By Teddy Mitchell

When I first read this book, I was sitting in my eighth grade class on the third floor in Mr. Fraser’s class. We read it aloud as a class and characterized each relevant character in the story and wrote full descriptions up on the board for each one. Every night, we would be assigned readings and small essays, comparing and contrasting the lives of the characters and the relevance of each one to the main plot of the story. Looking back on it now, after reading the book about five more times, I realize how important the plot analysis essays were or the assignment on comparing the secondary problems to the main problem of the story, and how defining each character and their background revealed many juxtapositions in the book. Carefully reviewing and dissecting the story to find the main problem was so important in understanding the moral values and main focus behind the text. Every time I read this book, the story is still as amazing and engaging as it was the first time and the characters stay as interesting as they were reading it in eighth grade. This book has always been one of my favorites since the first time I read it in middle school and writing about it now, for the story and characters are so memorable and real, almost anyone reading this story would be able to relate.

To Kill a Mockingbird is about the life of a young girl, Scout, and her family during the great depression, living in a small, rural town in Alabama. The story follows through the eyes of a six year old, looking deep into her childhood and all the characters and events that shaped her as a person. The story mainly spotlights the children and how they entertain themselves with their new friend, Dill, during the summer days by messing with Boo Radley’s house. Shadowed by society and locked away in this house, Boo Radley is known for his terrible childhood of sporadic tantrums and stabbing his father one night for disagreeing. However the main focus and problem of the novel is the trial between Tom Robinson, a black man accused of rape, and Bob Ewell, the racist and drunken father to Mayella who is accusing the rape. Over a series of chapters, the trial unfolds into several arguments and violent scenes as Atticus Finch, Scout’s father, defends Tom Robinson and receives massive backlash from the family’s friends and townspeople. Throughout the book, the issue with racism and arrogance is repeated in many chapters, mainly focusing on Scout and Jem maturing and becoming more accepting and realizing they should not treat anyone different based on something they can’t help.   

Within this famous novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, there are many problems faced by the characters. The issue with racism and arrogance around their southern town bringing the trial between Tom and Mayella and affecting many characters was the main problem I took from this book. Although it brought discomfort and horrible energy to the town and the characters, the trial scene showed Scout and Jem they do not have to follow what everyone in the town or at school says and that they should treat everyone the same. Scout, as the narrator, follows in her father’s footsteps, listening to his insightful words and learning from all these important life lessons by being more accepting of others and understanding that the trial was wrong and unnecessary. We see Scout in the beginning of the novel, naive and unaware of the arrogance around her and unaccepting of other students that may not have as much money or smells bad because they live on a farm. Through many scenes, we see how Scout started off, following the crowd and treating Boo Radley like he did not exist or making fun of people that live differently and asking personal questions with no filter to people around town. As the story unfolds, we can see how much Scout looks up to Atticus and how he and others have taught her many life lessons, helping with her personality and moral behavior.

While reading this novel, I came across so many scenes that hold so much importance in the main plot and character structure of the story. From the scene outside the jailhouse, focusing on Atticus’s heroic and brave move to stand in front of the mobscene where Tom sits locked away, to the scene where Scout gets attacked by Bob and mysteriously saved, this book is full of scenes shaping and changing characters. Although these are all important to the main story, the scene I want to focus on is the trial scene where every character is present and Harper Lee uses first person narration to show how each character reacts to the trial through Scout’s perspective. Throughout this scene, the main focus is on the trial through Scout’s eyes as the narrator or in third person, describing how she sees and thinks of everyone’s moves around the courthouse. It highlights the conversations at the jury and between Atticus, Bob, and Tom narrating the story that Mayella shares and the different story that Tom shares. As the courthouse heats up and everyone is focused in and listening, the stories get mixed up as Atticus explains Tom would not be able to hit Mayella on the right side of her face due to a cotton gin injury to his left arm, resulting in zero mobility in that arm. “His left arm was fully twelve inches shorter than his right, and hung dead at his side. It ended in a small shriveled hand, and from as far away as the balcony I could see that it was no use to him (Lee, 248).” Therefore, Atticus accuses her hot head, alcoholic father, Bob, of beating and raping Mayella after she was flirting with Tom when working at her house.

This scene shows exponential growth in Scout’s overall character structure and moral behavior as it shows her that people who live different lives than her or may look different than her are all equal and deserve the same amount of respect. Scout watched her father defend Tom Robinson, deflect all the hate comments and actions towards him and focus on being a figure she can look up to and learn from his wise words. Throughout the book, Atticus has taught so many life lessons to his kids and has given them many words of wisdom, especially during the trial.  “As you grow older, you’ll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don’t you forget it…Whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash” (Lee, 295). Scout, as a young girl who is just understanding what is happening and what everything means, listens to every word her father says and respects him and his beliefs, learning from his comments and realizing he is saying Tom Robinson is just like everyone else and Bob is no better. 

Seen in many of her writings, Harper Lee uses narration in many different ways using first person characters to focus on that person’s life and experiences they face while also using third person views to enhance the conversation between groups of characters. When looking at To Kill a Mockingbird, we see Lee use Scout as the narrator being in first person view in many scenes, to get a sense of what the town and the people there look like through the eyes of a six year old. I specifically find this use of narration interesting since this novel is summarized off Harper Lee’s childhood in Maycomb, Alabama and how she grew as a person and learned from these different experiences she had in this story. She uses Scout as the narrator to enhance the narration of these drastic events happening in the town by writing in first person to get a view of what racism and ignorance looks like at a young age. Using Scout’s life events and occurrences through her eyes lets the reader get a better view of how she grew as a person and became more understanding and passionate towards people that have different characteristics.

Currently in our country, we are separated as a community in many matters, including the Black Lives Matter protests and everyone holding different opinions on how the situation should be handled. Our citizens have separate beliefs and are taking sides, forming separate groups and communities that clash with each other, leaving everyone split, as seen in To Kill a Mockingbird with the clashing arguments between the citizens of the town. The tension and disagreement during the trial scene really relates to our current civilization and the social and racial problems we face throughout our country. After reading through this book again, the trial scene stood out more and showed how this country has not changed as much as we think with racial issues in the government and the citizens, along with the multiple deaths of people of color caused by our police force. This novel has so many stories and characters that reflect the state of our country and the current discriminatory comments and actions spread around cities and towns fighting for their civil rights. 

After very little consideration and a love for this book, I would definitely recommend this novel to anyone who hasn’t already read it, and is looking for a quick read with an interesting and evolving story. Harper Lee’s writing and narration techniques are fun and engaging, making the overall story more dramatic and relatable with the use of her character’s personalities and the ways they interact with each other. As the story progresses and Scout’s character evolves into a new person, understanding other people’s thoughts and beliefs, becoming less forward with questions to others, and realizing that Boo Radley is not just a shadow living in this spooky house but instead a person who saved her life in the end. The moral lesson behind this novel of accepting and understanding everyone has a huge impact on many middle schoolers and teaches them how to act around other people they may meet. Overall, this story has always been one of my favorites since the first time I read it and would highly recommend it to anyone that wants to read it or re-read a memorable childhood story.