Introduction
To Kill a Mockingbird is a book of By Harper Lee and published July 11, 1960. Harper Lee was an American novelist best known for her 1960 novel To Kill a Mockingbird. It won the 1961 Pulitzer Prize and has become a classic of modern American literature. This book is a Bildungsroman, Thriller, Domestic Fiction. There is a reason why this book is so popular that in many countries all middle school students should read it before graduation. This story is about a fictional town of Alabama, which is point of when Modernism was going on at the time it was written. It’s a very interesting Novel. This book is so good that it was taught in American schools and colleges and became a classic in American literature. So let’s turn on again. (To Kill a Mockingbird Summary)
Summary
Story begins from a place called Maycomb which is a town in Alabama. Here is the problem of Racism. It was a time of great depression. This story is told from point of view, a 6-year-old girl Scout Finch.
This girl lives with her brother Jem and her father Atticus. Her mother has passed away and her father is a lawyer, despite being a lawyer, his income is not so much. He has to work long hours because all their clients are poor. Even after working hard day and night, it is enough that he keeps his family out of poverty.
Now there are small children and there is no woman in the house, it is a simple matter that there is a lot of problem in raising children, then there is a black woman in this house called Calpurnia and she is the Maid of this house. And is kept as a family member. She helps Atticus to raise these children. During Summer, a friend named Dill comes to stay next door and he spends the summer playing with Scout and Jem.
From here the scout gets to learn some major lessons. She learned them from Atticus and partly from her experience.
You don’t understand anyone until you put yourself in their shoes.
She takes some time to master this one and the plot for the first part of the book mostly shows her going wrong from across the street where Radley’s house, the family that lives here is very unsocial for his son.
Arthur Radley is a man in his 30s who hasn’t been out for many years. The town’s children call Arthur ‘Boo’ Radley and consider him strange. As if he is a ghost. They have this terrible picture of what he likes that he eats, mice and cats. And he is ugly and retarded and will kill any child.
The real story of Arthur Radley is that he got into trouble with the law due to being a bit rusty and disorganized when he was a teenager, his father never let him out of the house again and now he lives with his elder brother, but he is still not allowed to meet people.
During the first part of the book Scout, Gem and Dill incorporate Radley House. They dare each other to touch it. Then one day they start finding the gift and penny hidden in a hole in a tree, someone is leaving a gift for them.
Sweet Boo
They made a plan to see Boo. They were looking through the back of the house to try to get a look at him through the window than Boo’s older brother Nathan opened fire. Hearing this voice, the children start running away, Jem’s pant gets stuck in the fence and the scared Jem leaves his pant and runs away. On the next day, he finds his pants exactly where he left him.
One day a fire breaks out in their neighborhood and it was winter time. The scout was watching the fire that had hardened outside, when someone came and left the scout with a blanket. The scout does not know who was he, but she thinks it was boo.
Never kill mockingbirds
This text literally means when Atticus gives the children a rifle and states that he allow them to shoot whatever bird they want, but not the mockingbirds because the mockingbirds do not harm anyone. All they do is music. Here, the meaning of Mockingbird is weak people and something that cannot protect itself. Such people should never reach justice. Atticus explains to children.
The second phase of the book involves Tom Robinson. Tom, a black man arrested for raping a white woman named Mayella. Atticus Finch has been hired as his defense attorney and is determined to do a good job at it, although he knows he is about to lose due to racism because everyone in the city is racist to one degree or another.
Atticus wants to teach his children the lesson that true bravery is when you keep fighting and knowing, you cannot win.
The Trial
One evening, Tom Robinson was being taken to the county jail before his trial and some men arrived upon hearing this. Atticus also arrives there and sits outside the prison door, a group of men approach Tom and Atticus tries to convince them to flee there and while arguing with them he sees that the children have arrived there too. When Atticus is unable to explain, Scout starts talking to one of the men as she goes to school with her son, the man tells the rest of the crowd to disperse and they all go home.
The next day, Scout and Jem sit in the courtroom and watch the trial along with the rest of the town. Atticus does a great job with his defense and the children think he is going to win, Mayella Ewell, the victim and her father Bob Ewell are both obnoxious prosecutors and don’t seem very trustworthy.
Also, physical evidence is against him that mayella has bruises on his face and Tom can’t even use his hand. There was a reassuring story on the witness stand that Mayella tried to seduce him and Bob Ewell caught him and beat him and accused him of rape but despite Atticus’s brilliant defense, the jury indicted Tom because a white jury is not going to acquit Black. The man accused of raping a white woman.
The evil community
They learn about the bad side of their entire community and the fact that even the justice system is unfairly tainted. Bob Ewell carries a grudge against Atticus for fooling him and he threatens revenge on Halloween.
Scout and Jem are coming home from a spectacle in the dark. Ewell attacks them with a blade and tries to kill them. He twists and breaks Jem’s arm. Boo Radley hears them crying and comes out of his house and kills Bob Ewell with a knife though. Jem and Scout don’t really understand that it’s happening on time due to darkness.
Sheriff and Atticus discuss what to do about Bob Ewell’s death Atticus wants to say that Jem killed him in self-defense, so that he can clear his name publicly and there would be no rumor that they covered it. Then The sheriff forbids them to do so. Jem couldn’t possibly do that the sheriff insisted that his story would be that Bob Ewell slipped to a root and fell with his own knife.
Part of the reason for this story is that he knows that Arthur Radley may have killed Ewell and even though he does not think it is a crime. He knows that this public attention will be disastrous for a recluse like Arthur because Arthur saved the lives of children. The best reward is to let him maintain his privacy.
The True Mockingbird
Atticus is afraid to do so because his children have gone through this miscarriage of justice in the trial and if they see that Atticus has met with the Sheriff due to bending the law, he fears they will never respect him again, But Scout tells Atticus who realizes that she is making a hero out of Boo would be like killing a Mockingbird.
This is an important moment in the book because it means that she absorbs lessons about mockingbirds despite seeing the unfairness of life.
When she finally understands the first lesson about understanding people by putting them in her shoes.
Some quotes we all need to know
“Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”
Harper Lee
To Kill a Mockingbird
“Bad language is a stage all children go through, and it dies with time when they learn they’re not attracting attention with it.”
Harper Lee
To Kill a Mockingbird
“I think there’s just one kind of folks. Folks.”
Harper Lee
To Kill a Mockingbird
“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.”
Harper Lee
To Kill a Mockingbird
Insight/Review
This book was truly unique because it had many plots and themes. Some chapters seemed unnecessary while others were important to the plot of the story. The story was a bit blurred in the beginning but you became even more attractive as you read further into the story. This book, though fictitious, contains educational examples that can help middle-school students better understand these historical events.
Atticus’s unique ancestral style is refreshing and reassuring as it is rooted in honest beliefs. When he says “You can never understand a person until you think through what he says … until you climb on his skin and walk around him.” You feel a sense of genuine appreciation for this character and his practical nature. Later, as the story progresses, you also praise his loyalty.
The language style of the book was sweet and simple. The words were easy to understand. No hard words to see. Truly, a very impressive book.
Rating
5/5
Conclusion
The timeless classic and human dignity of growing up that unites us all. The subject of prejudice is portrayed wisely to teach us the values of basic human rights. The sense of bravery and honesty at Atticus Finch has inspired many to do so and overcome racism. This book teaches us what Atticus said to his children, before judging anyone, see the world from the point of view of man.
A Read Book
To Kill a Mockingbird Summary & Review
Read all Quotes of To Kill a Mockingbird, Read
About The Author
Harper Lee was an American novelist best known for her 1960 novel To Kill a Mockingbird. It won the 1961 Pulitzer Prize and has become a classic of modern American literature. Lee published only two books, yet she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2007 for her contribution to literature.
