Key Facts: To Kill a Mockingbird
Publication Details
- Author: Harper Lee
- Published: 1960
- Publisher: J. B. Lippincott & Co.
- Setting: 1930s Maycomb, Alabama (fictional town)
- Genre: Southern Gothic, Bildungsroman (coming-of-age story)
The novel won the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and has sold over 40 million copies worldwide, making it one of the most influential American novels ever written.
Main Characters
- Scout Finch: The narrator and protagonist (6-8 years old during the main events)
- Atticus Finch: Scout's father, a respected lawyer
- Jem Finch: Scout's older brother (10-12 years old during the main events)
- Tom Robinson: A Black man falsely accused of rape
- Boo (Arthur) Radley: The mysterious neighbor
- Calpurnia: The Finches' Black housekeeper
- Bob and Mayella Ewell: The antagonists
Narrative Structure
- First-person narrative from Scout's perspective
- Told as a retrospective account by adult Scout
- Spans approximately three years
- Two main plot threads:
- The Tom Robinson trial
