To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a Classic Novel written in 1960. It is set in Maycomb, Alabama during the early 1930s and features the main characters Jean Louise “Scout” Finch and her older brother Jeremy “Jem” Finch, children of Atticus Finch, a lawyer.
Scout has always been a little bit of a tomboy; she plays with her brother and another boy who comes to visit his aunt, Scout and Jem’s neighbor, every summer. The book follows the siblings for three years and shows how they change over time. Jeremy is around 12 or 13 when the main action in the book takes place, and Scout is about 7 or 8. Atticus takes on a case concerning a black man who was falsely accused of raping a white girl. This causes public outcry and rage against Atticus in his community because the deep south was still highly discriminative against blacks, and they viewed Atticus’ action of passionately defending him in court as traitorous to the southern white virtues. The backlash against Atticus also affected Jem and Scout. They were insulted at school, which caused Scout to start questioning what was going around her and seek answers. Jem on the other hand, now a teenager, is experiencing changes within him as well.
The book does a great job of describing the scene and plot through Scout’s perspective. Scout being only 8 by the end of the book means that she has a unique, simplistic, and innocent perspective of the world, one that is beneficial for the reader to understand and relate to. The book also chose a topic, racial inequality, that was central to the era in which the book was written and continues to be one of concern to this day. This has resulted in the novel being a classic. Even though the plot and style or writing were good, I felt that the beginning of the book was quite slow and a little boring at times. There was a point when I wanted to not read the book anymore but curiosity about why the book is so popular and a classic got the better of me, so I continued reading. Overall, it was a good read, but not as engaging as some others I’ve read; hence I give it 4 stars.