To Kill a Mockingbird The book To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, was a very exciting book. It held my attention until the very last page. The book is centered on the life of a little girl while growing up in Maycomb County, Alabama in the early twentieth century. To Kill a Mockingbird is made up of two parts. Part one describes the key characters and part tow deals with the main theme of the book; racial prejudice. The main character, Jean Louise Finch, narrates the story. Jean Louise Finch, also known as Scout, is about six years old when the story begins. She is a tomboy with a good heart, a smart head and plenty of pride. She has an exceptional vocabulary for her age. She treats adults as equals and they treat her as an equal. Scout is a very good reader, especially for being in the first grade. When she is called on in class to read, she does a good job and her teacher is shocked. Her teacher demands to know how she learned to read and tells her to read no more. Scout goes home and tells her father, Atticus Finch, that she wont be able to read the newspaper with him anymore because her teacher said that she was doing something bad. However, Atticus tells her that she can compromise by reading at home and not telling her teacher that she reads at home. Jeremy Finch, Jem, Scouts older brother, is a quieter and a more controlled person than his little sister. Jem expects the world to use common sense, and when people dont, he seems to be a little disappointed. Because of this, he is affected emotionally by the ignorance of his society. Atticus Finch is the childrens father. He has a very close relationship with his children and, therefore, he allows them to call him by his first name. He uses reason with all of his decisions and he tries to install this value in his children. He is a gentleman and tries to avoid conflict whenever possible, even though he is a lawyer. The them of the book is about the prejudice of society. One way that the book shows this is through a court case where Atticus chooses to defend a black male, Tom Robison, accused of raping a white female, Mayella Ewell. Tom was going to help Mayella like he normally does when she called him over. Mayella came on to Tom and he tried to leave. When Mayellas father, Bob Ewell, came home, he saw what was happening and beat Mayella. After Bob beat Mayella, he called the sheriff and convinced the sheriff that Tom had raped Mayella. Atticus proved that Mayella was beat by her father while presenting his case. He told the court that since Toms left arm stopped short of where his elbow was supposed to be, he couldnt have beaten Mayella. He also said that Tom was right-handed and Bob was left-handed, which meant that Tom would have had to bruise the left side of Mayellas face instead of the right side. With all of this information, the jury still convicted Tom. However, Atticus was just a little happy with the decision because the jury took over five hours reaching a decision instead to the usual two minutes. The title of the book is explained in part one. When Jem and Scout obtain shot guns for Christmas, their father tells them never kill a mockingbird. They wonder why he has said this and their neighbor, Ms. Maudie Atkinson tells them that mockingbirds never cause any harm. All mockingbirds do is sing and bring joy. In a way, Tom Robinson and Boo Radley are like mockingbirds. They never cause any harm to anyone. Tom helps Mayella and is prosecuted for it. Boo never goes outside his house and nasty rumors are spread about him. They are both social outcasts. Tom is an outcast because he is black, and Boo is an outcast because people believe him to be a freak. Comparing the way things are today to the way things were during the Depression, one sees that many things are different. Things were priced differently, meaning both store items and the thoughts of people. By this, I mean that, if a person is well respected in the community, then their opinion counted. Whites were able to blame a black person for a crime instead of owning up to the crime. This was bad because a child could pick up this way of life and never learn right from wrong, which was often the case. In a way, this is still around today. Many people do this as a way of skipping punishment, especially in the southern states. An example of this was the case with Tom, Mayella, and Bob, where Bob where was the criminal. I believe that the author was successful in making her point. She wanted us to see life through the eyes of a little girl. She wanted the reader to be able to see the defaults of human society. The reader sees how people from different steps of the social ladder live and think. I saw what it was like for a white child with a parent defending a black person lives. They are tortured for their parents decisions from other children their age.