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7->''"'...shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin [[TitleDrop to kill a mockingbird]].' That was the only time I ever heard Atticus say it was a sin to do something, and I asked Miss Maudie about it. 'Your father's right,' she said. 'Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.'"''
8-->-- '''Jean Louise "Scout" Finch'''
9
10''To Kill a Mockingbird'' is a UsefulNotes/PulitzerPrize-winning 1960 novel by Harper Lee, set in [[TheGreatDepression Depression-era]] Alabama. It revolves around the Finch family, particularly the coming-of-age of one Jean Louise "Scout" Finch and her brother Jem. Intertwined with Scout and Jem's childhood adventures is the story of their father Atticus, a lawyer defending a black man named Tom Robinson [[ClearTheirName who's been falsely accused]] of raping a white woman.
11
12Despite [[ToughActToFollow (or possibly because of)]] its near-universal acclaim and status as a classic, this was the only book Harper Lee ever published during the 20th century. In 2015, news [[http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_BOOKS_HARPER_LEE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT broke out]] that she would publish ''Literature/GoSetAWatchman'', a rejected manuscript written before ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' set in TheFifties and featuring many of the same characters, including an adult Scout and an aging Atticus.[[note]]The publication of ''Go Set a Watchman'' was controversial, but one thing definitely known is that it isn't the same continuity as ''To Kill a Mockingbird''. For starters, Tom Robinson's fate is completely different.[[/note]]
13
14In 1962, ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' was made into a film directed by Robert Mulligan and starring Creator/GregoryPeck as Atticus Finch, probably his most well-known role today. For the rest of his life, he gladly named it his favorite of his many roles.
15
16In 2018 Creator/AaronSorkin adapted the story into a stage play.
17----
18
19!!Tropes:
20
21* AbusiveParents: Bob Ewell, who seems to hardly care about his younger children [[spoiler:and is heavily implied to have beaten and possibly raped his own eldest daughter, Mayella]].
22* AbsenceOfEvidence: [[spoiler:Tom Robinson is found guilty on the count of raping Mayella, despite his innocence essentially being proven in court.]]
23* AcquittedTooLate: Tom Robinson ends up being found guilty, despite the best efforts of Atticus to try to convince the jury not to convict him, because he's an African American. Atticus tries to get a re-trial, but Tom is killed while trying to escape prison before he can. Arguably a {{subver|tedTrope}}sion, as Tom's name will never be able to be cleared in the eyes of the law [[spoiler:especially after the real culprit, Bob Ewell, is killed while trying to murder Atticus' children]], but by the same token ''everyone'' knew he was innocent anyway.
24* AdaptationDistillation: The film removes a few sub-plots, but keeps the plot like it was and is very faithful to the book. Harper Lee herself oversaw the beginning of filming, but after three weeks she [[http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/30/books/30lee.html?_r=0 "took off when she realized everything would be fine without her"]].
25* AdaptationExplanationExtrication: When the children can't find a spot on the packed floor of the courthouse, the black pastor, Rev. Sykes, finds them a seat in the balcony. In the book, they are on friendly terms with Sykes because they once visited his church; in the film, their acquaintanceship with him is unexplained, but Jem says "Reverend?" and they clearly know him.
26* AdaptationalAttractiveness: Mayella in the book is described as "heavyset", but her movie counterpart is quite slim and cute.
27* AdaptationalProtagonist: It's a subtle example. In both the book and the film, it can be generally said that Scout Finch is a FirstPersonPeripheralNarrator while Atticus Finch is the real protagonist. However, the novel is tilted more in the direction of Scout being an actual protagonist, and the film is tilted more in the direction of Atticus being the unambiguous protagonist. While the movie does retain Scout's narration, the coming-of-age subplots that focused on her are almost entirely AdaptedOut, removing whatever protagonist status she had in the book.
28* AgeGapRomance: Scout mentions at one point that her mother was many years younger than Atticus, who married well into middle-age. This adds another layer of sorrow to the Finch's backstory: Atticus must have expected his wife would outlive him, but she died suddenly and very young.
29* AlcoholicParent: Bob Ewell is drinking or drunk in most of his on-screen appearances, and it likely contributed to the beating that Mayella received.
30* AmoralAttorney: Averted on both sides: Although Atticus didn't want the case, after he was appointed to defend Tom Robinson, he saw it as his duty to defend his client to the best of his abilities, and was emotionally devastated by the outcome. Meanwhile, the prosecutor is just seen as [[PunchClockVillain doing his job]], with Scout suspecting he deliberately held back on the cross-examination.
31* AnimalMotifs: Tom ''Robin''son. The Finch family. Ewell is repeatedly compared to a rooster to complete the bird imagery -- meaningfully, the only flightless bird of the bunch. And of course, the mockingbird itself [[TitleDrop providing the book with its title.]]
32* ArchEnemy: Atticus Finch has Bob Ewell, who framed his innocent client for beating his daughter, and [[spoiler:decides to kill his children after Finch makes him look like a fool in open court]].
33* AreYouSureYouWantToDoThat: Atticus uses it several times in Scout's earlier years before the story as a warning during checkers matches that she was about to make a mistake: Scout never took the warning and always got trounced when she ignored it. The second time uses it for drama in a climactic moment that displays Atticus' bravery as he faces down a lynch mob, and, after asking them what they are here for, asks the question.
34* ArmorPiercingQuestion: A group of men ready to lynch Tom, with Atticus risking his life by standing in their way, are stopped dead by Scout when she asks one of them how his entailment (i.e., an inheritance problem) is coming along. In this case, it's not specifically the question that's armor-piercing so much as that it's coming from the innocent young daughter of Tom's defense lawyer, who is also this man's counselor on the entailment -- it breaks the men out of their mob mentality and they quickly disperse in embarrassment, much to the confusion of Scout, who was only trying to make small talk, inadvertently reminding the man of his obligation and gratitude to her father.
35* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler:Bob Ewell at the end, for ''many'' reasons listed on this page]].
36* AstonishinglyAppropriateInterruption: From the gossip at a ladies' missionary circle meeting: "Yes sir, Mrs. Perkins, that J. Grimes Everett is a martyred saint, he... needed to get married so they ran... to the beauty parlor every Saturday afternoon... soon as the sun goes down. He goes to bed with the... chickens, a crate full of sick chickens, Fred says that's what started it all. Fred says..."
37* AteHisGun: Dolphus Raymond's fiancée does this on their wedding day.
38* AtLeastIAdmitIt: Scout prefers being around men, because even though a lot of them drink, smoke, cuss, gamble, etc. at least they're open about their vices and thoughts. She doesn't understand nor like many Maycomb ladies' BitchInSheepsClothing tendencies. (She much prefers the GoodIsNotNice Calpurnia and Miss Maudie.)
39* AxCrazy: [[spoiler:Bob Ewell at the end, when he tries to kill Scout and Jem just to spite Atticus.]]
40* BadassBookworm: Atticus' surprised children learn he is the best shot in the county when he is asked to kill a rabid dog.
41* BadassPacifist: Atticus Finch. In the movie, he is spat upon by Bob Ewell. Atticus looks the man in the eye as he wipes the spit off with a handkerchief, and it is apparent that the man is intimidated by Atticus' mere presence. Atticus leaves without laying a hand on the contemptible man, but it is clear who the stronger of the two is.
42* BaitAndSwitch: In the climax, owing to Scout not seeing what actually happened until the end of the fight, [[spoiler:the reader and Atticus are led to believe that Jem successfully fought off Bob Ewell to protect his little sister and stabbed the man with his own knife. After Atticus calls the sheriff for help, he goes on rambling about how people must know the truth of what happened while worried about how the publicity will affect his son. The sheriff cuts him off: "[[WhamLine I'm not talking about Jem]]!" Scout then reveals that she knows her brother is brave and badass, but he didn't kill Bob Ewell. Arthur "Boo" Radley did to protect the children]].
43* BarefootPoverty: Walter Cunningham. As a result of going barefooted in barnyards, he also gets hookworms. Scout notes that plenty of the farm kids wear shoes the first day of school and discard them until it gets cold.
44* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe:
45** Arguably the reason why [[spoiler:Boo Radley began to leave gifts for the children and saved them]]. They didn't mock him or shun him, they merely took an interest in him, and it amused him and made him happy.
46** Also the reason [[spoiler:Mayella tried to kiss Tom.]] He was the first person who was ever nice to her.
47* BewareTheNiceOnes:
48** Miss Maudie may be a cheerful kind woman, but she's got a snarky streak. When gossipy Miss Stephanie claims she saw Boo Radley staring at her through her window, Miss Maudie icily asks if she moved over in the bed to make room for him.
49** Atticus himself, to an extent. However, his moments usually occur when the kids are getting into some ridiculous shenanigans.
50** Miss Rachel. When Jem (literally) loses his pants and Atticus inquires about it, Dill lies, saying they were playing strip poker. Miss Rachel, as Scout puts it, "Went off like the town siren."
51--->"Do-o-o-o Jeezus, Dill Harris! [[IWillShowYouX I'll strip-poker you, sir!]]"
52* BigBrotherInstinct: Jem does his best to keep Scout from being frightened while they're walking through the woods, even [[BlatantLies flat out lying]] that it's merely their friend Cecil trying to spook them and claiming that he's not scared. Scout sees through this, but returns the favor by pretending that she's unafraid too. When [[spoiler:Bob Ewell attacks them, Scout can't see well due to the fact that her ham costume blocks her vision when it gets mangled but Jem apparently fights him off to the best of his ability, getting a broken arm in the process. In fact, Atticus at first believes that Jem must have killed Bob Ewell to save Scout until the sheriff and Scout reveal that Boo Radley actually did the deed]].
53* BitchAlert: Mrs Dubose gets this introduction in the movie, but most of her scenes were cut for pacing reasons.
54* BlackComedy: Lampshaded by Scout (as narrator) during the attempted lynching. Quote: "A sickeningly comic aspect of an unfunny situation."
55* BlackGalOnWhiteGuyDrama: Dolphus Raymond is a white man who has children with a black woman -- although he has to pretend to be the town drunk so that the town can deal with it. A white man fathering children with a black woman was unremarkable. What the other white residents couldn't forgive him for was actually acknowledging his children and living with his family in the black part of town.
56* BigBad: Bob Ewell is the one who really beat Mayella.
57* BigDamnHeroes:
58** [[spoiler:Boo Radley saving the siblings!]]
59** Whilst not quite as awesome as the above example, Scout and Jem's neighbour Mr. Avery manages to get one when he tries to help when Miss Maudie's house catches fire.
60** The rabid dog scene.
61** And a more pragmatic one: After the ShamingTheMob episode in front of the jail, Braxton Underwood reveals that he was sitting in his window with a shotgun the whole time.
62* BitchInSheepsClothing: Aunt Alexandra's Sunday missionary society brunch group are this, and Alexandra encourages Scout to be more like polite to people's faces but snobby behind their backs. One of the reasons Scout is reluctant to become a lady is she doesn't want to become this, or have to navigate social minefields with these kind of women.
63* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Tom Robinson may have been falsely convicted and eventually shot dead by cops, with Jem's faith in the Justice system has taken a big hit as a result. But when Bob Ewell tries to get revenge on Atticus by killing his kids, Boo Radley stops him by stabbing him with a kitchen knife. Bob Ewell is dead, the kids are safe, Scout finally gets to meet Boo, and Jem's injury isn't bad enough to stop him from being able to play football.]]
64* {{Bookworm}}: Atticus takes a lamp and a book and sits in front of the jail reading on the night when a lynch mob comes for Tom Robinson.
65* BoyishShortHair: Scout in the movie (her hair length is not mentioned in the book, only that she has bangs).
66* BreakTheHaughty: Aunt Alexandra goes through a mild version of this. She's spent her entire life at Finch Landing believing that the Finch family were blue-bloods, and that she knows what is Best For The Family. When she moves to live with Atticus, she finds out that the Finches are not the gentry she thinks they are (and is eventually ordered to drop the subject by Atticus), that she doesn't know as much about raising a girl as she thinks she does, and has to serve the church women tea while they badmouth Atticus. And then blames herself over what happens to Jem and Scout because she [[IgnoredEpiphany ignored a bad feeling]] she got.
67* ButForMeItWasTuesday: Tom Robinson's trial and later death are just a few day's hot gossip for the white residents of Maycomb, who quickly move on and forget about it. Later, the white ladies at Aunt Alexandra's Sunday mission society complain how can't understand why their black hired help remain so ''sullen'' about it. After all, ''they'' forgave and forgot, so why can't the black folks?
68* BystanderSyndrome: Everyone in Maycomb knows that Bob Ewell is a lout who refuses to work and only grudgingly provides the bare essentials for his children, but no one confronts him, not even when he poaches game off other people's property. By the time he's finally [[spoiler:killed off, Tom Robinson is dead and Jem has suffered a permanent arm injury]].
69* CallingParentsByTheirName: Scout and her brother address their father as 'Atticus', to show that they have a fairly egalitarian relationship.
70* CharacterCatchphrase: "Catchphrase" is perhaps too flippant a description of it, but Atticus often comforts Scout and Jem by telling them, "It's not time to worry yet."
71* CentralTheme: Racism-based conflict from a child's point of view.
72* ChildhoodMarriagePromise: Dill and Scout, most likely not meant to be taken seriously. Well, certainly not once you learn that Dill was based on Harper's childhood friend [[CampGay Truman Capote]].
73* ChildrenAreInnocent: Scout and Jem's relatively innocent personalities and their father's liberal influence means that they don't fully comprehend the systemic racism in their town. Jem's naïve confidence that Tom will be acquitted is the biggest example. It's the reason for the books NonPOVProtagonist. We can see Tom's trial through the eyes of Scout, who lacks the cynicism and casual racism of the adults, and see how tragic and incomprehensible it really is.
74* ClearTheirName: The main plot and an iconic example in American literature. It's all the more tragic because Atticus proves Tom innocent so conclusively that pretty much EVERYONE knows the truth -- but he's convicted, sentenced and ultimately killed while trying to escape ''just because he's black''. The circumstances of his death are different in the movie: [[spoiler:Tom doesn't even make it to the sentencing, dying after getting struck by what was supposed to be just a warning shot as he escaped the vehicle that was taking him back to the prison to await sentencing, since he didn't believe that the sheriff would be able to keep him safe]].
75%%* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Dill.
76* ComicBookAdaptation: Fred Fordham drew a graphic novel in 2015.
77* ComingOfAgeStory: To a certain extent, this is one for Jem and Scout.
78* CommonNonsenseJury: An iconic example, convicting Tom Robinson on the word of an obvious liar and his emotionally fragile daughter. Atticus believes that the entirety of the time spent deliberating was an attempt to talk down the one juror who didn't want to convict.
79* CompositeCharacter: In the film, Miss Rachel (Dill's alcoholic aunt) and Miss Stephanie (the town gossip) were merged so that Stephanie became Dill's aunt. Nathan Radley Sr. and Jr. were also combined, though given how minor both are this doesn't affect the plot in any meaningful way.
80* CompressedAdaptation: The film takes place over the course of a single summer while the book is told over a course of a few years.
81* CondescendingCompassion: Aunt Alexandra's Sunday mission society's philanthropic crusades just ''ooze'' this. They express excessive pity for those they claim to be helping (especially their black employees and Africans) while mostly patting themselves on the back for their extreme generosity.
82* ConsummateLiar: Dill lies effortlessly, but usually also thoughtlessly, resulting in ridiculous tall tales that he seems to nearly believe. When he does put his mind to it, he can weasel out of trouble this way.
83* ConvictedByPublicOpinion: Invoked almost word for word by Atticus Finch. The public decided long before the trial that Tom Robinson, a black man, was guilty of raping Mayella Ewell, a white woman, because this was Alabama in the 1930s.
84* CoolOldGuy: Atticus Finch. Hell, one of his responses to an argument is something along the lines of stating "You think you're about to win?", which he only said when he knew he would win an argument, or had a back up plan for what they were about to say. He's the model of a father that every child wants.
85* TheCoronerDothProtestTooMuch:
86** After learning how [[spoiler:Bob Ewell died (killed by Boo Radley when he'd tried to kill Scout and Jem)]], Sheriff Tate tells Atticus that his official story will be that [[spoiler:Bob fell and impaled himself on his own knife.]] Given the nature of [[spoiler:Bob's actual killer]], Atticus understands the Sheriff's decision, as does Scout.
87** Also subtly implied to be Atticus's view on [[spoiler: the death of Tom Robinson, who supposedly was killed by a warning shot while trying to escape prison.]] We're never given definitive proof on whether or not this was actually true, but Atticus's brief comment on the subject casts a crumb of doubt:
88--->'''Atticus:''' [[spoiler:They didn't have to shoot him so many times.]]
89* CorruptionOfAMinor: Subverted. When Dill is crying during Tom's trial, he and Scout go outside and talk to Dolphus Raymond, the town's alcoholic. To help Dill stop crying, he offers him a drink out of his paper sack. Scout tries to warn Dill against it, but it turns out that it's just soda, and Raymond only pretends to be an alcoholic so the townsfolk can think that's the reason he lives with a black woman.
90* CoversAlwaysLie: Downplayed. It is a divided book, with its first half being an episodic ComingOfAge story of a tomboyish girl in the South, and its second half being a focused narrative about the deepest ugliness of racial prejudice, class resentment, and pure human spite. Covers will either show a little girl (meant to be Scout, the narrator) or they'll be nonindicative of either plotline (for example, a tree.)
91* CrusadingLawyer: Atticus, who works pro-bono some cases. Downplayed in that he prefers a peaceful probate practice and doesn't actively seek out causes.
92* CutHimselfShaving: [[spoiler:The sheriff's planned cover story for how Bob Ewell died. Falling on your own knife is an unlikely happening, even if you ''are'' drunk and stupid.]]
93* DeadpanSnarker: Atticus is an unusually benevolent version.
94* DeathGlare: Atticus, in true [[TheSoCalledCoward So-Called Coward]] fashion, deploys a death glare now and then.
95-->Atticus turned his head and pinned me to the wall with his good eye.
96* DebateAndSwitch: The end of the novel brings up the possibility [[spoiler:that Atticus faces a moral dilemma when thinking that Jem killed Bob Ewell to save Scout. It would mean that the police would have to open another investigation, Jem would need to testify while injured, and the racist men of the jury would need to confront that by convicting Tom Robinson, they nearly got Atticus's children killed. But should a child be subject to that much scrutiny? Jem's also unconscious at the time, so he can't give his opinion. Atticus argues with the sheriff that even if Jem was injured, telling the truth is important because it's a matter of principle. The sheriff tries to convince him that it's better to say that Bob Ewell fell on his knife, ostensibly to protect Jem]]. After a bit of back and forth and some misplaced communication, the sheriff and Scout reveal that [[spoiler:Jem didn't land the killing blow. (He certainly ''tried'' and Atticus says he's proud of Jem for being brave.) Arthur "Boo" Radley did and easily overpowered Bob Ewell. Atticus is more willing to cover up Arthur Radley killing Bob Ewell because the publicity ''would'' destroy Mr. Arthur, and he's not a child but an adult. Mr. Arthur himself makes it clear, in a few words, that he'd rather go home and forget the affair since the kids are safe and that's all that matters. It's not answered one way or the other what the right decision would have been]].
97* DecoyProtagonist: Scout narrates the story from the very beginning, but a few chapters later it becomes evident that Atticus is the protagonist.
98* DeepSouth: The fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama, which is based on Harper Lee's hometown of Monroeville.
99* DeliberateValuesDissonance: This is a story set in the Jim Crow South, so this is a given.
100** Tom Robinson's conviction is a particularly gut-wrenching example. The racism of Maycomb is so bad, the all-white jury is willing to convict an obviously innocent man just to preserve the town's racist caste system.
101** HillbillyIncest was a common reality in the time and place of the story. Creator/CollinWilcox-Paxton stated in ''Fearful Symmetry'' that she deliberately played Mayella this way -- girls like Mayella were common in rural North Carolina where she grew up, and it was taken for granted that they were molested, usually by a father or uncle.
102** Mayella would also rather send an innocent to jail than admit publicly that she tried to kiss a black man, although she may have been pressured into it by her father.
103** Many women hold rather sexist positions themselves. Aunt Alexandra objects to Scout's boyish hoobbies, but even Scout thinks the idea of women being on the jury is ludicrous and even has an ImagineSpot where she pictures the town's GossipyHens holding up the trial asking pointless questions.
104* DeliveryStork: Dill tells Scout that you get babies from an island where they are gathered like flowers. Scout, who had previously been told that babies are dropped down the chimney by God, is skeptical.
105* DeterminedDefeatist: Atticus knows full well that the racist jury will never acquit Tom Robinson, even if all evidence points to his innocence. He gives his all in defending him anyway, because no one else will, and it's the right thing to do.
106* DiesDifferentlyInAdaptation: [[spoiler:In the film, Tom Robinson is shot and killed by police on the night of his conviction, allegedly while trying to escape custody. In the novel, he dies while trying to escape from prison several months later. Additionally, Tom Robinson is brutally gunned down and suffers 17 bullet wounds in the novel. The film softens this into being accidentally hit by a warning shot]].
107* DirtyCoward: Bob Ewell. [[spoiler:He can't go after the best shot in Maycomb County, so he'll go after his children when they're walking home in the dark instead.]]
108* DisabilityAlibi: During the trial of Tom Robinson, Atticus notes that the victim, Mayella Ewell, has bruises on the right side of her face which suggests they were inflicted with the left hand, Tom Robinson is unable to use his left hand due to a childhood injury involving a cotton gin, and Mayella's abusive father Bob is left-handed. Despite the obvious implications, the racist jury convict Tom anyway, since he is a black man accused of a crime against a white woman.
109* DisappearedDad: Alluded to in Dill's case, although at first he lies about it and claims his father is [[BlatantLies president of a railroad]].
110* DisproportionateRetribution: [[spoiler:When Atticus Finch embarrasses Bob Ewell at the trial, Bob Ewell tries to take revenge by attempting to murder Atticus's children]].
111* DoesntLikeGuns: Atticus used to be called "Ol' One Shot" and used to be the "deadest shot in Maycomb County in his time"...but his children don't even realize he knows how to fire one until he has to shoot and kill a rabid dog.
112* DontMakeMeTakeMyBeltOff: Unusually for the times, Atticus doesn't believe in spanking his children (though he does threaten to when he thinks they've ruined the day's newspaper) and Jem mentions Atticus has never whipped him. Uncle Jack, on the other hand, has no such scruples and is quick to turn Scout over his knee and spank her for picking a fight with her bratty cousin Francis.
113* DontYouDarePityMe: The black Tom Robinson was almost certain to be convicted of the white Mayella Ewell's rape regardless of what he said, but he makes one serious mistake at his trial; the prosecutor asks him why he was constantly helping her around her house while turning down money (presumably trying to get Tom to say that he was attracted to her), but Tom does something even worse by saying that he helped because he "felt right sorry for her". "You felt sorry for her? You felt sorry for her?" replies the prosecutor, causing both Tom and Atticus to immediately realise that the concept of a black man pitying a white woman will offend the jury so much that whatever extremely slim chance they might have had of acquittal has been lost, and Atticus' closing statement specifically draws attention to how having the "temerity" to pity a white woman is not reason enough to convict him.
114* DoomedMoralVictor: Downplayed. Atticus was doomed to lose his case, not die. In doing so, though, he achieved the same goals of a martyr.
115* DoubleInLawMarriage: Mentioned in an aside, although not actually featured. Atticus mentions the concept of double cousins to Scout, saying "two brothers married two sisters." She and Dill work on figuring it out, and reason that if Dill had a sister whom he married, and Jem and Scout got married, their kids would be double cousins. Only off by a little bit there...
116* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: Actually {{Averted|Trope}}. It's clear that Mayella's sexual assault on Tom Robinson severely affected his mental state, and even begins crying when trying to recite what happened.
117* DownInTheDumps: The Ewells literally live in the town dump, and most of their worldly possessions are reclaimed junk. Subverted for the segregated black community, who ''also'' live near the dump, but unlike the Ewells they're described as living in neat, clean, well-cared for neighborhood.
118* TheDreaded: Boo Radley. [[spoiler:It's later subverted, however, as he turns out to be a helpful and friendly, if reclusive person.]]
119* DrunkOnMilk: Used by Dolphus Raymond the town drunk. He's often seen in public, tipsy and swigging from a bottle in a paper bag. The young protagonists eventually discover that it's actually a bottle of Coca-Cola, and he just pretends to be a drunkard so the bigoted townspeople won't harass his family over his marriage to a black woman.
120* EthnicMenialLabor: Calpurnia. Her station in life was part of the book's dissection of racism in America. Calpurnia is treated as an equal member of the family and is written as a fully-fleshed-out human instead of as the flat "Mammy" stock character. She has a much bigger part in the book than in the film, which had to cut many scenes and subplots for time and many of Calpurnia's scenes were too. But her sensitive and important portrayal makes her one of the few examples of this type of role that does not create ValuesDissonance today.
121* EveryoneHasStandards:
122** Aunt Alexandra is more of a snob, but even she finds the attitudes of the Sunday club to be too much.
123** Despite being racist, the newspaper editor was ready to snipe at the lynch mob to protect Atticus.
124* EvilCannotComprehendGood:
125** More bigoted, than evil, but the people of Maycomb don't believe that Dolphus Raymond would ever marry a black woman unless he was out of his mind. Raymond accommodates this mindset by pretending to be a drunk.
126** A straighter example during Tom's trial; Bob Ewell is completely incapable of grasping what Atticus is driving at when he repeatedly asks him whether he sought medical attention for Mayella after her assault, and then when he denies it, why not? As far as he's concerned there was no need to see a doctor since it was obvious what had happened to her, [[DramaticallyMissingThePoint completely missing Atticus' implied question]] of why he wasn't concerned for his daughter's welfare, whether she was injured or suffering?
127* EvilCounterpart: Bob Ewell is this to Atticus Finch and Boo Radley.
128** Atticus is a kind, compassionate man and loving father who tries to steer Jem and Scout away from the racism of Maycomb. Ewell is a disgusting racist hick who neglects his family, abuses his children, [[spoiler:and pushes his daughter into having a black man's life destroyed]].
129** Boo Radley is a recluse who hides from the world, while the world makes nasty rumors about him. Ewell himself starts attacking people after the town labels him public enemy #1 [[spoiler:and eventually tries to kill two children, only to be stopped by Boo Radley]].
130* EvilPlan: Bob Ewell exploits a racist system to frame a black man for beating his daughter.
131* FalseRapeAccusation: All evidence seem to point in that direction. Not that it matters to the jury, anyway.
132* FalseTeethTomfoolery: The children regard Miss Maudie's false teeth as an impressive distinction.
133* FamilyHonor: Aunt Alexandra cares a great deal about preserving this for the Finches, believing that they are not just "run of the mill people." It motivates many of her actions throughout the book, most notably trying to get Scout to act more feminine.
134* FatherIWantToMarryMyBrother: Atticus tells Scout about some people who were "double first cousins," resulting when "two sisters married two brothers." This is too much for Scout to wrap her mind around, and the closest she comes is guessing that if she married her brother Jem and their friend Dill married his sister, their children would be double first cousins.
135* FemininityFailure: Aunt Alexandra's raison d'etre is to prevent Scout from having these.
136* TheFilmOfTheBook: AdaptationDistillation to the point that Gregory Peck simply ''is'' Atticus.
137* FireForgedFriendship: An interesting case between Aunt Alexandra, Calpurnia, Maudie, and Scout, who all had their differences but silently band together during Aunt Alexandra's mission society brunch. Their rallying together to console each other and send Calpurnia to comfort Tom's widow without the others' knowing forges newfound respect and comradery between them. (In particular, Aunt Alexandra never talks of having Calpurnia dismissed again, Scout gains a newfound respect for SilkHidingSteel, and Maudie and Alexandra are on much better terms.)
138* FirstNameBasis: Jem and Scout call their father by his name, rather than something like "Father" or "Dad."
139* FirstPersonPeripheralNarrator: Scout watches her father's heroic attempt to save Tom Robinson's life. Scout does have her own adventures, but Atticus is the real man of action.
140* FirstSnow: Scout's reaction to seeing snow for the first time in Alabama is thinking it's the end of the world.
141* {{Foil}}: The Cunninghams and the Ewells represent the best and worst of poor white Southern America and are likely specifically created to contrast each other. The Ewells are a BigScrewedUpFamily where the patriarch drinks away his government checks, is a DirtyCoward bully who likes picking on people weaker than him, is physically and possibly sexually abusing his children, breaks the law constantly and is in general the embodiment of "trash". The Cunninghams in contrast are TheClan and a close, loving family who work together despite their poverty and are deeply honorable in their own way, refusing to be beholden or depend on charity. [[spoiler:They're even able to rise above their racism with some prompting, which is better than what most of Maycomb's "fine families" can manage.]]
142* ForegoneConclusion: Played with; although it's pretty clear to the adults (and the reader with any awareness of life and racial relations in 1930s Alabama) how Tom Robinson's trial will end, the novel itself is being told from the perspective of innocent and naïve children who don't realize this.
143* {{Foreshadowing}}:
144** The novel spends an entire chapter detailing local racist Bob Ewell's attempts at getting revenge on everyone he blames for being outed as a liar [[note]] he had beaten his daughter after catching her trying to seduce a black man and forced her to accuse the innocent man of rape. Despite evidence of his innocence, the man was convicted and fatally shot trying to escape [[/note]]-- stalking the man's widow, the trial judge, and explicitly threatening the man's lawyer, Atticus Finch. In the next chapter, as Atticus' children prepare to go to a Halloween party, their aunt mentions an uneasy feeling, "Something just walked over my grave". The children are viciously attacked by Ewell on their way home, and it is all but stated that they would have been killed had someone not heard their screams and come to help.
145** During the trial, Mayella states that Bob Ewell is "tolerable" most of the time, but is worse when he's drinking. [[spoiler:As Scout and Jem find out, he's at his most violent when drunk]].
146** When Atticus, who has made it clear that he is adverse to violence, goes out into the neighborhood to "take care of" the rabid dog it foreshadows both his battle against the legal system and the climax of the book.[[note]]The name of the dog even closely resembles that of the accused, being named Tim Johnson[[/note]]
147* FullyClothedNudity: Scout gets shocked when Atticus loosens his tie and collar, because Atticus never loosens his clothing outside of his home.
148* FunetikAksent: The book has some differences in pronunciation and word use to show not only characters' race and social class, but also the gap between children and adults -- some speech patterns were okay for kids of Scout and Jem's background but would have to be dropped as they grew up -- and what was appropriate in different situations. In one scene Scout and Jem go to Calpurnia's church with her and, on the way home, ask why she talked to the other black churchgoers in their own dialect when she "knows better." This is probably most young readers' first introduction to the concept of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code-switching code switching]].
149* GenderBlenderName: Calpurnia is sometimes nicknamed 'Cal' by Jem, which is a boy's name. Jem (here, short for Jeremy) itself is thought of as a girl's name these days. Scout's name is Jean Louise, and while Jean can be male or female, she insists on Scout, and the origin of this name is never given although we can presume it came from one of the many children's adventure books she and her brother are described as reading.
150* GentleGiant: Boo Radley. Throughout the majority of the novel, the kids have no idea what he looks like, and fear him greatly. The simple act of touching his house is a feat for them. But in the end, he's revealed to be a nice, timid, harmless man, as he saves them from Bob Ewell (albeit by killing him) and makes his appearance known. (Although, in the film version, he's really not so big. In real life, he was very tall.)
151* TheGlassesComeOff: Before shooting a rabid dog, Atticus drops his glasses on the ground.
152* GoodAllAlong: [[spoiler:Boo Radley.]]
153* GoodCannotComprehendEvil: At the climax of the book (the movie plays differently), Atticus and Heck Tate have a conversation in which Atticus says he can't comprehend how there can be a man such as Bob Ewell. Heck says that some men, you can't do anything with them but shoot them and even then they're not worth the bullet.
154* GoodLawyersGoodClients: Atticus defends Tom, but his opponent (the prosecutor) is portrayed as a good (if still somewhat bigoted) person who's just doing his job. Interestingly, the book mentions Atticus having defended obviously guilty people in the past, but because he's a good guy, he tried to make them PleaBargain.
155* GoodParents: Atticus is a single parent example. He treats his children with nothing but love and respect, and a big part of his character is that he refuses to do anything that would lower himself in the eyes of Scout and Jem. For their part, his children adore him just as much, to the extent that they're willing to face down a lynch mob for him.
156* GoshDangItToHeck:
157** When Scout goes through her incessant swearing phase, no words above the caliber of "Hell" and "damn" are used. Justified because she's only a child, and most likely wouldn't be spouting out the f-word just yet.
158** Subverted with the usage of any racial slurs, which are splattered liberally across the book (albeit usually through the mouths of antagonists).
159* GossipyHens: Miss Stephanie Crawford is the ringleader of the hens in Maycomb.
160* TheGreatDepression: The book is set in 1930s rural Alabama.
161* GroinAttack: Scout accidentally kicks some guy in the nuts during [[spoiler:the attempted lynching]]. ([[{{Bowdlerise}} This becomes a kick to the calves in the movie]].)
162* GroundedForever: In a non-comedic example, Boo Radley as well as his real life counterpart literally had this done to him by his abusive father, and ended up with an ([[MisunderstoodLonerWithAHeartOfGold undeserved]]) reputation as an AxCrazy recluse.
163* HateSink: Bob Ewell is a redneck who spends so much of his welfare money on booze that the sheriff allows his family to illegally hunt so his children do not starve. After one of his daughters, whom he sexually abuses, befriends a local black man, Bob beats her senseless and frames her friend for it. While the man is convicted because the jury is racist, his lawyer makes a fool of Bob in the courtroom, so [[spoiler:Bob tries to murder his children]].
164* HeatWave: Atticus Finch defends an innocent black man on a brutally hot day, accused of rape on a brutally hot day.
165* HeelFaceTurn: Mr. Cunningham is introduced properly in a lynch mob out to kill Tom Robinson before being talked down from his rage by Scout. [[spoiler:He's so ashamed of his behavior that he argues for Tom in the trial and had to be talked down by the other jurors.]]
166* HeyCatch: In the film, Atticus throws a drinking glass at Tom to show that Tom can't use his left hand, so couldn't have attacked Mayella Ewell.
167* HeyYou: For an unspecified reason, Scout and Jem call their father "Atticus," instead of "Dad". It may be due to Atticus holding his children to equal standards with himself, or perhaps because their mother died young, and they have never heard anyone refer to Atticus as "dad".
168* HiddenDepths:
169** [[MisunderstoodLonerWithAHeartOfGold Boo Radley]] and [[RetiredBadass Atticus]]. Also several minor characters -- Mrs. Dubose, Aunt Alexandra, Mr. Cunningham, Braxton Underwood, Dolphus Raymond.
170** The Ewell property is a dump, except for a row of pretty, carefully arranged flowers that people are surprised to learn Mayella maintains.
171* HillbillyIncest: Within their [[DeepSouth small Alabama town]], the Ewells are a desperately poor family who live in the town dump and are looked down upon by their neighbors for their poverty, lack of hygiene, and boorish behavior. The patriarch, Bob Ewell, is heavily {{Implied|Trope}} to sexually abuse his eldest daughter Mayella.
172-->'''Tom Robinson:''' She says she never kissed a grown man before... She says what her papa do to her don't count.
173* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Subverted. [[spoiler:It is '''officially claimed''' that Bob Ewell fell on his own knife, but actually Ewell was stabbed by Boo Radley as he was trying to kill the children]].
174* HonorBeforeReason: A rare villainous variant: [[spoiler:the all-white jury convicts Tom Robinson despite Bob Ewell being clearly guilty of abusing his daughter all because they want to maintain the racist status quo]].
175* HonorRelatedAbuse: Bob Ewell catches his daughter trying to seduce Tom Robinson (a black man). He reacts by beating the shit out of her and forcing her to testify that Tom Robinson raped her.
176* HowWeGotHere: The novel begins with Scout mentioning the time Jem's arm got broken, [[DiscussedTrope and how the two of them had argued over how far back you'd have to go]] in order to fully explain the chain of events that led to that. Said chain of events, up to and including Tom Robinson's trial, takes up the entire novel, and only at the very end does Jem's arm actually get broken.
177* HumansAreFlawed: One of the book's many points is to show that while some people are ''huge'' bastards, there are also plenty who are kindhearted and altruistic, such as Atticus Finch. It also shows that [[HeelFaceTurn people are capable of change]], such as [[spoiler:Mr. Cunningham, who was implied to be the only member of the jury to originally vote "innocent" before being swayed to the guilty side after several hours]], and that some humans get a reputation of being bastards when they really are some of the noblest, such as [[spoiler:Boo Radley]].
178* {{Hypocrite}}: The people of Maycomb in general supposedly want to see Tom Robinson hang for Mayella's sake, but didn't lift a finger to help her when she lived under her abusive father, nor do a thing to help or comfort her after the trial. When Aunt Alexandra's Sunday society talks of helping that "poor woman" after Tom's trial, they balk and quickly brush her off when Scout asks if it's for Mayella.
179* IdealHero: Atticus Finch represents the ideal of what a human should be: brutally honest, highly moral in all aspects of his life, a tireless crusader for good causes however hopeless, respected by everyone including his opponents, and a virtual pacifist.
180* IDieFree: Mrs. Dubose is determined to break her morphine addiction before she dies, despite adding withdrawal symptoms to her chronic pain.
181-->"Did she die free?" asked Jem.\
182"As the mountain air," said Atticus. "I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do. Mrs. Dubose won, all ninety-eight pounds of her. According to her views, she died beholden to nothing and nobody. She was the bravest person I ever knew."
183* ImprobableAimingSkills: Atticus, "The Deadest Shot in Maycomb County".
184* InnocentBigot: Scout initially is like this due to being a young child who lives in the Deep South during the 1930s, and as a result does not seem to realize for instance that the N-word is offensive at first. As she grows older she realizes the effects of racism and prejudice and averts this trope.
185* InnocentInaccurate: Both comic examples, like Jem frequently being a KnowNothingKnowItAll to Scout, who doesn't know better than to believe him, and dramatic ones, like his confidence right up until the last minute that the jury will acquit Tom.
186* InMediasRes: The novel starts with the sentence: "When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow." That happens at the end of the book. The effect seems to be that of an adult Scout mentioning it in a conversation, then explaining the background with the rest of the book. Which makes it HowWeGotHere as well.
187* InsaneEqualsViolent: Invoked, but averted. Boo Radley isn't violent (and may or may not be insane), but the reader's introduction to him is via a story where he stabbed his father with scissors with no provocation.
188* InsultBackfire: When Atticus is called a "nigger-lover."
189* InvulnerableKnuckles: Averted, Scout splits her knuckle to the bone punching out her cousin.
190* IWillShowYouX: Miss Rachel, to Dill:
191-->"I'll strip-poker you, sir!"
192* KangarooCourt: It's obvious that Tom Robinson's guilt was determined far in advance of the trial. His jury even includes members of the lynch mob that tried to kill him in prison. Oddly enough, this is ''entirely'' because of the jury; Judge Taylor and the prosecutor actually try to make the trial as fair as possible (Judge Taylor actively points out contradictions in the case, and the prosecutor seems to be holding back). Even with the jury bias, the deliberations take longer than expected due to a RogueJuror.
193* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Atticus' brother, Jack. He is much more strict than his brother (and most of the adults, for that matter), calling out Scout and later lecturing her for swearing at the dinner table, and punishing her for socking [[{{JerkAss}} Francis.]] However, when Scout explains why she smacked Francis (He called Atticus a nigger-lover), he immediately realizes his mistake and apologizes to Scout, bandaging her injured hand and keeping his promise not to tell Atticus about the incident.
194* KarmaHoudini:
195** [[spoiler:Averted with Bob Ewell thanks to [[MisunderstoodLonerWithAHeartOfGold Boo Radley]] ]].
196** Played straight with the [[spoiler:racist jury who find Tom guilty despite knowing full well he is innocent]].
197* KarmicDeath: Bob Ewell wins the court case and Tom Robinson is convicted, but Atticus makes a fool of him, which drives Bob to actions that [[spoiler:later lead to his death]].
198* TheKillerWasLeftHanded: [[JustifiedTrope Justified this time]], since the accused could not use his left hand.
199%%* KindlyHousekeeper: Calpurnia.
200* KnightInSourArmor: Atticus is utterly and correctly convinced that, because of Maycomb County's inherent racism, Tom Robinson cannot escape being convicted for a crime he didn't commit. Atticus still does everything in his power to get Tom acquitted, and treats it as the most important case of his entire career despite the reaction from the people of Maycomb County.
201* LaserGuidedKarma: Ewell is fatally stabbed with the knife that he intended to use to kill Jem and Scout.
202* LawProcedural: One of the archetypal examples.
203* LetOffByTheDetective: [[spoiler:Sheriff Heck Tate hides Boo's involvement in Ewell's death to protect a shy man from unwanted publicity]].
204* LifesavingMisfortune: Scout refuses to take off her costume because she's so humiliated by her botching her role in the pageant. The metal framework ends up saving her life when Bob Ewell attacks them.[[note]]Atticus and Sheriff Tate notice a long clean line along the metal that indicates that Ewell slashed at it with his knife[[/note]]
205* LiquidCourage: A very dark example- [[spoiler: Bob Ewell gets himself drunk in order to work up the nerve to kill Scout and Jem]].
206* LittleGirlsKickShins: Subverted. Scout tries to do this. In the book she's surprised to see her victim fall back in real pain -- "I had meant to kick his shin, [[GroinAttack but aimed too high]]."
207* LonersAreFreaks: Boo Radley is seen as this by the rest of the town. He is a kind and caring, if not shy person who just happens to have been a recluse.
208* LowerClassLout:
209** The Ewells. Filthy in both hygiene and morals, they live in an extension of the town dump, put only the barest amount of effort in, and treat everybody like garbage.
210** The jury on Tom's case, with the exception of [[HeelFaceTurn Mr. Cunningham]], are racist farmers [[spoiler:who condemn Tom to death despite knowing that he's innocent]].
211* LudicrousPrecision: When asked by the judge during Tom Robinson's trial, Mayella Ewell gives her age as "nineteen-and-a-half." The fact that a nineteen-year-old still thinks of her age in halves serves to show that she doesn't get out as much as she should.
212* [[MadwomanInTheAttic Madman in the Attic]]: Boo Radley.
213* MatureWorkChildProtagonists: The novel is a story about a black man accused of raping a white woman in the 1930's, written from the perspective of his lawyer's young daughter and filtered through her viewpoint.
214* MenaceDecay: Scout Finch is a tomboy, but by modern standards [[TomboyWithAGirlyStreak she's quite feminine]].
215* MiscarriageOfJustice: [[spoiler:Tom Robinson's fate]].
216* MisplacedKindergartenTeacher: Miss Caroline manages to be this even though she is teaching very young kids. The problem is that most of them are the children of farmers and have done manual labor pretty much since they could walk, so they're not really interested in the story of Mrs. Cat and her kittens. She gets a nasty shock when she meets one of the Ewells, a family who traditionally show up for the first day of school to satisfy the truant officer and hardly set foot in town the rest of the year. She tries to apply basic school rules to the kid and ends up getting "slut" screamed at her.
217* MissingMom: Scout, Jem and Mayella lost their mothers long before the story opens. Since Scout's mom died when she was two, she doesn't remember her, but Jem, who's a few years older, does.
218* MisunderstoodLonerWithAHeartOfGold: Boo Radley is a reclusive not-quite-albino, and reputed to be AxCrazy. [[spoiler:He ends up saving Scout's and Jem's lives]].
219* TheMomVoice: Housekeeper Calpurnia pulls Scout aside and lectures her on being a proper hostess when Scout complains about a guest at their house making a mess with the food he's eating.
220-->'''Calpurnia:''' That boy is your company. And if he wants to eat up that tablecloth, you let him, you hear? And if you can't act fit to eat like folks, you can just set here and eat in the kitchen.
221* MoodWhiplash: The Finches and Miss Maudie have all sorts of fun with the snow... then that night Miss Maudie's house burns down.
222* MoralMyopia: Scout's teacher and a church group are shown respectively lamenting the lives of the Jews in Germany (WWII is going on in the background) and Africans. They pity the circumstances of these groups while at the same time displaying casual racism towards African Americans in their own town. Aunt Alexandra at one point calls them out.
223* MoralityKitchenSink: The book seems to look at all the facets of Southern society.
224** You have open-minded people who reject the brazen racism of the town and try to fight for justice (Atticus and Miss Maudie).
225** Young children who are well-meaning, but not above the occasional mischief (Jem and Scout).
226** Well-meaning outcasts who try and do the right thing and are persecuted (Boo Radley, Tom Robinson, and Dolphus Raymond).
227** Law enforcement officials who waver between their duties and the racist political environment they work under (Mr.Gilmer and Heck Tate).
228** Traditionalists who mean well but can be a bit overbearing in their beliefs (Aunt Alexandra, Calpurnia, Nathan Radley).
229** Casually elitist hypocrites and busybodies who gossip and spread rumors (Miss Stephanie, Mrs. Merriweather, and Mrs. Farrow).
230** Nasty old bats who gossip and spread rumors (Mrs. Dubose).
231** Vile, racist, white trash who deliberately harm others (Ewell and the men on the jury)
232* MrExposition: Scout takes on this role. Even her brother Jem is more a part of the plot than she is.
233* TheMunchausen: Dill is always making up stories about his home life, long past the point where Scout and Jem can be fooled, almost as if it's compulsive.
234* MysteriousMiddleInitial: Bob Ewell is named after the famous Southern general Robert E. Lee. Whilst Lee's middle name was Edward, Ewell's full name is actually "Robert E. Lee Ewell".
235* NaiveNewcomer: Dill is a way to introduce to the reader the secrets and history of a self-contained and private community and family.
236* NiceGuy: Atticus Finch is acknowledged as one of the nicest guys in all fiction, a compassionate true gentleman and a kind-hearted father. Also Link Deas, the businessman who stands up and makes a loud public statement of Tom's impeccable character in court during Tom's trial (risking being held in contempt, or at least ejection from the courtroom) then after [[spoiler:Tom is convicted]] he gives Tom's wife a job to help her support the family and stands up for her to Bob Ewell when he starts to harass her.
237* NiceMeanAndInBetween: The supporting women in the story. Miss Maudie and Calpurnia are nice, Miss Stephanie and Mrs Dubose are mean, Aunt Alexandra and Miss Caroline are in-between.
238* NightmareFuel: InUniverse, Boo Radley to the children.
239* NobleBigotWithABadge: Subverted with Heck Tate (the bigot part). He's the authority in the town, but he also displays very few racist tendencies, especially for his time and place. One of his biggest concerns is that keeping a black man in a county jail could cause a ruckus and get him killed. He's right and it almost does. He's also not defending the jail when the lynch mob comes, but it's revealed that the mob reported a dangerous criminal in the area, and sent him on a wild goose chase.
240* NonIndicativeTitle: The story has nothing to do with killing mockingbirds or hunting at all. There is, however, a TitleDrop.
241* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: The whole story revolves around a good deed that is punished, namely Atticus making the unpopular decision to defend a black man who has been falsely accused. Even more so the reason that the black man is in trouble in the first place was because he did a number of good deeds for a troubled young white woman because he felt pity for her.
242* NoMedicationForMe: Beautifully inverted. When Mrs. Dubose, an elderly neighbor, calls Atticus a "nigger-lover," Jem destroys some of her flowers as a result, and as punishment, Atticus makes the boy read aloud to her every day for a month. After the punishment ends and Mrs. Dubose passes away, Atticus reveals that not only was Mrs. Dubose dying of a terminal illness, but she had become addicted to morphine to relieve the pain. She was so determined to die as herself that she stopped taking the medicine; the horrible withdrawal symptoms were only eased by Jem reading to and distracting her. Atticus says that to deny the morphine and die painfully, but clear of mind, is the bravest thing he has ever known.
243* NostalgicMusicbox: The film has a music-box-like theme at the beginning. Music/ElmerBernstein said he wanted the music to sound very pure and innocent.
244* NostalgicNarrator: The story is narrated by the adult Scout.
245* NosyNeighbour: As far as Stephanie Crawford is concerned, she absolutely must know everything.
246* NotablyQuickDeliberation: Averted explicitly in the book and implicitly in the film. In the book, Atticus opines that, even though the jury returned an unjust verdict, their slowness was an encouraging sign: they almost certainly spent the time talking down a RogueJuror who wanted to acquit.
247* NotEvilJustMisunderstood: Boo Radley. [[spoiler:He plays with the children in a roundabout way and even saves their lives at the climax.]]
248* NotQuiteTheRightThing: Directly invoked. [[spoiler:After Boo Radley kills a drunken, murderous Bob Ewell in defense of Atticus's children, Atticus, thinking Jem did it, is all set to get the authorities involved and begin processing the matter by-the-book. The local sheriff, however, warns him that it's an OpenAndShutCase of self defense, Bob Ewell is widely known and hated, and Boo Radley's extreme social phobias would make the resulting trial absolute hell for him, however pure and innocent Atticus's intentions might be. The sheriff therefore 'officially concludes' that Bob Ewell got drunk, slipped, and fell on his own knife]].
249* NWordPrivileges: Several of the black characters in the book refer to both themselves (such as Tom when explaining why he ran from the scene of his supposed crime) and other black people (Calpurnia when warning off a hostile woman at church who isn't happy with her bringing Scout and Jem along) as "nigger". However when it's used by white characters in the book, it's still treated with all the harshness of the slur it is, and Atticus corrects Scout when she innocently repeats an N-word insult she'd overheard Cecil Jacobs call him.
250* ObfuscatingInsanity: Dolphus Raymond's long-term commitment to PlayingDrunk is a form of this.
251* ObfuscatingStupidity: Dolphus Raymond channels this, carrying around a bottle of what everyone thinks is whiskey in a brown paper bag (it's actually Coca Cola) and drinking from it. People use alcoholism to justify his "strange" behavior (being a white man married to a black woman in Alabama in the early 20th century).
252* ObjectTrackingShot: The camera pans around the childrens' box of gifts from Boo Radley in the opening credits.
253* ObliviousToTheirOwnDescription: During Aunt Alexandra's Sunday missionary society brunch, Scout notes the irony that the ladies lament the terrible living conditions of poor Africans despite gleefully mistreating black people in their own community. Mrs. Merriweather then rails about Northerners being hypocrites about their closet racist attitudes that the South embraces, completely oblivious that everything she says about them could apply to herself.
254* OhCrap: The prosecutor manipulates Tom into saying he felt sorry for Mayella, a rather odd statement for a black man talking about a white woman in the 1930s south. In the film, Brock Peters has one of his best acting moments as he realizes this.
255* OmnidisciplinaryLawyer: Atticus, who appears to specialize in property law, is appointed to defend Tom Robinson of criminal charges. Justified in this case: in the rural South, lawyers, much like physicians, were expected to be general practitioners who could accept any kind of work.
256* OneBookAuthor: For whatever reason Lee never wrote another book. She had a second novel in the works, ''The Long Goodbye'', and a nonfiction book based on the Willie Jo Maxwell killings, but nothing ever came of either of them. She contributed substantially to Creator/TrumanCapote's ''Literature/InColdBlood''; this is her only other work to see the light of publication. This led to America's version of the [[Creator/WilliamShakespeare Authorship Question]]. Proponents argue (on equally flimsy evidence) that Truman Capote wrote the book. Those that actually knew Truman Capote answer this with [[ShamelessSelfPromoter "If he had written it, there is no way that he would have been able to keep his mouth shut about it."]] This changed when a book she completed in 1950 called ''Go Set a Watchman'' was [[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/03/harper-lee-novel_n_6603994.html announced for publication in the summer of 2015.]] The novel, which pre-dates ''To Kill a Mockingbird'', is told from an adult Scout Finch's perspective as she visits Atticus in Maycomb after having moved to New York.[[note]] ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' started as flashback scenes in ''Go Set a Watchman''; Lee's editor felt that there was a whole novel in the flashback scenes and encouraged her to expand that story.[[/note]]
257* OneLetterName: X Billups. Most people didn't believe that was his full name until he was asked to spell it during a court case.
258* OneOfTheBoys: Scout's real name is Jean Louise but she prefers the nickname "Scout", she plays with boys, hates dresses and considers "you act like a girl" an insult.
259* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname:
260** Jean-Louise "Scout" Finch
261** Jeremy Atticus "Jem" Finch
262** Charles Baker "Dill" Harris
263** Arthur "Boo" Radley
264* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: The book is full of these:
265** Scout notes the only time she ever heard Atticus speak sharply to anyone is when he's defending his parenting style to Aunt Alexandra.
266** The only time she ever heard him call something a sin is when he warns Jem [[TitleDrop never to kill a mockingbird.]]
267** Jem decides to follow Atticus the night the mob threatens him outside the jail because Atticus took his car instead of walking as usual.
268** Scout and Jem are shocked at Tom Robinson's trial when Atticus takes off his jacket and loosens his tie, because they've never seen him do that during the day.
269** Scout knows that Aunt Alexandra is really shaken after [[spoiler:Scout and Jem are attacked by Bob Ewell]] when she gives Scout her overalls to change into.
270* OutOfGenreExperience:
271** The genre of the novel is probably best described as "coming of age". In the middle of it is a courtroom drama. There are some other crime elements scattered throughout, but it would be misleading to describe it as a crime or law novel.
272** The film has a higher focus on the courtroom scene and won the award "Best Courtroom Drama" from the American Film Institute. And [[ShownTheirWork the American Bar Association]].
273* PapaWolf:
274** Atticus and his rifle, when he kills a rabid dog near his children.
275** [[spoiler:Boo Radley, in saving Scout and Jem from Ewell.]]
276* ParentalIncest: Heavily implied when Mayella is explaining what really happened with Tom Robinson, she says she'd never kissed a grown man before, because what Papa did to her "don't count". That line was cut from the film for obvious reasons, but Mayella's actress Creator/CollinWilcox-Paxton said she communicated the incestuous relationship through her body language and facial expressions. She revealed in the documentary that comes with the deluxe DVD set, that she was acutely aware that Mayella's experience was real.
277-->'''Collin Wilcox-Paxton:''' I saw these girls on the streets of violence, these very underprivileged girls. These girls from awful, awful backgrounds. I mean, most of them took it for granted they'd be molested by the time they were... certainly 12, by a father, an uncle, a brother -- or someone down the road.
278* ParentalSubstitute: Calpurnia, who acts like a mother to Scout and Jem. Aunt Alexandra may also have tried to be this to the children.
279* ParentsAsPeople: Dill's. They tell him they love him and get him whatever he wants, but fail to actually spend any time with him, instead constantly telling him to go play with the toys they brought him. Eventually he has enough and runs back to Maycomb.
280* PetTheDog: According to Tom, Mayella saved up a lot of money so her siblings could all go to town and get ice cream. Then again, she also did it [[spoiler:to get the house empty, so she could try to seduce Tom]].
281* PickOnSomeoneYourOwnSize: [[spoiler:Bob Ewell attacking Scout and Jem, all because Atticus humiliated him.]]
282%% ** Mrs. Dubose.
283**
284%%* ThePigPen: Burris Ewell.
285* PlayingATree: Scout is made to dress up as a leg of ham for a community pageant, but she falls asleep and fails to appear when she should. She's so ashamed, that she doesn't take off the costume while going home, [[spoiler:and this probably saves her life when the chicken wire in it deflects a knife]].
286* PlayingDrunk: Dolphus Raymond pretends to be a drunk so he doesn't suffer backlash from the fact he's in love with a black girl (and fathered mulatto children that he openly claims).
287* ThePollyanna: Miss Maudie. After [[spoiler:her house burns down, she focuses on how her yard is larger and that she can make it beautiful.]]
288* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Bigotry was, of course, common in this setting, but Bob Ewell would likely have been considered an extreme case even then and there. (In fact, portraying such a man as a villain was the whole point of the novel, which was set during TheGreatDepression but written during the Civil Rights Era.)
289* ProBonoBarter: Atticus Finch accepts vegetables from Mr. Cunningham as payment for legal services.
290* ProtectedByAChild: When an angry lynch mob shows up to kill Tom Robinson in the middle of night, Atticus is waiting for them so he can try to argue some sense, but he fails and they threaten to go through him if he won't step aside. Fortunately, Scout snuck out and followed him that night. Her sudden appearance and apparent innocent lack of understanding of the situation (greeting the men warmly and asking about how their kids are doing since school ended for the summer) takes all the steam out of them and they are too ashamed to carry out their violent intentions. As Atticus puts it later, she reminded them they were (good) men and not a mob.
291* PsychoKnifeNut: Invoked by Boo Radley, who is rumored to have stabbed his father in the leg with a pair of scissors for no known reason (apart from being imprisoned in his house for life after going out joyriding with local louts one night). [[spoiler:At the climax of the tale he takes his kitchen knife and kills Bob Ewell during Ewell's attempt to murder Jem and Scout with a switchblade.]]
292* PullTheThread: Atticus successfully pulls many threads in the Ewells' story of how Tom raped Mayella, particularly in the disparity of Mayella's bruise and Tom's handicap [[spoiler:but the all-white jury ends up finding him guilty anyway.]]
293* PunchClockVillain: Scout-as-narrator explains that children of lawyers often assume that whatever colleague their parent goes up against in court is a bad guy, only to be mystified by the sight of them acting like friends when court's not in session. By the time of Tom Robinson's trial, Scout and Jem have outgrown this, and they're familiar enough with the prosecutor, Mr. Gilmer, to recognize and appreciate the tricks he employs, all in the spirit of a fair trial. Neither of them is quite old enough to realize until the guilty verdict that that's not what's going on this time, and for the case of a black man accused of raping a white woman, no one's bothered hitting any punch clock.
294* PuppyLove: Scout and Dill--although it's rather ambiguous if they acutely have crushes on each other, or are just claiming they do as part of acting grown up.
295* QuoteToQuoteCombat: A brief exchange between a Primitive Baptist ("footwasher") and Miss Maudie, both quoting [[Literature/{{TheBible}} the Bible]].
296* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Believe it or not, ''Go Set a Watchman'', the first full-length novel written by Harper Lee (which wasn't published until 2015), portrayed Atticus as a bigot. His retroactive change between then and this novel can be attributed to the evolving views of Lee's own father, Amasa.
297* ReasonableAuthorityFigure:
298** Sheriff Heck Tate. The man displays very few prejudicial qualities, and is actually very nice. He testified at the trial, but his testimony was only objective crime scene evidence. When [[spoiler:Boo kills Mr. Ewell]], he finds out and easily traces the evidence and figures out what happened, telling Atticus (who thought his son did it in the confusion) that he won't prosecute it. In the end, he says that the death was just, and dragging it into court will just upset a man who wants to be left alone, and it avenges another very wrong death.
299** Atticus Finch, as he retains plenty of respect from the town even after he defends a black man, and he still remains an important figure.
300** Judge Taylor calls on Atticus to defend Tom Robinson, knowing that only Atticus would undertake the task seriously. He also tries his best for a fair trial, even if the defendant is African-American.
301* RedRightHand: Averted: Tom has a mangled arm from a childhood accident, but while he's treated as if he has one, he is a good guy. It is actually important evidence that he didn't commit the crime he was accused of.
302* RetiredBadass: Again, Atticus. His children were unaware of his badass marksmanship, until a dangerous mad dog wanders into town and someone needs to be able to safely put it down.
303* RetiredGunfighter: Atticus was an excellent shot, but hating killing things and wouldn't even touch a gun. He does have to use one to kill a rabid dog, however.
304* RevengeByProxy: After Atticus Finch defends a black man whom Bob Ewell's daughter accused of raping her, Ewell is infuriated, and attempts to punish Atticus by [[spoiler:attempting to murder the latter's children]].
305* RichesToRags: Not all the way to rags, but the Finches were once a very wealthy merchant family before the Civil War happened.
306* RogueJuror: In the book, Atticus speculates that the deliberations took longer than expected because of an ultimately unsuccessful rogue juror (one of the Cunninghams, surprisingly). It is reasonable to assume that the rogue [[JuryAndWitnessTampering may have gotten death threats]].
307* RomanAClef: The story is based on Harper Lee's childhood as well as the Scottsboro Trials.
308* RousseauWasRight: At the end, when Scout is talking about a story read to her:
309-->''An' they chased him 'n' never could catch him 'cause they didn't know what he looked like, an' Atticus, when they finally saw him, why he hadn't done any of those things... Atticus, he was real nice..." \
310[[ComfortingComforter His hands were under my chin, pulling up the cover, tucking it around me.]]\
311"Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them."
312* ScareDare: The Radley house is an iconic example.
313* ScaryBlackMan: Tom Robinson is accused of this. Of course, it's wrong.
314* ScaryMinoritySuspect: Tom Robinson. Although he is a very nice man who isn't scary in the least, and of course, is completely innocent. However, most of Maycomb assume he is a scary minority suspect who did rape Mayella because of the prevailing racist attitudes of the time.
315* SchoolIsForLosers: Scout thinks school is utterly useless, and spends a while trying to convince her father to let her stay home, since he never went to a day of formal school as a kid and managed to become a lawyer anyway. In all fairness to her, her town's school system is pretty ridiculous -- her first-grade teacher is annoyed that she already knows how to read and write, and tells her she needs to stop doing both until she reaches the appropriate grade level. Needless to say, she's not pleased, and tries a number of things to get out of going to school, including briefly becoming LadySwearsALot in the hope that her father won't make her go anymore once he finds out she learned it from other kids. (It doesn't work; if anything, he seems to find it slightly amusing.)
316* ScrewPolitenessImASenior: Mrs. Dubose casts aspersions on the entire neighborhood, but Atticus tells his children to leave the poor, sick, old woman alone. Then again, that probably has more to do with his general decency than anything else. Well that and the fact that he had some admiration for her since [[spoiler:she was addicted to morphine and trying to quit before she died of the disease she had. Dying slowly and very painfully instead of easily without pain if she had just stayed on it. That takes guts]].
317* ShamingTheMob: Scout's shining moment, where she got a lynch mob to disperse by speaking calmly to them, [[InnocentInaccurate apparently oblivious to the seriousness of the situation]].
318* ShearMenace: Boo Radley is said to have nonchalantly stabbed his father in the leg with scissors while clipping articles from a newspaper, followed by wiping the blood off on his pants, and continuing to clip the newspaper.
319* SheCleansUpNicely: Subverted. When Mayella arrives at the trial, her poverty does not allow her to dress up nicely, but it's clear she's taken care to wash and groom herself the best she can. This is in contrast to her father, who looks like someone took a scrub brush to him. In the film version, she wears a shabby dress and bow in her hair, and the effect is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44TG_H_oY2E quite sad]]. During an interview on the DVD extras, the actress states that wardrobe wanted her wear high heels. She said she would, if she could wear socks. When wardrobe told her no one wears socks with high heels, she told them "They do where I come from."
320* ShootTheDog: A rather literal example with Atticus Finch and the rabid dog.
321* ShoutOut: "Miss Caroline (...) mystified the first grade with a long narrative about a toadfrog that lived in a hall." It's a reference to ''Literature/TheWindInTheWillows''.
322* SimpleCountryLawyer: Subverted: Atticus was a well-educated man who abhorred the opinions of his neighbors, but incompetent parodies make him into a SimpleCountryLawyer. He does, arguably, qualify as a ''very'' downplayed version of the trope: his ability to communicate with people much less educated than himself makes him effective in the courtroom, and his being a native of Maycomb gives him bona fides.
323* ASinisterClue: Bob Ewell, perhaps the only character who can legitimately be called evil, is left-handed. (He's claims to be ambidextrous, but never proves it.) This is more than a symbolic clue to his true nature, since Mayella's injuries were caused by a left-handed man.
324* SkinnyDipping: Implied. Jem won't take Scout to a pond with him and Dill, because they prefer to skinny-dip.
325* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: As it manages to portray human sentimentality and heart in spite of its harsh reality, this timeless book does lie a little closer to the idealistic side.
326* SlobsVsSnobs: Maycomb county isn't just racist, it's also deeply classist with its own highly segregated hierarchy even among the white population. The Cunninghams and Ewells are at the bottom of white society and people from "fine families" don't associate with them and treat them as inferior, morally and socially. Multiple times Scott discusses this concept with her viewing everyone as equal while Aunt Alexandra heavily buys into the class system. But being from a fine family doesn't stop Maycomb County from being morally corrupt and racist and some of the most noble acts come from the outcasts. The book lands on Atticus' side - that's is the [[WhatYouAreInTheDark behavior that ultimately matters]]. Anyone who takes advantage of a black man is ''trash''.
327* SlouchOfVillainy: The lawyer for the prosecution slouches with one leg over the arm of his chair.
328* SmartPeopleWearGlasses: So naturally, Atticus does.
329* SnowedIn: The kids get the day off from school because of a light snowfall, a rarity in Alabama.
330* StealthInsult: While dealing with their crabby neighbors in the film, Atticus observes that one 'looks like a picture'. Scout happily {{lampshade|Hanging}}s that he 'didn't say what it was a picture of'.
331* TheSoCalledCoward: Atticus refuses to teach his children to shoot, leaving that to Uncle Jack. Turns out he's a pretty good shot himself.
332* SouthernFriedGenius[=/=]SouthernGentleman: Atticus Finch, though he certainly doesn't exhibit any real southern stereotypes, at least no negative stereotypes. He's sort of the genteel southern elite, an erudite, upper class Southern gentleman. Fortunately for his children and his client, he also displays an educated, liberal tolerance and gentility as well. He ''is'' a crack shot with a rifle, though he tries to keep that fact away from his children.
333* SouthernGothic: The story has elements of this, as well as being set in the DeepSouth.
334* SpitShake: The teacher Miss Caroline asks Scout to hold out her hand (intending to hit her with a ruler as punishment), and Scout wonders to herself "what bargain [they] had made" as she thought "she was going to spit in it, which was the only reason anybody in Maycomb held out his hand: it was a time-honored method of sealing oral contracts". Is referenced again in the following chapter during a scene with her father, Atticus.
335* SpitefulSpit: Bob Ewell spits on Atticus when the lawyer decides that he will defend Tom Robinson in court.
336* StoicSpectacles: Atticus wears a pair.
337* StripPoker: Referenced when Atticus demands to know why Jem isn't wearing pants (after he loses them while sneaking around the Radley property), Dill lies and says he won them off him in a game of strip poker and accidentally left them there.
338* SupportingProtagonist: Scout. Most people agree that the true hero of the story is her father, Atticus.
339* SweetHomeAlabama: The story takes a nuanced view. The central plot (and title) of the book centers precisely around racism and the less-savory aspects of Southern society, but many characters in the book are perfectly sympathetic, kindly folk.
340* SympathyForTheDevil: How Scout feels regarding Mayella, who is [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer mocked and rejected by the rest of the town]] and has been assaulted, possibly [[ParentalIncest sexually]], by Bob Ewell. Tom Robinson also states during his testimony that, even though Mayella is basically trying to destroy him, he feels sorry for her, which shocks the jury.
341* TakeThat: Scout's misery with her school system should sound familiar.
342* TearsOfFear: It's {{implied|Trope}} that Atticus (of all people!) sheds some after the lynch mob departs. To be fair, he is really reacting over the danger his children were in.
343* TellMeAboutMyFather: At one point, Scout asks Jem about her mother as they're falling asleep.
344* ThereIsNoHigherCourt: DoubleSubverted. Atticus Finch was going to appeal Tom's case, but [[spoiler:Tom was shot to death, [[TheCoronerDothProtestTooMuch allegedly for trying to escape]].]]
345* TheyreCalledPersonalIssuesForAReason: The sheriff makes the case for this on Boo Radley's behalf, arguing against making a heroic deed of his known to the rest of the town on the basis that he really does just want to be left alone and would not appreciate even exposure to public praise. Everyone else concedes the wisdom of this, and the exact nature of his DarkAndTroubledPast is never made clear, which suggests this is the author's opinion as well.
346* TimeshiftedActor: In the film, the voice of Scout as an adult narrator was done by Kim Stanley, while Scout as a child was played by Mary Badham.
347* TitleDrop: "Remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."
348* {{Tomboy}}: Scout is one. Of course, the book is set in the 1930s when girls and women wore dresses and skirts a lot more than they do now, so being a tomboy and wearing boys' clothes was more of a meaningful statement.
349* TomboyishName: Scout, which is her nickname -- her full name is Jean Louise Finch. Needless to say, you only find that out in scenes where her aunt is trying to put her in dresses or other "formal" settings are happening.
350* TranslationMatchmaking: The Japanese release of the film became "The Alabama Story", almost definitely patterned off of ''Film/ThePhiladelphiaStory''.
351* TrashOfTheTitans: The Ewells, who live in a garbage dump.
352* TurnTheOtherCheek: Atticus ''tries'' this on Bob Ewell. Since Bob is a blatant monster, it backfires.
353* UncleanlinessIsNextToUngodliness:
354** Burris Ewell is horribly unwashed; in fact, all the Ewells except Mayella are. Their home also contains the TrashOfTheTitans.
355** Subverted with the Cunninghams who are equally dirty and unwashed but are noble and honorable in their own way. [[spoiler:In fact, Mr. Cunningham is the only juror to argue ''for'' Tom Robinson.]]
356* UnwillinglyGirlyTomboy: Scout is more or less a tomboy, but has to wear a dress for her first day of school thanks to her Aunt Alexandra, and seems mildly embarrassed about it.
357* UrineTrouble: One of the characters urinated off his front porch. This is not shown in the film adaptation (thankfully).
358* ViewersAreGeniuses: At the time of the story, not, but modern readers unfamiliar with folklore or classic fairytales won't know why Jem murmurs "Sleep, Little Three-Eyes?" to Scout when he's about to go get his pants. It's from [[https://www.tonightsbedtimestory.com/little-one-eye-little-two-eyes-and-little-three-eyes/ a lesser-known fairytale]] collected both by the Grimms and by folklorist Dinah Mulock Craik[[note]]author of ''The Little Lame Prince and His Traveling Cloak''[[/note]].
359* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Subverted with the Ewells. Everyone is aware of how crooked Bob and his family are, and Bob only gets his way in court because Tom Robinson is black. When the trial is over, any bit of faith in Bob Ewell is gone, driving him to petty (and not so petty) acts of vengeance.
360* VillainousLineage: The Ewells. In the story Jack tries to describe them to Atticus, who responds "you're a generation off, but this bunch is the same". It's revealed that the Ewells have been living a lifestyle centered on scavenging from the the town dump for generations, and although they aren't all as bad as Bob Ewell, they're almost all just dirty, nasty people with no deisre to better themselves.
361* WackyAmericansHaveWackyNames: Several examples, with the prize going to X Billups, who has no given name other than X.
362* WalkLikeAnEgyptian: Jem attempts this after learning about Ancient Egypt in school. In the film, Scout tries it as well.
363* WeatherReportOpening: A few paragraphs in you have
364-->Somehow, it was hotter then: a black dog suffered on a summer's day; bony mules hitched to Hoover carts[[note]]a car that's been stripped down and refitted as a buggy[[/note]] flicked flies in the sweltering shade of the live oaks on the square.
365* WhamLine:
366** "A jury never looks at a man it has convicted, [[spoiler:and when this jury came in, not one of them looked at Tom Robinson."]]
367** [[spoiler:"Hey, Boo."]]
368** [[spoiler:"Tom's dead."]]
369** [[spoiler:"I'm not talking about Jem!"]]
370* WhiteGalOnBlackGuyDrama: Tom's not interested in Mayella at all (and has been married, with children, for years), while Mayella comes onto him mainly because she's lonely and he's one of the few people who have ever been nice to her. Their association is what the prosecution is trying to exploit.
371* WouldHurtAChild: [[spoiler:Bob Ewell at the end. He doesn't dare go after Atticus, because he's the best shot in the county and would wipe the floor with him. So he decides to target Jem and Scout instead.]]
372* WoundedGazelleGambit: Subverted. Mayella claims she was raped when, in fact, it was the opposite, in order to get rid of her guilt about kissing a black man.

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