To Kill a Mockingbird

Set in the small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the Depression, To Kill a Mockingbird follows three years in the life of 8-year-old Scout Finch, her brother, Jem, and their father, Atticus--three years punctuated by the arrest and eventual trial of a young black man accused of raping a white woman. Though her story explores big themes, Harper Lee chooses to tell it through the eyes of a child. The result is a tough and tender novel of race, class, justice, and the pain of growing up.

Like the slow-moving occupants of her fictional town, Lee takes her time getting to the heart of her tale; we first meet the Finches the summer before Scout's first year at school. She, her brother, and Dill Harris, a boy who spends the summers with his aunt in Maycomb, while away the hours reenacting scenes from Dracula and plotting ways to get a peek at the town bogeyman, Boo Radley. At first the circumstances surrounding the alleged rape of Mayella Ewell, the daughter of a drunk and violent white farmer, barely penetrate the children's consciousness. Then Atticus is called on to defend the accused, Tom Robinson, and soon Scout and Jem find themselves caught up in events beyond their understanding. During the trial, the town exhibits its ugly side, but Lee offers plenty of counterbalance as well--in the struggle of an elderly woman to overcome her morphine habit before she dies; in the heroism of Atticus Finch, standing up for what he knows is right; and finally in Scout's hard-won understanding that most people are essentially kind "when you really see them." By turns funny, wise, and heartbreaking, To Kill a Mockingbird is one classic that continues to speak to new generations, and deserves to be reread often. --Alix Wilber

Product Description
"When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.... When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we sometimes discussed the events leading to his accident. I maintain that the Ewells started it all, but Jem, who was four years my senior, said it started long before that. He said it began the summer Dill came to us, when Dill first gave us the idea of making Boo Radley come out."Set in the small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the Depression, To Kill a Mockingbird follows three years in the life of 8-year-old Scout Finch, her brother, Jem, and their father, Atticus--three years punctuated by the arrest and eventual trial of a young black man accused of raping a white woman. Though her story explores big themes, Harper Lee chooses to tell it through the eyes of a child. The result is a tough and tender novel of race, class, justice, and the pain of growing up.Like the slow-moving occupants of her fictional town, Lee takes her time getting to the heart of her tale; we first meet the Finches the summer before Scout's first year at school. She, her brother, and Dill Harris, a boy who spends the summers with his aunt in Maycomb, while away the hours reenacting scenes from Dracula and plotting ways to get a peek at the town bogeyman, Boo Radley. At first the circumstances surrounding the alleged rape of Mayella Ewell, the daughter of a drunk and violent white farmer, barely penetrate the children's consciousness. Then Atticus is called on to defend the accused, Tom Robinson, and soon Scout and Jem find themselves caught up in events beyond their understanding. During the trial, the town exhibits its ugly side, but Lee offers plenty of counterbalance as well--in the struggle of an elderly woman to overcome her morphine habit before she dies; in the heroism of Atticus Finch, standing up for what he knows is right; and finally in Scout's hard-won understanding that most people are essentially kind "when you really see them." By turns funny, wise, and heartbreaking, To Kill a Mockingbird is one classic that continues to speak to new generations, and deserves to be reread often. --Alix Wilber

To Kill a Mockingbird tells the story of two children, sister Scout and brother Jem, and their childhood during three years in the midst of the Great Depression. Scout and Jem spend most of their summers with their summer-neighbor, Dill, making up plays and spying on the town recluse, Boo Radley. During the school year (minus Dill, who goes back home to Mississippi), Scout finds herself in trouble one too many times and struggles with the concept of being a lady, especially when all she wants to do is wear overalls and beat up her classmates.

Then everything changes one fall.... Scout and Jem's father, Atticus Finch, a lawyer in their town of Maycomb, Alabama, is appointed to the defense of Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a white woman (although not of the highest caliber), Mayella Ewell. The fact of this case rocks the town of Maycomb, and with Scout and Jem feeling the brunt of their classmates ridicule when they realize Atticus is on Tom's side.

I was simply floored while reading this novel. I wasn't expecting a "classic" to be so readable. Now I know what I've been missing! To Kill a Mockingbird is a piece of our American history that depicts racism and prejudice, childhood innocence, and the perseverence of a man who risked it all to stand up for what he believed in. Wonderful portrayal and one I will read again.


This Book Deserves 6 *!   March 15, 2000
anna-joelle (Malaysia)
78 out of 99 found this review helpful

This classic should be made required reading for every person in every culture and in every country. If only everyone would read it, and truly understand, identify with and 'learn' from the story and the message found within its pages, I believe the world would be a happier and peaceful place to live in for all.

"To Kill a Mockingbird" is a 'rich' and compelling story set in 1930s Alabama. It's a story about the purity and innocence of children, about justice (or the lack of it), racism, hypocrisy, human compassion, trust and love (all issues we can relate to) told from the experiences and perspectives of a small child (Scout).

The writing is wonderfully beautiful and charming. You'll fall in love with the depth of inner beauty and innocence found in the 2 children (Jem, and especially his sister, Scout/Jean Louis). You'll find yourself rooting passionately for their father (Atticus Finch) to win his case when he chooses to defend a black man on trial for life, despite much social pressure on Finch to give up the case and veiled threats against him and his family. Watch for the part where Finch cross-examines the "victim" (a white girl who accuses the black man of rape) and during his closing speech. Both are excellent courtroom drama (the best I've come across) and they also reveal a lot of the (ugly) truth behind the case.

Atticus Finch's sense of justice, perseverence and fighting spirit (the way he stood his ground) are most inspiring and touching. Based on what he believes in, he knows he must "do the right thing", all the more since he has 2 young children who look up to him for guidance on the difference between right and wrong.

I also loved reading the precious scenes involving Atticus and his children - Atticus is really a "beautiful" person and a perfect role-model of a dad - at once loving and understanding and patience and fair.

And what about the mysterious recluse, Arthur "Boo" Radley who hasn't left his house in years and has become some sort of a terrifying yet intriguing "legend" among the neighbourhood children? Is he really the madman or evil spirit that the children believe him to be?

This book (and another winner, "Angela's Ashes" by Frank McCourt) should rank highly in everyone's list of must-reads. What a true gem! Read it and be charmed.


An American Treasure   July 6, 2001
Rod Chase (Boston, MA)
58 out of 59 found this review helpful

What can be said about a book that covers so many bases? To Kill a Mockingbird is the tale of two children, Jem and Scout growing up in a rural Georgia town. Their father, Atticus Finch, is a kind, just socially responsible man who takes on a case in which a black man is accused of raping a poor white girl. Since the book is set in the south in the 1930's, the defending of a black man against a white woman is unheard of, but Atticus takes the case pro bono because of every man's unalienable rights, and because of the fact that his defendant is not guilty, a fact which is hushed up and covered over by bigotry and hate in this small southern town. The novel makes a stand on basic human rights while covering so much other territory. The antics of Jem and Scout perfectly capture what it is like to be a child during the summer, despite the fact that these summers take place in the charged atmosphere of a racist southern town where both Jem and Scout are forced to do some growing up. The mysterious character of Boo Radley points out once again that a person's appearance and reputation mean nothing when it comes to their character. There is so much packed into this one little novel that it the one-hundredth reading would still be a fresh as the first. Every scene, from Scout's first day at school to the night outside the city jail where a lynch mob threatens Atticus and his client are drawn with amazing skill and beauty. This book is an American treasure and Atticus Finch is one of the greatest characters ever to appear in literature. The only real question this book leaves you with is why didn't Harper Lee ever take up his pen to create another novel?


"Lawyers Were Children Once Too": To Kill a Mockingbird   July 28, 2002
William Errickson, Jr. (Raleigh, NC United States)
43 out of 44 found this review helpful

Oddly, I'd never read To Kill a Mockingbird as a high school student. Nor had I ever seen the famous film with Gregory Peck. Fortunately, I also avoided learning the entire plot through cultural osmosis. Sure, I knew who Boo Radley was-- didn't I? Atticus Finch... yeah, I know who that is... right?

Boy, was I wrong. Last week I finally decided it'd been long enough, and I sank into Harper Lee's only novel with high expectations. And I was certainly not disappointed. With its slow, warm and evocative opening chapters, Mockingbird starts off like a sulty summer day in the South. Lee depicts a South of "whistling bob white," biscuits and warm milk, and ladies who on the hottest days bathe twice by noon and then douse themselves in lavender-smelling powder.

Jean-Louise Finch, better known as Scout, narrates the story with the keen eye of an adult looking back on a childhood rich with incidents that shaped who she has become. Scout reminded me of some of Carson McCullers's heroines (Member of the Wedding, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter), but without the morbid loneliness and heartbreak. Scout might be described as a tomboy, but that would be doing her a disservice. Her adventures with her older brother Jem, and their dimunitive friend Dill (real name: Charles Baker Harris. "Your name's longer'n you are," Jem points out) evoke the timeless place of childhood.

As for Atticus Finch, what can one say about a father who seems to embody the greatest of virtues? He is tolerant, patient, kind, and understanding. He does not meddle with his children's affairs, he speaks to them as fellow adults (he allows them to call him "Atticus"), and his skill as a lawyer is legendary. Lee presents Atticus in a tough and sensitive manner, so that his believability is paramount.

The other characters in the book are also depicted with great skill: Aunt Alexandra, bane of Scout's existence; Miss Maudie, who gives as good as she gets when harassed by intolerant neighbors; Calpurnia, the ever-present black maid who has as much a hand in Jem and Scout's well-being as Atticus; and of course the Ewells, whose poverty and ignorance help set the plot in motion.

Harper Lee has written a wonderful book that pulses with life, with compassion, and easy good humor. Watching Atticus face down an angry mob set on lynching a black man, or racing with Jem as he escapes gunshots from the Radley house, or sitting with Scout as she forced to join her aunt's church lady reception, or taking that long midnight walk with Jem and Scout, is pure joy; these are scenes that reverberate in the reader's mind and surely in the minds of several generations of readers. I'm glad I can now say I'm one of them.