To Kill A Mockingbird

What if, no matter how hard you work in life you could never progress socially and economically because of your skin color? The book to Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee makes you ponder this question. It is the experiences of a girl named Scout chronicling her life between the ages of 6 and 9 in Maycomb Alabama with her family. The book is set in the early 1930’s. Scout’s experiences with her brother Jem, her father the town lawyer Atticus Finch, her aunt Alexandra, best friend Dill, and neighbors. Scout begins by telling the story of how her brother Jem broke his arm, her ancestors the Finches and the summer her best friend Dill came for the first time. Jem, Scout, and Dill get involved in a mystery surrounding a man named Boo Radley in the

The man is innocent and Atticus does everything to prove it. Boo Radley eventually saves Scout and Jem’s life from Bob Ewell the father of the girl who accuses Tom Robinson of rape. We also meet her neighbors. She is a tomboy and very advanced academically. Along the way Scout learns many lessons about prejudice and she learns more about her father’s character. She also is learning how to navigate her brother growing up and the changes that are happening to him. In the end, the black man on trial, Tom Robinson, is found guilty even though he is innocent. Tom Robinson tries to escape from prison seeing that there is no other way out and is shot by the guards. Harper Lee shows in To Kill A Mockingbird that prejudice is everywhere but it has no reason to exist. The book she wrote expresses her ideas through the trial

We see this clearly in Aunt Alexandra’s attitude to Calpurnia. Aunt Alexandra talks to Atticus about Calpurnia. She disapproves of Jem and Scout going to Calpurnia's black church. Alexandra says, “you’ve got to do something about her(Calpurnia), you’ve let things go on too long Atticus, too long.” Atticus replies. “I don’t see any harm in letting her go out there. Cal’d look after her as well as she does here.”(Lee 136) Aunt Alexandra thinks that Calpurnia has too much control and freedom with the children. She is prejudice and does not want the children to spend any time with Calpurnia because she is black. This feeling is completely unfounded, Calpurnia has been taking care of Scout and Jem since their mother died she has shown love, loyalty, and reliability. Just because Calpurnia is black, Aunt Alexandra deems her unfit to properly care for the children. This dislike of Calpurnia by Alexandra is unfounded because she has been taking care of the children successfully for years. Another example that the prejudice in Maycomb county is unfounded is when Dill started crying during Mr. Gilmer’s cross examination so Jem told Scout to take him outside. There they meet Dolphus Raymond, a Maycomb county landowner from an old rich family married to a black lady with biracial children, sitting under a tree. Dolphus Raymond offers Dill a drink from his bag. Dill drinks it and finds out it is not whiskey but cola. Scout asks