To Kill a Mockingbird Characters

Scout's HonorScout may or may not be a lover, but she's definitely a fighter. At the beginning of the novel, fighting is her solution to everything: she goes after Walter Cunningham after she gets...

Obsessed Dill may be the brains behind the Finch kids' early attempts to draw out Boo Radley, but Jem is the one who takes action. He's the one who overcomes his fear to run up and touch the Radley...

You know all those stereotypes about lawyers being nasty, money-grubbing people? Well, meet Atticus, giving lawyers (and dads) a good name since 1960. If you read this and thought that he was too g...

Touch LoveSure, everyone in the novel is filtered through Scout's perception. She's the narrator, after all. But we get the sense that Calpurnia in particular is colored by Scout's perspective—an...

For Scout and Jem, summer means Dill, and Dill's imagination: "Thus we came to know Dill as a pocket Merlin, whose head teemed with eccentric plans, strange longings, and quaint fancies" (1.39). Th...

Boo the MonsterIf we take Jem's word for it, Boo is the kind of guy who, a century or so later, would probably be shooting homemade zombie movies on digital video in his backyard. And maybe taking...

Like Boo Radley, Tom Robinson isn't just an individual. He's also a litmus test for Maycomb's racism—and, unfortunately for him, it fails. Before the Trial: Invisible ManTom Robinson's name comes...

Among the trash and cast-offs in the Ewell yard, there's one spot of beauty."Against the fence, in a line, were six chipped-enamel slop jars holding brilliant red geraniums, cared for as tenderly a...

Bob Ewell is the current head of a family that has been "the disgrace of Maycomb for three generations" (3.93). (Sounds like quite an honor.) Considered human trash by the Maycomb community, the Ew...

Aunt Alexandra is so different from her easy-going brothers Atticus and Jack that Scout wonders if she was switched at birth with another family's baby. She's kind of woman who wears a corset even...

Miss Maudie is part of the world where "fragrant ladies rocked slowly, fanned gently, and drank cool water" (24.53), but this rose never lets others forget her thorns. Unlike Miss Stephanie and Mrs...

As sheriff of Maycomb County, Heck Tate's official role is maintaining law and order. Through most of the book, however, he seems about as powerful as Ranger Smith faced with Yogi Bear and a missin...

At first, Mr. Deas seems to take the side of order over truth, like when he tells Atticus that he has "everything to lose" from defending Tom (15.20). Later, though, he ends up being one of the few...

Boo may be the ghost of Scout's neighborhood, but Mrs. Dubose is the dragon. Scout introduces her as "plain hell" (1.14):Jem and I hated her. If she was on the porch when we passed, we would be rak...

As an outsider to Maycomb (she comes from the strange and far-off land of northern Alabama), Miss Caroline gets as many lessons from her students as she gives to them. As a main booster for the sch...

Jack is the fun uncle. You know, the one who brings you firecrackers and teaches you how to shoot a gun. (No? Just us?) He may be a joker, but, unlike Atticus, he's not always fair. Scout points th...

A heavily religious woman and a closet drinker, Mrs. Grace Merriweather is "the most devout lady in Maycomb" (24.25). We know she's devout, because she's intent on saving (as in, converting) the Mr...

As minister of First Purchase Church, Reverend Sykes is an authority figure in Maycomb's African-American community. Like Santa Claus, he's knows if you've been bad or good: at the service Scout an...

Scout calls Judge Taylor "a sleepy old shark" (16.105), and it fits: he may seem out of it most of the time, but disrupt his court in any way and he's on it like a shark on fishmeat.While he seems...

Maycomb doesn't quite get Mr. Raymond. He's always drinking from a paper bag; he sits with the African-Americans; and Jem tells Scout and Dill that he's had several children with an African-America...

Mr. Underwood shares his name with a famous typewriter brand—appropriate, since he runs Maycomb's one and only newspaper, The Maycomb Tribune. He's also one of the few minor characters in the nov...

Mr. Cunningham is the father of Walter Cunningham, Scout's classmate. He's also a client of Atticus's, and pays Atticus for his services in goods rather than money, because that's all he can afford...

Walter may be almost as old as Jem, but he's still in Scout's class at school. (In other words, an almost-ten-year-old is sitting in with the first graders. Of course, most of them are repeating, t...

As Tom's wife, Helen gets to share in the town's persecution of her husband. Fun! After his arrest, she has difficulty finding work, and it's only the concern of Reverend Sykes and the kindness of...

As the town busybody, Miss Stephanie makes it her business to spread gossip, the meaner the better. She's the Finch kids' main source of rumors about Boo Radley, and takes as much delight in the gh...

Mr. Gilmer is the prosecutor who faces off against Atticus in court. Scout thinks their rivalry is strictly a legal one, but Dill notices something else: while Atticus treats all the witnesses, eve...

Lula appears only once in the novel, but she makes it count. When Calpurnia takes Jem and Scout to the African-American First Purchase Church, Lula is the one person who doesn't roll out the welcom...

Boo's brother, Mr. Nathan takes the place of their father when he dies. But is he Boo's protector—or jailor? And why does he fill up the knothole where Boo leaves gifts for the kids—does he wan...