Visit us at www.gradesaver... to read the full video transcript and our study guide for this classic novel, which includes a full list of characters, themes, and much more.
To Kill a Mockingbird is a coming-of-age story as told by the main character, Scout Finch, in 1930's Alabama. Through her neighborhood meanderings and the influence of her father, she grows to understand that the world isn't always fair and that prejudice is a very real aspect of the small town where she lives, no matter how subtle it appears to be on the surface.
To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in the town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the Great Depression, and is narrated by the main character, a little girl named Jean Louise Finch, who is referred to as “Scout” throughout the story.
The main characters include:
- Atticus Finch, the father of Scout and her older brother Jem Finch, is a lawyer with high moral standards;
- Charles Baker Harris, who is referred to as “Dill” throughout the story, is the children’s friend who visits them from Mississippi in the summers;
- Calpurnia, the Finch’s housekeeper and cook, is a motherly figure for Scout;
- Boo Radley is the Finch’s mysterious and reclusive neighbor;
- Walter Cunningham is one of the poorest children in Scout and Jem’s school;
- Tom Robinson is a black man falsely accused of assulting a white woman;
- Mayella Ewell is the white woman accusing Tom; and
- Mr. Bob Ewell is Mayella’s father.
As the story begins, Scout, Jem, and Dill are intrigued by the reclusive Boo. He lives close to the Finch’s house and local legend has it that he once stabbed his father in the leg with a pair of scissors. They imagine him as a kind of monster.
The children enact little dramas about Boo’s life. They start to venture closer to the Radley house, which is said to be haunted. Then they try leaving notes for Boo on his windowsill with a fishing pole but are caught by Atticus. He firmly reprimands them for making fun of a sad man's life.
The children continue to sneak around the Radley house at night. Boo's brother thinks he hears a prowler and fires his gun. The children run away, but Jem loses his pants in a fence. When he returns in the middle of the night to get them back, they have been neatly folded and the tear from the fence roughly sewn up.
Other mysterious things begin to happen to the Finch children. A tree near the Radley house has a knot-hole in which someone leaves little presents for them. The children find pennies, chewing gum, and soap-carved figures that bear a striking resemblance to Scout and Jem. When the children try to leave a note for the mystery giver, they find that Boo's brother has plugged up the hole with cement.
One day, Jem invites one of his poorest classmates, Walter Cunningham, over for lunch. At the Finch house, Scout notes that Atticus and Walter discuss farming “like two men.” Walter asks for some molasses and proceeds to pour it all over his meat and vegetables. When Scout rudely asks what he is doing, Calpurnia gives her a lecture in the kitchen about how to treat guests-no matter what their background.
Visit us at www.gradesaver... to read the full video transcript and our study guide for this classic novel, which includes a full list of characters, themes, and much more.
2 окт 2024
