Summary and Analysis of To Kill a Mockingbird: Based on the Book by Harper Lee
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Summary and Analysis of To Kill a Mockingbird: Based on the Book by Harper Lee
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Overview
Crafted and edited with care, Worth Books set the standard for quality and give you the tools you need to be a well-informed reader.
This short summary and analysis of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee includes:
- Historical context
- Chapter-by-chapter summaries
- Analysis of the main characters
- Themes and symbols
- Notes on the author’s style
- Important quotes
- Fascinating trivia
- Glossary of terms
- Supporting material to enhance your understanding of the original work
About To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee:
Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize–winning novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, is a beautiful and significant novel about small-town Southern society in the 1930s, where the innocence of childhood converges with the ugly realities of racial inequality.
With its potent message about truth, integrity, and the moral imperative to stand up for what’s right, To Kill a Mockingbird has earned its place in history as one of the most beloved novels of the twentieth century.
The summary and analysis in this ebook are intended to complement your reading experience and bring you closer to a great work of fiction.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781504043571 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Worth Books |
| Publication date: | 01/10/2017 |
| Series: | Smart Summaries |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 30 |
| File size: | 2 MB |
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Summary and Analysis of To Kill a Mockingbird
By Harper Lee
OPEN ROAD INTEGRATED MEDIA
Copyright © 2017 Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-5040-4357-1
CHAPTER 1
Summary
Part One
1
Jean Louise Finch (Scout) thinks the events leading up to her brother's broken arm was the fault of the Ewells, but her brother, Jeremy Atticus Finch (Jem), says it all started the summer they met Dill. To avoid a fistfight, they went to their father, Atticus, who says they're both right.
Atticus Finch is a lawyer in Maycomb, Alabama. Widowed when Scout was two and Jem six, their black housekeeper and loyal member of the family, Calpurnia (Cal) has been with them since Jem was born.
Small but spunky, Charles Baker Harris (Dill) comes to Maycomb for the first time in the summer of 1933 to visit his aunt. Dill, Jem, and Scout are inseparable and become fascinated with the town's recluse, Boo Radley.
2
Scout is bright beyond her years and finds school unbearable. The first day is a disaster: She gets in trouble for knowing how to read and for innocently explaining to her teacher Miss Caroline, who's new to town and doesn't know the country folks well, why her classmate Walter Cunningham won't borrow money for his lunch. She says the Cunninghams "never took anything they can't pay back," but in her misunderstanding, Miss Caroline takes it to be an offense and smacks Scout's hand with a ruler.
3
Angry with Walter for embarrassing her, Scout catches him in the schoolyard and gives him a whopping. Jem breaks up the fight and sets things right by inviting the hungry boy to their house for supper. During the meal, Cal marches Scout into the kitchen for a lecture on proper manners.
Scout hates school and wants to stay home indefinitely. Atticus teaches her about tolerance and getting along with people. It's a lesson that continues to resonate throughout Scout's young life.
4
Walking home from school one day, Scout finds some chewing gum in a knot-hole in the oak tree outside the Radley place, which is inhabited by Mr. and Mrs. Radley and their mysterious and reclusive son, Boo. Boo is the subject of much myth and a grisly town legend. Jem is horrified and makes Scout spit the gum out, but Scout claims she has been chewing it all afternoon and she "ain't dead yet." Later, they'll find a velvet box with two Indian-head pennies inside.
Dill returns for the summer in fine form. The children make a game out of rolling a rubber wheel with Scout inside. But it crashes into the Radleys' yard, which scares the living daylights out of her. Jem makes fun of Scout for being scaredy because he believes that Boo is dead. Scout knows he's wrong because she heard someone inside the house laughing.
5
Jem and Dill leave Scout out of their plotting because she's a girl, so Scout takes safe harbor with her mentor and neighbor, Miss Maudie. The kind widow assures her that most of the rumors about Boo are untrue. If he were dead, Maudie would have seen him carried out of the house by now.
One day, the three kids hatch a plan to pass a note to Boo in order to get him to come outside. Their idea to deliver the note by attaching it to the end of a fishing pole and casting it toward the Radley place falls flat when Atticus Finch happens along and catches them red-handed. He is unhappy with their bothering of the man and tells them to leave Boo alone.
6
Dill is leaving in the morning, so it's the last chance for the kids to get a look at Boo. Under the cover of darkness, they sneak under the Radleys' fence and hoist Jem up to the window, but he can't see anything. A shadowy figure appears and they run for their lives. As Scout trips in the collard greens, the sound of a shotgun blast rings out.
Out of breath, but back at the house, Jem, Dill, and Scout see a crowd gathering down the street. They mosey over to find out what happened, and hear the false report that Mr. Radley shot a Negro in his collard patch. Atticus sees that Jem is not wearing pants (they got caught in the wire fence during his escape), so Dill makes up a story to appease their father for the moment. Jem knows he has got to produce his breeches by morning, so he goes back to recover them in the middle of the night.
7
On their way home from school several weeks later, Jem confides in Scout what he'd seen the night he went back to the Radley house to retrieve his pants. Apparently they had been folded neatly across the fence — like someone had been expecting him. And the tears in the cloth had been mended by hand.
The old oak tree becomes a treasure trove of riches from small trinkets to pocket watches. When Nathan Radley plugs the hole with cement, Jem is heartbroken.
8
That winter, the coldest on record, Mrs. Radley dies of natural causes, though her prosaic demise would have been more interesting to Scout and Jem if the story was that Boo had finally "gotten her."
At the sight of falling snow — which she has never seen before, Scout screams that the world is ending, but Atticus assures her that it's just precipitation. School gets canceled, even though Atticus thinks there is not enough accumulation to make a snowball. Jem spends all day building a snowman that looks remarkably like the Finches' grouchy neighbor.
The day's fun is overshadowed by a fire that destroys Miss Maudie's home after nightfall. Jem and Scout are instructed to stand outside the Radley house while Atticus goes over to help.
When the flames are extinguished, they return to the house where Atticus notices that Scout is wrapped in a blanket that doesn't belong to them. They figure out that it must have been Boo who covered her up. It's then that Jem spills the beans about the knot-hole, the pants, and everything. Atticus decides to leave things as they are for now, but hopes one day the children will be able to thank Boo personally.
9
Back at school, Scout is ready to punch her schoolmate Cecil Jacobs for saying that her father defends "niggers"; she holds herself back, remembering the promise that if Atticus catches her fighting again he will "wear [her] out."
Atticus confirms that he is defending Tom Robinson in an upcoming trial, but asks Scout not to use the "N-word" when describing "colored" people; he says it's "common" language. Some ugly things are going to be said in the months leading up to the trial, so Atticus wants his children to know how to control their temper.
At Christmas dinner in Finch's Landing, Scout gets into a scuffle with her dull cousin Francis when he calls Atticus "a nigger lover." Scout's not sure what that means, but she's sure it's an insult, so she beats Francis to a pulp.
Atticus is concerned about the atmosphere he's bringing his children up in, worrying they might turn bitter or worse: They might contract the town's chronic disease of racism and narrow-mindedness.
10
Scout perceives Atticus as old, even though he's not quite fifty. She compares him to the other fathers who smoke, drink, and play cards. Unlike them, her father wears glasses and is always reading.
When the kids get air-rifles, Atticus tells them he prefers that they not use them to shoot animals, but if they do, they are not to kill any mockingbirds. Mockingbirds do no harm and live to sing for those who will hear it — to kill one would be a sin.
Questions about Atticus's manhood are silenced following an incident with a rabid dog: Called to the scene near the Finch house, a local sheriff, Heck Tate, hands his rifle to Atticus to take the sick dog out. Atticus was once the deadest shot in Maycomb County. When wondering why he hasn't mentioned it to his children before, Maudie says decent people don't brag about their talents. Welling with pride, Scout and Jem also learn a valuable lesson about the virtues of humility.
11
Two doors down from the Finches lives a poison-tongued old woman, Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose. She hurls insults at them whenever they pass her yard, and although Atticus is nothing but gentlemanly to her, he advises his kids to ignore her abuse.
The woman flings a particularly nasty comment, directed at their father, and makes Jem irate. He proceeds to cut down every camellia bush in the woman's garden. Atticus gets wind of it and is incensed by this tantrum. He demands that Jem apologizes to Mrs. Dubose and is handed down a punishment worse than death: Jem's got to read to the elderly Mrs. Dubose two hours a day for an entire month.
Scout keeps Jem company during the storytelling sessions, which often end early because of Mrs. Dubose's fits. As time goes on, however, the sessions drag on longer and her fits come later and later. About a month after the completion of Jem's reading duties, Mrs. Dubose dies.
Unbeknownst to Jem, his reading served to distract the old woman from the suffering of a morphine withdrawal. Mrs. Dubose vowed to kick her addiction before she died, which, with Jem's help, she was able to do. Atticus believes that people are wrong to think that courage means a man with a gun. Real courage is "when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what." Jem is profoundly altered by the experience.
Part Two
12
Jem's moodiness and impatience is a sure sign that he is entering puberty. When Scout gets lonesome, she can help Cal in the kitchen, which proves to enlighten her about the considerable skill involved in womanhood. A letter from Dill arrives, saying he's not coming to Maycomb that summer; this makes Scout blue for a couple of days.
Atticus is away on business and Calpurnia is left in charge. On Sunday, she takes the children with her to services at the Negro church. Reverend Sykes extends a warm welcome to the white children and remarks that their daddy is a true friend of the church. The congregation is taking up a collection for Tom Robinson's family, prompting Jem to drop his own money into the basket. When they get home, they find Aunt Alexandra, Atticus's sister, sitting on their front porch.
13 Aunty is going to live with them for a while, allegedly to help Atticus during the busy trial; however, Scout's afraid she's there to take away her overalls and turn her into a proper lady.
14
Pointing and whispering at the sight of a Finch is commonplace in town. Scout's been curious for a while about Tom Robinson's crime, and finally asks Atticus what the word "rape" means. He gives her the simplest, dictionary-like definition he can muster.
Scout thinks there is a snake underneath her bed, but it's Dill, who has run away from home. After phone calls to Dill's aunt and mother, Atticus lets Dill stay overnight. Dill isn't abused, just neglected and feels unwanted. Before dozing off, Dill empathically wonders if Boo would run away if he had somewhere to go.
15
It's decided that Dill can stay in Maycomb for the rest of the summer. Things are tranquil for a time.
Trouble is brewing by the looks on the faces of the men who come to the house with Sheriff Tate that evening. They fear Tom Robinson is in danger of being lynched. Their father leaves for a walk later that evening and when Aunt Alexandra is fast asleep, Jem, Scout, and Dill sneak out and head down to the courthouse to look for Atticus. They spot him across the square, sitting under a lamp outside the jailhouse. He's reading the newspaper.
An angry mob shows up at the jail demanding to see Tom Robinson. Atticus refuses to hand Tom over and advises the gang to go home, but they refuse. Seeing that Atticus is outnumbered, the children rush to his aide. Jem refuses Atticus's order to take Dill and Scout and go home. When one of the thugs manhandles Jem, Scout lashes out in defense of her brother, landing a powerful kick to the burly man.
The standoff reaches an impasse. As Scout scans the crowd, her eyes meet Mr. Cunningham, Walter's father. The girl's warm presence reminds the essentially decent man of his longstanding friendship with the Finch family. He relents and instructs the men to clear out. On the walk home, Atticus messes Jem's hair, which is his way of showing affection.
16
Mr. Finch is grateful that the three children showed up at the jail the night before, but he doesn't want them at the courthouse during jury selection. Against their father's wishes, Jem, Scout, and Dill join the crowd at the courthouse, finding seats upstairs in the colored section on the balcony.
17
Sheriff Tate testifies that on November twenty-first, Bob Ewell's daughter Mayella was beaten and raped, and that Tom Robinson was the perpetrator. Atticus brings to light some oddities and inconsistencies in the prosecution's argument, questioning why a doctor wasn't called after the alleged rape, and then when the Sherriff mentions lacerations on the left side of Mayella's face, Atticus points out that they are, in fact, on the right side of her face.
Mayella's father, Bob Ewell, strutting and seething with distain, asserts that he saw Tom Robinson take advantage of his daughter with his own eyes. Agreeing with the assessment of Mayella's injuries, he is tricked into writing his own name — demonstrating to the jury he is left-handed: an important detail when considering Mayella had a bruised on her right eye. Jem thinks Atticus has Mr. Ewell on the ropes.
18
Mayella recounts her story, stating she asked Tom to come into the yard to break up a chiffarobe and was attacked by him from behind. She tried to fight and scream for help, but he managed to choke, beat, and rape her.
Atticus paints a grim picture of Ewell family life, knowing full well it was Mr. Ewell who beat Mayella. Unfortunately, Atticus is unable to get Mayella to admit it in court. The woman continues to maintain that Tom was her assailant.
Atticus has only one witness for the defense: Tom Robinson.
19
It's well known that Tom Robinson's left arm and hand are useless from a childhood accident. He's only been in trouble with the law once for a minor infraction. Tom implores the courtroom to believe that Miss Mayella's account is inaccurate and he gives his honest version of the events.
On the day in question, Tom came inside to fix a door; then Mayella said she needed a box pulled down from the dresser. It was a ploy to get Tom alone so she could hug and kiss him. He resisted and tried to get away. When her father appeared in the window screaming threats to kill Mayella for touching a black man, Tom ran away as fast as he could.
The solicitor for the prosecution twists Tom's words and fools him into saying he had pity on the white woman, and is calling her a liar. Atticus knows Tom's testimony is seriously damaging their case. Dill is sickened by how the prosecution lawyer, Mr. Gilmer, is treating Mr. Robinson and bursts into tears. Scout takes him outside for some fresh air.
20
Dolphus Raymond knows full well why Dill is crying. It's because, as a child, he's able to clearly see the injustice that white people inflict on black folks every day. Although a white man himself, he's an outcast for having a colored wife and mixed-race children. He hopes Scout fully appreciates how extraordinary a man her father is.
Back in their seats, Scout and Dill are disappointed to have missed the beginning of their father's closing argument. Atticus asks the jury to discount Mayella's testimony as lies invented to cover up her shame for breaking the unwritten code of the South: a white woman tempting a black man. Furthermore, he asserts that the person who beat Miss Ewell led with his left. Tom's only crime was that he had the audacity to "feel sorry" for a white woman.
As Atticus finishes his summation, Calpurnia walks up the aisle and hands him an envelope.
21
Atticus tells Judge Taylor that the note is from Alexandra, frantic because the children are missing, but Mr. Underwood, publisher of the local newspaper points up to the balcony where they've been sitting all afternoon. Angry at first, Atticus relents to their request to hear the verdict come in. Jem's optimistic for an acquittal, however Atticus knows the reality: No jury in the South has ever favored a colored man over a white man.
It's eleven o'clock when the jury comes back with a guilty verdict. After consoling Tom, Atticus makes the slow, lonely walk down the aisle. Scout looks around to see every colored person standing. Reverend Sykes pokes her and says, "Miss Jean Louise, stand up. Your father is passin'."
22 Jem's face is streaked with tears, pained by the injustice. All three Finches walk home in silence with Dill.
Atticus implores Jem to take heart, for there's an excellent chance for a win on appeal. Tom Robinson's family, grateful for his help, sends over a kitchen full of food. Atticus is deeply touched, but asks them to stop, as times are hard.
Miss Maudie is good at putting things into their proper perspective. Atticus managed to keep a jury out longer than anyone else had before, proving someday things could change.
Word spreads like wildfire: Mr. Ewell spits on Atticus while he is by the post office, and threatens to kill him.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Summary and Analysis of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Copyright © 2017 Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.. Excerpted by permission of OPEN ROAD INTEGRATED MEDIA.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Context,Overview,
Cast of Characters,
Summary,
Character Analysis,
Themes and Symbols,
Author's Style,
Direct Quotes and Analysis,
Trivia,
What's That Word?,
Critical Response,
About Harper Lee,
For Your Information,
Bibliography,
Copyright,