Summary Of To Kill A Mocking Bird
Symbolic drama
Setting
Southern Alabama; early 1930s
Principal Characters
Atticus Fitch, an attorney and single parent
Scout (Jean Louise Finch), his daughter, a young six-year old tomboy (and the story's narrator)
Jem (Jeremy Finch), Scout's older brother
Arthur "Boo" Radley, a mysterious, reclusive neighbor
Tom Robinson, Atticus' Negro client
Story Overview
When Jem was nearly 13 years old his arm was badly broken at the elbow. After it healed and Jem was assured that he could still play football, his arm never bothered him - though it always remained shorter than the right, and hung at a funny angle. Years later, Jem and his sister, Scout, still talked about the accident and the events leading up to it. They finally agreed it had all started the summer when they tried to get Arthur "Boo" Radley to come out of his house.
Jem and Scout lived in Maycomb, Alabama, a drowsy, isolated town where everyone knew everyone. Their mother had died when Scout was two years old. Calpurnia, a Negro cook, took care of them and taught them tolerance that took them beyond the rigid prejudices of Maycomb society' Their wise father, an attorney, Atticus Finch, played with them and read them stories. In fact, Scout learned to read before going to school which later caused trouble with her teacher, who didn't think early reading fit into proper educational theory.
During the summer when Scout was six and Jem was ten, the children became fascinated with the Radley place next door. Most of the community's young people believed the house was haunted. At night children would cross the street rather than walk in front of the Radley house. Nuts that fell from the Radley pecan tree into the school yard were never eaten; surely, Radley nuts would kill you. A baseball hit into the Radley yard was a lost ball. Scout and Jem raced past the property on their way to or from school. The only person seen going in and out of the dwelling was old Nathan Radley, "the meanest man ever God blew breath into," according to Calpurnia.
But inside the weathered home also lived "Boo," Nathan's younger brother. No one had seen Boo for the past twenty years. It was said that he had gotten into some "trouble" all those years ago and had been imprisoned in the house ever since first by his now dead father and then by Nathan.
All...