To Kill a Mockingbird

Life lessons in empathy

To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the Great Depression. The narrator is Jean Louise (“Scout”) Finch, an intelligent though unconventional girl who ages from six to nine years old during the course of the novel. She is raised with her older brother, Jeremy Atticus (“Jem”), by their widowed father, Atticus Finch, a prominent lawyer who encourages his children to be empathetic and just. He notably tells them that it is “a sin to kill a mockingbird,” alluding to the fact that the birds are innocent and harmless.

Much of the first part of the novel is given over to the adult Jean Louise’s reflections on her childhood adventures and the people in her hometown. Her recollections are told with a youthful naivete, revealing Scout’s innocence at the time the story takes place, although there are also touches of the grown-up Jean Louise’s mature humor.

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Many of Scout’s observations parrot the sayings and opinions of the adults in her life, including her father, her family’s African American housekeeper, Calpurnia, and the Finches’ neighbors. At school, Scout endures a dull, “flashcard-style” education introduced by her new teacher, Miss Caroline.

The remainder of my schooldays were no more auspicious than the first. Indeed, they were an endless Project that slowly evolved into a Unit, in which miles of construction paper and wax crayon were expended by the State of Alabama in its well-meaning but fruitless efforts to teach me Group Dynamics.

Notwithstanding Jem’s mistaken labeling of this teaching style as “the Dewey Decimal System,” in her own way Scout proves to be a keen observer of local ways. Her complaints about Miss Caroline stem from her teacher’s ignorance of the peculiarities of—and class distinctions between—her schoolmates, especially Walter Cunningham (who comes from a poor family) and the frequently truant Burris Ewell (whose family, even poorer than the Cunninghams, are regarded by the town as “the disgrace of Maycomb for three generations”). When Scout’s father hears her complaints, he advises,

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[If] you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view…until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.

Boo Radley

Scout’s closest playmate, other than her brother, is Charles Baker (“Dill”) Harris, the nephew of the Finches’ neighbor, Miss Rachel. Dill comes to stay with his aunt every summer, and he, Scout, and Jem form an adventurous trio. The children spend much of their time playing out their own miniaturized drama of prejudice and superstition as they become interested in Arthur (“Boo”) Radley, a reclusive neighbor who is a local legend. Rumors abound that he once stabbed his father in the leg with a pair of scissors and that he eats raw squirrels and cats. The children have their own ideas about him and cannot resist the allure of trespassing on the Radley property. Their speculations thrive on the dehumanization perpetuated by their elders. Atticus, however, reprimands them and tries to encourage a more sensitive attitude. Boo makes his presence felt indirectly through a series of benevolent acts, such as leaving gifts for the children in the hollow of a tree.

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A Southern small-town trial

In the second part of the novel, Scout’s attention shifts to a local event that exposes the injustice embedded in Maycomb. When Tom Robinson, one of the town’s Black residents, is falsely accused of raping Mayella Ewell, a white woman, Atticus agrees to defend him despite threats from the community. At one point Atticus faces a mob intent on lynching his client, but he refuses to abandon him. Scout unwittingly diffuses the situation by rushing into the middle of the mob. Recognizing the father of her classmate Walter Cunningham among the angry men, she innocently tries to engage him in a conversation, which breaks up the mob.

Although Atticus presents a defense during the trial that gives a more plausible interpretation of the evidence—that Mayella was attacked by her father, Bob Ewell—Tom is convicted, and he is later killed while trying to escape custody. The editor of Maycomb’s newspaper compares Tom’s death to “the senseless slaughter of songbirds,” paralleling Atticus’s saying about the mockingbird.

When Bob Ewell attacks Jem and Scout, Boo Radley intervenes and kills Ewell. But Heck Tate, the sheriff, believes it is better to say that Ewell’s death occurred when he fell on his own knife, sparing the shy Boo from unwanted attention. Scout agrees, noting that to do otherwise would be “sort of like shootin’ a mockingbird.”