Literature Analysis #6: To Kill A Mockingbird

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee


Plot
-Scout and Jem live with father, Atticus, in Maycomb
-one summer, they meet Dill and plan to get Boo Radley out of his house
-the Radleys have a reputation as being scary or crazy
-when Dill leaves, Scout goes to school and hates it
-Dill comes back next summer and they talk more about Boo Radley
-on the last day of summer, they all sneak on to the Radley property in which Jem loses his pants there
-random acts of kindness start appearing and they all assume it is Boo who is doing everything; Jem tells Atticus about his pants and the gifts in the trees
-despite living in a racist community, Atticus defends a black man by the name of Tom who was accused of raping a white woman
-Jem and Scout get ridiculed about it; the black community takes them in to protect them from such harm
-Dill runs away from home right before the trial starts up
-the trial begins; the town watches over the biggest controversy in the town
-the accusers are Mayella and her father, Bob
-Atticus figures out that Mayella set up Tom and did have an affair with him; Bob covered it all up with rape to make sure Mayella didn't have guilt or shame upon her for committing such actions
-despite all the evidence (including the fact that Bob beat Mayella about the incident), the white jury convicts Tom
-Tom tries to run away from prison but gets shot and dies
-as a revenge plan for causing so much drama with his daughter, Bob harasses Jem and Scout one day walking home
-Boo Radley comes to save Jem and Scout by stabbing Bob 
-when Boo brings injured Jem back to the house, the police cover up Boo's stabbing by claiming that Bob just tripped and fell on his own knife
-Scout sees Boo as a real human being and treats him with great respect and consideration for his actions


Key Factors
-Genre: drama; suspense
-Speaker: Scout in the first person
-Tone: critical and intense throughout the trial, kid oriented overall (due to a child narrating the story)
-Theme: the difference between good and bad morals; the process of understanding right and wrong in a child's eyes
-Foreshadowing: the sad and dreary town represent Tom's tragic conviction and death; Bob's son rudeness in school represents his father's actions; the presents represent Boo's rescue and generosity
-Symbols: Mockingbirds represent a sin if killed by a human (symbol for Tom's death); the Radley house is the key point to a lot of the drama and tension throughout the story