Book Report: To Kill a Mockingbird
Author: Harper Lee
Copyright date: 1960
Pages: 323
Date: 3/31/25
This book is known as an American classic and I had never taken the time to read the book or watch the movie.
It starts out with the Finch family with the following characters:
Atticus Finch – attorney father – approximately 50 years old
Jem (Jeremy Atticus) Finch – oldest of two, son – ranging from 10-13 throughout the story.
Scout (Jean Louis) Finch – youngest of two children, daughter – ranging from 6-9 throughout the story.
Dill (Charles Baker) Harris -male friend of Jem & Scout who visits in the summer
Calpurnia – black cook (female) for Finch family – probably in upper 50’s
Arthur Ridley – lives next door to Finch family in old, run-down house
Boo Ridley – the unknown entity, possibly the son of Arthur, not sure if he even exists
Tom Robinson – the black man accused of raping/beating Mayella Ewell and represented by Atticus Finch in the trial
Mayella Ewell – 19-year-old victim of rape/beating who accused Tom Robinson
Robert Ewell – father of Mayella Ewell and the actual person who beat her (and possibly raped her)
The book takes place in Maycomb, Alabama in from 1932-35. The first third of the book revolves around the children, what they doing during the year and especially what they do over the summer. One of their fascinations is the large, rundown house next door to them that supposedly has a ghost or at least someone never seen who lives there. They see the father, Arthur Ridley, come and go but never the person of interest – Boo Ridley. They even try to go peek in the window one time and are chased off my Arthur Ridley.
In the second portion of the book, Atticus Finch is representing Tom Robinson, who has been accused of beating and raping, Mayella, a white woman who lives down the road from him. It was actually her father, Robert, who beat her during one of his many fits of drunken rage. It does not go into detail whether he raped her, but there is an allusion to it. She was beaten on the right side of her face – obviously by someone who is left-handed. During the trial, is is proven that her father is left-handed and that Tom has a shriveled left hand due to a childhood accident, so it could not have been him. Still, he is ultimately convicted and makes a run for it during the first few days of prison, causing the guards to shoot him dead. Before & during the trial, Atticus & his children are verbally harassed (and even visited at the jail the night before by a large group of white men) for defending a black man for the rape & beating of a white woman.
The last portion of the book is where Robert says he will also get revenge on the judge and Atticus Finch for how the trial portrayed him. He attempts to enter the judge’s home one evening, but the judge is home and prevents it. One night after the Halloween pageant at school, Scout & Jem are attacked. They ultimately escape when Robert Ewell (the attacker) is killed. Scout thinks Jem killed him. Jem is unconscious and carried home by someone. We learn at the end of the book it is Boo Radley. While it is relatively obvious that Boo killed Robert, the sheriff does not want to stigmatize the children so he declares that they were attacked by Robert and he died when he fell on his own knife. Scout is happy to have met Boo and walks him back to his house, which is the end of the story.
What I learned from this book is that there were several themes throughout the book:
1) The coming of age and exposing of life realities as children grow up. Before the trial, Jem is certain that his father’s legal arguments are so strong that they will surely win a “not guilty” verdict for Tom Robinson. When he is convicted, Jem is gutted by this and is morose for several days.
2) How blacks fit into southern society in the 1930’s. There is a segment of the book talking about how blacks correspond with society in the north and in the south. The belief is that in the north, they believe they are equal but would never invite them to their house for dinner as they are not seen as equal. In the south, everyone knows their place and there is less uncertainty in the world – even though this means that a black man’s word is less than a white trash woman’s word in the court of law.
What I learned from this book that will help increase my prospective for success after prison:
1) I became more educated because I realized that the writer was a woman. I always thought Harper Lee was a man.
2) It is always interesting to learn about history and how things have changed. Even though the book is fiction, what it portrays is correct for that time period. Knowing the history of how blacks were perceived at one time helps to understand what they are going through now and their understanding of the changes over time.
3) Compared to others, Atticus never spanked his children or excessively punished them. He guided them and corrected them with a stern voice, allowing them to come to their own conclusions over time – even if that time did not conform to societal norms. For instance, Scout ran around in overalls and pants, even though girls of her age were expected to wear dresses. He knew that she would eventually outgrow them on her own schedule. This is a great way to handle children and maybe even employees.
