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TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

The novel to kill a mockingbird was written by Nelle Harper Lee who was born on April
28, 1926 in Monroeville, Alabama. Lees interest in literature grew while she was in high school.
She went to Oxford University as an exchange student for one year. Soon after returning from
Oxford, Lee realized her career was in writing and not law. She dropped out of the university and
moved to New York in 1950. It is during her time in New York that she wrote and finished the
manuscript of To Kill a Mocking Bird in 1959. The book instantly became a best seller
internationally and was also adapted into an Academy Award winning movie in 1962. Although
Harpers contribution to literature has been limited to one novel only, she has achieved what
many writers can only wish for even after authoring volumes.
When To Kill a Mocking Bird was published in 1960, Lee instantaneously became a
literary legend. Although Lee was reported to be working on a second novel, no other novel by
Lee was ever seen in print again. On November 6, 2007, President George W. Bush presented to
Lee the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her services to literature. She was also awarded the
National Medal of the Arts in 2010.
Until last year, Lee had been something of a one-book literary wonder. To Kill a
Mockingbird, her 1961 epic narrative about small-town lawyer Atticus Finchs battle to save the
life of a black resident threatened by a racist mob, sold more than 40million copies around the
world. Lee died in her sleep on the morning of February 19, 2016, aged 89. Prior to her death,
she lived in Monroeville, Alabama.
Scout and Jem Finch are growing up in the tired old Alabama town of Maycomb. Their
father, Atticus, is the local lawyer and as a single parent tries to raise his children with honor and
respect to their individualism. With the Depression on times are hard, and there is no money to
be found anywhere in town.
To amuse themselves Scout, Jem, and their best friend Dill begin a relentless campaign
during their summer times to get Boo Radley, their reclusive, legendary neighbor, to come out of

his house. They concoct endless schemes and even go so far as to create a play that details Boo's
life. Atticus forbids them to have anything to do with Mr. Radley, urging them to let the poor
man be.
Atticus is a good man, and one day takes on a case that affects him personally. A black
man, Tom Robinson, is accused of beating and raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell. Most of
the county is convinced immediately that Tom is guilty of the crime, and begin to look at Atticus
in a very negative way for actually defending him and trying to do right by him. Scout and Jem
begin to get tormented over their father at school, and Atticus begs them not to get riled up over
the town's prejudice.
As the trial begins it becomes apparent to Scout and Jem that there is no way that Tom
Robinson could have beaten and raped Mayella Ewell, as his left hand is crippled. Atticus proves
that to the jury, and Scout and Jem are astonished when Tom is slapped with a guilty verdict
anyway. They begin to realize that many people in town are very prejudiced against blacks, and
their hearts are saddened by it. It is hard for them to understand how people can be so mean to
each other, and they both begin to see that, even in court where things are supposed to be
unbiased, men's hearts bring in their own hatreds.
It isn't much longer that Tom is shot and killed for trying to escape while in prison. Jem
especially takes the whole affair hard, and it takes him a long time to come to grips with the
jury's decision, and Tom's death.
After the trial has died down Bob Ewell, Mayella's father, begins threatening Atticus for
embarrassing him in court, and resolves that he'll get him back one way or another. Atticus is
convinced that he's all talk, and passes it off as such.
Time crawls past, and finally Bob Ewell is good to his word and attacks the children
Halloween night with a knife. He breaks Jem's arm and almost kills Scout, but Boo Radley, of all
people, comes to their rescue and saves them. The sheriff, Heck Tate, hushes the whole thing
over so Boo Radley will not be dragged into the spotlight, and Scout is thrilled to finally get to
meet the man they for so long fantasized about. As she walks him back home, she realizes that all
this time he was watching them from his front porch windows, and just for a little while she is
able to stand in his shoes.

Analysis
You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of
view . . . until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.
Atticus gives Scout the crucial piece of moral advice that helps her with the development
for the rest of the novel. The wisdom of Atticuss words reflects the uncomplicated manner of
sole principle in which he guides himself. Scout finds it difficult to follow the principles of
Atticus and struggles with varying degrees of success and to live with sympathy and
understanding toward others. At the end of the book, she succeeds in understanding Boo
Radleys character, fulfilling Atticuss advice and despite the considerable darkness of the plot
providing the novel with an optimistic thinking.

Remember its a sin to kill a mockingbird. That was the only time I ever heard Atticus
say it was a sin to do something, and I asked Miss Maudie about it.
Your fathers right, she said. Mockingbirds dont do one thing but make music for us to
enjoy . . . but sing their hearts out for us. Thats why its a sin to kill a mockingbird.
These lines are the main source of the novel that introduces the idea if mockingbirds as
good, innocent people who are destroyed by the evil in the story. Boo Radley, is like a
mockingbird just as mockingbirds which do not harm people but only sing their hearts out for
us, Boo does not harm anyone; instead, he leaves Jem and Scout presents, covers Scout with a
blanket during the fire, and eventually saves the children from Bob Ewell. Boo has been
damaged by an abusive father. The connection between songbirds and innocents is explained
several times in the novel.
"Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not
to try to win".
Atticus is saying that even if there is no chance of victory they will still fight for justice.
A person must still do the right thing, even when faced with a situation where he or she cannot
succeed. This shows the persistence if Atticus. He also teaches his children to behave in the same
way.

"I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a
gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and
see it through no matter what.
Carrying a gun does not make a man brave. Courage is when you face impossible odds
and still try anyway. Knowing about the risk in taking up Tom Robinsons case Atticus acts with
courage and takes up the case. He tries to prove that Tom Robinson is innocent even though he
knows that no black man can win the case against the white man. This shows the courage of
Atticus.
"The one place where a man ought to get a square deal is in a courtroom, be he any color
of the rainbow, but people have a way of carrying their resentments right into a jury box.
It is mandatory for a person to receive equal treatment under the law, however a
prejudiced jury can still deny a person justice and destroy this ideal. Tom Robinson is accused
for abusing a white girl, but Atticus proves that Tom is innocent. But the prejudiced jury denies
it. This shows the racism still prevails in the society.

"Atticus, he was real nice"


"Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them."
Scout talks to Atticus about how Boo Radley turned out to be a very nice person, despite
her originally thinking he was a monster. Atticus points out that most people turn out to be good
once you get to know them and that it's usually prejudging people without knowing them that
makes you dislike others. From this Atticus says that one should never judge a person before
knowing about them.
When they finally saw him, why he hadnt done any of those things . . . Atticus, he was
real nice. . . . His hands were under my chin, pulling up the cover, tucking it around me. Most
people are, Scout, when you finally see them. He turned out the light and went into Jems room.
He would be there all night, and he would be there when Jem woke up in the morning.
As Scout falls asleep, she is telling Atticus about the events of The Gray Ghost, a book in
which one of the characters is wrongly accused of committing a crime and is pursued. When he

is finally caught, however, his innocence is revealed. As Scout sleepily explains the story to
Atticus, saying that the character was real nice when they finally saw him, Atticus gently notes
the truth of that observation. In this way, author closes the book with a subtle reminder of the
themes of innocence, accusation, and threat that have run throughout it, putting them to rest by
again illustrating the wise moral outlook of Atticus. If one lives with sympathy and
understanding, then it is possible to retain faith in humanity despite its capacity for evil. It also
emphasizes Atticuss strong and loving role as a parent to Scout and Jem. Through Atticuss
strength, the tension and danger will be resolved, and the book ends on a note of security and
peace.

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