To Kill a Mockingbird is a story about a young girl growing up in a small town called Maycomb Alabama the 1930's. First it was a very popular book by Harper Lee in 1960. It also became an award winning film starring Gregory Peck in 1963, adding momentum to a National conversation about race, class and the American Civil Rights Movement.
Jean Louise Finch is the narrator and central character of the story. Everyone calls her Scout. The story begins when Scout is 6 years old but she tells us the story as an adult looking back on her childhood.
Scout lives with her brother Jem and their father Atticus, a single father. By the end of the story, Scout is 9 years old and she has learned a lot about life and relationships in their small town.
Scout is a tomboy who prefers the company of boys and doesn't care for dresses or school. She is strong-willed, quick to anger and gets into fights. She is also smart, observant and curious, though. She learns from her father and their neighbors and the events in the story, some of which are frightening, difficult for Scout to understand and disturbing for the reader.
Scout loved her father, Atticus and learned to read from him. When she started to attend school, her teacher criticized her reading and told her that her father was teaching her all wrong. She became afraid that she would no longer be able to read with Atticus.
In this scene Atticus comforts her. He tells her they can compromise. He agrees to continue reading to her every night if she would go back to school and do as her teacher tells her.
