Introduction: The purpose of your assignment is to create meaning from the text and to reach a larger understanding of the importance of setting in a work of fiction. I will be using the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee to introduce you to this concept and its application in literature. You will be using your text and this webquest to connect to the material. First, let us define what a webquest is, and what purpose it serves. "A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented activity in which most or all of the information used by learners is drawn from the Web. WebQuests are designed to use the learners' time well, to focus on using information rather than looking for it, and to support learners' thinking at the levels of analysis, synthesis, evaluation" (http://webquest.sdsu.edu/overview.htm). You are encouraged to follow any of the links provided on these pages to help create comprehension and stimulate your thinking. For example you can click on the underlined phrase to go to a page that gives a short description of other elements of fictional writing. Another resouce that you will probably want to use is this link to an Online Literary Glossary. This link is also found on your project resource page, along with most of the other links you will need. Some additional links are also provided to you on the Homework Helpers page.
 

Questions to ponder as you read: As you read from the resource materials, you should think critically about likely opinions of your selected characters to the topical events and culture of the time 1933-1935. Consider the following questions:

How would the environment (setting) described in the novel, and in your resources, shaped the values and opinions of the different characters in the novel?

Would the environment of the story and outcome of the story been especially different if it was set somewhere other than the South during the same time period?

What similarities do you see in the environment (setting) of your own life? What differences do you find?

Could Tom Robinson have gotten a fair trial and possibly have been found innocent in your town or city in 2003?

Do you think that racism is less pronounced nowadays or just less flagrent than in the past?

Do you think that the Scotsboro Boys trial influenced Harper Lee's decision to write a novel with a similar theme?

Why do you think she used the fictional town Maycomb, Alabama which resembles her hometown of __________?

Do you think this novel would have been published by a New York publishing house if it had been set in a northern city?
Why or why not?

Why do you think the story is told from the viewpoint of a young girl?

Could Scout's character be representative (symbolic) of innocense in the novel?

Would the narrative have the same impact and focus if it was told by another of the novels characters?
 

Objective: Your objective for this webquest is to write two persuasive essays to the publisher, Mr.________   of the Maycomb County Register. Each group member will write two two-page essays from the viewpoint of a female and male character of the novel. The topic for both essays will be the following question(s): Did Tom Robinson get a fair trial? Why or why not? You are expected to select two characters that would have different opinions on this question. It does not matter which gender character you select to voice a certain opinion, as long as both characters do not share the same opinion.
 
 

Setting is one of the elements that is used as an organizational tool to understanding and interpreting the various components used in fictional or narrative writing. Here is a definition of Setting: "The background against which action takes place.
The elements making up a setting are: (1) The geographical location, its topography, scenery, and such physical arrangements as the location of the windows and doors in a room; (2) the occupations and daily manner of living of the characters;
(3) the time period in which the action takes place, for example, religious, mental, moral, social, and emotional conditions. When setting dominates, or when a work is written largely to present the manners and customs of a locality, the result is LOCAL COLOR WRITING OR REGIONALISM. The term is also often applied to the stage setting of a play
(A Handbook To Literature, C. Hugh Holman & William Harmon, Macmillan Publishing Company, 866 Third Avenue, New York, New York  10022, Copyright 1992). (http://www.macmillan.co.uk/)