| "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."
Scout Finch is living with her brother, Jem Finch, and their widowed father (Atticus Finch) in Alabama town of Maycomb. Atticus is a well-known local lawyer in Maycomb County, trying his best to bring-up his children with moral values. That's the reason why he lives his life to his own set-of-rules and standards. This became a compelling & underlying reason to take up Tom Robinson's case, although he knows that could possibly lose, but also feels that Mr. Robinson is an innocent man (wrongly accused due to his minority race). So, it somehow becomes his moral obligation to try his best to help him out. Finch family however, is reasonably well-off in comparison to the rest of town. Scout Finch is the main character of the story. She has a very strong realization of the fact that why her father is trying hard to make a purposeful-living. Jem and Scout befriend a boy named Dill, who came to live in their neighborhood for the summer and the trio starts acting out stories together. Their neighboring house is owned by Mr. Nathan Radley, whose brother, Arthur (nicknamed Boo), has lived there for years without venturing outside. Atticus (on the other hand) cautions them not to do anything with Mr. Radley, urging them to let the poor man be. Among the Maycomb's racist white community, Atticus decides to defend a black man -Tom Robinson (accused of raping a white woman named Mayella Ewell). Due to Atticus's decision, Jem & Scout are subjected to a biased behavior from other children of the town. Since, majority is convinced of Tom's guilty (for no logical reason), they start perceiving Atticus quite negatively and a kind of animosity towards the Finch family starts to grow. As the trial starts, the children observe it too while sitting in the “colored balcony” along with the town's black citizens. Atticus supply clear evidence that the accusers, Mayella Ewell and her father (Bob) are liars. Actually, Mayella propositioned Tom Robinson, was caught by her father and then accused Tom of rape to cover her own shame and guilt. It was all fake claims to bring an innocent man down. Atticus further provides impressive evidence that the marks on Mayella's face are because of her father, who (upon discovering her with Tom) called her a whore and beat her. Yet, in spite of the noteworthy evidence supporting to Tom's innocence, the all-white jury convicts him. The innocent Tom later tries to escape from prison and is shot to death. In the consequence of the trial, Jem's faith in justice is badly shaken, and he tumbled into depression & doubt. Jem and Scout starts believing that majority of the people (in town) are very discriminatory, prejudiced and biased against blacks. They became very hopeless, knowing this harsh reality of the society. It is simply beyond their comprehension that how people can be so mean and crooked to each other? Surprisingly, not even in the court, things are unbiased, rational and justified. Later, Bob Ewell (Mayella's father) starts threatening Atticus as revenge, and resolves that he'll get him back one way or another. After some time, finally Bob Ewell attacks the children Halloween night with a knife. He breaks Jem's arm and almost kills Scout, but Boo Radley (out of all the people) comes to rescue and saves them. The Scout is really thrilled to finally see the man they for so long fantasized about. 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. He has become a human being to them at last. With this understanding, Scout embraces her father's advice & vision to practice compassion and understanding, alongside a realization that all the bitter experiences of hatred and prejudice will definitely not defile her belief in human goodness. Great story-line - Worth Reading !! | ||
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Plot & Themes Tone of book? - thoughtful Time/era of story - 1930's-1950's Political/social activism Yes Plotlet: Ethnic/Regional/Religion Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book Ethnic/regional/gender life Yes Main Character Gender - Female Profession/status: Ethnicity/Nationality Setting Small town? Yes Writing Style Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog |
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