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<div class="boilerplate" id="stub"> ''This article about a [[Fictional character]] is a [[Wikipedia:Stub|stub]]. You can [[Wikipedia:Find or fix a stub|help]] Wikipedia by [{{SERVER}}{{localurl:{{NAMESPACE}}:{{PAGENAME}}|action=edit}} expanding it]''. </div>[[Category:Fictional character stubs]]
 
<div class="boilerplate" id="stub"> ''This article about a [[Fictional character]] is a [[Wikipedia:Stub|stub]]. You can [[Wikipedia:Find or fix a stub|help]] Wikipedia by [{{SERVER}}{{localurl:{{NAMESPACE}}:{{PAGENAME}}|action=edit}} expanding it]''. </div>[[Category:Fictional character stubs]]
 
'''Atticus Finch''' is at the heart of Harper Lee's Depression-era (1930's) '''To Kill a Mockingbird''', a classic story that was made into a movie in the early 1960's, with Gregory Peck playing the part of Atticus.  The movie was also one of the earliest (perhaps the debut role) of Robert Duvall, who played the part of the mysterious "Boo" Radley.
 
 
'''TKAM''' is narrated by its protagonist, Jean Lousie "Scout" Finch, who relates the events of her young life in Maycomb County, Alabama, across several summers.  She and her older brother, Jem (nickname for Jeremy) are being raised by their widower father, Atticus, who practices law in this small Southern town.  Atticus epitomizes wisdom, tolerance and fairness and tries to teach his children these values as they struggle to grow up in a community that is welcoming and supportive to those it considers its own, but tends to be disdainful, prejudiced and small-minded when it comes to those who are considered outsiders.
 
 
Though Atticus had declined to practice criminal law early in his career (the tale behind this decision is perversely hysterical), he is asked by the local judge to defend Tom Robinson, a black man charged with raping Mayella Ewell, the daughter of a man the town generally considers "white trash".  Bob Ewell, like Atticus, is a widower, with a bevy of children  he leaves in the care of Mayella, the eldest, while he basically lazes about drunk off moonshine (unregulated, locally-made liquor) that he buys with his government relief check.  Still, because of the racial elements of the case and the social climate of the era, the community is outraged - this is just the sort of scenario that has caused so many black men to  be wrongfully lynched by white male vigilantes over the decades, especially in the American south.  Atticus is asked to handle the case precisely because the judge knows that he will be unstinting in his fairness and will put on the best possible defense.
 
 
The other main theme of the story concerns Boo Radley.  Boo is the adult  son of the Finch's neighbors who, in his youth, was a bit of a hellion.Upon being discharged by the sheriff into the father's care after some teenaged shenanigans, Boo disappeared from the public; he was never again seen outside his house but was assumed to still be alive because, as the townspeople reasoned, no casket had yet been carried out.  Boo is the subject of wild speculation and sometimes hysteria by the local gossips and busybodies, having assumed ghoulish proportions especially in the minds of the town's impressionable children.  Boo's name is invoked by parents to make their children behave, and any odd occurrence in the town is generally chalked up to Boo, who is said to roam the town at night, killing and eating squirrels, scratching on people's windows screens trying to get inside, etc.  Though Atticus has forbidden Jem and Scout to go near the Radley house (they're regularly trying to catch a glimpse of this "ghoul") or do anything else that is bothersome to the Radley family, the two children and their summer friend, Dill, spend most of their summer hours devising ways to entice Boo outside.
 
 
'''TKAM''' has been a favorite for generations, with its wise moral about looking at people's actions as a basis for judging them, and though the ending is realistic rather than sentimental, the story is a lesson in how we are all capable of finding our better selves, even when it takes others to help us see that we are being blinded to truth by our own prejudices.  Along the way, there is a rich assortment of characters, flawed but interesting, who people '''TKAM''' and a simple yet lyrical style of prose that alternately charms, amuses and grips the emotions of the reader.
 

Revision as of 09:29, 9 August 2005

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