To Kill a Mockingbird is a heart warming story told by a child, showing the innocence of children. It carries a message towards the society, to shun all the prejudices. Along with this, the book is a journey of the characters coming of age. The best part is the feelings of a child being shown. One connects with the childhood instantly and a fresh perspective evolves towards the evils in society. The concept of justice has been exemplified. Most of all, To Kill a Mockingbird is a morality tale of how injustice must be fought —a story which should awaken the society from its deep slumber.
The story is set in an old tired town of Maycomb, Alabama, where Scout Finch (6 years old, The Narrator) lives with her father, a lawyer and widower named Atticus and her elder brother Jem. Scout and Jem meet Dill who visits Maycomb to stay with his aunt for the summer. The first part of the story revolves around the fascination that these children have with a scary character "Boo Radley”, a man in his thirties who has not been seen outside of his home in years. They think of Mr. Radley as being a charlatan.
Then comes the part where a black man, Tim Robinson is wrongly accused of raping Mayella Ewell, a white woman, daughter of Bob Ewell. Atticus sets an example by fighting for the justice despite being ridiculed for helping a man not of his race. That is when Scout realizes the prejudices of the society and says “It was times like these when I thought my father, who hated guns and had never been to any wars, was the bravest man who ever lived”. Atticus on his part tells the children “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”
The theme of the story is explained in a line “Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy... but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird”, which depicts how gruesome is it to hurt someone who is innocent. The coming to reality from a dream world of the children is another aspect shown. A world with sin like rapes and racism. That the society is not perfect and they would have to face the challenges. There are lessons learnt by Scout from Tim Robinson’s tale and through the demystifying of Boo Radly’s character at the end.
The story ends with Bob Ewell looking for revenge for the shame he had to face due to Atticus, and how the scary Boo Radly does something special and unexpected. The serendipity of the gifts coming from unexpected quarters summarise the ironies present in life.
Finally, Atticus is a character who would remain an inspiration for the generations. The manner of portraying the concept of injustice is marvellous. The innocence of children oozes out and the dawning of the reality on them is just right. The beauty of this narrative, To Kill a Mockingbird, is that each character has flaws, just as in real-life. This helps the readers connect with the characters. To Kill a Mockingbird is enormously touching and powerful in its being a simple story. The book in my view is a must read to appreciate the essence of being a human being.
