Scout tells us about her ancestors who originally fled England to escape religious persecution and they established a large farm on the banks of the Alabama River called Finch’s Landing. The family was farmers for a hundred years until Atticus became a lawyer in Maycomb while his sister, Alexandra, ran the farm.

At the start of the story, Scout is aged 6. Scout’s mother had died four years previously and their cook, an old black woman called Calpurnia, helps to bring up the two siblings.

An odd boy named Charles Baker Harris, known as Dill, moves in next door for the summer to stay with his aunt, Miss Rachel Haverford. Dill’s parents are getting divorced and he is reluctant to talk about this taboo subject, but is very talkative about everything else. Coupled with his intelligence, he soon becomes friends with Scout and Jem. Their main curiosity over the summer months is the Radley house, in particular one of its strange occup

At the start of the school year Jem tells Scout about the mysteriously mended pants and when they come home together from school they find another present hidden in the knothole of the tree. The gifts appear at regular intervals and are more and more expensive. There are two figures carved in soap resembling Scout and Jem followed by a spelling-bee medal, an old pocket watch and so on. The children decide to leave a note thanking their unknown benefactor, but they find the knothole filled with cement. Nathan Radley tells Jem that he has plugged the hole in order to stop the dying oak tree from rotting.

Scout and Jem now notice that they are the objects of whispering and black looks from the townsfolk when they visit the center.

Jem, Scout and Dill walk over to the Court, but wait until most have entered as they intend to sneak in without Atticus noticing them. However, all the ‘white’ seats have been taken and they fear that they will miss the proceedings, but Rev. Sykes takes them into the ‘colored’ gallery where they have a perfect view of the whole courtroom

ants, Arthur ‘Boo’ Radley, who never comes out of the run-down house at the end of their street.

The three children begin their games again, and on one occasion they find an old tire and Scout curls up inside it and the other two push it down the street. She loses control and the tire rolls right into the Radley’s yard and the children panic. However, this episode gives Dill another idea for a game.

Some topics in this essay:
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