To Kill a Mockingbird: Writer's Methods and Techniques (Edexcel IGCSE English Literature)

Writer’s Methods and Techniques

Literary devices are the different ways in which a writer creates meaning. Authors spend a long time deciding how they want to structure their narratives and what narrative techniques they will use in order to impact their readers.

Think: how has Harper Lee structured To Kill a Mockingbird and what did she want to achieve? What are the literary techniques she uses and what effect do they have? In order to achieve the highest marks in your exam, you will need to discuss the text as a whole, picking out key examples to provide evidence to support your points.

We will explore Harper Lee’s use of:

• Structure and narrative voice

• Bildungsroman

• Symbolism and motifs

• Setting

Structure and narrative voice

In To Kill a Mockingbird, the story is narrated through the eyes of a child, Scout Finch. Her narrative is divided into two parts but is circular; the text ends just after her brother Jem’s arm has been broken, linking it back to the beginning when Scout recalls his injury and the events that led to it.

• By beginning with Jem’s broken arm, Harper Lee creates a sense of intrigue:

  • The circular structure may also be used  to reflect the patterns of behaviour in the southern town of Maycomb, Alabama

  • It is a place where discrimination and prejudice repeat themselves in different forms through different generations

• The opening also foreshadows violence and fracture, which permeate the community:

  • Scout is almost six years old when the novel begins and almost nine years old when it ends

  • By using a child narrator, Lee is able to deal with complex and adult issues through the eyes of a child:

    • This has the effect of highlighting the absurdity of racism and other forms of discrimination, especially when injected with humour

• Scout’s point of view serves as an unfiltered lens through which the events in the town of Maycomb unfold:

  • Due to her young age, she inadvertently reveals her own prejudices and hypocrisies in a way that a more self-aware adult narrator would not

  • Through this unguarded narration, Harper Lee is able to show how fallible human beings are, and how easily children can be impacted by the beliefs and values of those around them

  • This highlights the importance of Atticus as a moral guide:

    • He does not conform to societal norms in Maycomb and it is this refusal that shapes his children’s attitudes

Bildungsroman

Novels described as part of the Bildungsroman genre follow the main character’s growth, not only in terms of age, but also in terms of moral and psychological development. The word Bildungsroman comes from a German word meaning “novel of education”.

• The reader is introduced to Scout as a young child and follows her development over a three-year period across two parts:

  • In Part 1 of the novel, the chapters are characterised by: childhood adventures and friendships, a fascination with the Radley house and the importance of Atticus’s character and moral outlook 

• Complex themes are present in the first half of the narrative, though its focus is on the innocence of childhood, magnified by a sense of nostalgia:

  • “Somehow, it was hotter back then” (Chapter 1)

• By the end of Part 1, Jem and Scout start to face the reality of their fractured community:

  • They discover their father will be representing Tom Robinson in court, a black man accused of raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell

  • Due to Atticus's refusal to conform to Maycomb's attitudes and their racial prejudices, they become targets of discrimination

• Part 1 continues to reveal more conflict in contrast to the emphasis on play and curiosity at the beginning:

  • This marks a gradual shift away from an age of innocence

• Part 2 opens with a description of Jem’s adolescent moods and “maddening air of wisdom” (Chapter 12):

  • The action is shaped by Tom Robinson’s trial and its aftermath

  • Scout's psychological growth is exemplified by her perception of Boo Radley, which undergoes a complete transformation:

    • She first describes him as a "malevolent phantom” but at the close of the novel she states he was “real nice” 

Symbolism and motifs

Harper Lee uses symbols and motifs to enrich the narrative and add layers of meaning to strengthen the messages within the novel.

• Nature is a common motif:

  • When Scout and Jem receive air rifles for Christmas, they are told never to shoot a mockingbird as they are harmless and make beautiful song:

  • The mockingbird comes to symbolise innocence and virtue, qualities to be valued rather than destroyed

  • The title foreshadows the death of Tom Robinson; he is shot despite being an innocent man

  • Scout draws a parallel between harming Boo, who is innocent and gentle, and the act of killing a mockingbird: "Well, it'd be sort of like shootin' a mockingbird, wouldn't it?" (Chapter 10)

• The symbolism of birds is also used through the family’s surname, Finch; finches are harmless birds that symbolise joy in Native American culture:

  • Atticus Finch emphasises the importance of kindness and empathy in a community where hatred and prejudice are rife

  • Finches are also small, which makes them vulnerable to birds of prey

  • Atticus is vulnerable to attack from the Maycomb mob, and Scout and Jem are attacked by Bob Ewell

• The mad dog, Tim Johnson, can be seen as a motif of the widespread racism and prejudice within Maycomb:

  • Atticus's decision to shoot the dog epitomises his determination to confront injustice and protect the community from the effects of racism

• Jem cuts the flowers off Mrs Dubose’s camellia bush in a fit of anger having “stood as much guff” about Atticus defending Tom Robinson as he can bear (Chapter 11):

  • Physically cutting the plant alludes to cutting racism out of the community

  • The flower heads are gone, but roots of the plant remain, just as the roots of racism remain embedded in Maycomb society

• Light and dark are also important symbols throughout the narrative:

  • After shooting the dog, Atticus stands under the street light

  • When Scout pushes past the mob at the jail to get to her father, she moves into a “circle of light” to where he is:

    • The association of Atticus with light alludes to him being a symbol of hope and enlightenment

• The moon is a motif for innocence and purity:

  • Boo Radley is associated with moonlight, which adds to the sense of mystery surrounding him

  • He is said to come out at night under the light of the moon and his house draws the children like “the moon draws the water”

  • When the children see a figure move, the Radley’s porch is “bathed in moonlight” (Chapter 6)

• Buildings in Maycomb are used symbolically:

  • The Radley house juts out and has weather-beaten shingles, closed shutters and doors:

    • It is a motif of isolation and difference

  • While the courthouse should be a place that upholds justice, it is where Atticus encounters the mob, and where Tom Robinson is found guilty:

    • The courthouse symbolises institutionalised racism

  • Scout and Jem’s school should be a place of advancement and education:

    • However, the teaching is based on conformity rather than individuality

    • The attitudes within it are a microcosm of those prevalent within the broader community

  • The Ewells live in a makeshift home in the dump:

    • It epitomises their low position in the social hierarchy, emphasising their poverty and marginalisation

Setting

To Kill a Mockingbird is set in the 1930s during the Great Depression in a fictional town called Maycomb, in America’s deep south.

• Setting the story during a time of the Great Depression allows Harper Lee to explore the impacts of economic hardship on American society

• According to the Jim Crow laws, racial segregation was still legal during the period the novel is set and was written:

  • The historical context allows Harper Lee to bring social inequalities to the fore

• Maycomb is described as “a tired old town” where people moved slowly “because there was nowhere to go” (Chapter 1):

  • This is a metaphor for the hopelessness of the community and the lack of advancement

  • The Courthouse is described as sagging:

    • It is perhaps a symbol of the weight of the negative attitudes on the society, which prevents justice 

• At the beginning, action is focused on the Finch house; the children have boundaries between which they are allowed to play:

  • The confined setting symbolises the narrow scope of their world, which gradually expands as they mature and their perspectives broaden

• For Boo Radley, his world is even smaller and the setting for his life is largely inside his house:

  • At the end of the novel, he goes outside and the reader has a description of what he looks like for the first time:

    • When Scout properly meets Boo, she realises he is not someone to be feared and that her ignorance was what created her fear

    • This conveys one of the most important messages of the novel

Sources:

Lee, H. (2010). To Kill a Mockingbird. Arrow Books.