Text response – To Kill a Mockingbird
‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, written by Harper Lee, is a story set in Alabama about the beliefs and morals of an isolated town. The Finch family live in Maycomb County and consists of two children, nicknamed Jem and Scout, and a father Atticus, who is a lawyer. The story is told from the point of view of Scout who is a tomboy girl, giving a recount of her childhood. She describes the uninteresting town of Maycomb during the great depression. They live with the maid Calpurnia who, with Atticus, helps to guide the children while they mature. During the children’s childhood, Atticus defends a Negro man, Tom Robinson, who is charged with rape. The community strongly opposes Atticus’ decision to put effort into defending Tom. Scout and Jem therefore have to deal with being shunned by their community.
Scout is in many ways a model of Harper Lee (http://www.biography.com/people/harper-lee-9377021). Both are female, their fathers are lawyers, they have older siblings and they have a relationship with a recluse. In ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, Arthur ‘Boo’ Radley is an antisocial neighbour of the Finch’s who stays in his house and rarely leaves. Harper Lee’s mother is known to have suffered from mental illness and remained at home most of the time. In a way, the authors mother is absent from her life; enough to make her father her main role model. Scout simply does not have a mother, and is therefore heavily influenced by her father, Atticus.
Atticus is the angel on the shoulder of the community. He is the do-gooder who thinks logically about the main theme of the book: social inequality. Atticus gives moral advice such as this: “ ‘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’ ” chapter 3. Atticus morally guides Jem and Scout, as they grow, within a town where the Negro Community are inferior to the white community. Scout develops into a generally good person, and her and her brother’s reaction to the verdict passed by the Maycomb jury supports this.
‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ is a moral book revolving around a court case against a Negro man, Tom Robinson. The social values of the community make the case very hard for Atticus, the defence attorney for Tom. The book is a nice read about morals such as equality, maturing within the community, and the implications of having human beings controlling justice. I would recommend this book to those who are after a classic story with a simple plot and complex social themes.
