To Kill a Mockingbird
-Harper Lee
About Author
Harper Lee (April 28, 1926 – February 19, 2016) was an American novelist widely known for To Kill a Mockingbird, published in 1960. Though Lee had only published this single book, in 2007 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her contribution to literature. Furthermore, Lee received numerous honorary degrees, though she declined to speak on those occasions. The plot and characters of To Kill a Mockingbird are loosely based on Lee's observations of her family and neighbors, as well as an event that occurred near her hometown in 1936, when she was 10 years old.The novel deals with the irrationality of adult attitudes towards race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s, as depicted through the eyes of two children. The novel was inspired by racist attitudes in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama.

Summary
To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in the imaginary town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the boundless depression. The character is Jean Louise (“Scout”) Finch, an intelligent though strange girl who ages from six to nine years old during the course of the novel. She is raised up with her brother, Jeremy Atticus (“Jem”), by their widowed father, Atticus Finch. He is a prominent lawyer who inspires his children to be sympathetic and fair. He particularly tells them that it is “a sin to kill a mockingbird,” mentioning to the fact that the birds are innocent and harmless.

When Tom Robinson, one of the town’s black residents, is incorrectly suspect of raping Mayella Ewell, a white woman, Atticus decides to defend him notwithstanding threats from the community. At one point he faces a crowd intent on hanging his client but refuses to abandon him. Scout innocently circulates the situation. Although Atticus presents a protection that gives a more reasonable clarification of the evidence—that Mayella was attacked by her father, Bob Ewell—Tom is sentenced, and he is later killed while trying to escape custody. A character compares his death to “the senseless slaughter of songbirds.”

The children, meanwhile, play out their own reduced drama of bias and superstition as they become interested in Arthur (“Boo”) Radley, a isolated neighbor who is a local legend. They have their own thoughts about him and cannot fight the allure of encroaching on the Radley property. Their gossips thrive on the dehumanization continued by their elders. Atticus, however, rebukes them and tries to encourage a more delicate boldness. Boo makes his presence felt indirectly through a series of generous acts, finally prevailing when Bob Ewell attacks Jem and Scout. Boo kills Ewell, but Heck Tate, the sheriff, believes it is better to say that Ewell’s death happened when he fell on his own knife, frugal the shy Boo from unwanted attention. Scout agrees, noticing that to do otherwise would be “sort of like shooting’ a mockingbird.”