Resumo de To Kill A Mockingbird, Part I

To Kill A Mockingbird. Lee, Harper. Harper Collins Publishers. New York. 2002. Part I

When Scout and Jem received their air rifles, Atticus was not pleased. He remarked, ?Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit ?em, but remember it?s a sin to kill a mockingbird (Lee, 103).? Miss Maudie explained for the children, ?Mockingbirds don?t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don?t eat up people?s gardens, they don?t nest in corncribs, they don?t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That?s why it?s a sin to kill a mockingbird (103).? Atticus Finch is a fifty-year old lawyer and father of two young children Scout and Jem. Their mother died when the children were very young. Atticus and his children are cared for by a strict black woman named Calpurnia. Calpurnia mentions to the children, in reference to their father, at one point in the beginning of the story that some men are so busy working toward their next life that they do not live in the present. Calpurnia?s intuition aptly summarizes the consciousness of Atticus. Atticus Finch is the most burdened man in Maycomb, Alabama. His wife is dead, and while his young children spend most of their free time tormenting the town?s spooky mystery of Boo Radcliff, the rest of the town is constantly criticizing Atticus?s law practice, and his unruly children. During a Christmas visit, some of the harshest criticism comes from Finch?s own family (sister). Atticus is a firm, quiet, and calm man though. He answers the children?s many disruptions with moral words such as, ?You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view ?until you climb into his skin and walk around in it (33).? And all of the trials this family has faced already are just the beginning for why Atticus tries so hard to instill in his children such a strong sense of 0.m0.orality. Atticus is now a ?nigger-lover? who will have to defend Tim Robinson against the Ewells, ?[who] had been the disgrace of Maycomb for three generations (33).? And he doesn?t expect to win. But in the south, when it comes to black and white issues, everyone will side against the most despicable white person in favor of letting a nigger go free.
The story is narrated by Atticus?s young daughter Scout; Jean-Louise. She never knew here mother and is quite the tough tom-boy. And she is a smart as a whip. On her first day of school the teacher even instructs Scout that her father is not to teach her to read anymore. The teacher is quite put off by Scout?s astuteness. Through part one the reader understands very quickly the high level of awareness the children have of their community. Though, their intelligence does not always keep them from childish pranks around the neighborhood. As the big trial is getting closer to commence the children are older; Jem is twelve and Scout is eight. By natural virtue of their age, they are becoming more involved in their father?s world. Or, the world is pulling them in hatefully closer.

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