However, before the court can even pretend to try to get to the truth, the town of Maycomb decides Robinson’s guilt and sets out with the intention of lynching him. Gregory Peck and Brock Peters as Atticus Finch and Tom Robinson in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). Related: Books Like To Kill a Mockingbird It is Scout’s father, Atticus, that stands up to represent Robinson at his trial. Robinson is a black man who works as a field hand before being unexpectedly accused of rape by the young (and white) Mayella Ewell. And though Radley himself is a white character, he seems to take on the personification of the villainization of those branded with the label of “other,” which is a highly prevalent factor in unjust race relations both today and in the past.Ĭonversely, the story centered around Tom Robinson tackles the issue of oppression head on. Not seen by the people of Maycomb, the man behind the rumors becomes irrelevant to the glee others take in inciting fear. Never physically appearing until the end of the book, his presence is nonetheless felt through the entirety of the novel, with the perceived danger and otherness of him hanging like a warning pall over Maycomb.īoo Radley wields a symbolic-and sometimes seemingly literal-invisibility in the book. Due to this larger rejection and abandonment, Radley serves the story in phantom-like ways. Photo Credit: Universal PicturesĪs a reflection of society’s deep fear and superstition around things they struggle to understand, the truth of Radley’s history and temperament became warped, represented by tales of violence. Robert Duvall as Boo Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). This intense air of mystery makes Radley fodder for the town rumor mill. Radley is introduced to the story as a recluse kept sheltered away from the world by his father. The first half of the novel primarily focuses on the obsessive fascination that Scout, her older brother Jem, and their neighbor Dill have with Boo Radley. The novel’s action is split between both Scout and larger society’s perceptions of two integral characters-Boo Radley and Tom Robinson. Set in the fictional small town of Maycomb, Alabama, readers bear witness to three critical years during the mid-1930s, through the 6-year-old eyes of narrator Jean Louise “Scout” Finch. It’s a device that makes the climax of the book feel even more severe. The warmth and humor so vividly present in the novel serves to gently guide readers to the cliff of racial conflict, before we’re tipped into the deep end.

Through this frame, which is strengthened by the semi-autobiographical nature of Lee’s work, the complex and deeply disturbing truths of racism are made accessible to both young audiences and allies outside of racially oppressed circles. To Kill a Mockingbird is a bildungsroman novel-one which follows the moral development of a child’s psyche.

Book cover of to kill a mockingbird