o Kill a Mockingbird is primarily a novel about growing up under extraordinary

circumstances in the 1930s in the Southern United States. The story covers a span of
three years, during which the main characters undergo significant changes. Scout Finch
lives with her brother Jem and their father Atticus in the fictitious town of Maycomb,
Alabama. Maycomb is a small, close-knit town, and every family has its social station
depending on where they live, who their parents are, and how long their ancestors have
lived in Maycomb.
A widower, Atticus raises his children by himself, with the help of kindly neighbors and a
black housekeeper named Calpurnia. Scout and Jem almost instinctively understand
the complexities and machinations of their neighborhood and town. The only neighbor
who puzzles them is the mysterious Arthur Radley, nicknamed Boo, who never comes
outside. When Dill, another neighbor's nephew, starts spending summers in Maycomb,
the three children begin an obsessive and sometimes perilous quest to lure Boo
outside.
Scout is a tomboy who prefers the company of boys and generally solves her
differences with her fists. She tries to make sense of a world that demands that she act
like a lady, a brother who criticizes her for acting like a girl, and a father who accepts her
just as she is. Scout hates school, gaining her most valuable education on her own
street and from her father.
Not quite midway through the story, Scout and Jem discover that their father is going to
represent a black man named Tom Robinson, who is accused of raping and beating a
white woman. Suddenly, Scout and Jem have to tolerate a barrage of racial slurs and
insults because of Atticus' role in the trial. During this time, Scout has a very difficult
time restraining from physically fighting with other children, a tendency that gets her in
trouble with her Aunt Alexandra and Uncle Jack. Even Jem, the older and more
levelheaded of the two, loses his temper a time or two. After responding to a neighbor's
(Mrs. Dubose) verbal attack by destroying her plants, Jem is sentenced to read to her
every day after school for one month. Ultimately, Scout and Jem learn a powerful lesson
about bravery from this woman. As the trial draws nearer, Aunt Alexandra comes to live
with them under the guise of providing a feminine influence for Scout.

During the novel's last summer, Tom is tried and convicted even though Atticus proves
that Tom could not have possibly committed the crime of which he is accused. In the
process of presenting Tom's case, Atticus inadvertently insults and offends Bob Ewell, a
nasty, lazy drunkard whose daughter is Tom's accuser. In spite of Tom's conviction,
Ewell vows revenge on Atticus and the judge for besmirching his already tarnished
name. All three children are bewildered by the jury's decision to convict; Atticus tries to
explain why the jury's decision was in many ways a foregone conclusion.
Shortly after the trial, Scout attends one of her aunt's Missionary Society meetings.
Atticus interrupts the meeting to report that Tom Robinson had been killed in an escape
attempt. Scout learns valuable lessons about achieving the ideal of womanhood and
carrying on in the face of adversity that day.
Things slowly return to normal in Maycomb, and Scout and Jem realize that Boo Radley
is no longer an all-consuming curiosity. The story appears to be winding down, but then
Bob Ewell starts making good on his threats of revenge. Scout is in the Halloween
pageant at school, playing the part of a ham. With Atticus and Aunt Alexandra both too
tired to attend, Jem agrees to take Scout to the school. After embarrassing herself onstage, Scout elects to leave her ham costume on for the walk home with Jem.
On the way home, the children hear odd noises, but convince themselves that the
noises are coming from another friend who scared them on their way to school that
evening. Suddenly, a scuffle occurs. Scout really can't see outside of her costume, but
she hears Jem being pushed away, and she feels powerful arms squeezing her
costume's chicken wire against her skin. During this attack, Jem badly breaks his arm.
Scout gets just enough of a glimpse out of her costume to see a stranger carrying Jem
back to their house.
The sheriff arrives at the Finch house to announce that Bob Ewell has been found dead
under the tree where the children were attacked, having fallen on his own knife. By this
time, Scout realizes that the stranger is none other than Boo Radley, and that Boo is
actually responsible for killing Ewell, thus saving her and Jem's lives. In spite of Atticus'
insistence to the contrary, the sheriff refuses to press charges against Boo. Scout
agrees with this decision and explains her understanding to her father. Boo sees Jem

one more time and then asks Scout to take him home, but rather than escort him home
as though he were a child, she has Boo escort her to his house as a gentleman would.
With Boo safely home, Scout returns to Jem's room where Atticus is waiting. He reads
her to sleep and then waits by Jem's bedside for his son to wake up.