To Kill a Mocking Bird - Characters - CCEA

To Kill a Mockingbird was written by Harper Lee and published in 1960. It is told by the adult Jean Louise ‘Scout’ Finch looking back on events of her childhood across three consecutive years. She recounts the adventures she and her brother Jem had with their friend Dill, various anecdotes about the small town in which they live, and events surrounding a legal trial undertaken by her lawyer father, Atticus, which exposes deep racism and prejudice within their society.

Title: Taken from the maxim expressed by Atticus and Miss Maudie that “it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird”. It is explained in the novel that mockingbirds cause no harm but simply sing, making the world more beautiful; to kill one would be an act of pointless cruelty. As such, mockingbirds are a symbol of innocence in the novel and represent the characters of Tom Robinson and also Boo Radley, cruelly treated despite doing no harm.

Narrative perspective: To Kill A Mockingbird is told from a first personretrospective narrative perspective. First person is where the story is told by one of the characters involved in the story, who describes the action from their point of view and regards events with their own understanding. Scout relates her firsthand experience as a child but is telling the story retrospectively – looking back on it many years later, when she is an adult. This means she can recall how she saw and understood events at the time, but can also view and relate them with the deeper understanding and wider context of an adult’s life experience.

Setting: Maycomb, Alabama – a fictional small town in the American South, during the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Themes: Racism, hatred and prejudice, family life, courage and honour, childhood and growing up, innocence, dignity and respect, the law, community, femininity.

The main character in To Kill a Mockingbird is Scout Finch. When the novel begins, Scout is almost six years old but the novel is actually narrated by Scout when she is much older and looking back at the events that happened when she was a young girl. Her older brother Jem and her father Atticus are also important characters. The experiences of the Finch family form the central story of To Kill a Mockingbird.

Tom Robinson is a black man wrongly accused of attacking Mayella Ewell, a white woman. Although it becomes clear that her father Bob Ewell was the one guilty of assaulting her, Tom is found guilty simply because he is black. Atticus defends Tom Robinson and his determination to prove Tom’s innocence, when many others are keen to assume he is guilty because of the colour of his skin, allows Harper Lee to explore the themes of racism and courage. It also allows Harper Lee to show how brave a man Atticus is.

There are references to many other characters within the novel, some only very briefly or in passing. This helps to build up a richer picture of what life is like in the small town of Maycomb. It also helps to show how everyone knowing everyone else can sometimes be reassuring and familiar, but can also foster rumours and deepen prejudices and divides.

Jean Louise Finch, or Scout as she is always known, is the daughter of Atticus Finch. The novel begins when she is almost six years old and ends when she is nine. However, Scout narrates the novel when she is an adult who is looking back on her childhood and relating the events that happened through the eyes of the child she was. At the start of the novel Scout is obviously less mature than her older brother Jem because she is several years younger than him, and there are things that happen in the trial of Tom Robinson that she does not at first fully understand.

As the novel progresses, Scout begins to develop more of an understanding of these issues and of the lessons Atticus is trying to teach her. She also tries to control her temper and become less hot headed. The controlled voice of the older Scout when she is narrating, tells the reader that this is something she managed to achieve. When describing Bob Ewell’s attack on Jem for example, she comments, “When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we sometimes discussed the events leading to his accident”. This reveals that Scout has become mature, with an ability to discuss events with Jem rather than argue about them. Scout has a close relationship with both her father and her brother and she is portrayed as intelligent and as a loving and loyal member of the family.

Jem is Scout’s older brother and when the novel begins he is ten years old. Because he is older than Scout he matures more quickly and sometimes understands issues she does not. Although at the start of the novel he is willing to be seen playing with his younger sister, as the novel progresses this is less apparent and he becomes moody, wishing to spend time on his own. Jem is less hot tempered than Scout but there is one moment in the novel when the reader sees him lose control of his emotions. When Mrs Dubose, the Finch family neighbour, torments him about Atticus defending Tom Robinson, he breaks down and, using Scout’s new twirling baton, he cuts every head off Mrs Debose’s beloved camellias.

Atticus Finch is a lawyer and the father of Scout and Jem. He is a single father, his wife having died when Scout and Jem were young. He takes his responsibilities as a parent extremely seriously and encourages both Scout and Jem to be tolerant and fair minded and to always see things from the point of view of other people. Atticus can also be seen as Harper Lee’s mouthpiece (a character who expresses the same ideas and opinions as the author who created him or her), as the views he expresses about the unfairness of racism and the negativity surrounding intolerance are the same as she herself held.

He is almost 50 years old when the novel begins and Scout and Jem are rather embarrassed that their father is older than many other parents they know. To them he appears to be feeble as he does not play football or have a job involving physical, manual work. However, by the end of the novel both Scout and Jem have realised that their father’s bravery comes from being able to stand up for what he believes in, even when the majority of the people around him disagree with him.

Atticus behaves the same at home as he does in the town of Maycomb or when he is at work. He remains courteous throughout the novel, even when faced with negative behaviour and treats everyone politely. This is different to many Maycomb residents who treat black people with rudeness and contempt (their belief being that they are not people worthy of consideration).

Boo Radley is a neighbour of the Finch family. When he was young he began to associate with a gang of boys and gradually they became a nuisance in Maycomb, drinking whiskey and going to dances at a gambling den. One night the boys crashed a “flivver” (a small car) and appeared in court. The other boys were sent to an industrial school but Mr Radley, Boo’s father, thought it was too embarrassing for his son to attend such a school and asked if he could look after his son instead. The judge agreed but unfortunately for Boo this meant that he spent the next 15 years of his life locked up in his childhood home. He becomes like a ghost who is unable to lead a normal fulfilling life, apparently rebelling only when he stabs his father in the leg with a pair of scissors. For a while after this incident Boo is imprisoned in the basement of the courthouse, but is later moved back home. When Mr Radley dies, people in Maycomb think Boo might be allowed outside but his brother Nathan Radley returns home and Boo’s imprisonment continues.

Boo becomes fascinated with watching Scout, Jem and Dill play in the street outside his house. He rewards them by leaving Jem and Scout gifts in the hole in the tree outside his garden but he also tries to look after them, especially when they are attacked by Bob Ewell.

As Jem matures he begins to realise that one of the reasons Boo Radley may not leave his house anymore is because he no longer wants to. His house offers him the security that the outside world would not. By the end of the novel, both Scout and Jem realise that Boo is a very different man to the one they imagined him to be.

Along with Atticus, Miss Maudie is the voice of reason in Maycomb. Unlike many of her neighbours, she is not quick to judge others, does not gossip about Boo Radley and hopes that even though Tom Robinson is inevitably found guilty, the words of Atticus at the trial may bring about some small future change. She is kind towards Scout and Jem and can be relied upon to offer them sensible words of advice when Atticus is not present.

A 25-year-old black man and father of three who is accused of rape by Mayella Ewell and defended at trial by Atticus. His arm was caught in a cotton gin and injured beyond use as a child, which Atticus uses to prove that Tom couldn’t have caused Mayella’s injuries; despite this strong physical evidence and the fact Tom is respected in the community as a churchgoer and a hard worker, the jury convicts him anyway because he is black. Losing all hope of ever being freed, Tom tries to escape from jail and is shot and killed. His alignment with the symbol of the mockingbird is clear – he did nothing wrong but was destroyed by the pointless cruelty of racial prejudice. The reader does not get to see or hear much from the character himself; most of the information about him outside the courtroom itself is relayed through hearsay to reflect how Scout experiences events.

Charles Baker Harris, better known as Dill, becomes the friend of Scout and Jem while staying in Maycomb with his aunt one summer. He has a wild imagination and the stories he makes up are fuelled by the mystery of Boo Radley; he is initially intrigued by the Radley house to the point of being rude and invasive, but as he matures he recognises the difficulties and loneliness Boo must feel. He recognises loneliness since his mother’s remarriage means he feels unwanted by his parents; he runs away to stay with Scout and Jem in Maycomb as he feels a better sense of belonging there than he feels in his own home. He shows further sensitivity and humanity when he is appalled by the questioning of Tom Robinson during the trial and has to leave the courtroom, feeling sickened. He has a childlike innocence through most of the novel that contrasts with the adults’ wider acceptance of prejudice.

When she sees him in the courtroom, Scout describes Bob Ewell as “little bantam cock of a man” – this metaphor describes both his small size and his cocksure attitude. His smug behaviour also comes from his confidence that his word will taken over any black man’s because he is white. He has a sense of superiority over Tom Robinson simply because of his race. This is especially ironic because Robinson is a respectable husband and father who is admired in his community, while Ewell is known to be a drunkard and a lawbreaker who neglects his family – yet he thinks himself better than Tom Robinson because of racial prejudice and is sure everyone else in the courtroom will agree. Bob is not only a vulgar and uneducated man who abuses his children, but he is also aggressive and vengeful. Despite winning in court, he tries to wreak vengeance on those who he feels made him look a fool during the trial, which results in him attacking the Finch children after the Halloween pageant. The fact that even the sheriff agrees he “fell on his knife” and does not investigate Ewell’s death at the hands of Boo Radley suggests that everyone in Maycomb dislikes him and knows he is unworthy of their care or concern.

The nineteen-year-old daughter of Bob Ewell, who is clearly a victim of both neglect and abuse by her father. She is tasked with looking after the younger Ewell children and is trapped by her circumstances without education, friendship or hope. Tom Robinson was the only person who showed her any kindness; this fostered her strong feelings for him. Her attempt to seduce him by force would not only have been considered scandalously unfeminine, but also broke a major social taboo against mixed race relationships. Even when it is shown in court that Tom could not have injured her as she claims, she still sticks to her testimony – partly through fear of her violent father and partly because she knows how socially unacceptable her feelings and actions were to the rest of society.

The elderly neighbour of the Finches, who is known for shouting abuse from her porch at anyone who passes. Her racist rant against Atticus causes Jem to lose his temper and attack her garden, beheading her beloved camellia flowers. As punishment, Atticus arranges that Jem has to spend five weeks reading to her after school – it is an experience Jem hates, and he notes she barely listens to him. Her death soon after allows Atticus to reveal that she was a morphine addict. She used Jem’s reading sessions as a distraction while weaning herself off the drug, so that she could die free of addiction. Atticus uses this as an example to the children of a different type of courage – choosing to give up the pain relief so she could be at peace with herself before she died.

The cook and housekeeper of the Finch family, who has helped raise the children since the death of their mother. Atticus resists Aunt Alexandra’s attempts to get her fired, saying she is like family. Scout feels Calpurnia corrects her too much, and much more than Jem, but comes to appreciate Calpurnia’s genuine care and attention as she grows. Calpurnia has her own grown up son, Zeebo, who is literate like her; she has had a strong hand in teaching Scout to read and write before school. She takes Scout and Jem along to her “black” church, First Purchase, where they are surprised to hear how differently she talks, exhibiting the code-switching that would have been common among black workers in white households. This exposes to them the fact that she has a whole other side to her life that the children know nothing about.

The married sister of Atticus, who comes to stay with the Finch family during the trial, apparently to try and give Scout a role model in femininity and ladylike behaviour. Aunt Alexandra has a clear sense of what a “good” family she and Atticus come from, and this makes her snobbish and disapproving. She shows clear race and class prejudice beneath her ideas of what is “proper” in society – she even suggests Atticus should fire Calpurnia, fearing she has too central a role in the household for a black person to be entrusted with. However, ultimately Alexandra is loyal to Atticus throughout and after the trial, and has genuine concern for the children’s wellbeing.

• Jack Finch – the younger brother of Atticus, who is a favourite of the Finch children because of his fun nature and detailed stories. He punishes Scout for fighting with Francis and is then shamed when she points out he didn’t hear her side of the story.

• Judge Taylor – the elderly Maycomb judge, whose sleepy demeanour in court hides his sharp attention and strict but fair rulings. Rather than just assuming a black man would automatically be found guilty and giving the case to a less effective lawyer as a result, Judge Taylor specifically assigns Tom Robinson’s case to Atticus. This suggests he quietly believes Tom should have the best chance possible at receiving justice.

• Heck Tate – the Maycomb sheriff, who seems to have a good working relationship with Atticus. He even entrusts Atticus to shoot the rabid dog loose on the street, claiming Atticus is a better shot than he is. He testifies in court during the trial; he does not appear biased, but his testimony supports the defence’s case that Bob Ewell injured Mayella, not Tom Robinson. His later refusal to further investigate Bob Ewell’s death, insisting he simply “fell on his knife”, suggests that he chooses to protect the innocent – such as Boo Radley, the real killer, and maybe even Mayella Ewell – when he can do so, without appearing to be unfair or untrustworthy.

• Miss Stephanie Crawford – A lady of “polite society” in Maycomb, who is often suggested to be one of the more gossipy and dramatic members of that circle.