Scout is the main character in the story, the whole novel is narrated by her and it is her who is looking back and recalling the events that happened. Scout symbolises the author Harper Lee as she herself shared similar experiences when she was a young girl in her hometown of Monroeville. Harper Lee’s father was a lawyer just like Scouts father Atticus, however Scout isn’t the most important character in the novel, her father Atticus Finch is. Atticus is a moral hero; he fights for what he believes in no matter what the odds are. Although he is an old single parent he maintains a strong bond with his children, even if his methods of parenting are somewhat unorthodox. He is an unprejudiced man who is in every way a true ‘gentleman’. Jem is Scouts brother and is very close to her sister, mainly because she is a ‘tom boy’. Jem is brave, intelligent but at times emotional, for example when he loses his temper with Mrs Dubose and chops the heads off her flowers. Jem misses his mother as he was old enough to remember her; on the other hand Scout was too young although she asks questions about her.
We learn the different roles the men and women play in Maycomb from Harper Lee’s novel because the various personality and viewpoints of these characters help shape the novel. The men are portrayed in the stereotypical patriarchal role, being the head of the house; they work, support the family and discipline their children when they do wrong. But with regard to home it is the women who rule the roost; they are in charge of running the house, cooking and have the important role of raising the children. Atticus on the other hand is an exception to this rule as he is a sole parent, he has duel responsibilities, fulfils both mother and father roles. He has no wife and although he has help from Calpurnia the cook, and later on Aunt Alexandra, his sister, he expertly juggles his work and home life. A modern parent in today’s society, but rather odd in the period the novel was set.
We also find out Maycomb is extremely backward, with regards to the rights of coloured people and women. Women hold tea parties while they gossip about people in Maycomb. All the towns women are expected to conform to this lifestyle and a good example of one who does is Aunt Alexandra who “fitted into the world of Maycomb like a hand into a glove,” Alexandra is the perfect Southern lady, she is totally committed to tradition and propriety and this frequently leads to arguments with Scout. Scout is a young feisty girl whom Aunt Alexandra constantly forces to wear dresses and to stop playing with Jem and Dill so she can attend tea parties and learn about her family heritage something Aunt Alexandra is very proud of but Atticus isn’t. Another woman in the town of Maycomb is Miss Stephanie Crawford, her hobby is to spread gossip it was she who spread rumours about Boo Radley and made him out to be some kind of ‘malevolent phantom’, who ate cats and squirrels, when, in reality, he was just a man who was ashamed of his past actions and preferred to stay indoors. Stephanie is described as a ‘neighbourhood scold’ by Scout. Maudie Atkinson could be described as the female Atticus. She is unprejudiced in every way and racism sickens her. Her love for the world is expressed in her garden where she keeps lovely flowers but she doesn’t kill the weeds which could be a metaphor of her unprejudiced lifestyle. She is a true optimist and even when her house burns down she says, “lucky it didn’t burn down the whole town.” She also acts as a friend for Scout when Jem wants to be alone.
However wrong it is in today’s society racism was part of everyday life in Maycomb. The lowest of ‘white trash’ like the Ewells was still higher in the social hierarchy than the highest of blacks, like Tom Robinson. As Scout says the only thing that makes Bob superior to blacks is “that when scrubbed with lime soap in very hot water his skin is white.” The only reason why Tom ended up in court was because the colour of his skin and because he was against a white women, he was going to lose. Throughout the court case we see examples of Tom’s impeccable manners and respect for court and by contrast we see Bob treating the case like a joke, like when he is asked if he was Mayella’s father he replies, “Well if I ain’t I’m stuck with her now.” Although Bob was a leech on society who lived on benefits and made no effort to work he was favoured over a hard working man who although handicapped still worked to earn a honest living because he was white. The language used is important, Bob speaks in a nasty way with no respect, he points his finger and uses improper language like ‘fore’ meaning before and ‘nigger nest’ which is derogatory term for a coloured settlement. On the other hand, Tom speaks in a kind and respectful way, always calling all people ‘Suh’ which means sir and even felt that what Bob said to Mayella was “not fittin for these folks and chillun to hear” his language is used to show that despite being a coloured people he in many ways better than Bob. Dill feels the unfairness of the court case and cries, he says he is going to become a new type of clown and he is going to laugh at people instead of people laughing at him as he feels people are absurd in their prejudices. Racism can be seen in other parts of the novel as well, when Scout’s school teacher was talking about how innocent Jews were being persecuted because of their religion she said it was “disgusting” and it would never happen in America as it was a “democracy”, only Scout realised that America did just the same to blacks and found her teacher’s comments at the height of hypocrisy. The choice of the word ‘democracy’ is important as not everyone gets the right to do everything, the blacks didn’t get to do most of the things the white did including voting. The women of Maycomb with the exception of Miss Maudie constantly criticises Atticus for his beliefs but are all too happy to eat his food and stay in his house.
In the society of Maycomb we discover that there are many outcasts who don’t conform to society and are most of the time rejected as their beliefs contrast to the ‘norm’. One of these is Atticus Finch but because of his gentleman-like behaviour and contribution to society he is accepted into society. Miss Maudie says “there are some people who do the jobs we don’t want to your father is one of them” to Scout”. Even so Atticus is still criticised for what he believes in and is called a “nigger lover” by his own nephew Francis, which shows that even they aren’t used to his point of view. Arthur ‘Boo’ Radley is the character that the novel loosely revolves around and Harper Lee cleverly fades him out during the court case for him to make a surprise return at the end of the book when he saves Jem and Scout from the true villain of the story Bob Ewell. Many people think he is a monster when he is just a lonely man who is afraid of the outside world which can be seen when his inner child speaks when he asks Scout to take him home. Despite this he is still forced out of society and is rarely seen by anyone; it isn’t because people are scared of him but it is he who is scared of them. The only person that really does deserve to be an outcast is Bob Ewell who lives on benefits and makes no attempt to work, even when he does get a job he loses it almost straight away because of his laziness and incompetence. His racial ideology closely reflects that of the Klu Klux Klan’s as he believes coloured people are second class citizens just like they did. He beats his children and there are hints that he may sexually abuse his daughter Mayella who despite getting Tom killed is a victim in some ways. Fortunately at the end of the novel Bob gets what he deserves when he tries to kill Scout and Jem. Boo heroically saves them by stabbing Bob, however the truth is hushed up because Heck Tate (the sheriff of Maycomb) thinks it would be unfair to draw attention to Boo as the last thing he would want is public attention and Scout correctly says “it would be kind of like killing a Mockingbird,” because all Boo wants to do is help people and doesn’t hurt anyone (except Bob) just like a mockingbird which just ‘sings it’s heart out for us.’ There are many other characters that show how outcasts are rejected and one of these is Dolphus Raymond who married a coloured women and had mixed children, because of this he is considered to be an outcast and has to pretend to be a drunk so people think he has an excuse to live his life the way he does. Another of these characters is Miss Dubose who is an old lady who regularly shouts abuse at Jem and Scout, one day Jem gets so angry he destroys her flowers and Atticus makes him read to her. Later on Atticus tell Jem that “...son, I told you that if you hadn’t lost your mind I’d have made you read to her- I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in hand.” This is because Mrs Dubose was a morphine addict and reading let her take her mind off the pain she was having, society had left her on her own and even though she knew the battle had been lost, she wanted to die free from her addiction. Even Atticus says “She was the bravest person I knew.”
On the surface, Harper Lee’s novel appears to be a simple tale of racial prejudice in the search for justice however it’s far more; in fact she gives the reader a fascinating and engrossing insight into human behaviour in times of hardship. She cleverly unveils through the narrating character Scout the hypocrisy of some people in their attitudes toward others who are of a different colour, economic status, gender and religion as well as people with disabilities. Although, her novel is set in a small fictional American town during the great depression, the human traits that she writes about are becoming ever increasing in present day society. Today’s recession here may be a far cry from the American Depression but the down turn in our economic climate has similar overtones where the disadvantaged and “different” members of the society bear greater pain. A prime example is some people’s attitude towards migrant workers from Eastern Europe and Asia; who are no longer as tolerated or looked upon sympathetically. It seems that when people are subjected to hardship they tend to become marginalised and this fuels greater prejudice against them. Through her novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ Harper Lee sends an important moral message- all types of prejudice must be fought and overcome regardless of where they are present or how tough the task might seem at the time.