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- This chapter sets the tone and basis for everything else that happens in the novel. Scout depicts her world as a place of absolutes. This strong foundation provides an important starting point for the story. Subsequent situations and circumstances chip away at all that the children know to be true as maturity confronts them.
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A summary of Part One, Chapter 1 in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. Learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of To Kill a Mockingbird and what it means. Perfect for acing essays, tests, and quizzes, as well as for writing lesson plans.
- Point of View
To Kill a Mockingbird is written in the first person, with...
- Character List
A list of all the characters in To Kill a Mockingbird. To...
- Quick Quiz
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- Boo Radley
A detailed description and in-depth analysis of Boo Radley...
- Harper Lee
Nelle Harper Lee was born in 1926 in Monroeville, Alabama, a...
- Jem Finch
A detailed description and in-depth analysis of Jem Finch in...
- Calpurnia
To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel filled with simplified...
- Genre
Southern Gothic. To Kill a Mockingbird is primarily an...
- Point of View
Need help with Chapter 1 in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird? Check out our revolutionary side-by-side summary and analysis.
A summary of Chapters 1 & 2 in Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar. Learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of The Bell Jar and what it means. Perfect for acing essays, tests, and quizzes, as well as for writing lesson plans.
- Part One, Chapter 1
- Chapters 2 & 3
- Chapters 4–6
- Chapters 7 & 8
- Chapters 9–11
- Part Two, Chapters 12 & 13
- Chapters 14 & 15
- Chapters 16 & 17
- Chapters 18 & 19
- Chapters 20–22
A young girl nicknamed Scout recounts her family history. She tells about her father, Atticus Finch, who became a lawyer in the town of Maycomb. Jem is Scout’s brother, and Calpurnia helps raise them after their mother dies. The siblings befriend a boy named Dill who suggests that they lure Boo Radley, a reclusive neighbor, out of his house. When D...
Scout eagerly attends school for the first time, but she and her teacher, Miss Caroline, do not get along. Jem invites the poor Walter Cunningham to lunch who douses his food in molasses, shocking Scout to the point that Calpurnia scolds her for not being a better hostess. Back at school, an incident involving Burris Ewell, a boy from an even poore...
When school breaks for the summer, Dill returns to Maycomb, continuing his games with Scout and Jem and eventually creating one called “Boo Radley” that they suspend when Atticus catches them. As Jem and Dill grow closer, Scout spends time with Miss Maudie Atkinson, who tells Scout that the rumors about Boo Radley are false. On Dill’s last day in M...
On Scout’s walks home from school with Jem, they find gifts left for them in a tree knothole. Maycomb endures a real winter, allowing the children to build a snowman that looks so much like Mr. Avery that Atticus demands them to disguise it. That night, Scout is woken up to find that Miss Maudie’s house is on fire, and while outside someone drapes ...
Scout nearly starts a fight when a classmate uses a racial slur to declare that Atticus defends Black people, particularly Tom Robinson, who was accused of raping a white woman. Atticus says that Tom is innocent but doomed, since it’s inconceivable that an all-white jury would acquit him. One day, Atticus surprises Jem and Scout when he shoots a ma...
Jem begins spending less time with Scout, telling her that she should act more like a girl, a comment that upsets her. The children are taken to Calpurnia’s mostly Black church, where they learn that Tom Robinson was accused by Bob Ewell. When they return home, they find Aunt Alexandra, who has come to stay with the Finches, believing that they nee...
Tom Robinson’s trial draws near, and Atticus’s role as his defense lawyer subjects Jem and Scout to town gossip. Scout gets into a fight with Jem after he asks her not to antagonize Alexandra, and when she goes to bed, she finds Dill hiding underneath it. Sherriff Heck Tate appears at the Finch home and expresses concerns about the possibility of a...
People from all over the county make an appearance at the trial, except for Miss Maudie who does not approve of watching. Jem, Scout, and Dill sneak into the courtroom and find seats in the balcony where Black people are required to sit. Bob Ewell gives his testimony, telling the court how he found Tom Robinson raping his daughter Mayella, and Atti...
During Atticus’s fiery cross-examination of Mayella, Mayella yells at the courtroom to convict Tom Robinson, eventually crying and refusing to answer any more questions. Tom’s testimony explains how he often would help Mayella with chores, and how on the night of the alleged rape, it was actually Mayella who attempted to pursue Tom. When Bob appear...
Scout and Dill speak to Mr. Dolphus Raymond who tells them that he pretends to be a drunk to provide other white people with an explanation for why he prefers Black people. Atticus gives his closing remarks in the courtroom, and when he finishes, Calpurnia tells him that the children have not been home. The children beg to hear the verdict, but the...
Summary and Analysis Part 1: Chapter 1 Summary Scout, the narrator, remembers the summer that her brother Jem broke his arm, and she looks back over the years to recall the incidents that led to that climactic event.
Chapter 1 Summary. Chapter 1 introduces the reader to the book’s narrator, Jean Louise Finch, who is more commonly known as Scout. Scout begins her story by recounting how her older brother, Jem, broke his arm.
Summary. To Kill a Mockingbird opens with Scout recalling the events leading up to when her brother, Jem, broke his arm when he was almost 13. Scout provides readers with the backstory of her family, a long line of southerners that dates back to a fur trader named Simon Finch from Cornwall, England. After crossing the Atlantic Finch eventually ...
