Scout as Narrator: The Impact of Point of View

This lesson includes:

• 3 activities 
• 1 video

To Kill a Mockingbird is one of the most commonly taught books in American schools. This complex novel can be the entry point for meaningful learning, but it demands a careful and intentional approach in the classroom. Learn more about the key principles behind our approach.

Use the following questions to explore the mob scene at the end of Chapter 15 in To Kill a Mockingbird. What does this incident suggest about mob mentality and how Harper Lee thinks it might be defeated?  How does Scout’s limited understanding of the events in this chapter affect the reader?  What parts of the story must the reader piece together on their own?  What does this process reveal about Scout’s reliability as a narrator?

How do Paula Giddings’s insights deepen our understanding of the tension in the jailhouse scene?  What myths and fears were used to justify the lynching of black men?  What does Giddings define as the primary function that lynching played?  How does having deeper knowledge of this history reaffirm or change our analysis of the choices that Atticus, Scout, Jem, and Walter Cunningham make? How does this video help us understand Scout's limitations as a narrator?

Another way to help students understand Scout’s limitations as the narrator is to ask them to consider how a different character might have described the jailhouse scene.  Ask them to rewrite the scene from the perspective of another character who was there: Tom Robinson, Walter Cunningham, Atticus, or Jem.  

Regardless of the character that students choose or are assigned, they should include responses to the following questions in their work:

1. How does the character understand what the men intended to do when they arrived at the courthouse?
2. How did the character feel when Scout ran to Atticus?  How did he respond?
3. How would the character explain why the men decided to leave?  To whom does the character give credit for convincing them to back down?