To Kill a Mockingbird Novel
To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel about growing in the 1930s in the Southern United States. Scout Finch lives with her brother Jem and their father Atticus (a lawyer) in the town of Maycomb, Alabama. Maycomb is a small town, and every family has its social standing depending on where they live, who their parents are, and how long they have lived in Maycomb. Atticus raises his children by himself, with the help of neighbors and a black housekeeper named Calpurnia. Scout is a tomboy who prefers to solve her differences with her fists.
She tries to make sense of a world that demands that she act like a lady, a brother who criticizes her for acting like a girl, and a father who accepts her just as she is. Scout hates school, gains most of her education on her own and from her father. Scout and Jem understand their neighborhood and town. The only neighbor they do not understand is Arthur Radley, nicknamed Boo, who never comes outside. When Dill, another neighbor’s nephew, starts spending summers in Maycomb, the three children begin an obsessive quest to lure Boo outside.
Scout and Jem discover that their father is going to represent a black man named Tom Robinson, who is accused of raping and beating a white woman. Suddenly, Scout and Jem have to deal with racial slurs and insults because of Atticus’ role in the trial. During this time, Scout has a very difficult time restraining from fighting, which gets her in trouble with her aunt and uncle. Even Jem loses his temper a time or two. After destroying a neighbor’s plants, Jem is sentenced to read to her every day after school for one month. As the trial gets closer, their aunt comes to live with them.
During the last summer, Tom is tried and convicted even though Atticus proves that he could not have done the crime. In the process of trying the case, Atticus accidentally offends Bob Ewell, a nasty drunk whose daughter accused Tom. In spite of Tom’s conviction, Ewell vows revenge on Atticus and the judge. All three children are stunned by the jury’s decision, and Atticus tries to explain why the jury’s decided that way. After the trial, Scout attends one of her aunt’s Missionary Society meetings. Atticus interrupts the meeting to report that Tom Robinson had been killed in an escape attempt.
Scout learns valuable lessons that day. Things slowly return to normal, and Scout and Jem realize that Boo is no longer the center of their curiosity. The story appears to be winding down, when Bob Ewell starts making well on his threats of revenge. Scout is in the Halloween pageant at school, Jem agrees to take Scout to the school. After embarrassing herself on-stage, Scout leaves her costume on for the walk home with Jem. On the way home, the children hear noises, but disregard them as a friend who scared them on their way to school that evening.
They are attacked, and Scout really cannot see out of her costume. She hears Jem being pushed away, and she feels arms squeezing her. Jem breaks his arm during this attack. Scout gets just enough of a glimpse out of her costume to see a stranger carrying Jem back to their house. The sheriff arrives at the Finch and announces that Bob Ewell has been found dead under the tree where the children were attacked, believing that he had fallen on his own knife. Scout realized that the stranger was Boo Radley, and that Boo is responsible for killing Ewell, and saving her and Jem’s lives.
Atticus’ tries to get the sheriff to press charges against Boo, but he refuses. Scout agrees with his decision and explains it to her father. Boo sees Jem one more time and then asks Scout to take him home. With Boo safely home, Scout returns to Jem’s room where Atticus is waiting. He reads her to sleep and then waits for Jem to wake up. I believe the main reasons that this book was banned were because of the language that was used, along with the racist implications toward the government. I also believe that it showed an unjust court system.
