Critical Analisis of to Kill a Mocking Bird

The novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" is about a girl named Scout Finch who lives with her brother, Jem, and their widowed father Atticus, in the Alabama town of Maycomb. Maycomb is suffering through the Great Depression, but Atticus is a wealthy lawyer and the Finch family is financially fine in comparison to the rest of society. One summer, Jem and Scout become friends with a boy named Dill, who has come to live in their neighborhood for the summer. Dill becomes fascinated with the spooky house on their street called the Radley Place. The house is owned by Mr. Nathan Radley, whose brother, Arthur (Boo), has lived there for a long time without going outside.

Scout goes to school for the first time that fall and hates it. She and Jem find gifts apparently left for them in a knothole of a tree on the Radley property. Dill returns the following summer, and he, Scout, and Jem begin to act out the story of Boo Radley. Atticus puts a stop to their fun, telling them to try to see life from someone else's view before making judgments. But, on the last day of summer, the three sneak onto the Radley property, where Nathan Radley shoots at them. Jem loses his pants in the escape. When he returns for them, he finds them sewn and hung over the fence. The next winter, Jem and Scout find more presents in the tree, left by Boo. Nathan Radley eventually plugs the knothole with cement. Shortly thereafter, a fire breaks out in another neighbor's house, and during the fire someone slips a blanket on Scout's shoulders as she watches the blaze. Convinced that Boo did it, Jem tells Atticus about the mended pants and the presents.

To the dislike of Maycomb's racist town, Atticus agrees to defend a black man named Tom Robinson, who has been accused of raping a white woman. Because of Atticus's decision, Jem and Scout are subjected to abuse from other children, even when they celebrate Christmas at the family compound on Finch's Landing. Calpurnia, the Finches' black cook, takes them to the local black church, where the warm and close-knit community accepts the children.

Atticus's sister, Alexandra, comes to live with them the next summer. Dill, who is supposed to live with his new stepfather in another town, runs away and comes to Maycomb. Tom Robinson's trial begins, and when Tom is placed in the local jail, a mob gathers to lynch him. Atticus faces the lynching party the night before the trial. Jem and Scout, who have sneaked out of the house, join him. Scout recognizes one of the men, and her polite questioning about his son makes him disperse the mob.

At the trial, the children sit in the colored balcony with the town's black citizens. Atticus provides clear evidence that the accusers, Mayella Ewell and her father, Bob, are lying: in fact, Mayella seduced Tom, was caught by her father, and then accused Tom of rape to cover her shame and guilt. Atticus provides evidence that the marks on Mayella's face are from wounds that her father gave her when he found her with Tom. Despite the significant evidence pointing to Tom's innocence, the all-white jury convicts him of rape. The innocent Tom later tries to escape from prison and is shot to death.

Despite the verdict, Bob Ewell feels that Atticus and the judge have made a fool out of him, and he vows for revenge. He menaces Tom Robinson's widow, tries to break into the judge's house, and finally attacks Jem and Scout as they walk home from a Halloween party. Boo Radley intervenes, however, saving the children and accidentally killing Ewell in the fight. After carrying Jem home and sitting with Scout for a while, Boo disappears into the Radley house. Later, Scout walks home from the Radley house and feels as though she can finally imagine what life is like for Boo. With this realization, Scout takes her father's advice to practice sympathy and understanding and demonstrates that her experiences with hatred and prejudice will not weaken her faith in human goodness.

This novel relates to the lectures and readings about how lynching parties were a big thing in the 1900's and that the lower class, the Ewell's, would lie, cheat, and steal to gain more respect and power in the town. It also relates to the readings about how the court system was corrupt and very racist. This proves that if you committed a crime back then and you were black, you were going to go to jail or a lynching party might murder you.