To Kill a Mockingbird

thumb|right|335 pxthumb|right|335 pxTo Kill a Mockingbird is a novel by Harper Lee published in 1960. It was immediately successful, winning thePulitzer Prize, and has become a classic of modern American literature. The plot and characters are loosely based on the author's observations of her family and neighbors, as well as on an event that occurred near her hometown in 1936, when she was 10 years old.
The novel is renowned for its warmth and humor, despite dealing with the serious issues of rape and racial inequality. The narrator's father, Atticus Finch, has served as a moral hero for many readers and as a model of integrity for lawyers. One critic explains the novel's impact by writing, "In the twentieth century, To Kill a Mockingbird is probably the most widely read book dealing with race in America, and its protagonist, Atticus Finch, the most enduring fictional image of racial heroism."
As a Southern Gothic novel and a Bildungsroman, the primary themes of To Kill a Mockingbird involve racial injustice and the destruction of innocence. Scholars have noted that Lee also addresses issues of class, courage, compassion, and gender roles in the American Deep South. The book is widely taught in schools in the United States with lessons that emphasize tolerance and decry prejudice. Despite its themes, To Kill a Mockingbird has been subject to campaigns for removal from public classrooms, often challenged for its use of racial epithets.
Reaction to the novel varied widely upon publication. Literary analysis of it is sparse, considering the number of copies sold and its widespread use in education. Author Mary McDonough Murphy, who collected individual impressions of the book by several authors and public figures, calls To Kill a Mockingbird "an astonishing phenomenon". In 2006, British librarians ranked the book ahead of the Bible as one "every adult should read before they die". It was adapted into an Oscar-winning film in 1962 by director Robert Mulligan, with a screenplay by Horton Foote. Since 1990, a play based on the novel has been performed annually in Harper Lee's hometown of Monroeville, Alabama. To date this is Lee's only published novel, although Go Set a Watchman is scheduled to be published on July 14, 2015. Lee continues to respond to the book's impact even though she has refused any personal publicity for herself or the novel since 1964.
== Tossup Questions ==
# In this work, Dolphus Raymond pretends to be drunk in order to explain living with his black mistress. A character in this book loses his pants while escaping from a house but later returns to find the pants mended and waiting for him. Another character, who is from Meridian, Mississippi, stays with his Aunt Rachel when he is in Maycomb, Alabama. In this novel, Bob Ewell accuses Tom Robinson, a black man, of raping his daughter. Boo Radley is a source of curiosity to Jem and Scout, the children of Atticus Finch, in what novel by Harper Lee?
# In this novel the narrator's father shoots Tim Johnson, a rabid dog. The narrator and her brother are attacked on the way home from a Halloween pageant, but are saved by Boo Radley. In this book, Tom Robinson is falsely accused of raping Mayella Ewell; he is defended by attorney Atticus Finch, but is convicted. For 10 points, name this novel narrated by Scout Finch, written by Harper Lee.
# In this work, Braxton Bragg Underwood protects another character by aiming a shotgun from the window of his office. That character in this novel is revealed to have once been nicknamed "one-shot" when he is asked to kill a rabid dog. Two characters in this work attend church with Calpurnia and befriend a summertime visitor to Maycomb named Dill. In this work, Bob Ewell accuses Tom Robinson of raping his dauther Mayella, and he attacks two children who are rescued by "Boo" Radley. For 10 points, name this novel narrated by Scout about her father Atticus Finch, which was written by Harper Lee.
# In this novel, Eunice Simpson is tied to a chair and left near a furnace during a game of Shadrach, leading to the protagonists attending a colored church the next week with Calpurnia. After one character shows that his left hand is useless, Mayella Ewell is revealed to have lied about being beaten, but that doesn't prevent the Maycombe county jury from convicting Tom Robinson. Depicting the loss of innocence and a stark portrayal of race relations in the south, this is, for 10 points, what novel about the lives of Jem, Scout, and Atticus Finch, by Harper Lee?
# A church in this novel is called First Purchase because it was the first thing bought by freed slaves. The protagonist of this novel is frightened by Cecil Jacobs while in a ham costume. The protagonist of this novel helps to break up a potential lynch mob whose target is a man wrongly accused of raping Mayella Ewell, Tom Robinson. That event sees the protagonist accompanied by (*) Dill and her brother Jem, who breaks his arm in an attack largely thwarted by Boo Radley. For 10 points, name this novel featuring Scout and Atticus Finch by Harper Lee.