In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, I as a reader am able to extend the boundaries of my understanding of the issues and characters in this and other novels. Issues such as racism, the coexistence of good and evil, the development of conscience and the transition from childhood to adulthood, are present in the novel and play a big part in expanding my understanding. These issues are revealed through aspects such as characters, setting, events, time and place.
The story is told through the eyes of Jean Louise "Scout" Finch. Scout lives with her father, Atticus, her brother, Jem, and their black cook, Calpurnia, in Maycomb, Alabama. She is intelligent and by the standards of her time and place, she is a tomboy. At the beginning of the novel, Scout is an innocent, good-hearted five-year-old child who has no experience with the evils of the world. This innocence of children is one of the first issues recognised in the novel. As the novel progresses, this innocence and faith is tested by the hatred and prejudice issues of the town that emerge during the main event of the story, the trial of Tom Robinson. .
The issue of racism, I feel is the most important in the novel and also the issue that has expanded my understanding the most. It is the most talked about in the novel being the main issue and many things can be learnt about racism previously unfamiliar in mine and possibly other reader's knowledge. First of all is the message about how separated the white people are to the coloured people in the town. They are treated as inhumane. Such examples of this separation are countless through the novel. In the case of being separated in public venues, we are told of cases of this. .
The black people are religiously detached from the white people as they have a separate Negroes Church. The children, Scout and Jem are invited to this church by their black cool Calpurnia. Cal dresses them up to avoid criticism so that Jem informs her "It's like were goin" to Mardi Gras".
