Language Arts 9 assignment
Due Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Mrs. Marston

Choose one. Writing assignments must be handwritten and may be illustrated.
Novel: To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

H - 1. WRITE: in the first chapters of To Kill A Mockingbird Harper Lee introduces the following characters: Atticus, Calpurnia, Jem, Dill, Mr. Radley, Miss Maudie, Boo and Scout. Choose 3 from the list to write about. For each of the 3 characters you choose, write about some qualities you sympathize with and some qualities you do not sympathize with. WRITE about the likable / unlikable aspects of each of the 3 characters.

2. WRITE: An important part of the novel is Harper Lee's characterization of the three children - Scout, Jem, and Dill, who gain life experiences and mature as they face different problems and interact with the adults in the novel.
Think about your childhood and the way you viewed the other children and the adults in your environment. Discuss in writing how your first impressions of people changed or did not change as you gained experience and came to know people better over the years.

4. WRITE: what YOU think is true about Arthur (Boo). Include evidence from the story that influence your ideas.

5. Describe in writing: the children’s play entitled “One Man’s Family.” Include a description of the roles they each play and the scenes they act out.
Write what Atticus thinks of the play and what he wants the children to do about it.
Describe in writing: Scout’s reasons for wanting to quit the play.

6. WRITE: examples (at least three) of how you know that Jem respects his father.

H - 7. Lee introduces a great deal of symbolism in Chapters 8 and 9. Write what you think the following symbols might stand for:
the unusual snow, the “snow-covered mud man”, the fire, the blanket.
After Chapter 8, everything Scout believes turns topsy-turvy, and the things she takes as absolutes are going to come into question. Write what you think these absolutes are.

H - 8. The outside world continues to impose standards of femininity on Scout in Chapters 8 and 9. For example, readers get the impression that Uncle Jack is less upset by Scout’s language than by the fact that a girl is using that kind of language. Scout doesn’t want to “be a lady,” but that doesn’t stop her extended family from telling her she should be.
WRITE about the ways Jem, Uncle Jack, Aunt Alexandra and Atticus respond to Scout’s becoming a “young lady.”

H- 9. Read the final sentence of chapter 9. Explain in your own words what it means and why it might be important in the story.

Writing tips:
Make the paragraph the unit of composition Use the active voice.
Put the statements in positive form. Use definite, specific, concrete language.
Omit needless words. Avoid a succession of loose sentences.
Express coordinate ideas in similar form. Keep related words together.
In summaries, keep to one tense. Place the emphatic words of a sentence at the end.