Style

The style of To Kill a Mockingbird is that of a novel. It is a well-developed story, within a frame. The frame is that the narrator, Scout, is retelling and explaining the events that led up to her brother, Jem, breaking his arm when he was nearly thirteen. The reader is told this in the first sentence of the novel and he breaks his arm in Chapter XXVIII, just before the end. There is, however, a further frame. The novel starts with the children’s curiosity about Boo Radley, the ‘malevolent phantom’ and their never having seen him. At various points in the novel they fail to recognise his presence. At the end of the novel Scout meets Boo and recognises him. The events are told in chronological order and take place over three years.

There are several distinctive features of Harper Lee’s use of the novel form:

• she presents most events through the eyes of Scout, the narrator
• she divides the novel into Parts One and Two
• she introduces background material about history, society and families which Scout could not have known at the stage when she is recounting the story
• she uses irony, particularly when statements are made that come true later, but which the reader and the characters could not know about
• she introduces each new character to the reader before an important event in which they are involved, so the reader knows who they are
• she tends to have two or three important elements, aspects or events in each chapter.
• she has often very large temporal shifts
• key events included in the narrative are all purposeful - that is the reason for their existence becomes apparent, usually later in the novel
• her use of language and dialect variation is very powerful, and serves not only as a tool of realism, but as a means to reflect themes, status, and character

Activities:

1.  Review Chapters 1-3 and find examples of:

• temporal shifts
• sophisticated language
• background material
• key events and note their purpose
• key quotes

2.  Examine the introduction of the Ewell and Cunningham families.  Why is this important? What does it reflect about society in Maycomb County?  How is juxtaposition used here?

3.  Find the narrative link of these two families in at least one other juncture in the novel.  How does their role later in the novel reflect or contradict their introduction in the beginning?

4.  Look at the Tim Johnston incident.  Why is this particular event given particular emphasis?

Language

To Kill a Mockingbird is written in modern American English, and the style is basically informal, since the narrator is a child. Lee, however, does not try to keep within the limits of a child's vocabulary or powers of expression. This can, at times, be rather jarring.  A wide range of language is used in the novel, and in studying it the first step should be to identify the various levels of style used. This is easy, since the variations in language correspond to the divisions in social class. The African-American dialect differs from the white; the rich whites speak more grammatically than the poor whites; highly educated characters like Atticus and his brother Jack speak more elegantly than town officials like Heck Tate.

After listing the varieties of language to be found in the novel you should analyse the author's purpose in using them. First, differences in social class and educational status are revealed by differing use of language. Secondly, individual character is often revealed by distinctive style of speech (as in the cases of Atticus and Bob Ewell). Thirdly, attitudes to moral issues can often be detected by analysis of language, even when the characters speaking belong to the same social class and might therefore be expected to use identical words. You could, for instance, check the terms used by different rich white individuals to refer to the African-American - some say "nigger", some say "darky", some say "Negro", some say "coloured persons" - and take the word they choose as an indication of their racial attitude. A minor example of the same type of variation in usage is to be found in the name used by various characters for the narrator. Friends call her Scout; enemies call her Jean Louise.

One further function of the language used in this novel is the creation of atmosphere. All the characters, even the highly educated Atticus, use distinctive Southern dialect expressions such as "You all". Many names used for local fruits and vegetables are also distinctively Southern. It is hard for foreign students to appreciate this technique, but its effect is to create a vivid sense of the Southern environment.

Another aspect of the novel is the humour which abounds in many forms. There is the warm, tender humour of Dill and Scout discussing the origin of babies; there is the satire which mocks ignorance and prejudice; there is the irony of much of the trial scene. In the end, the humorous tone lessens the final horror of the Tom Robinson incident and we tend to remember the novel for its masterful strokes of humour.

Activities

1. Various characters exhibit styles of speech appropriate to their character. Find examples to illustrate each of the following:
1. Atticus uses abstract legal terms, as well as familiar colloquialisms when speaking to his children 
2. Scout uses a racy slang which is sharply different from the chatter of Miss Merriweather or the slow slur of Burris Ewell.
3. Scout's language often lapses between childish and sophisticated
4. The use of contextualised expressions
5. The use of language and dialogue to reflect race, class, gender and education

Point of View

Scout Finch is not only the most important character in the novel, she is also the narrator. Everything that happens is seen through her eyes. However, unlike most first-person narratives, she does not confine the narrative to things that she has directly experienced - for example she recounts stories from the history of Simon Finch, and repeats what other people tell her, so that we see other viewpoints as people speak, making it possible for the reader to compare them.  The author's decision to use a child to tell the story is a very important element in To Kill a Mockingbird. 

Activities

1. The voice you hear telling the story of the novel is actually that of the adult Jean Louise Finch telling you about events that happened when she was a child.
1. At what points in the novel do you become aware of this?
2. Did you find the narrative shifts distracting? Why or Why not?
2. What advantages does the author have as a result of being able to move from one perspective to the other?
3. How does the adult Jean Louise create suspense by hinting at certain developments in the story?
4. How does the adult narrator's reflections contribute to your understanding of the people of Maycomb?

Practice Essay

Using the features studied as your key paragraphs, write an essay examining the narrative style of Harper Lee by responding to the following:

Lee's narrative style is non-existent.  Her structure is disjointed, and fails to maintain reader focus.