Desi Baba Essay, Research Paper

To Kill A Mockingbird – Short Summary

Jean Louise “Scout” Finch and her brother, Jem, live with their widowed lawyer father, Atticus, in the Alabama town of Maycomb. One summer, they befriend a boy named Dill, and the trio acts out stories together. Eventually, Dill becomes fascinated with the spooky house on their street called the Radley Place, owned by Mr. Nathan Radley, whose brother Arthur “Boo” Radley has lived there for years without ever leaving the house.

Scout goes to school for the first time that fall, and detests it. She and Jem find gifts, apparently left for them, in a knot-hole of a tree on the Radley property. That summer Dill returns, and they begin to act out the story of Boo Radley. Atticus puts a stop to their antics, but on the last day of summer, the three sneak onto the Radley property and are shot at by Mr. Nathan Radley. Jem loses his pants in his escape, and when he returns for them, he finds them mended and hung over the fence. The next winter, they find more presents in the tree, but eventually Nathan Radley plugs the hole with cement. Shortly thereafter, there is a fire in their neighbor’s house, and during the fire someone slips a blanket on Scout’s shoulders as she watches the blaze. Jem is convinced that Boo did it, and tells Atticus about the mended pants and the presents.

Atticus agrees to defend a black man named Tom Robinson accused of raping a white woman. Because of his decision, Scout and Jem are subjected to abuse from other children, even when they celebrate Christmas at the family compound on Finch’s Landing. Their Aunt Alexandra comes to live with them the next summer, and Dill–who is supposed to live with his new stepfather in another town–runs away and comes to Maycomb. Tom Robinson’s trial arrives, and when the accused man is placed in the local jail, a mob gathers to lynch him. Atticus faces them down the night before the trial, and then his children, who have sneaked out of the house, join him; Scout’s innocence shames the mob into dispersing. At the trial itself, Atticus provides clear evidence that the accusers, Mayella Ewell and her father Bob, are lying: in fact, Mayella propositioned the black man, was caught by her father, and then accused him of rape to cover her shame and guilt. However, the all-white jury convicts Tom despite the evidence; and Tom later tries to escape from prison and is shot.

Despite the verdict, Bob Ewell feels that Atticus and the judge made a fool out of him and vows revenge. He menaces Tom Robinson’s wife, tries to break into the judge’s house, and finally attacks Jem and Scout as they walk home from a Halloween party. They are saved by Boo Radley, who kills Ewell, carries the wounded Jem home, sits with Scout for a while, and then disappears again into the Radley house.