Miss Harper Lee has chosen Scout as a first person narrator in this story. This
narrative technique has many strengths and some weaknesses. Scout is a bright,
sensitive and intelligent little girl. For all her intelligence, she is still a
child and does not always fully understand the implications of the events she
reports. This is sometimes amusing, as the time she thinks Miss Maudie's loud
voice scares Miss Stephanie. Scout does her best to inform us of the happenings
at the Tom Robinson trial. Yet, she is not certain what rape is, and is neither
aware of the prejudice state surrounding her. Ultimately she represents the
innocence within society. In To Kill A Mockingbird, Scout Finch, a little girl
growing up in a small Southern town, tells the story of her childhood, when she
witnessed the trial of a Negro falsely accused of raping a white woman. The
Negro's lawyer is Scout's father, Atticus Finch. He defends the Negro
vigorously, though he expects to lose the case. As well as being the story of
childhood, it is also the story of the struggle for equality of the American
Negro. To Kill A Mockingbird can be read as the story of a child's growth and
maturation. Almost every incident in the novel contributes something to Scout's
perception of the world. Through her experiences she grows more tolerant of
others, learning how to " climb into another person's skin and walk around
in it." On her first day of school she finds that there are both social and
poor classes in society, some are respectable and others not. She also learns
that her father is an extra-ordinary man, fighting for a Negro's rights in
court. At the trial of Tom Robinson Scout learns about equality and inequality,
about justice and injustice and finally about racial prejudice. Many times
during the course of the novel the idea of the mockingbird comes to mind. We
first hear of the bird when the children are given there first air rifles for
Christmas, There father warns them to never shoot the songbird, saying to do so
would be a sin. During the trial of Tom Robinson, it occurs to the reader that
the Negro has many characteristics he shares with the mockingbird, He is a
gentle man, who has never harmed anyone and only tried to help. His murder is as
much a sin as the killing of any innocent creature. By the end of the novel we
see that the hermit Boo Radley is also like the mockingbird. He is shy and
gentle, living quietly and harming no one. Near the end of the novel, Boo saves
the children from being killed. Scout realizes that bringing Boo into the
limelight would only be like killing the songbird. Many themes and ideas are
presented in this novel, the sympathy theme is one of the main. Throughout the
novel, Atticus repeats to Scout an Jem the importance of seeing things from
another point of view in order to understand what the other person is feeling.
The theme of childhood is also another important one. The story takes place over
a period of years, and the reader takes part in the adventure of the child
growing up in a small Southern town. To Kill A Mockingbird is a fascinating
story about a trial of a Negro man in a small Southern town. This novel is a
must for every person to read because it not only displays the racial tensions
in a small town and the effects it has on it's citizens, but it displays it
through the eyes of a young innocent, six year old child.