, Research Paper
To Kill A Mockingbird
I. About the Author
II. Characters
III. Theme — Prejudice
IV. Chapter Summaries
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Nelle Harper Lee was born on April 28 1926 in Monroeville Alabama. Monroeville is in southwest Alabama, about halfway between Montgomery and Mobile. She is the youngest of four children of Amasa Coleman Lee and Frances Finch Lee. She has two sisters, Alice and Louise and one brother, Edwin. Harper Lee attended Huntingdon College 1944-45, studied law at University of Alabama 1945-49, and studied one year at Oxford University. In the 1950s she worked as a reservation clerk with Eastern Air Lines and BOAC in New York City. In order to concentrate on writing Harper Lee gave up her position with the airline and moved into a cold-water apartment with makeshift furniture. Her father’s sudden illness forced her to divide her time between New York and Monroeville. In 1957 Miss Lee submitted the manuscript of her novel to the J. B. Lippincott Company. She was told that her novel consisted of a series of short stories strung together, and she was urged to re-write it. For the next two and a half years she re-worked the manuscript with the help of her editor, Tay Hohoff, and in 1960 To Kill a Mockingbird was published. This was her only published book. In June of 1966, Harper Lee was one of two persons named by President Johnson to the National Council of Arts.
CHARACTERS:
Atticus Finch
Atticus Finch sets a standard of morality that no other character in the book comes close to matching.Atticus is a stable and mature figure who is able to cope with the unreasonable and highly emotional element of the town. He is one of the few people, in the town of Maycomb, who understand the the individual worth of a persons regardless of the color of skin.
Atticus was assigned to Tom Robinson’s case. Atticus knows that the case will be unfair and he will lose. He is the only lawyer to put some doubt in the minds of the jury. He does a good job, but nevertheless he loses the case.
Atticus always teaches his children that they must learn to be compassionate and understanding of the problems and conditions of life faced by other people. “You never know the person until jump into their skin and walk around in it” said Atticus. He is a great role model for his children.
Jem Finch
Scout’s older brother Jeremy, or Jem, Finch is a couple of yeas older than Scout. He tell Scout to never talk to him in school. Jem is also the more thoughtful of the Finch children. Unlike Scout, who is a fighter, Jem seems determined to obey his father’s request to avoid fighting. Jem is also think of plans to get Boo out of his house. At the end of the book Jem brakes his arm at the elbow by Bob Ewell.
Calpuria
Calpurnia is the black cook and housekeeper for the Finches. She is treated almost as if she were a member of the family. In some ways she even takes the place of Scout and Jem’s dead mother. She raised the children in a very strict manner. Aunt Alexander does not approve of the Cal to be bring up the children.
Calpuria lives two lives. When she is with her black friends she talks like one of them.. When she comes back in contact with the white population she talks very proper. Cal has a son that sings in the black church.
Miss Maudie
Miss Maudie is a lady who lives across the street from the Finch’s. She is very fond of the Finch children. She spends most of her time outside in her garden and little time inside her house.
She is one of only a few people who really support Atticusin defending Tom Robinson. She is one of the few people to defend Boo Radley’s right to remain in his house.
She treats the children like adults and never tries to deceive them in any way.
Arthur Radley (Boo)
Arthur Radley, called Boo Radley by the children is a mysterious neighbor who the children have never seen. Once, during the fire, Boo put a blanket around the children to keep them warm. the children did not know who put the blanket on them until after the fire was out. Boo Radley is the killer of Bob Ewell. When the kids are walking home from the play, Bob Ewell tries to kill Scout and Jem. Boo jumps in and kills Bob with the kitchen knife.
Tom Robinson
Tom Robinson was a hard working young black man who was accused of raping Mayella. The court found him guilty and he was sentenced to death. In prison he tried to escape, but he failed. the guards shot him 17 times and he died.
Heck Tate
Reverend Sykes
Sykes was a Negro minister of the black church. He thanked Jem and Scout at the black church about their father defending Tom Robinson. At the trial he help them get seats in the balcony at the trial. He also saved their seats when Jem and Scout when home to eat their dinner.
Scout Finch
Scout is the narrator of the navel. Jean Louise Finch, whose nickname is Scout, is only five-and-a-half years old when the novel begins.Scout’s mother died when she was two and her dad does not know how to interact with his children. Scout has taught herself to read at an early age, and has a vocabulary equal to an adult. All the activities are threw the eyes of a five-year old and therefore they are expressed as an innocent child who does not understand some of the events she is talking about.
Scout is very open-minded and accepts people as they are and nothing more or less. Throughout the novel we can see Scout change as the times go by. She becomes more understanding of the events around her.
Charles Baker Harris (Dill)
Charles Baker Harris, known as Dill, is Jem and Scout’s first friend from outside Maycomb. Dill has white-blond hair and blue eyes. Dill has seen and done many things that Jem and Scout have not; he has even seen the movie Dracula. Dill also wants to get Boo out of his and he is on most of the plans to get him out.
Aunt Alexander
Aunt Alexander was a very proper women who came to live with the Finches because she thought that the children could use a women influence. She also takes care of the children during the time of the trial.
Mrs. Dubose
Mrs. Dubose was an old lady who lives down the street and screams nasty things at the children as they pass her house. She is hooked on morphine and when she tries to quit, she died.
Mr. Gilmer
Mr. Gilmer was the prosecuting attorney at the trial.
Bob Ewell
Bob Ewell is an irresponsible and disgraceful father of a brood of children, who receives welfare checks and uses them for alcohol. At the end of the book, he is kill when he tries to kill Jem and Scout behind the school.
Mayella Violet Ewell
Mayella Violet Ewell accuses Tom Robinson of raping her. She takes him to trial and he is found guilty.
Walter Cunningham
Walter Cunningham is an upright farmer who refuses to accept charity. His is very poor and his children go to the same school as Scout. He has brought up very caring children.
Judge John Taylor
Judge Taylor is the presiding judge at the trial. He permits smoking in his court room, but he does not smoke. He will sometimes chew on a whole cigar. he will keep chewing until the whole thing has vanished.
THEME:
Prejudice
The title of the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, is a key to some themes of the novel. The title is first explained in Chapter 10, at the time that Scout and Jem Finch have just received air rifles for Christmas. Atticus tells his children that it is a sin to shoot a mockingbird. Later Miss Maudie explains to the children what Atticus meant: Mockingbirds are harmless creatures who do nothing but sing for our enjoyment. Therefore, it is very wrong to harm them.
It is easy to see that the “mockingbird” in this story is Tom Robinson–a harmless man who becomes a victim of racial prejudice. Like the mockingbird, Tom has never done wrong to anyone. Even the jurors who sentence him to death have nothing personal against him. They find him guilty mostly because they feel that to take the word of a black man over two whites would threaten the system they live under, the system of segregation. Tom himself is guilty of nothing but being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
It is possible that the mockingbird of the title has more than one meaning. Today mockingbirds live in many northern states, but only a few decades ago mockingbirds lived principally in the southeastern United States. Like the mint julep or the song “Dixie,” the mockingbird symbolized the southern way of life–a culture that emphasized good manners, family background, and a relaxed, unhurried pace of living. Unfortunately, another aspect of this way of life was racial segregation, a system that had been tolerated for decades by many southerners who knew in their hearts that it was morally wrong.
By the time this novel was written perceptive southerners could see that the opportunity for them to take the lead in ending segregation was already past. The civil rights movement, led by blacks and supported by whites in other parts of the country, was not only ending segregation, it was transforming the politics and class structure that southerners had taken for granted for decades.
To Kill a Mockingbird contains criticism of the prejudice and moral laziness that allowed Southern society to have a double standard of justice. The novel also presents a somewhat optimistic view of white Southerners that was somewhat unusual at the time the novel appeared. The story indicates there are good human beings like Atticus Finch everywhere, even in the midst of a corrupt society. Even those who do wrong, the novel goes on to suggest, often act out of ignorance and weakness rather than a deliberate impulse to hurt others.
There are always a few readers who feel that the novel offers an overly optimistic and simplified view of human nature. On the other hand, the hopeful note it strikes may be one of the reasons for the book’s great popularity. The author does not ignore the existence of evil in society, but she does suggest that human beings are born with a desire to do the right thing.
Although most readers think of To Kill a Mockingbird as a novel about racial prejudice, you will notice that the mockingbird theme does not apply only to victims of this form of discrimination. Boo Radley, the eccentric recluse, is another “harmless creature” who becomes a victim of cruelty. Here again, the author seems to be emphasizing the universality of human nature. Tom Robinson’s problems may be bound up with the complex social problem of racial prejudice, but any neighborhood can have its Boo Radley, all but forgotten except as the subject of gossip and rumor.
CHAPTER SUMMARIES
Chapters 1-8
The narrator, Scout Finch, lets you know right away that Jem was not seriously hurt; he recovered in time to realize his dream of playing high-school football. But at the same time, Scout is in no hurry to tell you how her brother happened to break his arm. You will not learn the answer to this question until the final chapters of the story.
Dill, who was Scout s friend, can up every summer. Jem, Scout s brother, Scout and Dill spent most of the summer trying to learn more about the Radley family who lives next door. Boo Radley never comes out of his home and the children are determined to try and get him out. Dill dares Jem to touch the porch. Jem finally gives in and when she touches the porch she sees movement in the house.
When September comes Dill goes back to Meridian, and Scout begins to look forward to starting first grade. Jem tries to warn his sister that school and home are two completely different places. Jem basically tell Scout to never talk to him in school. Her teacher, Miss Caroline Fisher, is a pretty young woman in a red and white striped dress. Miss Caroline Fisher is not happy to find out the Scout already know how to read and write. Miss Fisher has come prepared to install a modern system for teaching reading, and it upsets her that Scout has managed to learn to read at home, without the benefit of any system at all.
Miss Fisher is not from the rural area of Maycomb. She realizes that Walter Cunningham has forgotten his lunch. She gives him a quarter and is expecting a quarter in return the next day. She does not know that the Cunninghams are very poor and never see three quarters at the same time. Scout tries to point this out to the teacher, but she is confused. After a while she understands.
Jem decided to have Walter over for lunch. They are all eating when Scout makes fun of the way Walter eats his food. Instantly Calpurina makes Scout leave the table. Calpurina( who is black, and a servant) told Scout to leave the table and not Atticus. Calpurina is raising the kids and does the job of the mother. Scouts mother dies before he could remember. She makes rules, establishes order, and must be obeyed just like any other adult.
Later that afternoon, back in school, Miss Caroline learns another lesson about country kids. Burris Ewell, has “cooties” (lice). She told him to go home and while he was leaving the class room he says some very mean gestures to the teacher. The students try to comfort her with a glass of water and a nice talk. The Ewells are known to go to the first day of school and never come back.
After school that day Scout tells Attiucs that the teacher told her to stop reading at home. Scout does not want to give up one of the only good things she has with her dad. They make a compromise: Scout can keep on reading at home, but she will have to go back to school and try to get along better with her teacher.
An important line was said to Scout by her father. Atticus said “You never really understand a person until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” She will recall back to this quote many times through out the story.
Nothing really interesting happens until the spring, when Scout and Jem discover that someone is leaving small objects in a knothole in an old oak tree on the corner of the Radley property. At first, when Scout finds two sticks of chewing gum wrapped in shiny silver foil. They also find two old Indian head pennies in the knothole. The pennies are in very good condition.
One day they decide to take turns rolling down the street inside an old car tire they found. On her first ride, Scout gets pushed too fast and ends up rolling into the forbidden territory of the Radleys’ front yard. She doesn’t tell the boys, but she is sure that she heard someone laughing at them from inside the Radley house.
As the summer goes on, Jem and Dill become inseparable buddies. For the first time, Scout feels left out because she is a girl. She forms a special friendship with Miss Maudie, a widowed lady who lives next door. Miss Maudie hates her house and so she spends as much time as possible working outdoors in her garden. Miss Maudie also makes fun of Miss Stephanie Crawford, the neighborhood gossip. At this point in the story, I feel that Miss Maudie’s opinions come out of nowhere.
On the last night of Dill’s summer visit, he and Jem come up with their most daring game yet. They are going to sneak up onto the Radley porch after dark and peek through a window. Jem goes first, and he crawled across the porch to one of the windows when, suddenly, Scout sees the shadow of a man fall across the porch. The three children run for their lives, and as they flee they hear the gun fire of a shotgun. In their hurry to get away, Jem’s jeans get caught on a wire fence. He jumps out of them and runs for his life. They try and fool Atticus with their explanation that Jem lost his pants to a game of strip poker!
In the middle of the night Jem goes back to the Radley place to get his pants. To his surprise the pants were mended and neatly hung over the wires.
Later in the fall Jem and Scout find more things in the knothole. They find two small dolls carved out of soap, a whole pack of chewing gum, and finally an old pocket watch with a penknife attached. Nathan Radley fills the knothole with cement suggesting that the tree was dying. He said that the cement would stop the rot from spreading. However, Atticus says that the tree is not dying.
For the first time in more than a hundred years, snow falls in Maycomb County. Miss Maudie attempts to keep her house plants from freezing by leaving the flue of her kitchen stove open while she goes to bed. Her house catches fire and burns to the ground. While Jem and Scout are freezing outside watching the fire, someone puts a blanket around them. They suspect that Boo put the blanket around them because he was the only one who was not helping out with the fire. Scout was disappointed because she had the chance to see Boo and she didn t.
Chapter 9-16
Chapter 9 starts off with Cecil Jacobs telling Scout her father is a “nigger lover.” Instead of fighting and letting Atticus down she decides to back down from a fight for the first time. Christmas approaches and they go to Finch’s Landing to spend time with Uncle Jack, Aunt Alexandra, her husband, Uncle Jimmy and their grandson Francis. Atticus gets Scout and Jem air rifles for Christmas. Scout could not stand it anymore and gets into a fight with Francis. Francis had been telling Scout that Atticus is a “nigger lover.”Uncle Jack yells and spanks Scout but later realizes he was wrong. He learns from Scout that he should hear both sides of a story before inflicting punishment. Atticus is criticized by Aunt Alexandra for the manner in which he is raising his children.
Scout and Jem realize that Atticus is relatively old and does not do all the things Scout’s schoolmate’s fathers do. But after witnessing their father shoot and kill old Tim Johnson who had gone mad, Atticus is a hero to them. They are later told that that their father had the best shoot in town and was called “One Shoot Finch”.