To Kill a Mocking Bird - Character Analysis

Scout Finch

• The narrator and protagonist
• Intelligent Tomboy
• Has faith in the goodness of the people in her community
• Develops a more grown up perspective that enables her to appreciate human goodness without ignoring human evil. 

Atticus Finch

• The Father
• Lawyer - represented Tom Robinson
• Strongly held conviction, wisdom, empathy
• Functions as the backbone

Jem Finch

• Scout's brother and constant playmate at the beginning of the story
• typical American boy
• refuses to back down and fantasizes about football
• Four years older than Scout - gradually separates herself from her games but remains a close companion
• Jem moves into adolescence during the story
• His ideas are shaken badly by the injustice he perceives during Tom Robinson's trial.

Arthur "Boo" Radley

• A recluse
• Dominates the imaginations of Jem Scout and Dil.
• He is a powerful symbol of goodness however swatched in a shroud of creepiness.
• An intelligent child emotionally damaged by his cruel father
• An example of the threat evil poses to innocence and goodness
• One of the mockingbirds in the story. 

Bob Ewell

• Drunken member f the Maycomb's poorest family
• Mostly unemployed
• Wrongfully accuses Tom RObinson
• Personifies the dark side of the South ; "ignorance, poverty, squalor and hate filled radical prejudice."
• Fatally stabbed by Boo

Charles Baker "Dill" Harris

• Jem and Scout's summer neighbour and friend
• Inspired from Lee's friendship with Capote. 
• Diminutive, confident boy with an active imagination
• fascinated by Boo Radley
• represents the perspective of childhood innocence. 

Miss Maudie Atkinson

• The Finches' neighbour
• A sharp tongued widow and an old friend of the family.
• Old friend of the family
• Shares Atticus's passion for justice

Calpurnia

• The Finches' black cook
• The children's bridge between the black and white community. 

Aunt Alexandra

• Atticus's sister
• strong willed woman and with a fierce devotion to her family
• The perfect Southern lady and her commitment to propriety and tradition often leads her to clash with Scout. 

Mayella Ewell

• Bob Ewell's abused, lonely, unhappy daughter.
• Though you could feel sorry for her, you can't pardon her from her "shameful indictment of Tom Robinson"

Tom Robinson

• The black field hand accused of Rape
• One of the novel's Mockingbirds
• A symbol of innocence destroyed by evil