To Kill a Mocking Bird Research

Who is the Author - Harper Lee

• Loosely Based on Harper Lee's childhood
• Close Friend in book is Lee's friend Capote
• Loosely based on Lee's observations of her family and neighbours - as well as an event that occurred near her hometown Monroeville in 1936 when she was 10
• Relates to case where Walter Lett was accused of raping a woman, covered on his newspaper
• Her father was a lawyer 0 defended two black men falsely accused of rape

Main Ideas explored

• Scout ages 6-8 a coming of age book 1933-35
• The novel deals with irrationality of adult attitude towards race and class in the Deep South of the 1930's
• Depicted through eyes of 2 children
• Inspired by racist attitudes in hometown Monroeville, Alabama.

The four lessons of the Story

• Put yourself in others shoes
• Don't Kill Mockingbirds
• Keep fighting even though you know you'll lose
• The world is unfair

Book Summary - Source: Sparknotes

• Scout Finch lives with her brother, Jem, and their widowed father, Atticus, in the sleepy Alabama town of Maycomb. 
• Maycomb is suffering through the Great Depression
•  Atticus is a prominent lawyer and the Finch family is reasonably well off in comparison to the rest of society. 
• One summer, Jem and Scout befriend a boy named Dill, who has come to live in their neighborhood for the summer, and the trio acts out stories together.
•  Eventually, Dill becomes fascinated with the spooky house on their street called the Radley Place. The house is owned by Mr. Nathan Radley, whose brother, Arthur (nicknamed Boo), has lived there for years without venturing outside.
• Scout goes to school for the first time that fall and detests it. 
• Atticus puts a stop to their antics, urging the children to try to see life from another person’s perspective before making judgments. 
• But, on Dill’s last night in Maycomb for the summer, the three sneak onto the Radley property, where Nathan Radley shoots at them. 
• Jem loses his pants in the ensuing escape. When he returns for them, he finds them mended and hung over the fence. 
• The next winter, Jem and Scout find more presents in the tree, presumably left by the mysterious Boo. 
• A fire breaks out in another neighbor’s house, and during the fire someone slips a blanket on Scout’s shoulders as she watches the blaze. Convinced that Boo did it, Jem tells Atticus about the mended pants and the presents.
• To the consternation of Maycomb’s racist white community, Atticus agrees to defend a black man named Tom Robinson, who has been accused of raping a white woman. 
• Because of Atticus’s decision, Jem and Scout are subjected to abuse from other children, even when they celebrate 
• At the trial itself, the children sit in the “colored balcony” with the town’s black citizens. 
• Atticus provides clear evidence that the accusers, Mayella Ewell and her father, Bob, are lying: in fact, Mayella propositioned Tom Robinson, was caught by her father, and then accused Tom of rape to cover her shame and guilt. 
• Atticus provides impressive evidence that the marks on Mayella’s face are from wounds that her father inflicted; upon discovering her with Tom, he called her a whore and beat her. 
• Despite the significant evidence pointing to Tom’s innocence, the all-white jury convicts him. The innocent Tom later tries to escape from prison and is shot to death (17 times).
• Jem’s faith in justice is badly shaken, and he lapses into despondency and doubt.
• Bob Ewell feels that Atticus and the judge have made a fool out of him, and he vows revenge.
• He menaces Tom Robinson’s widow, tries to break into the judge’s house, and finally attacks Jem and Scout as they walk home from a Halloween party. 
• Boo Radley intervenes, however, saving the children and stabbing Ewell fatally during the struggle. 
• Boo carries the wounded Jem back to Atticus’s house, where the sheriff, in order to protect Boo, insists that Ewell tripped over a tree root and fell on his own knife. After sitting with Scout for a while, Boo disappears once more into the Radley house
• Later, Scout feels as though she can finally imagine what life is like for Boo. He has become a human being to her at last. 
• With this realization, Scout embraces her father’s advice to practice sympathy and understanding and demonstrates that her experiences with hatred and prejudice will not sully her faith in human goodness.