OK, I read the book instead of watching the movie. I'm going to assume they are reasonably similar.
The story is told from the perspective of Jean Louise (Scout) Finch, the daughter of attorney and legislator, Atticus Finch. It takes place in southern Alabama in 1935 or thereabouts (it spans 2-3 years). It's actually quite funny in some ways because Scout tells things the way she sees them and for a 8-9 year old girl, that can be humorous. Sometimes it can also be bold as in cutting right to the heart of things. Atticus also employs a black woman to cook, clean and help raise the kids. Her name is Calpurnia but they call her Cal. She provides the insight into the black community that Scout needs now and then and also makes Scout figure there is nothing wrong or particularly different about them beyond skin color and their lot in life.
They have a mysterious neighbor Arthur "Boo" Radley. He is apparently at least in his 20's or 30's but never leaves the house. Scout, her brother Jem and their playmate Dill speculate endlessly about him. Boo leaves them little gifts now and then until his (Boo's) father finds the hiding place for them and seals it up with cement.
Atticus gets a case. One of the local black men has been accused of raping the daughter of a "white trash" farmer. Atticus defends the man and pretty much gets the testimony he needs to prove him innocent but he is convicted never the less. The townspeople think justice has been served but it greatly disturbs Scout and Jem (and Atticus too). Atticus is appealing the case when the guy tries to escape from jail and is shot dead.
The girl's father has vowed meanwhile to "get" Atticus. Nothing happens until Halloween when somebody jumps Jem and Scout on their way home from the Halloween pageant. Scout blew her entrance and was so embarrassed that she decided to wear her costume home (she was a giant ham, lol). There's a big tussle but it is all very confusing as it is described by someone wearing a giant ham who can't really see much of anything. She escapes and sees a figure carrying Jem home so she follows.
The doctor is called and arrives. Turns out Jem has a bump on his head and a broken arm. He'll be OK but is sedated for the night so they can take him for x-rays the next day. The sheriff was called too and he comes to the house after inspecting the site of the attack. The man who said he'd "get" Atticus is dead with a kitchen knife in his ribs. The sheriff gets her story and asks who saved them. She said him, and pointed to the man who'd carried Jem home. Turns out that it is the mystery man Boo Radley. They never come right out and say it but it seems that Boo probably killed the guy too. The sheriff declares that the guy fell on his own knife and that he can prove it. He won't hear anything else.
There are some quotes that I thought were particularly relevant:
Quote:
Atticus said to Jem one day, 'I'd rather you shoot at tin cans in the back yard, but I know you'll go after birds. Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin 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.'
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This isn't a quote, but after Tom Robinson (the guy accused of the rape and later killed) the newspaperman wrote an obit that "likened Tom's death to the senseless slaughter of songbirds by hunters and children". Scout writes, "Then Mr. Underwood's meaning became clear: Atticus had used every tool available to free men to save Tom Robinson, but in the secret courts of men's hearts Atticus had no case. Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed."
At the very end of the book, Scout goes to Atticus who is sitting with Jem until morning. She gets him to read one of Jem's books aloud to her but soon falls asleep. As Atticus is getting her dressed for bed she is relaying the story (as proof she wasn't asleep).
Quote:
An' they chased him 'n' never could catch him because they didn't know what he looked like, an' Atticus, when they finally saw him, why he hadn't done any of those things...Aticus, he was real nice.
Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them.
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OK, call me crazy if you want but I see a huge parallel between Boo Radley, The Gray Ghost (subject of the book) and the Others. I don't think Harper Lee particularly meant the parallel to include the Others! I think this is major foreshadowing that the Others are going to be very different that the fusies (and us) think. They might just be "really nice" too and, like Scout with Boo, we are assuming the worst based on nothing more than our ignorance. Remember, Boo's behavior didn't make any sense to Scout for most of the book either.
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