To kill a mockingbird door Harper Lee

To kill a Mockingbird 

Harper Lee 

Published in 1960

Worth 2 points 

One sentence summary: 

A widowed father takes care of his two children, who lose their innocence by seeing unfair treatment and being faced with a case of rape.

Summary:

This story spans over three years. It is about a family of three, consisting of the youngest, a girl named Jean Louise Finch, nicknamed Scout, her brother Jeremy Atticus Finch, nicknamed Jem and their father Atticus Finch. The mother has already died.

One summer, a boy named Dill stays with his family in the house next to theirs. They befriend the boy and they spend their time telling each other stories and acting them out. At some point they ran out and Dill proposed to instead try and make their mysterious come out.

A few houses ahead, there lived a man named Nathan Radley with his brother Arthur Radley, nicknamed Boo. Boo is very reclusive and rarely ever comes outside. Rumours about his appearance reached the children, making them curious. People knew him by name, but had never actually seen his face.

Dill triggers a series of acts committed by the three kids, trying to lure Boo out.

The father, Atticus, is a lawyer and accepts a case to defend a black man. The man, named Tom Robinson, is accused of raping a woman.

Suddenly, the kids are being treated horribly by the other citizens living in Maycomb, simply because of their father’s case. People and kids say terrible things to them, and the kids are having a hard time because of it, mostly because they try to defend themselves with their fists. Even Jem, the oldest and calmest one, loses his temper at a certain point. He destroys plants on the property of an old, sick woman in their neighbourhood. She asks him if he can read to her every day for a month, which he hates, but his father tells him to do it. When she dies, his father tells the kids this woman taught them an important lesson about courage; ‘I wanted you to see what courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re getting licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.’ He’s basically telling them that when you start something, knowing someone might get the better of you, but you won’t give up.

Atticus proved the black man was innocent, that it was the woman who made a move and that the wounds were from her father, because the man walked in on them.

Even with this perfect defence, Robinson is found guilty. He tries to escape prison, but gets shot by an officer and dies.

Mr. Ewell, the father of the ‘raped’ woman, wants revenge, for he thinks Atticus and other people involved with the case ruined his reputation. He tried breaking into the judge’s house, failing. Next he tried hurting Scout and Jem, but they get saved by Boo. Jem’s arm is broken and Ewell dies.

In the end, the children have grown from those experiences, making them a little more grown-up and less innocent.

Theme in one word

Development

The main characters

The entire book is written from Scout’s perspective. The story has a time-span of three years and begins when she is about six years old. She’s a tomboy and prefers to resolve problems with her fists. People tell her to act like a lady, but she keeps doing her own thing. At a certain point, their aunt comes to live with them to have some feminine influence on Scout.

Scout’s brother, Jem, is also important. He’s around 4 years older than his sister and is calmer than Scout. Near the end of the book, he becomes less confident and is more concerned about things. Even so, he doesn’t hesitate to defend his little sister, with no regards to his own safety.

Their father, Atticus, has lost his wife. He is a lawyer. He doesn’t mind his children to play and have fun, but he doesn’t neglect them either. He makes them think about their actions and educates them well. He is a rather wise person.

Dill is a young boy and Scout and Jem’s summer friend. He visits his family there, who happen to be the Finch’s neighbours. Dill loves stories and plays and is fascinated by the Radley house, pressuring Scout and Jem to approach it and try to lure the mysterious inhabitant out.

Two minor characters

Boo Radley is a man who lives in the Finch’s neighbourhood. He is very reclusive and no one really knows what he looks like. People blame him for small crimes that have been happening in town. The children are also afraid of him, though he leaves them presents. Near the end of the book he saves the children from Mr. Ewell and carries the hurt Jem home. Finally Scout sees him as a person.

Mrs. Dubose was a sick woman, addicted to morphine. She told the children their father, Atticus, was ‘no better than the niggers and trash he works for’. Even though she was harsh, Atticus still called her a lady and told his children he respected her courage a lot. He told them she taught them an important lesson about courage.

Describe the place in detail

The story is set in the made-up “tired old town” of Maycomb, Alabama. The town isn’t especially lively. It’s rather small and most of the people have a line of ancestors who once lived there.

The people all have their own social status. Rich, white people were generally better off. Also, racism was pretty topical. An example is the case of Robinson, the black man found guilty of rape. The coloured people had their own schools, houses and church. They also had the worst seats in court.

Time the story takes place

The story covers a span of three years. It takes place during the Great Depression. It is told from Scout’s point of view, she’s the ‘me’ or ‘I’ in the story. In the very beginning, there’s a short introduction. She says her brother broke his arm when he was nearly thirteen. That’s when the ‘actual story’ starts. It’s basically Scout looking back, which means it isn’t told chronically.

Explain the title

I read on the Internet that the writer wanted a different title at first. At first it apparently was ‘Atticus’, which I think sounds interesting, but I also understand why it wasn’t chosen. After all, it is written from Scout’s POV.

I personally think the Mockingbird is a symbol for innocence. After searching a little on the Internet, I found some people who seemed to agree with me.

The main theme of the story is the children learning from the adults. Like how their father wanted them to learn an important lesson from a drug addict about courage. Also, seeing how the world isn’t always a fair and happy place, it is basically about the children losing their innocence.

All in all, I think ‘To kill a Mockingbird’ is a symbol for the children losing their innocence due to life experiences.

Possible message

I think this story was some kind of message. After all, this story was published in 1960, a time where racism was very topical. Even now it’s still something people are bothered by. I think this is a message for society, showing how unfair people can be, simply because someone looks different and the stereotypes surrounding people's appearences.

Also, Atticus was willing to defend Robinson, a coloured man, which was something the white inhabitants of Maycomb did not accept. Even so, Atticus refused to back down. These are just intentional lessons, but I think there might still be things to learn from characters in the book that might not have been put in there fully aware.

Someone else made the comparison between the mockingbird and ‘Boo’ Radley, which is actually literally in the book. Atticus tells Scout it is a sin to kill a mockingbird, because all they do is sing their hearts out for us. Later, Scout tells Atticus that hurting Boo Radley would be ‘sort of like shooting a mockingbird'. After all, Boo is actually very sweet and nice and has a certain amount of innocence surrounding him.

I think all the characters with the names of birds could be considered as the mockingbird. Atticus, Jem and Scout are all names of birds and all of them have this pure feeling to them.

Experience and evaluation

The book was great, for starters. I think the writer did a wonderful job showing the problem(s). It was very interesting to read. I also think it was the right choice to pick Scout as the main character, or to get her point of view, simply because that makes it way more interesting for me.

I would definitely recommend this book to one of my classmates. There are some things in here that taught me a lot, like never backing down, always see it through to the end. I think this might have the same effect on other people.

Robinson was accused of rape. Atticus agreed to defend him to the best of his abilities. The children got called names and people insulted Atticus. I think this is the most important part of the story, because this is where reality hits and where it becomes clear to the children how horrible and unfair racism is, though it is reality and the general mind-set of the American folk.

The scene that hit me the hardest was when Robinson was found guilty. It’s incredibly unfair. Also, at the beginning of the next chapter, chapter 22, Jem starts crying, asking why it happened. That really got me and probably impressed me the most.

How much time did I roughly spend on the book?

Reading a little almost every day, about 3 – 4 weeks. It was fairly easy to read, but in a language other than Dutch I’m actually a very slow reader.