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"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view...
Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it." — Atticus Finch
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The Book
In 1960, Lippincott published the only book Harper Lee would write, To Kill
a Mockingbird. The story takes place at the end of the Great Depression in
the small Alabama town of Maycomb, which is modeled after Lee's hometown of
Monroeville.
The book covers three years in the life of its narrator, Jean Louise "Scout" Finch,
who lives in Maycomb with her older brother, Jem, her widower father, Atticus,
and the family housekeeper, Calpurnia.
The story involves two intertwining plot lines. The main plot focuses on Atticus Finch's defense of an African-American man, Tom Robinson, who is falsely accused of raping a poor white woman. Although Robinson is clearly innocent, the jury finds him guilty, and he is killed trying to escape from prison. Finch's defense of Robinson makes him the target for the town's rage and fear of African-Americans.
The second plot line concerns Scout's and Jem's fascination with the eccentric
local recluse Boo Radley. Radley saves their lives when the father of Robinson's
accuser tries to kill them on Halloween night. Both Robinson and Radley are symbolic
of the mockingbird in the title, which comes from the proverb "it is a sin to
kill a mockingbird."
The mockingbird often is regarded as a symbol of the American South and Lee chose
it to represent the purity and selflessness of her characters."
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