Beyond the sentimental text: the practice and pedagogy of critical literacy in Harper Lee's To kill a mockingbird
Date
2004
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Producer
Director
Performer
Choreographer
Costume Designer
Music
Videographer
Lighting Designer
Set Designer
Crew Member
Funder
Rehearsal Director
Concert Coordinator
Advisor
Moderator
Panelist
Alternative Title
Department
Haverford College. Department of English
Type
Thesis
Original Format
Running Time
File Format
Place of Publication
Date Span
Copyright Date
Award
Language
eng
Note
Table of Contents
Terms of Use
Rights Holder
Access Restrictions
Open Access
Terms of Use
Tripod URL
Identifier
Abstract
Many readers and teachers approach Harper Lee's novel as a moral fable or self-interpreting text, because of its strong emotional appeal to readers. Beyond its sentimental surface, however, Lee's text both demonstrates and proposes a more expansive mode of critical reading. This essay traces the factors that affect the main character Scout in her development of critical literacy - a literacy of consciousness beyond the basic skills of reading and writing. Through her encounters with Maycomb's characters, her problematic interactions with her father Atticus, and her own social performances, Scout expands her ability to read both the written word and the texts of her social world, and consequently develops a sense of her own agency in response to a stifling social structure. As the narrator of her story, Scout constructs her text to advocate such active critical literacy.