Harper Lee published her novel To Kill a Mockingbird in 1960. The characters in the novel are based on the behaviors of people that she knew growing up in Monroeville, Alabama. The novel is considered to be a bildungsroman, which is a novel where one or more of the characters is forced into adulthood throughout the story. The story takes place in Maycomb County, Alabama in the 1930s and it highlights the racial, social, and political issues of that time period. In the novel, Tom Robinson, an African American, is on trial for raping Bob Ewell’s daughter, a white girl. Atticus Finch is his defense lawyer, but because of the racism in the town, many citizens ridicule his decision to defend Tom. Scout and Jem are Atticus’s two children and they are caught in the middle of the drama of the trial. Boo Radley is the town recluse and rarely comes out of his house; Scout and Jem are enamored by the rumors of him floating around the town. In the novel, Scout faces experiences that help her learn more about the nature and ideals of the people living in her town. This forces her into adulthood.
