this great work takes an unflinching look at racism and other social ills in a small southern town.

the author nelle Harper Lee was born on April 28th 1926 in Monroeville Alabama
she was the youngest of four and like scout a professed tomboy
her father aMassa Coleman Lee is thought to be the inspiration for Atticus Finch
also a lawyer amassa defended two black men accused of murder
after University she moved to New York City to pursue a literary career there she would work as
Truman Capote's research assistant on in cold-blood
Capote was thought to be the inspiration for dill in 1962 Kill a Mockingbird was published from
which Lee won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction the following year Lee died on February 19 2016 at
the age of 89 her death prompted a national outpouring of grief and admiration for the author
and her monumental work to Kill a Mockingbird .

the story begins in the summer

when Scout Jem and their new friend dill

play in the neighborhood often spying on

the reclusive neighbor Boo Radley

to kill a mockingbird is about growing up

the main character is a girl named Scout Finch who is about to turn six
when the book begins and eight when it ends and the book is about what
she learns about people and about life over the course of those two years
the book takes place between 1933 and 1935 in Maycomb Alabama it's a
small sleepy town in the deep south.
Scout's father Atticus is a lawyer but they don't have much money because
his clients are poor. Scout lives with their father her brother Jem and their
cook Calpurnia her mother's dead
during the summers a friend named dill comes to stay next door and he
spends the summer playing with Scout and Jem

Scout basically learns four major lessons over the course of the book she
learns them partly from Atticus and partly from her own experience the first
lesson is that you don't understand someone until you put yourself in their
shoes she takes a while to master this one in the storyline for the first part
of the book mostly shows her getting it wrong across the street from where
Scout lives is the Radley house the family that lives in it is very unsocial
and the son Arthur Radley is a man in his 30s who hasn't been seen
outside in many years the children in the town refer to Arthur as Boo
Radley as if he were a ghost they have this horrible picture of
what he's like that he eats rodents and cats that he catches that he's ugly
and drooling and that he'll kill any child he catches

the real story of Arthur Radley is that he got in trouble with

the law for being a bit wild and disorderly when he was a teenager his
father never let him out of the house again now his father's dead and he
lives with his older brother but he's still a complete recluse throughout the
first part of the book Scout and Jem and dill play games involving the
Radley house they run past it they dare each other to touch it then one day
they start finding presents like gum and pennies hidden in a hole in a tree
Boo Radley is leaving gifts for them though it takes a long time for them to
realize it
the kids make schemes to get Boo Radley to come out of the house so
they can see him one night they sneak around to the back of the house to
try to get a look at him through the window and they get shot at by the
older brother Nate
then Jim gets his pants caught in a fence boo radley fixes them and leaves
them out for Jim one night when it's very cold and Scout and Jem are
standing outside because one of the neighbor’s houses is on fire
boo Radley puts a blanket around Scout she never even realizes itshe still
imagines he's really scary and she freaks out when she realizes he was
behind her so over the course of the year they gradually realized he's
actually nice but much more slowly than we do

the second important lesson in the book is that you don't kill
mockingbirds this lesson has a literal meaning when
Atticus gives the kids air rifles they're allowed to shoot at whatever
birds they want but not mocking birds because mocking birds don't eat
anyone's plants or harm anything all they do is make music Mockingbird
has a metaphorical meaning to anyone who is weak or defenseless To Kill
a Mockingbird in that sense is to take advantage of someone weaker than
you

the second phase of the book involves Tom Robinson Tom is a black man
who has been arrested and charged with raping a white
woman named maiella Ewell Atticus Finch has been appointed as his
defense attorney and he's determined to do a good job at it even though he
knows he's
going to lose because of racism everybody in the town is racist to one
degree or another and Scout and Jem wind up getting teased and talked
about because their father is defending a black man for a crime like that
Atticus doesn't want them to fight the other kids but to try to keep calm and
keep their heads up in the face of adversity he wants to teach them the
lesson that true bravery is when you keep fighting and persevering even
when you know you can't win
one evening Tom Robinson is being moved to the
County Jail before his trial and Atticus sits outside the door of the jail house
with his chair propped against the door a group of men comes to Lynch
Tom and Atticus blocks their way Scout and Jem and dill will come looking
for Atticus and Scout starts talking to one of the men because she goes to
school with his son the man tells the rest of the mob to disperse and they
all go home
Scout and Jem sit in the courthouse and watch the trial along with the rest
of the town Atticus does a great job with his defense and the children think
he's going to win for one thing my LE Ewell the victim and her father Bob
Ewell the other witness for the prosecution are both obnoxious and don't
seem very trustworthy also the physical evidence is against them Maya's
bruises are on the right side of her face and Tom can't even use his left arm
but Bob Ewell is left-handed and he could have beaten his
daughter then tom tells a convincing story on the witness stand that maiella
tried to seduce him and that Bob Ewell caught her and beat her up and she
accused Tom of rape but despite Atticus's brilliant defense the jury

convicts Tom because a white jury is not going to acquit a black man
accused of raping a white woman the children are crushed by Tom's
conviction as Atticus knew all along they would be in one
dramatic moment

they learn about the evil side of their whole community and the fact that
even the justice system is tainted by unfairness
Bob Ewell carries a grudge against Atticus for making a fool of him and he
threatens to get revenge on Halloween scout and gem are coming home
in the dark from a pageant you will attacks them with a switchblade and
tries to kill them he breaks Jems arm by twisting it
boo radley hears their cries and comes out of his house and kills Bob Ewell
with a kitchen knife though Jem and Scout don't actually understand this is
happening at the time because of the dark the sheriffin Atticus discuss
what to do about Bob Ewell's death
Atticus wants to say that Jem killed him in self-defense
so he can clear his name publicly and there won't be any rumors that they
covered it up the sheriff says no way Jem couldn't possibly have done it
the sheriff insists that their story will be that Bob Ewell tripped on a root
and fell on his own knife the reason the sheriff sticks to this story is that he
knows Arthur Radley must have killed you and even though he
doesn't think this is a crime he even thinks the town would treat him like a
hero and leave cakes on his porch he knows that this amount of public
attention would be devastating to a recluse like Arthur since Arthur saved
the children's lives the best reward is to let him keep his privacy Atticus is
afraid to do this because his children have just lived through this
miscarriage of justice in the trial and if they see Atticus is bending the law
because of his association with the sheriff he fears they won't ever respect
him again but Scout tells Atticus that she understands making a hero out of
boo would be like killing a mockingbird

that's a climactic moment in the book because I absorbed the lesson about
mockingbirds despite having seen the unfairness of life over the story scout
sees its value as well arthur is actually very childlike himself and there's a
scene where he asks Scout to walk him across the street back to his own
house because he's afraid after she does so she looks out from the Radley
porch and imagines all of her own activities over the past couple of years
has seen through Arthur's eyes that's when I finally grasps the lesson
about understanding people by putting yourself in their shoes

lesson 1: put yourself in other people's shoes

lesson 2: don't kill mockingbirds
lesson 3: keep fighting even if you know you'll lose
lesson 4: the world is unfair