To Kill a Mockingbird
Three characters in the story are Scout Finch, Atticus Finch, and Bob Ewell. Scout Finch is the narrator, major character, and protagonist in the story. She lives with her father and brother and can be considered intelligent. Atticus Finch is the father of Scout and Jem and works as a lawyer in Maycomb. He is concerned with his children, and thus, he has instilled in them his strong sense of morality. On the other hand, Bob is presented as a drunkard, an unemployed member of the poorest family in Maycomb, and antagonist in the story.
The main conflict in the story is between Finch’s family and Ewell’s family. Bob Ewell saw Atticus Finch as an enemy for defending Tom Robinson after accusations that he raped and abused Mayella Ewell. The conflict between Atticus and Bob Ewell can be described as a person versus person conflict.
The story is set in Maycomb County, which is an imaginary district towards the south of Alabama. It was set in the early 1930s, which were the years of the Great Depression when the US was experiencing high rates of unemployment and poverty.
The narration of the story is from the first-person point of view. The author chooses to narrate the story through the eyes of Scout Finch, who is the major and youngest character. The novel’s narration from this point of view is unique because it is from both the perspective of a youthful person as well as from an adult’s perspective. The first person’s perspective used in this story is effective as it enables the reader to have a clear connection with the narrator’s experiences.
An evident theme in the story is the coexistence of good and evil. In their transition from the childhood to adulthood, Scout and Jem have the assumption that people are good because they have never seen evil. They later confront the evil side of people when they are attacked by Ewell, and they are forced to incorporate it into their understanding of the world. Another evident theme in the book is social inequality, which is seen in the overcomplicated social hierarchy of Maycomb. The Finch family is well-off and is at the top of Maycomb’s social hierarchy whereas others such as the Ewells are at the bottom of the community’s social hierarchy.
From a critical perspective, “To Kill a Mockingbird” is an interesting book that addresses or focuses on the social problems such as social inequality faced by people in modern society. The book gives a suggestion that poor individuals should have hope in societal justice. As such, readers who are likely to enjoy reading the book are those who seek justice in the modern world after persecution and discrimination by those from higher social classes. This book would be recommended to other readers as its plot is clear and understandable.
In analyzing different elements of plot, exposition is when readers are introduced to major and minor characters including Scout, Jem, Atticus, Boo Radley, and Dill. It proceeds to tell readers that Jem has a broken elbow although no explanation is given on how it was broken. Rising action in the story is when Scout and Jem find treasures hidden inside the tree outside Boo’s house, Atticus sets to defend a black man named Tom Robinson against rape charges, and when Atticus tells his children that it is not right to kill a mockingbird. The story’s climax is when Tom Robinson is found guilty and is subjected to conviction. This is followed by the falling action when Jem struggles to accept the judgment, Bob Ewell plans to revenge, and Atticus discusses the trial process with Jem. The resolution of the story is when Boo Radley saves Scout and Jem from the jaws of death when they are attacked by Bob Ewell, Scout meets Boo Radley, and when the reader comes to understand and learn how Jem broke his elbow.