To Kill a Mockingbird

For the film, see To Kill a Mockingbird (film).

To Kill a Mockingbird

File:Mockingbirdfirst.JPG First edition cover - Late printing
Author	Harper Lee
Language	English
Genre	Southern Gothic semi-autobiographical novel
Publisher	HarperCollins
Publication date	July 11, 1960
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (Hardback and Paperback)
Pages	296 pp (first edition, hardback)
ISBN	NA

To Kill a Mockingbird is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Harper Lee written in the bildungsroman and Southern Gothic genres. The novel is loosely based on the author's observations of her family and neighbors, as well as an event that occurred in her hometown when she was 10 years old. Lee has acknowledged that the character Jean Louise "Scout" Finch, who serves as the novel's narrator, is based on herself.

Lee's novel addresses themes such as courage, racial injustice, the death of innocence, tragedy, and coming of age, set against a backdrop of life in the Deep South. One writer noted its impact in saying, "In the twentieth century, To Kill a Mockingbird is probably the most widely read book dealing with race in America, and its protagonist, Atticus Finch, the most enduring fictional image of racial heroism." It has proven to be not only an extraordinarily influential book, but a controversial one as well. To Kill a Mockingbird has been the target of various campaigns to have it removed from public classrooms. The book was successfully adapted for film by director Robert Mulligan with a screenplay by Horton Foote in 1962. To date, it is Lee's only published novel.

Background

In 1957, Harper Lee was working in New York City, as a reservation clerk for British Overseas Air Corporation, when she approached a literary agent referred by her childhood friend Truman Capote. After she proffered several essays and short stories about people in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama, an editor at J. B. Lippincott advised her to quit the airline and concentrate on her writing. A gift from friends made it possible for her to write for a year without working a full-time job.

Lee has said that the novel is not an autobiography, but rather that one "should write about what he knows and write truthfully." Her father, Amasa Coleman Lee, was an attorney and editor and publisher of the Monroeville newspaper. She had a brother, Edwin, four years her senior. A black housekeeper came once a day to take care of the house and family. Her mother was prone to a nervous condition and if not physically absent, was mentally and emotionally absent.

Capote (who was known as Truman Persons then) lived next door to her. He had a gift for fascinating stories and they were very good friends. His mother sent him to live with aunts when she went to New York City. Both Lee and Capote were atypical children: Lee loved to read and was a scrappy tomboy, quick to fight, and she and Capote acted out and made up stories together. Capote called the two of them "apart people."

Down the street from the Lees lived a family whose house was always boarded up. The son of the family got into some legal trouble and the father kept him at home for 24 years for the shame he brought them. He was hidden away until he was virtually forgotten by everyone he knew. He died in 1952.

When Lee was 10 years old, a white woman near Monroeville accused a black man of raping her. The story and the trial were covered by her father's newspaper. The black man was convicted, sent to prison, and eventually was committed to a mental institution where he died in 1937. Although the Scottsboro Boys incident occurred when she was six years old and would also be covered by her father's paper, Lee has stated that she had in mind something less sensational than that, although the case served the same purpose in displaying Southern attitudes about prejudice.

In 1919, her father defended two black men accused of murder. He was inexperienced and they were convicted, hanged, and mutilated. He never tried another criminal case. While her father was not initially as liberal as Atticus in terms of racial relations, he gradually became moreso in his later years.

Lee attended Huntingdon College and the University of Alabama, writing for the campus literary magazines: Huntress at Huntingdon and Rammer Jammer, a humor magazine at the University of Alabama. At both schools, she wrote short stories and pieces about racial injustice, and at both schools the themes of her pieces were extraordinarily rare. She attended the University of Alabama until 1948, when she dropped out of law school.

In 1955, Lee was living in New York City and writing stories about the people in her hometown. That winter, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat in Montgomery, sparking the year-long Montgomery Bus Boycott. One year later, in Tuscaloosa, Autherine Lucy and Pollie Ann Myers were granted admission to the University of Alabama, which caused riots on campus. Both of these events, occurring so close to where Lee grew up, were reported widely in newspapers and on television, across the nation. Lee worked on the book for two and a half years, initially titling it Atticus. However, she changed the title to reflect a story that went beyond a simple character portrait.

The editorial team at Lippincott tried to warn Lee that she would probably sell only several thousand copies at the most. Instead, Reader's Digest and Condensed Books published portions of the novel which gave it a wide readership almost immediately. The first edition of the novel included a recommendation by Truman Capote, and later fueled false reports that he had written the novel, edited it, or at least contributed to it heavily.

Plot summary

The story takes place during three years of the Great Depression, and is narrated by 6-year-old Scout Finch. Scout lives with her older brother Jem and their widowed father Atticus, a middle-aged lawyer in the fictional small town of Maycomb, Alabama. Jem and Scout befriend a boy named Dill, who comes to stay with his Aunt Rachel for the summer. The three children are terrified and fascinated with a phantom neighbor named "Boo" Radley. Boo is a mysterious recluse, and the adults of Maycomb are hesitant to speak of him. Few have seen for many years. The children feed each other's imaginations with rampant rumors about his grotesque appearance and his reasons for remaining a recluse, while dreaming of ways to get him to emerge from his house.

Following various misadventures during two summers with Dill, Scout and Jem find that someone is leaving them small gifts in a tree outside the Radley place. The phantom Boo makes several unseen appearances to the children displaying various gestures of affection. Scout and Jem appraise their small town neighbors through the eyes of children. With Atticus' guidance not to judge others until they have walked around in that person's skin, the children discover many instances of quiet strength and dignity in the most unlikely people.

Atticus is assigned to defend a black man named Tom Robinson, who has been accused of raping Mayella Ewell, a young white woman. To the consternation of many of Maycomb's citizens, however, he intends to defend Tom to the best of his ability. Jem and Scout are then subjected to the taunts of "nigger-lover" from other children. Scout is tempted to fight to defend his honor by fighting them. However, Atticus has asked her not to fight in his defense. For his part, Atticus faces a group of men intending to lynch Tom, but escapes the situation with the unwitting help of Scout, Jem, and Dill.

The time arrives for Tom Robinson's trial, and Scout, Jem and Dill watch secretly from the colored balcony. Atticus shows that the accusers, Mayella Ewell and her father, the town drunk Bob Ewell, are lying. In fact, it becomes clear that the friendless Mayella was making sexual advances towards Tom, and was caught by her father. Despite the significant evidence pointing to Tom's innocence, he is convicted. Jem's faith in justice is badly shaken as is Atticus' when a hopeless Tom is shot and killed while trying to escape from prison.

Bob Ewell feels humiliated by the trial and vows revenge. He menaces Tom Robinson's widow, tries to break into the judge's house, and spits in Atticus' face on a town street. Finally, he attacks Jem and Scout as they walk home from a Halloween pageant at their school. In the struggle, Jem's arm is broken while trying to escape with Scout. In the darkness and confusion, someone has come to their rescue. The mysterious man carries Jem home, where Scout realizes it is the reclusive Boo Radley.

Maycomb's sheriff arrives and discovers that Bob Ewell has been killed. Sheriff Tate argues with Atticus about the prudence of giving Boo the credit for it. They eventually decide to let it be known that Ewell simply fell on his own knife, during the struggle with Jem and Scout. Boo asks Scout to walk him home, and after she says goodbye to him at his front door, he disappears again. While standing on the Radley porch, Scout imagines the events of the last three years from Boo's perspective and regrets that they never repaid him for the gifts he had given them.

Characters

Main article: List of characters in To Kill a Mockingbird

The Finch family

Jean Louise "Scout" Finch is the novel's narrator. Scout tells the story both as a grown woman reflecting on her childhood and as a child. Her childhood innocence is employed to ask Atticus and other adults about prejudices and hypocrisies she witnesses.

Jeremy Atticus "Jem" Finch is Scout's older brother. Jem begins the novel as a little boy of 10, who enjoys her childhood games. However, throughout the story his disillusionment with his neighbors and hometown grows as he learns very difficult lessons about life and human nature.

Atticus Finch is the children's father. Atticus defends Tom Robinson when a white woman accuses him of raping her. Atticus is shown to have very high moral standards and retains his integrity by maintaining his values in all situations, no matter the consequences. In some ways, the novel is a character study of Atticus, through the eyes of his daughter.

Calpurnia, a black woman, is the Finches' housekeeper. She is treated as a member of the family, and exposes the children to Tom Robinson's world by escorting them to the black church she and Robinson attend.

Friends and associates of the Finch family

Charles Baker "Dill" Harris is Jem and Scout's closest friend. Dill is neglected by his mother, and spends time with various relatives, including summers with his Aunt Rachel in Maycomb. This is how he befriends Scout and Jem. Small for his age, Dill is shown to have quite an impressive imagination.

Thomas "Tom" Robinson is a black man who is accused of raping Mayella Ewell. Completely innocent of the crime, Tom has the use of his right hand only, as his left arm is crippled from a childhood accident. Although Atticus uses this fact to establish Tom's innocence, he is still convicted by the all-white jury. Later, Tom is shot dead when in desperation he attempts to escape from jail.

Arthur "Boo" Radley is a shy recluse who lives next door to the Finches. Boo has been kept secluded in his family's home since he was a teenager, because of some petty criminal activity that his family felt had brought them shame. He reaches out to Scout and Jem with small acts of kindness at various points throughout the novel. Ultimately, Boo saves their lives, confronting and killing Bob Ewell, who was trying to murder the children.

The Ewells

Mayella Violet Ewell is a desperately poor girl. After Tom Robinson rebuffs her sexual advances, she accuses him of rape. In reality, she had embraced him, prompting her father's violent outburst when he happened upon them. She was forced by her father and her circumstances to testify that Tom Robinson had beaten and raped her.

Robert "Bob" Ewell is Mayella's father. He is portrayed as a parasitic drunk. His is the only character with no apparent redeeming qualities. After making several threats toward Atticus, Ewell attempts to murder Jem and Scout, and is killed after Boo Radley comes to their rescue.

Themes

When the book was released, reviewers noted two separate parts of the book, and opinion was mixed as to how well Lee was able to tie the parts together. Descriptions varied from "skilled, unpretentious, and totally ingenious" to "melodramatic and contrived." Public opinion, and critical consensus, now hold that the novel's treatment of the difficult issues facing the South in the 1930s is a classic of modern literature.

Southern life through a child's eyes

One of the first noted motifs in To Kill a Mockingbird is the complexities of life and its disappointments seen and understood through the eyes of children. In using this format, Lee is able to tell a "delightfully deceptive" story that mixes the simplicity of childhood observation with adult situations, complicated by hidden motivations and unquestioned tradition. The Chicago Sunday Tribune noted the even-handed approach to the narration of the novel's events, noting that "This is in no way a sociological novel. It underlines no cause...To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel of strong contemporary national significance."

The first part of the novel deals with the children's fascination with Boo Radley and how they felt safe and comfortable in their neighborhood. Reviewers were generally charmed by Scout and Jem's observations of their quirky neighbors. Reviewer Fred Erisman was so impressed by Lee's detailed explanations of the people of Maycomb, that he labeled the book's major theme as Southern romanticism. Using the examples of Aunt Alexandra's tendency to explain Maycomb's inhabitants' faults or advantages through genealogy (families that have gambling streaks, drinking streaks, for example), Lee's descriptions of the Finch family history and the history of Maycomb, Mayella Ewell's apparent powerlessness to admit to what she did, and Atticus' definition of "fine folks" being people with good sense who do the best they can with what they have, the Southern caste system is used to explain almost every character's behavior in the novel, to the point that The South itself, with its traditions and taboos, seems to affect the plot more than the characters or the action.

Racial injustice in the segregated South

The second part deals with what Harding LeMay termed, "the spirit-corroding shame of the civilized white Southerner in the treatment of the Negro," in 1960, referring to Tom Robinson's trial and his subsequent death. In the years that followed immediately after its release, many reviewers considered To Kill a Mockingbird a Southern Gothic novel primarily concerned with race relations, and both LeMay and Granville Hicks expressed doubt that children as sheltered as Scout and Jem could understand the complexities and horrors involved in the trial for Tom Robinson's life.

In initial reviews, it was seen primarily as a plea for racial justice. However, when the book is viewed only as a moral tale of a Southern liberal defending a black man accused of raping a white woman, emotions of readers run high. The book has been challenged in schools and libraries since its publication. One of the first incidents of its being challenged in Hanover, Virginia in 1966 for being immoral (a parent initially protested the use of rape as a plot point). Claudia Durst Johnson illustrated these high emotions with examples of letters to the editor of the local newspapers. These letters ranged from amusement to fury, and those letters that expressed the most outrage alluded to the disturbing racial aspects of Mayella Ewell's attraction to Tom Robinson, even over the depictions of rape.

Courage defined

Throughout the novel Atticus is seen teaching the children the true definition of courage. He points out the courage to be found in their neighbors. One poignant example of this is Jem's punishment after destroying Mrs. Dubose's flowerbed. Atticus sends him to her house to keep her company, and Jem observes Mrs. Dubose's battle with morphine addiction, just prior to her death. Atticus points out that courage is "when you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what," in an instance that occurs soon before the trial of Tom Robinson.

Bird themes

More than one reviewer noted that mockingbirds are mentioned several times throughout the novel. That the family's last name is Finch is not a coincidence: it was Lee's mother's maiden name, but fit fully with the motif of songbirds as symbols. And when Lee was trying to make a moral point, she often returned to the mockingbird theme. Tom Robinson serves as the embodiment of the innocent destroyed by carelessness or deliberation. But when the reader begins to note the many times mockingbirds are mentioned, Tom becomes one of many innocents in the novel who are affected by carelessness to varying degrees. By using children who must face hard realities in a cruel world, the book becomes more an example of bildungsroman than Southern Gothic. Lee uses the loss of innocence (and innocents) in so many instances that reviewer R. A. Dave claimed it is inevitable that all the characters have faced or will face defeat. The theme of the story then becomes tragedy.

In exploring how each character deals with his or her own personal defeat, Lee builds a framework to judge as to whether the characters are heroes or fools. She assists her readers in these judgments, alternating between unabashed adoration and biting irony. Yet, Harper Lee remains famously detached from interpreting the novel, and has since the mid 1960s. However, she gave what little insight into her themes that she could, when in a rare response to the Hanover, Virginia immorality debate, Lee wrote a letter to the editor stating, "Surely it is plain to the simplest intelligence that To Kill a Mockingbird spells out in words of seldom more than two syllables a code of honor and conduct, Christian in its ethic, that is the heritage of all Southerners."

Significance and meaning of the novel's title

One Christmas, Atticus gives his children air-rifles for their presents. Atticus refuses to teach them to shoot, instead leaving that to their Uncle Jack. Atticus does warn them however that, although they can "shoot all the bluejays they want," they must remember that "it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." Scout is not quite certain why this is, and approaches her friend Miss Maudie Atkinson about it. Miss Maudie explains that it is a sin because mockingbirds never harm any other living creature. She points out that mockingbirds simply provide pleasure with their songs, saying, "They don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us." The mockingbird motif is used throughout the book to symbolize the innocence of various victims of injustice.

Literary significance and criticism

To Kill a Mockingbird became widely available through its inclusion in the Book of the Month Club, Reader's Digest, and Condensed Books. The book earned the Pulitzer Prize for 1961, and the Brotherhood Award of National Conference of Christians and Jews in the same year. One year after initial publication, To Kill a Mockingbird had been translated into 10 languages. By 1982, over 15 million copies of the book had been sold. By 1992, 18 million copies of the book in paperback alone had been sold. The book has never been out of print in hardcover or paperback. It has sold over 30 million copies and been translated into over 40 languages since first being published. Over the years, To Kill a Mockingbird has become part of the standard canon of literature taught in schools. It is now taught in over 70% of schools in the United States. A 1991 survey by the Book-of-the-Month Club and the Library of Congress' Center for the Book found that To Kill a Mockingbird was rated behind only the Bible in books that are "most often cited as making a difference."

In 1999, it was voted the "Best Novel of the 20th century" by readers of the Library Journal. It is listed as #5 on the Modern Library's Reader's List of the 100 Best Novels in the English language since 1900, and #4 on the rival Radcliffe Publishing Course's 100 Best Board Picks for Novels and Nonfiction. To Kill a Mockingbird appeared first on a list developed by librarians in 2006 who answered the question, "Which book should every adult read before they die?" followed by the Bible and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. To Kill a Mockingbird was listed as #64 of the 100 Best Gay and Lesbian Novels by the Publishing Triangle.

When it first appeared, The Atlantic Monthly's reviewer rated it as "pleasant, undemanding reading," but found the narrative voice ("a six-year-old girl with the prose style of a well-educated adult") to be implausible. Time Magazine included To Kill a Mockingbird on its 100 Best English Novels from 1923 to the Present list in 2005. Their 1960 review of the book states that it, "teaches the reader an astonishing number of useful truths about little girls and about Southern life" and calls Scout Finch, "the most appealing child since Carson McCullers' Frankie got left behind at the wedding."

The book's use of racial slurs, profanity, and frank discussion of rape has led to it being challenged in libraries and classrooms. The American Library Association reported that To Kill a Mockingbird was #41 of the 100 most frequently challenged books of 1990–2000, and cites several cases from that period and earlier of the book being challenged or banned. In the early nineties, school districts in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, Canada moved to have the book removed from standard teaching curricula, stating, "The terminology in this novel subjects students to humiliating experiences that rob them of their self-respect and the respect of their peers. The word 'Nigger' is used 48 times [in] the novel...We believe that the English Language Arts curriculum in Nova Scotia must enable all students to feel comfortable with ideas, feelings and experiences presented without fear of humiliation ... To Kill a Mockingbird is clearly a book that no longer meets these goals and therefore must no longer be used for classroom instruction." Response to these attempts to remove the book from standard teaching was vehement across Canada and the United States, and many of the organizers were labeled as overly sensitive and "benign censors." Isaac Saney, who documented the attempt to ban the book, concluded that the media response to the effort to remove the books was a form of institutionalized racism in saying, "The media's editorialising against all 'censorship' and 'banning' includes vigorous hostility to the censorship and banning of racism. Its advocacy of freedom of speech includes freedom of speech for racists and fascists."

In 2001, Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley initiated a city-wide reading program through the city's libraries, and chose his favorite book, To Kill a Mockingbird as the first book to be read in the "One City, One Book" program. Harper Lee declared that, "there is no greater honor the novel could receive." The White House announced on 29 October 2007, that Lee had been one of the winners of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, for this book, in a ceremony which will take place November 7. The White House issued the following statement regarding awarding Lee the Medal of Freedom: "Harper Lee has made an outstanding contribution to America's literary tradition. At a critical moment in our history, her beautiful book, To Kill a Mockingbird, helped focus the Nation on the turbulent struggle for equality."

Atticus Finch as lawyer-hero

Atticus Finch stands as the first model of a lawyer-hero, in direct contrast to the popular depiction of lawyers as unscrupulous and models of greed. As such, the book's impact on the legal profession cannot be underestimated. Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty Law Center cites Atticus Finch as the reason he became a lawyer. Richard Matsch, the federal judge who presided over the Timothy McVeigh trial does so as well. One law professor at the University of Notre Dame stated that the most influential textbook he taught from was To Kill a Mockingbird, and an article in the Michigan Law Review claimed, "No real-life lawyer has done more for the self-image or public perception of the legal profession," before questioning whether, "Atticus Finch is a paragon of honor or an especially slick hired gun."

In 1992, an Alabama editorial called for the death of Atticus, symbolizing that as liberal as Atticus was, he still worked within a system of institutionalized racism and sexism and should not be revered. The editorial sparked a flurry of responses from attorneys who entered the profession holding Atticus Finch as a hero, and the reason they became lawyers. In 1997, the Alabama Bar Association erected a monument dedicated to Atticus in Monroeville marking his existence as the "first commemorative milestone in the state's judicial history."

Lee herself, in an interview in 1961, described Atticus as "a man of absolute integrity with as much good will and good humor as he is just and humane." Praise for the character is tremendous indeed, likening him to the "Abe Lincoln of Alabama," Emersonian in his wisdom, and a modern-day prophet. The American Film Institute voted Atticus Finch the greatest film hero in movie history, and Gregory Peck acknowledged Atticus to be the greatest role he ever played.

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

The book was made into the well-received and Academy Award-winning film with the same title, starring Gregory Peck in 1962. This book has also been adapted as a play by Christopher Sergel. It debuted in Monroeville in 1990.

After publication

Film producer Alan J. Pakula with Lee watching the filming

Despite the initial warnings her editors gave to Lee that the book might not sell well, To Kill a Mockingbird was a sensation. It made Lee very famous and quite wealthy in a very short period of time. During the years immediately after the book was published, Lee enjoyed the attention the book received and granted interviews and visits to schools and other groups. Although some editorials lamented the use of poor white Southerners, and one-dimensional black victims, it was very well-received in her hometown and throughout Alabama.

The movie featured two children native to Birmingham and debuted there in late 1962 to much anticipation. There was a notable disconnect, however, as its theatrical release and multiple Oscar nominations occurred during Civil Rights actions in Birmingham, when police were reacting to nonviolent school-aged marchers with fire hoses. These events also made a tremendous impact upon the nation and the world when they were filmed and shown on television. The novel's release is so closely associated with the Civil Rights movement that most analyses of the book and biographies of Harper Lee include important moments in the movement, despite the fact that she had no direct involvement in any of them.

Around 1965, Lee began to turn down interviews, noting that the questions were all the same. She began working on a second novel but was so busy promoting the film and giving interviews that she did not have time to work on it. During this time, Lee and Truman Capote drifted apart, at least in part because of his feelings about her winning the Pulitzer Prize. In fact, when In Cold Blood was released in 1965, Lee was not recognized for her efforts in assisting Capote in writing the book; she had traveled with him to Kansas and acted as his research assistant. However, their friendship continued until his death in 1984, tentatively as Capote battled his addictions.

In 1970, her editor at Lippincott died, and Lee was deeply affected by his loss. Four years later, the literary agent she first approached in 1957 also died. Nearly everyone who had supported her writing efforts as she created To Kill a Mockingbird--and who had helped her wade through the attention and publicity it received after publication--was no longer in the business. The manuscript of her second novel, that she had been working on for nearly a decade, was stolen in the mid 1970s.

Lee continues to refuse interviews about her life and the book.

See also

• Southern literature
• Maycomb
• To Kill a Mockingbird in popular culture

External links

• Study resource for writing about To Kill a Mockingbird
• Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee by Charles J. Shields, 2006
• Photos of the first edition of To Kill a Mockingbird
• NovelGuide: To Kill a Mockingbird