~To Kill a Mockingbird~ by Harper Lee

1) To Kill a Mockingbird

2) Nelle Harper Lee [She was born in Monroeville, Alabama. Her mother's maiden name was Finch. Her father was a lawyer. For most of Lee's life, her mother suffered from mental illness, rarely leaving the house. She is best known for writing he Pulitzer Prize-winning best-seller "To Kill a Mockingbird".]

3) When I stayed in New Zealand and browsed through a book store, I was recommended this book by a shop staff.

4) Scout Finch, who is a main character in this story lives with her older brother, Jem, their father, Atticus, who is a lawyer and their cook, Calpurnia,who is a black lady in the tired old town, Maycomb in Alabama.
Jem and Scout met a thin boy, Dill one summer, and they came to play together. There are many attractive neighbours near the Finch house, especially the Radley Place. Three children were interested in the place and they sometimes sneaked into there. Moreover, they often mocked Boo Radley, who lives in the Radley place, but they have never seen him. As Jem and Scout intervened in the Radley Place, some mysterious incidents happened around them. By the way, Atticus decided to defend a black man, Tom Robinson, who is accused of raping a white woman. Although Atticus worked hard both inside and outside the court-house and showed some reasonable evidences, the whole jury convicted of Tom Robinson. Eventually, Tom tried to escape from the jail and then was shot to death. This cruel reality disrupted Jem badly. In spite of the verdict, the accuser, Mr. Ewell vowed to revenge Atticus and finally he attacked Jem and Scout at night. However, Arthur Radley called Boo came to rescue them. Unfortunately, Arthur killed Mr. Ewell by accident during the struggle, but that fact was hushed up in order to protect Arthur. After meeting Arthur, Scout noticed that she should not judge a person with discrimination and prejudice.

5) After finishing to read the whole book, I noticed that while I was reading it, my head was full of prejudices. I fell into despondency when I was reading the scene of the trial. This is because despite Atticus showed the apparently reasonable evidences, Tom was finally convicted. I think that the discrimination or  prejudice could be a lethal weapon to kill an innocent person like the genocide of  the Jews by the Nazis.

Finally, I think that a mockingbird is a symbol of innocence and weakness, because mockingbirds, which are harmless to human beings are categorize into the same group as harmful birds and are sometimes killed.

Work cited

http://www.biography.com/