TO KILL A
MOCKINGBIRD
Characters
JEAN LOUIS FINCH
 Scout 6 at the beginning 8 by the end
 View the action through her eyes and get her opinions
 1. Mother is dead, idolized father, brother is only playmate for most of
the story…she is a tomboy
 2. Smart. Ex: goes to school knowing how to read and write
 3. Perceptive: notices what is going on around her
 4. Has a temper. Rather fight first ask questions later
THE WOMAN AND GIRL
 Grown Jean Louise is telling the story
 Little girl Scout is part of the action
ATTICUS FINCH
 Scout’s father
 Humble, hardworking, intelligent
 Central figure in story
 Atticus refers to ancient Greek city of Athens: implies learning, culture
and heroism
 Kids love and respect him
 To Tom Robinson and the Negros, he is a source of strength and help
ATTICUS CONT.
 Negros respect him: he recognizes their personal dignity and will
fight for it
 Townspeople: symbol of integrity
• Despite criticizing him for defending a negro, they re-elect him for
state legislature.
• Unconsciously, they know they can count on him to do the things for
them they lack the courage to do for themselves
JEREMY (JEM)
 10 when the story begins, 13 at the end
 Jem: jem in the story, a diamond that will be polished by the events in
Maycomb and will emerge at the end completely changed by his contact
with the adult world.
 Events parallel his growing from a child to young man
 Changes the most, from childish to compassionate toward Atticus,
Tom, Boo, and Mrs. Dubose bc of growing adult awareness of their
problems
JEM CONT
 Has more understanding of the Tom Robinson case than Scout
and Dill
 He wants his father to win
 Listens attentively
 Although more adult understanding, still shocked with the verdict
 Ideas of justice and honor are shattered…loss of innocence.
CHARLES BAKER HARRIS
 Nickname Dill-provides flavor to story
 Only important character not from Maycomb
 Not much background, except shuffled from relative to
relative
 After mom remarries, he doesn’t feel she wants him
• Readers see him as imaginative and sensitive
DILL IN THE NOVEL
 1st Boo Radley: he gets Scout and Jem near the house, before him
they only wandered about it.
 2nd spectator at the trial: as an outsider he is sick with what he sees.
The people within the town can’t see the injustice because they are
too close to it. Dill sees the gross injustice and is disturbed by it.
 3rd companion to kids, especially Scout: when Jem starts to mature,
Dill is closer to Scout’s age and gives her someone to talk to.
ARTHOR RADLEY: BOO
 Appears only once in the story
 Shy, lives in total seclusion
 He’s a symbol of the unknown
• Children wonder about him, then invade his privacy to satisfy their curiosity
 Later a symbol of kindness
 Still later of bravery
 He is the town freak, but more able to sense values and have compassion than
other Maycomb residence
 Children learn to judge by actions, not gossip.
AUNT ALEXANDRA
 Represents traditional values of the South
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Home
Family
Heredity
Gentility
White supremacy
 Doesn’t change…Scout meets her ½ way.
 Represents crucial prob of South: unwillingness to forsake false value
structure even with evidence that it is unjust.
CALPURNIA
 Finch family cook accepted as a member of the family
 Link between black and white worlds of Maycomb
 Acts one way with Finch family and another with her friends
 Treats kids as her own
• Listens to their problems
• Doesn’t spoil
• Teaches Scout to write
CALPURNIA CONT.
 Atticus speaks openly in front of her, bc she understands
 Represents a Negro as a valuable part of white society if judged by
individual merit
 Also a lesson for Negro: learnt to admire individual achievements,
not to fit in to “white man’s world,” but to live a dignified human life
 Cal hides her achievements from the black and white worlds
because both are guilty of racism
MISS MAUDIE ATKINSON
 Most colorful characters
 Benevolent
 Brave
 Loves flowers and the Finch children
 Most rational feminine character in the novel
 Repudiates Aunt Alexandra’s value system.
BOB EWELL
 Represents poor white trash of Maycomb
 Ignorant
 Irrational
 Slovenly
 Unwilling to improve himself
 Greatest hatred of Negros, bc he knows he is inferior by any rational standard
of comparison
 He trades on irrational values of Maycomb that will support his hunt for a
scapegoat and hopes to gain self-respect by degrading Tom Robinson
MAYELLA EWELL
 Scout describes her as “loneliest person in the world.”
 Victim of circumstance
 Father’s attitude prevent her from behaving like a normal person
 Has a genuine desire for affection
 Lies out of fear of her father
 Suffers even more deeply than the Negros
MRS.DUBOSE
 Jem and Scout learn from her: bravery in the face of impossible
odds
 Also learn judgment of another human being requires the context
be known and evaluated
MISS STEPHANIE
CRAWFORD
 Represents the self-righteousness of the townspeople
 Gossip
JUDGE TAYLOR
 Elderly man wants to see justice done
 Limited bc of the ultimate decision rest with jury.
TOM ROBINSON
 2 dimensional figure
 Seems kind
 Ignorance and his position as a Negro cause his downfall
MR. DOLPHUS RAYMOND
 Lives with a Negro woman
 Outcast
 His children suffer most
• Not accepted with either race
 Shows the intolerance of both races
THE CUNNINGHAMS
 Poor white family
 Provide contrast to the Ewells
 Industrious
 Proud
 Independent – don’t accept anything they cannot repay
 One is almost responsible for a hung jury.