Historical Background
These extrajudicial, mob-led killings haunted people of color is the Civil Rights era, acting as violent and terroristic methods to enforce segregation.
Lynchings
"She's an old lady and she's ill. You just hold your head high and be a gentleman. Whatever she says to you, it's your job not to let her make you mad."
Atticus Finch
The film portrays this character as more serious and less childish than in the novel, where she narrates with youthful perspective.
Scout Finch
Atticus's quote that “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it” can be encapsulated by this one-word theme.
Empathy
On August 28, 1963, Dr. King gave his famous "I Have a Dream Speech" on the steps of this famous landmark.
The Lincoln Memorial
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt told the nation that they had "nothing to fear but fear itself" on March 4, 1933 in hopes to comfort them during this severe economic crisis.
The Great Depression
"[He] took advantage of me an’ if you fine fancy gentlemen don’t wanta do nothin’ about it then you’re all yellow stinkin’ cowards, stinkin’ cowards, the lot of you. Your fancy airs don’t come to nothin..."
Mayella Ewell
This character’s arc in overcoming addiction is detailed at length in chapter eleven of the novel, but it is left out almost entirely in the film adaptation.
Mrs. Dubose
BONUS: What was she addicted to?
"Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's _________________________."
A Sin to Kill a Mockingbird
On April 12, 1963, Dr. King was arrested in this Alabama town for violating a state court injunction banning protests. In prison, he wrote a letter eight white clergymen who criticized his "untimely" work.
Birmingham
This 1863 declaration came from the heat of the Civil War, freeing slaves across the nation, including those owned by the Finch family's ancestors in our novel.
The Emancipation Proclamation
“Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.”
Scout Finch
In both versions, this mysterious neighbor is revealed at the end, but the film shows fewer earlier interactions with him.
Arthur "Boo" Radley
“I wanted you to see what real __________ is, instead of getting the idea that [it's] is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.”
Courage
Though labeled as an "extremist" and "radical" for his views on desegregation, Dr. King continually pushed for this form of resistance.
Nonviolent
Though slavery had been technically abolished prior, a series of strict laws known by this two-word term reinforced racial segregation and white supremacy from the the late 1800s to the 1960s.
Jim Crow
"Atticus is a gentleman, just like me!"
Jem Finch
While the film adaptation excludes this, the novel opens with important history on the Finch family, including how this ancestor of Atticus made his fortune off of slaves.
Simon Finch
The unfair trial and death of this man demonstrates the depth of racial hatred in Maycomb while also reflect one of the most significant themes of the novel.
Tom Robinson
Before his death, Dr. King gave a speech entitled "I Have Seen ____________" where he acknowledged that he would likely not live to see the fruits of his labor.
The Mountaintop
On September 6, 1955, an open-casket funeral was held for this fourteen-year old individual who had been kidnapped, beaten, and killed by Roy Bryant and his half-brother, J.W. Milam. The funeral was a graphic reminder on the extent of white supremacy's horrors in America.
Emmett Till
From the novel: “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy… that’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”
Miss Maudie
The passage of time and order of events is significantly cut down in the film, focusing less on Scout and Jem's coming-of-age experiences and more on the legal drama. What is one significant experience from the novel that is cut out of the film that has not already been mentioned?
[Various Answers]
The novel demonstrates that both moral good and evil can often be found harbored within the same individual. One way this is symbolized is through this flower, which is given to Jem by Mrs. Dubose.
Snow-on-the-Mountain (camellia)
On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed by this individual on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel.
James Earl Ray