To Kill A Mocking Bird

Summary: To Kill A Mocking Bird

By: Jensen Koga


Jean Louise Finch nicknamed Scott is living with her brother Jem Finch, there widowed father Atticus and their cook Calpurnia. They live in a small town called Maycomb in Alabama and at the time this story takes place there is a lot of prejudice. Atticus is a prominent lawyer and the Finch family is considered to be well off money wise as compared to the rest of the town’s people. One summer they meet a boy named Dill and they become friends. Dill is from Meridian Mississippi and comes to stay with his Aunty Rachael every winter. Back home Dill went to the pictures shows but finds out in Maycomb there weren’t any. After Dill becomes spellbound with the spooky house on their street called the Radley Place, the three of them Dill, Jem and Scout start acting out stories together. Mr. Nathan Radley owned this house and lived there with his brother Arthur. Arthur’s nickname was Bool. Even if Boo lived there many years he never came out the house. Scout goes to school for the first time that fall and she hates it. Scout and Jem find gifts left for them in a knothole of a tree on the Radley property. That following summer Dill comes back and Dill, Jem and Scout start to act stories about Boo Radley a.k.a. (Arthur Radley). Atticus puts a stop to their stories and he said “to see life from another persons perspective before making a judgement on them”. On Dills last night in Maycomb before their summer ends the three of them sneak onto the Radleys property. While they were on the property Nathan Radely shot at them. As they were running Jem loss his pants when they were trying to escape. They went back for his pants and found it stuck to the fence someone had hung it over the fence. The next winter Jem and Scout find more presents in the tree they thought it was left by the Mysterious Boo Radley. Nathan Radley eventfully plugs the hole with cement. It was not long until a fire broke out in another neighbor’s house, and while they were looking at the blazing fire someone slipped on a blanket on Scouts shoulders. Scout was convinced that Boo Radley put the blanket on her shoulders. Jem tells Atticus about the pants on the fence and all of the presents in the tree. Maycomb is a racist white community and even so Atticus agrees to defend a black man named Tom Robinson. Tom Robinson was accused of having sex a white woman. Atticus decision to defend Tom Robinson not only affected himself but his decision also affected his children, Jem and Scout because the other children abused them at school and even when they celebrated Christmas at the compound of the Finches family landing. While out of town, Calpurnia the Finches black cook takes Jem and Scout to a local black church where they embrace children. Atticus’s sister, Alexandra, comes to live with the Finches to help care for them. Dill who is supposed to live with his new father in another town runs away and comes back to Maycomb. Tom Robinson trials begin. At the trial Jem and Scout sneak into the colored balcony with the black citizens. Atticus provides clear evidence that Mayella Ewell and her father Bob are lying. Atticus also proved that it was not Tom Robinson who hit Mayella but her father instead. The all white jury convicted the innocent Tom Robinson. Later Tom tries to escape and gets shot trying. Bob feels that Atticus and the judge made a fool out of him and he wants revenge. To get back at them Bob tries to break in to the judge’s house and attacks Jem and Scout while they are walking home from the Halloween Party. Boo Radley comes to the rescue and stabs Bob Ewell. The sheriff protected Boo Radley and claimed Bob Ewell fell on his own knife. Now, Scout understood what her father meant when he told her about judging people that she doesn’t personally know.


My Reactions:

This book is very educational and interesting. I found myself getting hooked to the story. I felt angry when Tom Robinson was not treated fairly. I felt good when Atticus did what he thought was right and defended Tom Robinson. I thought it was funny when the three children Dill, Jem and Scout sneaked out of their house and went to the Radley’s house to try to get Boo Radley to come out. Mr. Nathan Radley caught them and while running away Jem’s pants came off and he went back to get them it was on the fence.
I also thought it was surprising that the white people give the black people a hard time but when the children went to the black people’s church most of them welcomed the children.
The triumph of evil over good is when Bob Hewell lied and accused, a black man, Tom Robinson for raping his daughter and the jury ruled in Bob Hewell’s favor even after the evidence was clear that Tom Robinson was innocent and Bob Hewell lied. The evil lies of Bob Hewell won over the good and innocent Tom Robinson.
The triumph of good over evil is when a white prominent lawyer, Atticus, defends a black man, Tom Robinson, because he believed Tom is innocent and Bob Hewell was lying. Race did not matter to Atticus; he even put himself and his family in a bad spot when he decided to defend Tom Robinson. His friends and family turned against Atticus and his family when Atticus decided to defend a black man. Although this was bad for Atticus and his family this was good for Tom Robinson because I don’t think that anyone else would have stepped up and accepted this case.
The scourge of the social inequality is the devastation of a community when it lacks uniformity or any type of respect. Such as, we depend on the courts to uphold the law and make the best decision to protect the innocent in the community. But in this story even if Atticus proved that Tom Robinson was innocent the all white jury decided that he was guilty just because Tom Robinson was black. If Tom Robinson were white, would the jury decide differently? I wonder? It’s just not right.