The document provides definitions and context for various literary, historical, and cultural references that appear in the first chapter of Harper Lee's novel "To Kill a Mockingbird". It includes explanations of people, places, events, traditions and objects mentioned in the chapter ranging from the 19th century American Civil War to folk songs and instruments.
1. To Kill A Mockingbird
by Harper Lee
(aka TKAM)
Literary Allusions and other
reference to terms (Chpt. 1: 1 – 24)
2. • Military hero; 7th
Andrew Jackson president
and the Creek Nation • commanded a force of
combined state
militias, Lower Creek
and Cherokee to defeat
the Red Sticks at
Horseshoe Bend. After
the war, by the Treaty
of Fort Jackson (August
1814), the general
insisted on the Creek
ceding more than 20
million acres of land
from southern Georgia
and central Alabama,
taken from the Lower
Creek allies as well as
the Upper Creek.
11. “The only thing we have to fear
is fear itself”
• Quote from
FDR’s inaugural
speech
referencing the
climate of the
country
regarding The
Great
Depression
18. Merlin
• Wizard from the
legends of King
Arthur
• Scout refers to Dill
as a “pocket
Merlin” because of
his magical story
telling ability and
his ability to make
characters come
alive
19. • Tradition from West Africa
Swept Yards • Adopted in the south
• These yards have no grass --
because they are swept clean
with a broom made of
dogwood branches gathered
in the woods.
• They don't look like much at
first glance. But hidden in
their unconscious design are
traces of West Africa and the
emergence of a hard-won
independence.
• The design of these yards -- a
church pew under the trees,
an old bedspring gate on the
hog pen, a clump of irises
blooming out of a chimney
foundation -- is the evolution
of generations of making do
and making art out of what
others call junk.
23. Pensacola
• city in northern Florida
• Mr. Nathan Radley lives there
before he moves back home
after his father’s death
24. The Gray Ghost
• Adventure stories full of
mystery and humor
from cover to cover.
That also teach young
boy readers the
importance of thinking
for themselves and
playing fair and square
at all times.
