The life of a village in the south of the States, told through the eyes of a girl,
is american writer Harper Lee´s excuse to "paint" a masterly portrait about the lights and shadows of a society immersed in the Economic Depression which started in 1929.
Scout, a bright and curious girl, is about to start going to school. A new world opens before her and, through her childish perspective as well as her innocent and outspoken thoughts, the reader will know about the people of Maycomb, the place where Scout lives with her brother Jem and her father Atticus.
Among the gallery of characters who inhabit Scout´s world, there´s a special one for her and her brother (and for the reader too) who they´ll have an unusual relation with; Boo Radley, a mentally ill, a poor unlucky man who has been living isolated from anyone in a house near the
children´s and will capture their curiosity to know his story, in such a way, that they´ll get up to mischief to find out their peculiar neighbour´secrets.
Little things left by Boo Radley in the hollow of a close tree will be this mysterious man´s way to get in touch with the children, striking up a complicity with them that no one else in the village will know. Jem and Scout will keep these little things with care like real treasures of an "invisible" man, a kind of "guardian angel" who looks after the children without their knowledge.
In Maycomb there aren´t only "angels" but "devils" and Scout, in spite of being just a child, will find out such a world of small-mindedness, brutality, ignorance and hypocrisy the day her father, Atticus Finch, takes charge of defending Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a young white woman of Maycomb, Mayela Ewell. Atticus believes in Robinson´s innocence and will do his best to save him but this serious matter will polarize the villagers, bringing out the best and the worst face of human being, in a time in which racism was deeply rooted and prejudices clouded people´s mind driving them to dramatic consequences.
This novel by Harper Lee, won a Pulitzer Prize ( a prize that awards the best literary, journalistic and musical works published in the States) and gives the reader a charming story and, at the same time, a real and cruel portrait of passions and vices, of good and evil, using a language full of images and feelings. But, it´s sure that Harper Lee´s best achievement is the creation of a character that belongs to the "Literary Pantheon"; the lawyer and father, Atticus Finch, a man of principles and values who fights for his convictions but his fight is calm and peaceful, as a result of such a fortitude, wisdom and self-assurance that he tries to instill into his children in a world of hypocrisy and ignorance.
This novel is a praise to the courage of being faithful to oneself as well as to kindness and justice which, like mockingbirds that mustn´t be killed because they don´t spoil harvest but they just delight people with their song, must be protected from "hunters" who threaten their existence. But, at the same time, this story pays homage to "mockingbirds", those pure and innocent human beings who, in spite of their apparent fragility, have inside a fortitude able to face up to the worst of the instincts, "mockingbirds" without them the world would lose all its charm and beauty.