"There are some men in the world who are born to do unpleasant jobs for us; your father is one of them", said Maudie to Jim after his father (Atticus) lost the case of Tom Robinson. Atticus helped his children to learn values of life and he showed them how to live life by the values; preaching by practicing. Atticus allowed his children to call him by his name instead of 'father'. He wanted his children to explore freedom, but also taught them to stay in limits. Jim is brave, intelligent, and caring. He learns courage, dignity, and value of life from his father. He is transforming into adulthood.
Scout is still a kid; she does not know anything about the existence of evil in the society. She is learning about evils from the real life example of the victims (Tom and Boo) of the evils in the society. By the end of the story Scout's perspective on life develops from that of an innocent child into that of a near grown up. "Mr. Tate was right", said Scout to Atticus, after Mr. Tate, the town Sheriff explained Atticus indirectly that whatever Boo did was correct and he is not supposed to be punished for that. "It would be like shooting the mockingbird, wouldn't it." Scout shows a high level of ability to comprehend at the age of five, and understands the whole situation and judges what is right and what is wrong.
The Music Director of the movie has done an excellent job. Music plays an important role in the movie, by setting the mood for what is been screened. The movie starts with a musical note, which seems like it is played by a kid, one note at a time. The movie also has gothic music to create the horrifying or thrilling environment, when Jim and Scout were walking home after the Halloween Party and they had an encounter with Bob Ewells. Most of the places the movie has melancholy music to produce the feeling of thoughtful sadness. The pleasant arrangements of musical notes in the movie create an atmosphere where we feel that we are a part of the movie, and we go back into our nostalgic memories and look back into our childhood. The movie itself seems like a mockingbird song.
My favorite scene in the movie is when Atticus is walking out of the courtroom after the trial is over and all the "colored" people sitting in the balcony stands up to pay respect to Atticus, a white man, who tried his level best to save a "Negro." The Reverend says to Scout who was sitting, "Stand up Jean Louise. Your father is passing." The scene says it all, there is not much dialogue but the expressions on the faces of the black people was marvelous, with a slow melancholy music at the background. As it this situation there is nothing left to say, because everyone knows in the courtroom that Tom Robinson is not guilty but still the jury has convicted him of the rape, just because of racial prejudice.
Nelle Harper Lee was born on April 28 1926 in Monroeville Alabama. Monroeville is in southwest Alabama, about halfway between Montgomery and Mobile. She is the youngest of four children of Amasa Coleman Lee and Frances Finch Lee. She has two sisters, Alice and Louise and one brother, Edwin. Harper Lee attended Huntingdon College 1944-45, studied law at University of Alabama 1945-49, and studied one year at Oxford University. In the 1950s she worked as a reservation clerk with Eastern Air Lines and BOAC in New York City. In order to concentrate on writing Harper Lee gave up her position with the airline and moved into a cold-water apartment with makeshift furniture. Her father's sudden illness forced her to divide her time between New York and Monroeville. In 1957 Miss Lee submitted the manuscript of her novel to the J. B. Lippincott Company. She was told that her novel consisted of a series of short stories strung together, and she was urged to re-write it. For the next two and a half years she re-worked the manuscript with the help of her editor, Tay Hohoff, and in 1960 To Kill a Mockingbird was published. This was her only published book. In June of 1966, Harper Lee was one of two persons named by President Johnson to the National Council of Arts.
The title of the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, is a key to some themes of the novel. The title is first explained in Chapter 10, at the time that Scout and Jem Finch have just received air rifles for Christmas. Atticus tells his children that it is a sin to shoot a mockingbird. Later Miss Maudie explains to the children what Atticus meant: Mockingbirds are harmless creatures who do nothing but sing for our enjoyment. Therefore, it is very wrong to harm them.
It is easy to see that the "mockingbird" in this story is Tom Robinson--a harmless man who becomes a victim of racial prejudice. Like the mockingbird, Tom has never done wrong to anyone. Even the jurors who sentence him to death have nothing personal against him. They find him guilty mostly because they feel that to take the word of a black man over two whites would threaten the system they live under, the system of segregation. Tom himself is guilty of nothing but being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
It is possible that the mockingbird of the title has more than one meaning. Today mockingbirds live in many northern states, but only a few decades ago mockingbirds lived principally in the southeastern United States. Like the mint julep or the song "Dixie," the mockingbird symbolized the southern way of life--a culture that emphasized good manners, family background, and a relaxed, unhurried pace of living. Unfortunately, another aspect of this way of life was racial segregation, a system that had been tolerated for decades by many southerners who knew in their hearts that it was morally wrong.
By the time this novel was written perceptive southerners could see that the opportunity for them to take the lead in ending segregation was already past. The civil rights movement, led by blacks and supported by whites in other parts of the country, was not only ending segregation, it was transforming the politics and class structure that southerners had taken for granted for decades.
To Kill a Mockingbird contains criticism of the prejudice and moral laziness that allowed Southern society to have a double standard of justice. The novel also presents a somewhat optimistic view of white Southerners that was somewhat unusual at the time the novel appeared. The story indicates there are good human beings like Atticus Finch everywhere, even in the midst of a corrupt society. Even those who do wrong, the novel goes on to suggest, often act out of ignorance and weakness rather than a deliberate impulse to hurt others.
There are always a few readers who feel that the novel offers an overly optimistic and simplified view of human nature. On the other hand, the hopeful note it strikes may be one of the reasons for the book's great popularity. The author does not ignore the existence of evil in society, but she does suggest that human beings are born with a desire to do the right thing.
Although most readers think of To Kill a Mockingbird as a novel about racial prejudice, you will notice that the mockingbird theme does not apply only to victims of this form of discrimination. Boo Radley, the eccentric recluse, is another "harmless creature" who becomes a victim of cruelty. Here again, the author seems to be emphasizing the universality of human nature. Tom Robinson's problems may be bound up with the complex social problem of racial prejudice, but any neighborhood can have its Boo Radley, all but forgotten except as the subject of gossip and rumor.
