Character Descriptions based on notes from the author
Female Roles:
SCOUT: (F 9-12) A young girl to seem as young as nine. Scout is courageous and forthright. If a
question occurs to her, she will ask it.
JEAN LOUISE: (F 20s-30s) She is Scout, grown older, looking back on the time she was young,
looking for answers to questions that still exist in her memory of that time.
CALPURNIA: (30s+) Black, proud, and capable, she has raised the motherless Scout and Jem.
She’s a self-educated woman and she’s made quite a good job of it. Her standards are high and
her discipline as applied to Scout and Jem is uncompromising.
MAUDIE ATKINSON: (F 30s-60s) A lovely and sensitive woman. Though belonging to the time
and place, she has a wisdom and compassion that suggests the best instincts of the South.
STEPHANIE CRAWFORD: (F 20-60s) She’s a neighborhood gossip, and she enjoys it to the
hilt. There's an enthusiasm in her talking over the people of her town that makes it almost
humorous.
MRS. DUBOSE: (F 60+) She is an old woman, ill, walking with difficulty, her pain making her
biting, bitter, and angry. She is fighting a secret battle within herself.
HELEN ROBINSON: (F 20-30s) She is half numb with the shock of the false charge against her
husband; she’s someone caught in a nightmare.
MAYELLA EWELL: (F20-30s) The eldest daughter of Bob Ewell, she is a desperately lonely and
overworked young woman whose need for companionship has overwhelmed all sense. She is
like a cornered animal, fighting for survival.
Male Roles:
JEM: (M 9-15) A young boy a few years older than his sister, Scout. Like his sister, he’s reaching
out to understand their unusual and thus not conventionally admirable father.
ATTICUS: (M 40s-50s) Quietly impressive, reserved, and civilized. He wears glasses and
because of the poor sight in his left eye, looks with his right eye when he wants to see
something well. He’s quietly courageous and without heroics, he does what he considers just.
DILL: (M 9-15) Small, young boy, wise beyond his years, he is about the same age as Jem. Dill
is neater and better dressed than his friends. There’s an undercurrent of sophistication to him,
but his laugh is sudden and happy.
WALTER CUNNINGHAM: (M 60+) A hard-up farmer who shares the prejudices of the time and
place, but who nevertheless a man who can be reached as a human being.
REVEREND SYKES: (M 40+) Rev. Sykes is the black minister of the First Purchase Church,
called that because it was paid for with the first money earned by the freed slaves. He is an
imposing man with a strong stage presence.
HECK TATE: (M 20-60s) Heck is the town sheriff and a complex man. He does his duty as he
sees it, and enforces law without favor.
NATHAN RADLEY: (M 60+) Leathery, laconic man, the father of Boo Radley.
BOO RADLEY: (M 30-40s) Arthur Radley is a recluse who hasn’t been outside of his house in
fifteen years, but has a childlike quality that makes him an irresistible enigma to the children.
TOM ROBINSON: (M 20-30s) Robinson is a black man, handsome, and vital, but with a left
hand crippled by a childhood accident. He faces up to a false charge with quiet dignity. There is
an undercurrent in him of kindness, sensitivity, and consideration.
JUDGE TAYLOR: (M 60+) The judge is a wintry man of the South, who does what he can within
the context of his time to see justice done in his court.
MR. GILMER: (M 20-60s ) He is a public prosecutor who is doing his job in trying to convict Tom
Robinson. In many ways his manner is cruel and hurtful, and yet under all this, he too has
unexpressed doubts as to Tom’s guilt.
BOB EWELL: (M 50+) Ewell is a little bantom-cock of a man who lives with his large family by
the town dump. He is wild, mean, sloppy, and when Atticus destroys his credibility, his rage
borders on paranoia.
Extras: (M/F 17+) Men and women of the church and jury.