Racism in Education Programme

The Anti-Racist Educator blog post on Difficult Conversations about Race

Framework for Mutual and Productive Communication about Race in Education

The Anti-Racist Educator podcast episode on Racial Trauma, Black History and Black Joy

Anti-Racist Education
Counter-Narratives

The Romanticism of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird Page: 3

This thesis is part of the collection entitled: UNT Theses and Dissertations and was provided to UNT Digital Library by the UNT Libraries .

View a full description of this thesis .

Adjust Image
Rotate Left
Rotate Right
Brightness, Contrast, etc. (Experimental)
Cropping Tool
Download Sizes

Preview all sizes/dimensions or...

Download Thumbnail
Download Small
Download Medium
Download Large
High Resolution Files
IIIF Image JSON
IIIF Image URL
Accessibility
View Extracted Text

Extracted Text

The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:

on racial injustice. Bruell feels that, although Atticus fails, the novel contains the hope that the "dawn" of freedom from racial ills will occur.7 Fred Erisman also emphasizes the political and social ideas of the novel. Erisman feels the book is meant to teach the South, as a region, a great lesson: the South must "escape the stifling provincialism that has charac- terized its past."8 He uses Atticus as his example for the South to follow. Erisman states: "He is presented as a Southern version of the Emersonian man, the individual who vibrates to his own string. . . . Through him, and through Jem and Scout . . . Miss Lee presents her view of the New South."9 I agree with Bruell and Erisman that the novel's theme calling for racial justice is important. This theme is, as I will note later, an element of Romanticism. But I do not think this theme is necessarily the most important theme in the novel. Scout attracts the attention of a considerable number of the critics. Phoebe Adams does not like the novel's use of Scout as the narrator. Adams states: "It [the novel] is frankly and completely impossible, being told in the 7Edwin Bruell, "Keen Scalpel on Racial Ills," English Journal, LIII (December, 1964), 661. 8Fred Erisman, "The Romantic Regionalism of Harper Lee," The Alabama Review, XXIV (April, 1973), 136. 9Ibid., pp. 128-129.

Upcoming Pages

Here’s what’s next.

Show all pages in this thesis .

Search Inside

This thesis can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.

or search this site for other thesis or dissertations

Tools / Downloads

Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.

View Extracted (OCR) Text

Citing and Sharing

Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.

Reference the current page of this Thesis.

Turner, Glenn D. The Romanticism of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird , thesis , December 1979; Denton, Texas . ( https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc504305/m1/7/ : accessed July 30, 2024 ), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu ; . Copy Citation

Print / Share This Page

Embed Viewer

Permanent URL (This Page)

Univesal viewer, international image interoperability framework (this page).

Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to upgrade your browser .

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

We're Hiring!
Help Center

To Kill a Mockingbird: Race, Class and Innocence in the Contemporary Society INTRODUCTION

Related Papers

SEGREGATION IN HARPER LEE’S TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD: A CASE OF RACE, CLASS AND GENDER

Hamza Koudri

This dissertation constructs a comprehensive reading of race, class and gender as portrayed in Harper Lee’s 1960 novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, and attempts to separate those forms of segregation in order to better understand their interaction. This work aims to investigate to what extent To Kill a Mockingbird is an anti-racism novel. While race is at the heart of the novel, Lee strives to denounce different forms of bigotry such as class and gender. This dissertation also explores the extent to which Harper Lee’s novel can be considered to be a progressive novel by analyzing the author’s use of narration techniques and critiquing the solutions she suggests for social ailments. A question that is often brought up in this context is how well can a white author write black stories? The dissertation uses two main literary theories to reach the said objectives. The first one is Stephen Greenblatt’s New Historicism, a theory that explains a literary work reconnecting it with the time period in which it is produced and identify it with the cultural and political movements of the time. The second approach used in this work is Kenneth Burke’s Sociological Criticism, which aims at placing literature within its economic, political and, especially social context, and seeks to find social flaws by looking into the structure of society. Following the guidelines of these two theories, this works revolves around four main axes. The first chapter compares between the representations of black and white characters in the novel. Lee deals with blacks mostly in terms of masses, with little emphasis on individual agents, whereas whites receive much more developed characterization, raising intriguing questions regarding her ambivalent attitude towards race. The second chapter aims at determining the extent to which the author succeeds in highlighting the individuality of blacks, and their role as individual agents of change. Third, the dissertation highlights the author’s view on a decaying old South that clings to old perceptions of class, and her vision for a more progressive society. The fourth and final section of this thesis looks at gender as another basis for segregation, underlining the intersection of gender, race, class and religion and emphasizing the role of women in negotiating their roles in an oppressively prejudiced society. While Lee follows her progressive precedents, Mark Twain and Ralph Emerson, both in their dependence on the individual agents and their call to give up old traditions and follow human ethics and principles in order to bring about salvation for the Old South, it so happens that Lee’s individual agents are white male elite.

IPraveen Sagar

This thesis presents Harper Lee’s view about prejudice, race racism and cultural clashes of social life in To Kill A Mockingbird. The aim of the thesis is to analyze deeply about the concept of prejudice and racism and cultural clashes of Harper Lee from the point of view of Scout as the main character in this novel. The discussion began by analyzing intrinsic and extrinsic elements. The intrinsic elements novel such as character and characterization, conflict and setting and the extrinsic element taken from the social conflict America at glance in 1930s. From the intrinsic and extrinsic elements, the reflection of Harper Lee’s view a struggle of a white man who defend a nigger which is in that time defending nigger such a disgrace for white people from the social judgments. The methods used are library research method and approach. The library research method is to gain information related to discussion. The approaches used here are structural and sociological approach. Structural approach is used to analyze character and characterization, setting, conflict, while sociological approach was applied to analyze Racial Prejudice in this novel. The result of the analysis shows that Scout as the main character is described as a person who is naïve, understanding girl, smart, emotional, lovely. She experiences the internal conflict, person against herself. The external conflict overwhelm Scout against some others characters and the society. In this novel Harper Lee’s shows her point of view on prejudice ,racism and cultural anarchy. She tries to tell people in the novel if Alabama in 1930s was full of prejudice and racism action from white people to black people. So, because of the prejudice black people always become the victim or person that blamed as a criminal when there was a case between white and black before or after the court. And the way the mocking voice of race people were sung by the narration of Harper Lee through her novel To Kill A Mockingbird.

Post-45: The Journal

Situating Harper Lee's work in its proper historical context, this essay argues that Atticus Finch was involved in a longterm intimate relationship with Calpurnia, his African American housekeeper, and is the father of her son Zeebo. As such, it identifies a hitherto unnoticed, albeit circumscribed, political agency exhibited by black women under slavery and Jim Crow, one that was to prove essential to the struggle for black liberation. To Kill a Mockingbird, it agues, is less a novel about a white savior than a novel that reveals the blindness, of both its characters and many of its readers, to the nature of black struggle in the United States. ******* http://post45.research.yale.edu/2018/01/the-other-finch-family-atticus-calpurnia-zeebo-and-black-womens-agency-in-to-kill-a-mockingbird-and-go-set-a-watchman/

Sena Bektaş

Faeze Rezazade

Living among the Whites has caused many problems for the Blacks throughout the history. African Americans, who are African in their roots and American in their life, as opposite races, are segregated from the White’s societies due to their colored skin. They are considered as uncivilized and lowbrow people who do not have equal rights to the Whites. Thus, racial segregation acting like a veil, as Du Bois refers to, brings African Americans a dual identity which leads to their double consciousness. Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, written in 1960, further to its depiction of racial prejudice and discrimination issues of American society in 1930’s, pictures the life of a minor character named Calpurnia as a black woman who lives with a white family and has the role of a mother for the white children. Therefore, living among the Whites and the Blacks at the same time leads her to a double consciousness, which is the result of segregation. Thus, using W. E. B. Du Bois’ concepts of “veil” and “double consciousness”, in this study it has been tried to investigate the inner as well as the outer truth of African Americans’ life and their merged identity under the impact of racism. Index Terms— double consciousness, Du Bois, Identity, segregation, To Kill a Mockingbird.

Education and Capitalism: Struggles for Learning and Liberation

Brian Jones

Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy

Michael Macaluso

This article combines frameworks of new racism and critical literature pedagogy to provide ideas and strategies for critically engaging, teaching, and reading with To Kill a Mockingbird.

Discrimination and racial injustice towards Blacks have existed among the groups of people since the very beginning of their gatherings as a communication and society. Throughout history, people of colored skin, especially Blacks, were not accepted in the Whites’ communities due to the Whites’ thought of supremacy over them. Regardless of their positive role and doing manual labor in keeping the wheels of the Whites’ industry turning, Blacks were always treated as nonhuman and “clownish” creatures born to serve Whites. African Americans are the main groups of Blacks who suffer from discrimination and racial injustice because they are living among Whites, though segregated from the Whites’ society. However, there are many white individuals who do not consider the skin color and treat Blacks as human beings and only humanity and good nature of the people matters to them. Nelle Harper Lee in her masterpiece, To Kill a Mockingbird, written in 1960, introduces three children (Scout, Jem, and Dill) and Atticus, who is Scout and Jem’s father, as color-blind characters who fraternize with Blacks as humans without paying attention to their skin color. Therefore, using W. E. B. Du Bois’ thoughts- regarding prejudice, discrimination, and racial injustice- in this article it has been tried to investigate Atticus’ and three children’s color blindness in the case of racism in To Kill a Mockingbird.

Reception: Texts, Readers, Audiences, History (August, 2010): 48-94.

Barbara Hochman

Loading Preview

Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.

RELATED PAPERS

Jeryl Raphael

Sairam Mariappan

Tamara L Hoff, PhD

James Garfield

joseph makhakha

Fernin Eaton

PADMORE AGBEMABIESE

Early American Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal

Brigitte Fielder

H. Scottie Johnson

Gina Rizzuto

Reviews in American History

Anja Werner

The BlackLetter Journal

Peggy Cooper Davis

Kevin K. Gaines

Jana Chrenková

The Mississippi Quarterly

Rachel Watson

Shalom Kasim

Tricia G L O R I A Nabaye

Donavan L. Ramon

Audrey McFarlane

British Journal of Sociology of Education

David Gillborn

Patrick Rael

Jeffrey Glossner

Amanda Johnston

Ben Schiller

Zoë Burkholder

In this section

Select a subject Accounting Administration and IT Applications of Mathematics Apprenticeships Art and Design Baccalaureates Barista Skills Biology Business Management Care Chemistry Childcare & Development Classical Studies Computing Science Core Skills Dance Design and Manufacture Drama Economics Engineering Science English Environmental Science ESOL Fashion and Textiles French Gaelic Gaidhlig Geography German Graphic Communication Health and Food Technology History HN Human Biology Italian Latin Mandarin Mathematics Mathematics of Mechanics Media Modern Studies Music Music Technology National 1 & 2 NPA Philosophy Photography Physical Education Physics Politics Practical Cake Craft Practical Cookery Practical Electronics Practical Metalworking Practical Woodworking Psychology RMPS Scots Language Skills for Work Sociology Spanish Statistics SVQ Urdu

National 3 and 4
Literary Study
Textual Analysis
Portfolio-writing
Presentations
Course Reports
Additional resources for sessions 2020-22

Advanced Higher English - project-dissertation topics

Introduction

Candidates should be made aware that the primary purpose of the Advanced Higher English project-dissertation is to write a sustained critical analysis, analysing and evaluating literary technique. The wording of the dissertation topic should reflect this wherever possible. Dissertations which set out to deal with a particular theme or themes should always include supporting analysis of appropriate literary techniques. All dissertations should present and analyse appropriate textual evidence, and should contain a clearly structured and well-supported argument. All elements of the dissertation should be relevant to the task. Therefore, care needs to be taken to ensure that candidates choose specific and manageable topics.

Here you will find examples of topics that have been chosen by candidates along with a commentary on their suitability for the project-dissertation. The examples can be browsed from the tabs above or the full document accessed/downloaded from the link below.

► Advanced Higher English - Project-dissertation topics - Examples (PDF)

An examination of the complex symbolic significance of trees in ‘Beloved’ by Toni Morrison.

This is a concise statement with a clear focus on a single technical aspect of the chosen text. This should allow the candidate to offer an effective literary analysis of this element of the novel.

Explore the dramatic means by which David Harrower forces the audience to face any moral ambiguity they may experience in his controversial play, ‘Blackbird’.

This topic could be more clearly expressed as:

An exploration of moral ambiguity in ‘Blackbird’ by David Harrower.

This would allow the candidate greater scope in their analysis of moral ambiguity and not restrict it to audience reaction alone. The words “controversial” and “forces” are perhaps too assertive for the topic statement. Such evaluative comments would be best kept for the dissertation itself, perhaps forming part of the candidate’s emerging line of argument and/or conclusion.

An analysis of the oppression of women throughout time and society in ‘The Help’ and ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’.

Whilst a topic looking at the “oppression of women” in these texts is a valid approach, the reference to “throughout time and society” is too broad in scope. Also, the focus is upon a more sociological approach to these texts and it would benefit the candidate if they made more explicit reference to literary technique. For example:

An analysis of the use of characterisation and narrative in dealing with the oppression of women in ‘The Help’ and ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’.

A critical analysis of the role women play within society as they fight for freedom, self-liberation and challenge the gender roles. A comparison between ‘The Miniaturist’ and ‘A Doll’s House’ analysing the approaches they use to allow the female characters to break stereotypes with reference to characterisation, symbolism and themes.

This title seems overly complicated and it is not immediately clear what the focus of the dissertation actually is. It might be reworded in a number of more helpful ways. For example:

Challenging Gender Roles – a comparison of characterisation and symbolism in ‘The Miniaturist’ and ‘A Doll’s House’.
A comparison of some of the literary means by which themes of freedom and self-liberation are presented in ‘The Miniaturist’ and ‘A Doll’s House’.
Breaking Stereotypes – a comparative analysis of female characters in ‘The Miniaturist’ and ‘A Doll’s House’.

As this is a “mixed genre” dissertation on two disparate literary forms, it is likely that the candidate will have to concentrate on broader elements which are common to both genres, such as theme and characterisation, in their analysis of these two texts.

A literary examination of how Tennessee Williams explores the theme of illusion versus reality through the main characters in ‘Sweet Bird of Youth’ and ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’.

This is a concise statement with a clear focus on a single theme shared by the two selected plays. This should allow the candidate to offer an effective literary analysis of these two very popular drama texts.

A Study of Religion, Morality and Character Motivations in Cormac McCarthy’s ‘Blood Meridian’ and ‘The Road’.

While the study of themes of religion and morality is a perfectly valid area to focus on in this dissertation, the inclusion of the third element, “Character Motivations” is an unnecessary addition to the task and could weaken the structural balance. Character motivations might well be one of the ways by which the author illustrates the themes present in these texts and as such could still be covered and analysed as a technical element.

The Diverse Scottish Female Experience: The Candid Depiction of Scottish Women in Literature.

This topic is too broad. While the “candid depiction of Scottish women” is a potentially interesting area for a candidate to consider, the lack of a more precise focus or reference to the actual texts under consideration is unhelpful. The topic could be reworded along the following lines (or similar):

An analysis of the depiction of the Scottish Female experience in ‘Sunset Song’ and ‘The Panopticon’.

An analysis of the theme of stoicism in Thomas Hardy’s ‘The Return of the Native’ and Elizabeth Gaskell’s ‘North and South’.

This is a concise statement with a clear focus on a single theme appropriate to the selected texts. This should allow the candidate to offer an effective literary analysis of these two large and wide-ranging nineteenth century novels.

Proposal: To explore the limitations and themes of Love, Death and Isolation in Robert Frost’s poems.

The opening statement of the proposal perhaps lacks clarity (“limitations and themes of . . .”) but the selected themes themselves are appropriate in an analysis of Frost’s poetry. There should be a statement of which poems are to be consider. For example:

An exploration of love, death and isolation in a selection of four poems by Robert Frost – ‘The Sound of Trees’, ‘Out, Out – ’, ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’ and ‘Fire and Ice’.

Coming of Age in . . . ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’ by Steven Chbosky and ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ by J.D. Salinger.

This topic identifies an appropriate theme in two very popular texts. A little more detail might be helpful for some candidates in establishing their approach to the novels. For example:

A comparative study of some of the literary techniques employed by Chbosky and Salinger in their presentation of the theme of “coming of age” in ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’ and ‘The Catcher in the Rye’.

The Fear of the Other in Victorian Gothic Horror.

This is another example of a topic which is too broad in its scope. A more precise focus and reference to the texts being studied is required. For example:

The Fear of the Other – a comparison of two examples of Victorian Gothic Horror: ‘Dracula’ by Bram Stoker and ‘The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ by Robert Louis Stevenson.

A comparative study analysing the impact of displacement caused by the war and how this changes the dynamic of relationships.

This task offers no specific texts and no specific focus on any literary aspects of the texts being dealt with, albeit it states that the study will be “comparative”. The general statement within the task points to ideas of “displacement caused by the war” and how this impacts “the dynamic of relationships”. To bring some focus to the task, it could be written as:

A comparative analysis of characterisation in highlighting displacement and disconnection in Virginia Baily’s ‘Early One Morning’ and Bernard Schlink’s ‘The Reader’.

This reworded task brings some focus to the literary nature of the task, and the thematic focus which will be dealt with in the two named texts.

The American Dream’s failure displayed through classic American novella.

This task points towards a topic which is possibly too broad in scope, and to texts which are not named, with no particular literary focus. The use of word “displayed” as a possible means by which the texts will be interrogated does not immediately suggest a literary analysis. A more focussed task could be:

An analysis of symbolism, setting and characterisation in exploring the failure of the American Dream in John Steinbeck’s ‘Of Mice and Men’ and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘The Great Gatsby’.

This would bring focus, clarity and an acknowledgement that a literary analysis will be at the heart of the dissertation.

A comparative analysis of the devices used to explore the theme of masculinity in ‘Macbeth’ and ‘Julius Caesar’ by William Shakespeare.

The task is clear and precise in its focus. It states the specific texts being dealt with and the focus on “comparative analysis” and “devices” points towards a technical analysis of the texts, and a thematic focus.

A comparison of the similarities in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ and ‘Snow Falling on Cedars’, as depicted through narrative, symbolism and setting.

This task has a specific literary focus on two texts. However, “comparison of the similarities” is not as precise and could limit the scope of the response. Although the task is looking at literary techniques, it does not define to what end. A slight adjustment could be made to the task. For example:

A comparative analysis of how narrative, symbolism and setting highlight the theme of prejudice in Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ and David Guterson’s ‘Snow Falling on Cedars’.

This would bring some more focus to the task yet still allow the candidate scope to offer a literary analysis of how the theme is explored by these authors.

The prevalence and subsequent significance of gender stereotypes in the work of Daphne du Maurier.

This task has a valid and specific idea of “prevalence and […] significance of gender stereotypes” at the heart of it, which is positive. However, looking at “the work of Daphne du Maurier” suggests a large range of texts and there is no specific focus on literary analysis and/or techniques. A more focussed and concise task would be:

A literary exploration of the prevalence and significance of gender stereotypes in Daphne du Maurier’s ‘Rebecca’ and ‘My Cousin Rachel’.

A Wasp in the Bell Jar: The consequences of misogyny in ‘The Bell Jar’ and ‘The Wasp Factory’.

This task is a very broad statement which has a focus on the texts and thematic concern. It is a sophisticated task which could work well, however, some more clarity and precision may be helpful for candidates. For example:

A comparative literary analysis of misogyny in Sylvia Plath’s ‘The Bell Jar’ and Iain Banks’ ‘The Wasp Factory’.

A study of the visibility of personal experience in the poetry of Seamus Heaney with reference to the poems ‘September 1969’, ‘Casualty’ and ‘The Strand at Lough Beg’.

This task is a concise summation of what the candidate has chosen to look at in their dissertation. Three poems are specified and the focal point of the dissertation is outlined well in the “visibility of personal experience”.

Exploring the role of an unreliable narrator in contributing to the reveal of psychotic or impulsive behavior.

This task has the technical focus of the “unreliable narrator” which supports an approach to the task which is literary, but it would be beneficial to include the specific texts being dealt with. Also, “the reveal of the psychotic or impulsive behaviour” is less helpful in defining its focus. The task could be adjusted to, for example:

An exploration of the function of the unreliable narrator in Brett Easton Ellis’s ‘American Psycho’ and Patrick McGrath’s ‘Asylum’.

Terms & Conditions
Back To Top

To Kill A Mockingbird: A Resource Guide: Scholarly Resources

Scholarly Resources
Educational Resources

Selected Databases

Academic Search Elite (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
America: History and Life This link opens in a new window
Contemporary Authors This link opens in a new window
Literature Online (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
Literature Resource Center (LRC) This link opens in a new window
Literary Theory This link opens in a new window
Communication & Mass Media Complete (CMMC) This link opens in a new window
ERIC - Educational Resources Information Center (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new window
Project Muse This link opens in a new window
ProQuest Central This link opens in a new window
Social Science Database (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
SAGE Journals This link opens in a new window

Pittsburghese Articles

Research Intro

The themes presented in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird presents an angle for research on the subject of racial discrimination , as well as the study of race relations , social injustice , segregation and more.

This page is designed to provide you with resources on these subjects through journals & books found in the catalog, suggested subject headings, and other scholarly resources.

suggested eBook

Still Have Questions? Ask Us!

Find Books on Related Topics

African Americans -- Civil rights -- History
African Americans -- Southern States
American Deep South
Banned Books
Civil Rights -- United States -- History
Coming of age -- United States
Gender Roles
The Great Depression
Innocence -- Literature
Jim Crow Laws
Race and legal trials
Race relations
Racial discrimination
Rape -- Literature
Scottsboro Trial, Scottsboro, Ala., 1931
Segregation
Social Commentary
Social injustice
Southern Gothic
Southern States -- Race relations
United States -- History -- 1933-1945
<< Previous: Harper Lee
Next: Educational Resources >>
Last Updated: May 20, 2024 10:24 AM
URL: https://guides.library.duq.edu/gumbergTKAM

To Kill a Mockingbird

Introduction to kill a mockingbird, summary of to kill a mockingbird, major themes in to kill a mockingbird, major characters in to kill a mockingbird, writing style of to kill a mocking bird, analysis of literary devices to kill a mockingbird.

“Cry about what, Mr. Raymond?” Dill’s maleness was beginning to assert itself. “Cry about the simple hell people give other people—without even thinking. Cry about the hell white people give colored folks, without even stopping to think that they’re people, too.” “Atticus says cheatin‘ a colored man is ten times worse than cheatin’ a white man,” I muttered. “Says it’s the worst thing you can do.” (Chapter-20)

I wouldn’t be so sure of that, Atticus . . . His kind’d do anything to pay off a grudge. You know how those people are. (Chapter-23). “ Ruth Jones, the welfare lady, said Mr. Ewell openly accused Atticus of getting his job. She was upset enough to walk down to Atticus’s office and tell him about it. (Chapter-27) High above us in the darkness a solitary mocker poured out his repertoire in blissful unawareness of whose tree he sat in, plunging from the shrill kee, kee of the sunflower bird to the irascible qua-ack of a bluejay, to the sad lament of Poor Will, Poor Will, Poor Will. (Chapter-28)

A day was twenty-four hours long but seemed longer. There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County. (Chapter-1)

Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view -“ “Sir?” “- until you climb into his skin and walk around in it. One time (Atticus) said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them.

What was the evidence of her offense? What did she do? What did her father do?

He was as good as his worst performance. (Chapter 4). The tire bumped on gravel, skeetered… and popped me like a cork onto pavement. (Chapter-4)

Post navigation.

Mr Smith's Higher/N5 English Revision

"Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic" – Prof. Dumbledore

To Kill A Mockingbird

Here, you will find revision materials for “To Kill A Mockingbird”.

Model Essays

Opening Essay

Prejudice Essay

key Incident Essay

S etting Essay

Key Incident