to kill a mockingbird takes place in the town of macomb alabama during the great depression and is narrated by the main character a little girl named jean louise finch who is referred to as scout throughout the story the main characters include atticus finch the father of scout and her older brother jim finch is a lawyer with high moral standards charles baker harris who is referred to as dill throughout the story is the children's friend who visits them from mississippi in the summers calpurnia the finch's housekeeper and cook is a motherly figure for scout boo radley is the finch's mysterious and reclusive neighbor walter cunningham is one of the poorest children in scout and jim's school tom robinson is a black man accused of raping a white woman mayella ewell is the white woman accusing tom and mr bob ewell is maella's father as the story begins scout jim and dill are intrigued by the reclusive boo he lives close to the finch's house and local legend has it that he once stabbed his father in the leg with a pair of scissors they imagine him as a kind of monster the children enact little dramas about boo's life they start to venture closer to the radley house which is said to be haunted then they try leaving notes for buu on his windowsill with a fishing pole but are caught by atticus he firmly reprimands them for making fun of a sad man's life the children continue to sneak around the radley house at night boo's brother thinks that he hears a prowler and fires this gun the children run away but jim loses his pants in a fence when he returns in the middle of the night to get them back they have been neatly folded and the tear from the fence roughly sewn up other mysterious things begin to happen to the finch children a tree near the radley house has a knot hole in which someone leaves little presents for them the children find pennies chewing gum and soap-carved figures that bear a striking resemblance to scout and gem when the children try to leave a note for the mystery giver they find that boo's brother has plugged up the hole with cement one day jim invites one of his poorest classmates walter cunningham over for lunch at the finch house scout notes that atticus and walter discuss farming like two men walter asks for some molasses and proceeds to pour it all over his meat and vegetables when scout rudely asked what in the sam hill he is doing calpurnia gives her a lecture in the kitchen about how to treat guests no matter what their background meanwhile atticus decides to take on a case involving a black man named tom robinson who has been falsely accused of raping a very poor white girl named mayella ewell the finch family faces harsh criticism in the heavily racist maycomb because of atticus's decision to defend tom atticus believes both that tom is innocent and that he has almost no chance at an acquittal the white jury will never believe a black man over a white woman despite this atticus seeks to reveal the truth to his fellow townspeople because atticus is defending a black man scout and jim are the object of the town's people's whispers and ridicule at a family christmas gathering scout beats up her cloying relative francis when he accused atticus of ruining the family name not long after this scene attica speaks one of the most famous lines in the novel he tells his children shoot all the blue jays you want if you can hit them but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird the mockingbird becomes a symbol of innocence in the novel linked to both boo radley and tom robinson the night before the trial tom has moved into the county jail atticus fearing a possible lynching stands guard outside the gel door all night jim is concerned about him and the three children sneak into town to find him a group of men arrive threatening atticus and poised to instigate violence at first jim scout and deal stand aside but when scout senses true danger she runs out and begins to speak to one of the men the father of her classmate walter cunningham her innocence brings the crowd out of their mob mentality and they leave during the trial the ewells testified that mayella asked tom to do some work for her while her father was out and tom came into their house and forcibly beat and raped mayella until her father appeared and scared him away tom claims that mayella invited him inside threw her arms around him and started kissing him tom tried to push her away and when bob ewell arrived he flew into a rage and beat mayella while tom ran away in fright according to the sheriff's testimony mayella's bruises were on the right side of her face which means she was most likely punched with a left hand tom robinson's left arm is useless due to an old accident whereas mr ewell leads with his left given the evidence of reasonable doubt tom should go free but after hours of deliberation the jury pronounces him guilty scout jim and dil sneak into the courthouse to see the trial and sit in the balcony with macomb's black population they are stunned at the verdict because to them the evidence was so clearly in tom's favor the verdict is tragic but atticus feels some satisfaction that the jury took so long deciding atticus hopes for an appeal but tom tries to escape from his prison and is shot to death in the process jim struggles with the results of the trial feeling that his trust in the goodness and rationality of humanity has been betrayed meanwhile mr yule humiliated by the trial threatens atticus he gets his revenge one night while jim and scout who is dressed as a ham are walking home from the halloween play at their school he follows them home in the dark and attempts to stab them with a large kitchen knife jim breaks his arm and scout who is confined by her costume and cannot see what's going on is helpless throughout the attack the elusive boo radley stabs mr huell and saves the children finally scout has a chance to meet the shy and nervous buu at the end of this fateful night the sheriff declares that mr ewell fell on his own knife so boo the hero of the situation won't have to be tried for murder scout walks boo home and imagines how he has viewed the town and observed her gym and deal over the years from inside his home boo goes inside closes the door and she never sees him again