Republic of the Philippines

POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

College of Accountancy and Finance
Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs
Sta. Mesa, Manila

Book Review of

To Kill A Mockingbird

Submitted by:

Calderon, Maria Angela

Rondina, Erica Mae

BSA 1-11

Submitted to:

Mr. Paul Anthony L. Tecson

October 16,2019
 To Kill A Mockingbird is a novel written by Harper Lee and was published in the year
1960. This book was published by the help of J.B .Lippincott & Co. Publisher in New York City.
It was translated into over 40 languages and sold more than 30 million copies worldwide due to
its popularity. In 1961, it won a Pulitzer Prize. The novel focuses on how children are awakened
by the unjust treatment of a person to another because of racism and prejudice in South
America (Fine & Foca, 2019).

SUMMARY

The story begins with the introduction of a little girl named Jean Louise “Scout” Finch,
daughter of Atticus Finch, a lawyer, and sister of Jem Finch. Since Atticus is a prominent
lawyer, it is told that their family is reasonably well off compared to other families in town. The
story takes place in Maycomb, Alabama during 1933 to 1935 wherein it is under two important
periods of American history: the Great Depression and the Jim Crow era. The utmost and
lengthiest economic downturn in modern world history is “The Great Depression”. 1929 was its
beginning year by the big crash that happened to the stock market of United States, this
downturn did not end until 1946 after World War II. According to some historians and
economists, The Great Depression is the most catastrophic economic event that occurred in the
20th century (Segal, 2019). On the other hand, Jim Crow era is a period from about 1865 to
1877 wherein a dramatic decline with the registered black voters happened with the South.
Federal laws were also established, offering observable protection of civil rights for former
slaves and to black people. With this federal law, a great migration of blacks happened from
South to Northern and Western cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York City (Brief
History of Civil Rights in the United States, 2019).

As described by Scout, Maycomb County is a small Southern town that is timeworn,

weary, and suffocating municipality saddled by certain economic diseases such as prejudice
and racism. The novel started off by giving some backstory with the Finch’s, wherein Simon
Finch, their ancestor, settled beside the banks of the Alabama River along with his three slaves
and established a cotton farm called Finch’s Landing. Atticus Finch, Scout’s widowed father,
was one of the Finch’s to start a life outside of the farm, learning law and choosing to raise his
family in Maycomb, Alabama.

One summer, Scout and Jem befriended another child from the neighborhood named
Charles Baker Harris commonly known as Dill. Dill is originally settled in Mississippi and goes to
Maycomb every summer for a vacation and before anyone knew, the three of them became
good friends who always seek for fun and adventures. The trio became fascinated with the
Radley place, a spooky house in the street owned by Nathan Radley and lived by his brother,
Arthur Radley. In Maycomb, Arthur or famously known as Boo Radley is recognized as a
terrifying human being because of killing his own father. After that incident, Boo Radley was
locked in the courthouse basement. However, Boo was transitioned back to their house as his
brother, Nathan Radley, came back and kept him lock inside. Since then, no one in the town
had ever glimpsed Arthur “Boo” Radley.

The summer is over and Dill had to leave and go back to Mississippi before the school
starts. Scout is also excited to go to school but displeasure immediately went over her when she
met her teacher, Caroline Fisher, a woman unfamiliar with Maycomb. Fisher did not liked the
idea of Scout knowing how to read and so she ordered Scout to not read at home with Atticus.
Scout’s displeasure worsened when Fisher tries to lend her classmate, Walter Cunningham Jr.,
money for lunch saying that the Cunningham’s must not take anything that they cannot pay
back. Because of Scout’s behavior, Fisher made her stand in the corner of the room to reflect
with her actions. After the class, Scout took out all of her frustrations to Cunningham at the
playground but Jem stopped her from doing so because Walter’s father was one of the people
whom Atticus defended before. As an apology, Jem invited Walter Cunningham to join them for
lunch but Scout was still rude, implying that he’s just a Cunningham, not worthy of any respect
at all.

It was an uneventful school year for Jem and Scout. One day, Scout sees something
from a tree’s knot hole near the residence of Radley’s. It is a small box with two Indian head
pennies. That summer, Dill returned to Maycomb and the three of them forgot about the know
hole. It was morning when they played with an unused tire, Dill rode the tire and it accidentally
went to the Radley’s residence. With this funny accident, Scout heard someone laughing inside
the Radley’s house. Jem and Dill’s friendship grew deeper as time passes by while Scout felt
left out with the boys. Because of this scenario, Scout befriended Miss Maudie Atkinson, a
childhood friend of his father. Throughout their conversation, Miss Maudie mentioned that Boo
Radley is a kind and polite person as a child. With this, Scout thinks that Boo is more as a sad
and lonely person rather than a monster. One time, Atticus found out about one of Dill and
Jem’s schemes on delivering a note to Boo. He stopped them, telling that Boo Radley deserves
privacy.
 Summer is soon over again so before Dill leaves again, he and Jem planned to peek into
the Radley’s residence. Scout, torn between stopping and joining them, chose to join their
scheme due to curiosity. They peeked and saw a shadow of a man, after glimpsing, the three of
them immediately ran with the fear that the man inside the house saw them. A few moments
after, a shot gun is fired behind them. Because of terror, Jem’s pants got jammed in the fence
resulting into a bottomless Jem. School starts again and Scout is already in her second grade.
Jem told Scout that he went back a day after they peeked into the Radley’s residence to retrieve
back his pants. When he went back to the fence, he stated that he found his pants nicely
stitched and folded. With that, Jem knew that Boo Radley probably was the one responsible in
sewing his pants. That day, they also found a ball of twine tucked into the tree’s knot hole. They
figured out that maybe, Boo Radley was the one putting things inside the knot hole so the two of
them took whatever they find there. However, the next day, the knot hole is cemented.

School is canceled because of the harsh winter. It was a chilly night when Scout was
awakened by Atticus, ordering her to leave the house. She went outside and saw Maudie
Atkinson’s house on fire. Jem and Scout were both left outside, near the Radley’s residence as
their father went back to keep the fire from spreading. After the incident, they went home and
noticed the blanket around Scout’s shoulder. The two of them speculated that Boo Radley was
the one responsible for the blanket. Moving on, Christmas is near in Maycomb yet the town
made rude comments about Atticus for defending Tom Robinson, a black man accused of
raping a white woman. Despite the criticisms, Atticus believes that defending Tom is the right
thing to do, emphasizing that there’s no harm in trying even if the chance of winning is minimal.

It is still a mystery for Jem and Dill on why people are critical of Atticus despite of him
being nice to everyone just because he chose to defend Tom Robinson. Scout recalled Mrs.
Henry Lafayette Dubose, a horrid woman who kept on criticizing them every time they walk past
her house. One day, Jem got annoyed of all her complaints so he destroyed her camellia
bushes. That evening, Atticus sends Jem to apologize to Mrs. Dubose and proposed to come
every Saturday to tend the bushes but the woman insisted that Jem should come every day for
the next month. After Jem’s sentence, Mrs. Dubose died because she stopped taking morphine
to beat her addiction. Atticus emphasized that Mrs. Dubose had the will to stop her wrongdoings
even though early death is its consequence.

It is summer once again and Jem’s adolescence and angst is starting to show as he told
Scout to stop pestering him. However, Dill would not come this summer due to his step father
who planned to make a boat with him. Due to the children’s boredom, Calpurnia brought Jem
and Scout to an African-American church where a woman named Lula questioned Calpurnia on
why she’s bringing white people to their church. Inside the church, the children were able to
learn and identify the struggles of the black community. When they went home, Alexandra was
mortified with the idea that Scout is invited to Calpurnia’s house. Because of that event,
Alexandra insisted that Calpurnia’s service to their family is no longer needed. However, Atticus
disagreed indicating that Calpurnia is more than a maid as she’s part of the family.

After that little misunderstanding and discussion, Scout went to her room for a sleep,
however, she stepped on something that moves and thought that there was a snake in their
room. After an investigation and a brief observation, they discovered that it was just Dill hiding
under her bed, stating that he ran away from their home. According to Dill, his step father never
really wanted him so he chose to ran away. Out of curiosity, Scout asked why Boo Radley had
not ran away from home and Dill answered that maybe, he had nowhere to run away.

Moving on, the trial for Tom Robinson started and the first person to give testimony is
Sheriff Tate. He stated that Bob Ewell came to his office, saying his daughter had been beaten
and raped by Tom Robinson. According to Ewell, Mayella identified her attacker very clearly.
The next person to give testimony is Bob Ewell, he took the stand supporting Sheriff Tate’s
testimony but Atticus was able to identify some loopholes in his testimony. According to the
details given, Mayella’s attacker is left-handed because the bruise on the lady’s face was
located on the right side of her face. Atticus showed Bob Ewell to be left-handed, indicating that
maybe, Mayella’s father was also her attacker.

Mayella Ewell was the next one to give her testimony, the testimony that she gave is
aligned to her father’s and she repeatedly identified Tom Robinson as her attacker. However, it
is very clear that Tom could not commit the crime as his left hand is deformed and his left arm is
shorter compared to his right arm. Mayella got angry at the court demanding that the jury must
do something about the crime committed to her. Moving on, Atticus called Tom Robinson to the
stand and started the questioning. Everyone knows that Tom is a kind man that helped the
Ewells’ because Robinson’s residence is near them. He testified that Mayella Ewells was the
one who made sexual advances toward him. His testimony remained solid despite Mr. Gilmore’s
cross-examination.

On the other hand, Dill and Scout was in the Town Square, beside Dolphus Raymond, a
known drunkard in Maycomb. Raymond has a black girlfriend and mixed-race children and they
are also subject to racism and prejudices made by the norms of the town. Scout was curious
and asked why Raymond pretends to be drunk at all times then, he explained that it’s his only
way to escape the community’s anger towards his family. Raymond admitted that he liked
Atticus for he stand to what he believes. Therefore, Atticus, unlike Dolphus Raymond, leaves no
doubt where he stands.

Feeling defeated from how other people treated Tom, the three children went home. Jem
was the most confused out of the them as he can’t understand why Tom was treated so
fraudulently. Due to his confusion, he even asked his father, Atticus, on why and how did the
jury came to that verdict but Atticus failed to give answers as he doesn’t understand it either. It
was a new day for the Finch family but what’s different is that they woke up with bounty food
served in their kitchen table. Calpurnia told Atticus that she found those on the back steps,
saying that those were gifts from the supporters of Tom Robinson. Atticus can’t help but to get
emotional as he felt honored because of other people’s gratitude towards him.

After that day, Atticus received some threats that imposes danger to his life and that got
Jem, Scout, Dill, and Alexandra worried. However, Atticus took it lightly, saying that it was just
Bob Ewell, venting out all of his frustrations, he even indicated that it might be a way to stop
Ewell from taking his anger our on his children. On the other hand, all of them are looking
forward to Tom Robinson’s appeal and as for Atticus, there is a big chance of winning this case.
When the school started again, Scout surprisingly invited Walter Cunningham Jr. for dinner but
her Aunt Alexandra hardly disagrees, saying that the Cunningham’s are trash and too low-class
compared to their family. Scout objected her statement and to add her annoyance, Alexandra
mentioned that spending time with the Cunningham’s will be a terrible influence on her. To
comfort Scout, Jem asked her to retreat to his bedroom. With the realizations, Jem started to
understand why Boo Radley prefers to stay inside than to communicate and socialize with the
people inside the town of Maycomb.

The day after, Atticus went home and his gloomy aura is clearly evident inside the
household. He revealed that Tom Robinson tried to escape from prison but sadly, he was shot
17 times to death. Together, Atticus and Calpurnia went to Tom’s wife to relay the bad news.
After Atticus’ department, Alexandra broke down as she realized the responsibilities that Atticus
shoulders, she wonders aloud to Miss Maudie on how much more the town can take from her
brother. In contrast, Miss Maudie thinks that the responsibilities of Atticus to the town are more
of a tribute than a burden.
 School started again, Jem and Scout passed by the Radley residence and they are
ashamed as they remember how they plotted against Boo Radley to make him come out his
house on the previous summers. They cannot imagine the torment they brought to Boo Radley
by their previous schemes. One day in school, Cecil Jacobs, Scout’s classmate, brought an
article regarding Adolf Hitler’s persecution of the Jews. Miss Gates, Scout’s teacher, stated the
difference between dictatorships and democracy and made a remark that such persecution is
not allowed in the United States as it is a democratic state. With those, Scout recalled a memory
wherein Miss Gates declared that someone must taught black people a lesson as they were
getting to above themselves. Scout carried this idea ‘til home and asked his brother, Jem, on
how Miss Gates can hate Hitler but treat the black people she knows from Maycomb so poorly.
It is a big question to her on how a person can think that it is wrong to persecute one group but
think it’s okay to persecute another.

Moving on, it is evening and the children finished their school play with minimal
embarrassing slip-ups. Jem and Scout walked on their way home together when they heard
someone following them from the dark. As what their instincts told, Scout and Jem ran but Scout
was knocked down by the stranger. Jem tried to rescue her but sadly, it was not enough to get
them far, before they can reach to road, the man was able to take a grasp of Jem. Scout lost her
brother in the pitch darkness. However, another stranger came and yanked their attacker
backward resulting his fall to the ground. The stranger and the attacker had a fight and suddenly
it’s over. It turned out that the man who helped them was actually Boo Radley and that was
actually the first time that Scout was able to have a face to face meeting with Boo Radley. On
the other hand, their attacker turned out to be Bob Ewell, however, he died during his fight with
Boo.

That night, Atticus invited Sheriff Tate to investigate further on what really happened. On
the other hand, Scout was trembling as she pointed to the stranger leaning against the wall. The
man looked uncomfortable with the attention that he was getting from Sheriff Tate, Atticus, and
Scout. By observing, Scout was able to identify that it was Boo Radley since his hands, his
clothes, his face, and hair are all unfamiliar and as he looks as someone who never leaves the
house. Scout offered Boo Radley a smile and as their eyes met, she finally uttered words to the
man. “Hey Boo”, she said.

To avoid public shaming Boo Radley, the man who saved their lives in many ways,
Atticus chose to stick with Sheriff Tate’s idea. The idea of Sheriff is to show everyone that Bob
Ewell died by accidentally inflicting the switchblade into himself. On the other hand, Scout
assisted Boo Radley by walking with him on his way home. After that, Scout remarked that it
was the last time she ever saw Boo Radley. As she went back home, she realized her
perspective towards their neighborhood continuously changes as time passes by. She also
came to a realization that Boo Radley has had a ringside seat wherein he was able to view and
observe everything. From that vantage point, Boo Radley watched her and Jem growing up.
With those realizations, she was able to come up with the conclusion that Boo Radley is more
than just a neighbor as he treated them not as just neighborhood kids but more like his own
children.

ANALYSIS AND REFLECTION

One thing very evident to the story is that some of the people from Maycomb lacks
cultural sensitivity. Cultural sensitivity can be seen to people as the awareness to cultural
variances and resemblances without conveying them a value, be it a positive or negative value.
As what others say, it is also the knowledge of an individual towards a certain culture and the
individual’s respect to it despite the idea that it is different from what the culture that he adapted
as he grew (Dabbah, 2019). One certain happening in the novel is when a newcomer, Ms.
Caroline, gave money to Walter Cunningham Jr. Her sole purpose is to tend Walter’s hungry
stomach. Her intentions are not bad but the situation that the Cunningham’s are under in
Maycomb makes it a bad idea. In other words, not everything that is right for us is right for
everybody, especially to someone who came from a different culture and was raised with a
different perspective.

It must be always emphasized that being culturally aware does not necessarily mean
compromising your own culture or surrendering the values instilled from this culture just to give
way for another’s. Cultural sensitivity is simply understanding and respecting other cultures to
make sure that the attitudes, thought, and resolutions made would not offend other and if
possible, create constructive aftermaths in multicultural communications (Vulture, 2018).

Social differences is also a big issue in Maycomb. Aunt Alexandra’s character greatly
explains that there are some people that value social class or identity in society rather than
good values which will help and inspire other people in the society to grow. Goes to show how
other people would only respect another just because he or she is rich, powerful, or influential.
This is a common misconception of respect as it must be given to everyone despite the social
class they belong to.
 By reading the first few chapters of the novel, the hierarchy within the families in
Maycomb, Alabama can be easily distinguished. A caste system is a structured level of
hierarchy. It can be compared to the what we call groups of lower class, middle class and
upper-class in the present day here in the Philippines. Caste system is popularly known and
understood as a “closed system” wherein social groups are divided based on their occupations,
also known as social stratification. Those countries who follow caste system strictly presents a
code of behavior based on their past traditions (Jodhka, 2014).

Throughout human history there are many records that proves the existence of racism.
By definition, racism is considered as the abhorrence of a person to another because of aspects
that discloses the basic nature of a person. Some of these aspects are skin color, language,
birthplace, and the likes (Racism, 2019). In the novel, the racism focuses more with the white
people’s superiority and hatred to black people inside their community.

The major incident of racism in the novel is when every white people sends their hate to
Tom Robinson despite the idea that there is no concrete evidence that supports his crime.
Everyone believes in Mayella’s side of story except Atticus just because she is white and abhors
Tom Robinson just because he is black. Another incident involving racism is when Atticus
decided to take his defense of Tom. He was still judged and mistreated despite of the kindness
that Atticus showed to the town just because he chose to side to what he thinks is right and just.

Atticus and his understanding of the judicial system after Tom’s trial is still not shaken
despite of the major rejection that he received. The justice that he strives to attain became
unattainable because of how the society works in Maycomb. The court system is biased as for
them, white man words have credibility while black man’s words are unreliable. This incident
shows that a truthful, honest, and committed man can never go against the social norms of a
community. Justice can’t be served right as it is controlled by the external factors and sadly, this
unjust happenings are inevitable as it is almost part of our identity.

Along with racism is prejudice or the judgments that a person makes without sufficient
reasoning for the judgment. Prejudice, as commonly known by other people, is an inappropriate
or unpardonable arrogance that an individual imposes to another based solely on their
membership of a social group (McLeod, 2008). In the novel, Boo Radley is an evident victim of
prejudice. The Maycomb society closed all doors to Boo Radley as he is not accepted because
of his dissimilarity from other people. A judgment society punishes everyone whom they did not
consider as normal and one of them is Boo Radley. In society, his actions are mysterious and
abnormal, some of the reasons why he’s feared and avoided by other people in their
neighborhood. With the poor treatment of others, Boo has lost all of his basic social skills and
will not survive outside of his home.

Atticus Finch is another victim of prejudice in the novel. The town exhibits prejudice
towards him when he appointed himself to defend Tom Robinson, a black person. However,
these prejudices are not enough to stop Atticus from doing what he thinks is right, he strongly
believes in equal rights and strongly objects prejudice and racism, and that’s what makes him
distinct to other people in Maycomb. The sad reality about racism and prejudice is its
inevitability. Many generations have come yet the idea and the act of wrong judgment still
happens up to now. As what they say, it is almost carved within us and can almost be a part of a
human’s identity.

Scout being in third grade means that she evolved and became aware of other things
that she was not before. It was in one of her classes with Miss Gates when she realized the
contradiction with her teacher’s beliefs. The thought that never leaves her mind is how Miss
Gates thinks that it is wrong to persecute one group but think it’s okay to persecute another.
This clearly shows how hypocrite Miss Gates is.

Hypocrisy is the unconscious self-contradiction wherein one’s own blatant beliefs and
feelings are incongruent with his own actual beliefs and feelings. Hypocrisy can also be noted
as an individual’s criticism to another with the failure of applying this criticism to own self (Social
Hypocrisy, 2014). As stated by Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, “one should examine oneself for a very
long time before thinking of condemning others”.

In my opinion, either we admit it or not, we are all moral hypocrites but in different levels.
The judgment that we makes to other people is more severe compared to the judgments that we
make to ourselves. A hypocrite is someone who pretends to be someone he’s not, and knows
he’s not, but thinks he ought to be. Hypocrisy is very common with the politicians in the
Philippines. Every elections, they ought to introduce themselves as someone who aims for the
betterment of the country yet acts its contrary after getting his or her want political position.

The story of To Kill a Mockingbird revolves around racism, Boo Radley, and the trial of
Tom Robinson. By reading the entire book it can also describe the growth of Scout and Jem. In
the beginning, Scout is roughly 6 years of age and Jem is 10. As the story progresses, their
characters are being honed through experience, family, and society. One evident example is
their perception towards the mysterious Boo Radley. Since there are a lot of stories surrounding
Arthur “Boo” Radley on why he is locked up inside their house, Jem and Scout’s young mind
judged and imagined him as a scary monster-like creature, but because their values are being
shaped throughout the duration of the story, the way they view Boo Radley as a person
changed. The empathy and compassion that they impose on the latter part of story is very much
evident.

After reading the novel, I can finally see myself as Scout, Dill, and Jem, little wanderers
seeking for knowledge that justifies to what is right and to what is just. At first, we started off
knowing nothing and caring only about ourselves but later on, we knew that it’s not just about
us, it’s not just about our family, but it is about the fairness of the society and its community. As
we grow up, we realize that all of us have responsibilities when it comes to our society. We must
all take charge for its betterment and allow ourselves to spread awareness and spread
goodness to people who are not given the opportunity to be educated and knowledgeable as we
are. Another similarity that I see within the students of the Polytechnic University of the
Philippines to Scout, Dill, and Jem is that we all go against the negative norms of the society.
The will that’s burning within us gives us enough courage to stand up and fight for what we
know is right. Overall, the novel’s main highlight is the process of a child’s enlightenment to
relevant issues of the society. With that enlightenment, a better society can be established and
a better world for the next generations can be made possible.
REFERENCES

Brief History of Civil Rights in the United States. (2019, August 6). Retrieved from Georgetown
law : https://guides.ll.georgetown.edu/civilrights

Dabbah, M. (2019, October 15). What is Cultural Sensitivity? Retrieved from Red Shoe
Movement: https://redshoemovement.com/what-is-cultural-sensitivity/

Fine, L., & Foca, A. (2019, September 6). To Kill a Mockingbird. Retrieved from Britannica:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/To-Kill-a-Mockingbird

Jodhka, S. S. (2014, September 9). Caste. Retrieved from Oxford Bibliographies:

https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199756384/obo-
9780199756384-0006.xml

Lee, H. (1960). To Kill A Mockingbird. New York City: J. B. Lippincott & Co.

McLeod, S. (2008). Prejudice and Discrimination. Retrieved from Simply Psychology:

https://www.simplypsychology.org/prejudice.html

Racism. (2019, October 14). Retrieved from ADL: https://www.adl.org/racism

Segal, T. (2019, June 25). What Was the Great Depression? Retrieved from Investopedia:
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/great_depression.asp

Social Hypocrisy. (2014, October 17). Retrieved from The Morrocan Times:
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Vulture, C. (2018, September 5). Why is Cultural Awareness Important? Retrieved from The
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