To Kill a Mockingbird



To Kill a Mockingbird

Plot Overview

Scout Finch is a girl who lived with her father Atticus and brother Jem. They all lived in a sleepy town of Maycomb, Albama. It is the story of the time when Maycomb was going through the period of Great Depression; however, Finch's father Atticus was a renowned lawyer because of whom the Finch family was in a stable condition and was comparably well off than the rest of society. During the summers, one day Scout and her brother Jem, met a boy named Dill. Dill came to live in the neighborhood of the Finch family, only during the summer time. They all became friends with each other and spent most of time together acting out various stories. Dill somehow got attracted to a spooky house across the street, named the Radley place. The Radley place was owned by Mr. Nathan Radley; however, he never lived there. Instead, his brother Arthur known with the nickname of Boo lived there. One thing, which made Arthur spooky was, he never came out of the Radley place (National Endowment of Art, 2011).

Because of the dismay of racism which ran in the Maycomb community, Atticus defended the law suite of a black man named Tom Robinson, who was alleged to have raped a white woman. As a consequence of Atticus support to the black man, other children started abusing Jem and Scout, even when the Finch family celebrated Christmas in their compound. The black cook of the Finch family, Calpurina, took Jem and Scout to the black church where the children received a warm welcome from the closely-knit community.

After witnessing all the goodness that Boo had done to her and her brother Jem, Scout feels what life is for Boo. Despite of thinking of him as some spooking personality, he appeared to be a human being to her at last. After understanding this, Scout realized that she should follow her father's advice and must practice understanding and sympathy and demonstrates that all the bad experiences she had could not tarnish the belief she had in human goodness.

Characters Affecting Scout and Jem's Lives

The three major character who had a huge impact on the lives of Scout and Jem along with the way they influenced the lives of the children are discussed below;

Atticus Finch

Atticus, father of Jem and Scout and a lawyer by profession, is the main character of this novel. He practiced law in Maycomb. Atticus belonged to an old local family. He was a widower, who had an arid sense of humor. A couple of things about which Atticus was only concerned were his children and then the strong sense of justice and morality. He is included in the handful of people of Maycomb who believed in ethnic equality. When Atticus agreed to defend the case of a black man, the entire white community showed a wave of rage towards him and his children. Atticus serves as the moral backbone of the story, based on his strongly ...