Seeking Justice: To Kill a Mockingbird (2020)

Lesson 18
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ELA

Unit 6

8th Grade

Lesson 18 of 35

Objective


Explain the impact of Atticus’s word choice and references to historic texts in the development of meaning in his closing argument.

Readings and Materials


  • Book: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee  — chapters 20 and 21

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Target Task


Writing Prompt

Read the following sentence from the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

On page 233, Atticus references this sentence, and specifically the line, “all men are created equal.” Why would Atticus choose to reference this text? In what way is this sentence particularly applicable to this case?

Sample Response

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Key Questions


  • On page 231, Atticus says, “This case is as simple as black and white.” Explain what he means literally and the double-meaning of this idiom within this specific context.
  • Look up the meaning of the words “unmitigated” and “temerity.” What is Atticus’s tone when he uses these words on page 232? How do the other words in this sentence help the reader understand Atticus’s tone?
  • How does Lee’s use of italics and the repetition of the word “all” on page 232 help to develop Atticus’s meaning in this paragraph? Carefully explain your thinking.
  • Discussion: Back in the first lesson, we talked about why gender, sexuality, and race were so closely intertwined. What does Atticus have to say about this. What does his use of the phrase “tempt” and “our women” reveal about beliefs about women and female sexuality?

Lesson Guidance


Standard and Literary Concepts

  • Authors are influenced by the world around them and texts they have encountered in the past. Effective readers consider an author's specific social and historical context, and what myths, traditional stories, and historical or religious texts he or she might be influenced by. Readers recognize the places where authors draw on ideas from other texts by looking for specific allusions, character types, and more universal themes.
  • Today, Lee has Atticus reference the Declaration of Independence, one of the seminal texts of this nation. The line “All men are created are equal” is regularly cited as a cornerstone of our democracy. Students will consider how the use of that reference in this context—more than a century and a half after it was originally penned—renders this document “new” and develops the reader’s understanding of both texts.

Notes

  • If you have a very strong reader in your class, consider having them read Atticus’s closing argument aloud.
  • Students may wish to discuss why the Declaration of Independence only says “all men are created equal.” This issue has been hotly debated—whether women and people of color were meant to be included in this statement. White women, after all, did not have the same rights as white men, and hundreds of thousands of enslaved people certainly were not considered “equal” during the time period when this document was written. And yet feminist and civil rights leaders have evoked this document as a way of supporting their arguments about universal human rights.
  • The discussion question today requires students speak about sex and sexuality.

Homework

  • Review To Kill a Mockingbird, chapter 20.

Common Core Standards


  • RL.8.4 — Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts.
  • RL.8.9 — Analyze how a modern work of fiction draws on themes, patterns of events, or character types from myths, traditional stories, or religious works such as the Bible, including describing how the material is rendered new.
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