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Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill a Mockingbird� is a story written in the first person that explains a series of events leading up to a main event; the day Jem (the narrator’s brother) broke his arm. The narrator (Jean Louise Finch, as known as Scout), is four years younger than her brother and lives with him, their father (a lawyer) named Atticus Finch and their black cook.

When Atticus represents a black man named Tom (who is accused of raping a white woman) in a court case, their whole lives are turned upside down; people talk about them, people try to hurt them, people ignore them, etc. this causes the siblings to leave their innocence behind to fight for their rights.

While this is happening, the kids take interest in an unordinary neighbor (named Arthur Radley as known as Boo) who never leaves his house, and make an odd friendship with him. As the story progresses, the black man who is accused of raping is proved to be innocent however, he is still plead guilty and was sentenced to prison where he attempts to escape but was shot down. The white woman’s father named Bob Ewell gets embarrassed after the trial and wanted to get revenge on Atticus for shaming his family, so one night after a Halloween party, he followed the siblings home and attacked them breaking Jem’s arm. Thankfully, Boo saves their life and kills Bob Ewell, Scout then walks him home and from there on, Boo was never seen again.

“It’s a sin to kill a mockingbird� by Atticus Finch. ‘Awakened in the night by a very loud bird with a wildly varied song� is ‘the sound of an unmated male mockingbird� this quote is by a bird expert. (). Mockingbirds in their nature are different compared to other birds because of their songs, they are ‘calm and peaceful� in ‘general�; Boo and Tom represents Mockingbirds because they are different in colour or in characteristics, they are also calm, by killing them, it would be considered a sin.

Scout symbolizes innocence because she has a very innocent mind; she believes that everyone in her community is full of goodness however her belief grows more mature when she comes in contact with hatred during the trial. Scout develops an understanding that in order to ‘appreciate� the goodness of people, she must prepare to deal with flaws and hatred. She has a clearer understanding of Ying and Yang.

I really enjoyed this story because it had a lot of truth about society during the times of the racial era. It was really sad how someone innocent had to suffer just because he was different. For a book about racism, this story was really bright and cheerful; most of these types of books would be dark and depressing, I’m guessing this is because the story is in a little girl’s point of view. I can relate to Scout because before I read books or watched movies or even seeing people’s bad sides, I always thought that everyone was only good and that badness only existed in fairytales or dreams.

After reading this book, I realized that everyone can change dramatically based on what they get in contact with; I am not talking about ‘natural selection�, but by self evaluation. Scout has always believed that Boo was a weird person or perhaps a ‘ghost� based on people’s gossips and stories, however when she meets him for the first time, she realizes that he is shy and caring and even sweet. I hope that everyone would have a chance to read this book and learn that gossips are usually full of rubbish.

Yet another great story to read.