Kill a Mockingbird Introduction to the Novel.

¶ … Kill a Mockingbird

Introduction to the novel. Some writers explain that To Kill a Mockingbird is about growing up in the South during the Jim Crow days. Others explain that the story is about racial injustice in the South. Actually, To Kill a Mockingbird is both a story about growing up in the South and about racial bigotry in Alabama in the 1930s, and it goes deeply into the issue of justice and fairness within the big picture of what it was like to be in the South during that era. The story takes place over a period of three years, and it is made interesting by the author Harper Lee because the main characters evolve quite a bit and the social scene at the time is well depicted. It is easy to look back at American history through this novel and condemn the South, and Alabama, for the racism, but it isn't always a fair way to appraise social situations.

Details about the book's setting: Life in Maycomb County, Alabama, in the 1930s, was not easy for a lot of people. The Great Depression was holding many people back from progress in financial, social, and community situations. Maycomb itself was a very small town, it was very hot and muggy in the summertime, and no matter how boiling hot it was, men worked all day and women stayed at home and cooked, cleaned, and cared for young children. The Finch family in history had owned slaves, typical of the old southern traditional families who had deep roots in the community. The separation of races was totally accepted as a way of life -- there were drinking fountains just for blacks and some just for whites -- and black folks lived in one particular part of town (that was run down) while the white folks lived in a better side of town. Blacks attended churches just for black folks and whites had their own churches too, and blacks worked at really bad jobs that didn't pay very much while whites had better jobs.

Main characters in the book. The main characters were Scout, Jeremy Atticus (Jem), and Atticus Finch. Scout is an outspoken young girl with a desire to learn and a temper that sometimes exploded. Scout (around 6 years of age during the novel) is very real and speaks her mind, to her own embarrassment when she criticizes Walter Cunningham for pouring Maple syrup on his food and gets a lecture for her rudeness. Jem is the older brother of Scout (about 13 years old) and he protects his little sister with a vengeance. Jem is stubborn and given to self-righteousness and becomes kind of moody as he matures. Atticus is a 50-year-old attorney who is a single parent raising two children. The poignant and substantive part of the story is presented as Atticus defends a black man who has been falsely accused.

Summarize the novel: There are two distinctive plots going on in this book. One is about a pair of children (Scout and Jem) growing up in the 1930s in a small Alabama town. The other main part of the novel is the morality story of Atticus serving as the defense attorney for a black man who has been falsely accused of raping a white woman. Of all the things that a black man could do to rile up white folks in the Jim Crow era, raping a white woman is almost as serious as killing a white person. While Jem is coming to an age where he understands racism and social injustice, Scout is still mostly a wide-eyed child asking questions. Atticus refused to back down when the accused (Tom Robinson) is assumed to be guilty and he fights valiantly for justice. The novel contains very disturbing language ("nigger" is how white folks referred to black folks in the South in that time period) and the ugliness of racism is offensive as well.