Sometimes it seems to schoolchildren that they are being asked too much. If you do not have time to read several voluminous chapters of the book, its retelling will come to your aid. This also applies to the novel "To Kill a Mockingbird." The summary of the work will become a real lifesaver, if you need to understand in 10 minutes what this great work is about.
The structure and beginning of the book
The novel "To Kill a Mockingbird", a summary of which you will learn right now, was invented by the English writer Harper Lee. It was first published in 1960.
The book consists of 31 chapters and is divided into 2 parts. The first includes chapters 1 through 11, and the second includes chapters 12 through 31.
The epilogue says that lawyers were also people once, and this is no coincidence, since the center of the story is the family of lawyer Atticus Finch and his children - the eldest boy Jim and the youngest girl Louise, whom everyone called Glazastic.
From the first chapter of the book âTo Kill a Mockingbirdâ, the brief content of which you are reading, we learn that at the beginning of the story, the boy was about 10 years old and the girl about six. The children did not have a mother, she died when Louise was 2 years old. She was replaced by brother and sister by their father, Atticus Finch, who was assisted by the Negro servant Kalpurnia.
The Scarecrow Radley Story
That summer, nephew Dill came to them in the small town of Maycombe, to a neighbor. He said that he is 7 years old. The children quickly became friends, Jim and Glazastic told a new acquaintance about the house of Scarecrow Radley. Rumor has it that an evil spirit lives there, which comes out at night and commits petty crimes. They also said that when Radley was a teenager, he got into bad company. Then the youths from this group entered the schools, received an education, and Radley's father locked him in the house and did not let go of it ever since.
Once, the Scarecrow, whose real name was Arthur, cut out pictures with scissors, his father passed by. The son plunged the scissors in the leg, took them out and continued to do his own thing, as if nothing had happened. Senior Radley did not call the police, but was able to talk to his son so much that he generally stopped going out and no one saw him for 15 years.
Dill was so shocked by these rumors that he ran into the gate for an argument, rushed to Radley's house and ran back. By this he proved to his new friends that he was brave. This concludes the first chapter of Harper Leeâs novel âTo Kill a Mockingbird,â a summary of the work goes on to the next.
What chapters 2, 3, and 4 are about
In early September, Dill went home, and Glasastic went to first grade. On the very first day, there were some incidents, but they show the kindness of the girl.
When the children brought breakfast from home during the break, Walter Cunningham, a poorly dressed child, ate nothing. The teacher wanted to give him money for lunch, but he did not take it, she insisted. Then Louise tried to explain to the teacher that the boy is from the Cunningham family, they are poor, they will not be able to give money, and brushwood to the teacher is useless. Louise meant that they could only pay with natural products, but the angry teacher Miss Caroline lightly slapped the girl on the hands with a ruler. It was a punishment.
It was not painful, but insulting, so Glasastic ran into Walter during the break and began to poke his nose into the ground. Saved Cunningham Jim, who invited him to dinner with them. After eating, the children again went to school. But Louise did not like it there, because the teacher said that she was reading incorrectly, although this girl was taught by her beloved father.
We learn this from chapter 3 of the first part of the book âTo Kill a Mockingbirdâ. The summary immediately proceeds to the fourth. She tells that the girl began to find small but pleasant gifts in the hollow of the tree - chewing gum, old coins in a box, and later (in chapter 7) - wooden dolls, one looked like her, the second like her brother. In the end, we find out what the Scarecrow did to them.
Fifth to eighth chapters
In the fifth chapter, we meet another neighbor of the children - Miss Modi. She told them what a good, brave and respected man Atticus was. Until then, Glasastic did not know that he, it turns out, was a very well-aimed shooter.
The sixth chapter carries away the story of the tricks of the children who nevertheless climbed into the garden of Radley, while Jim left his pants under the fence when he climbed over it. What was the surprise of the brother and sister, when the next morning they found pants that someone had sewn up, stroked and carefully hung on the fence.
Only at the end will we learn that the good Scarecrow did this. In the meantime, we move on to the next events of the book âTo Kill a Mockingbirdâ. A summary of the chapters came up to part 7, which says that Louise entered the 2nd grade. The eighth tells how such rare snow fell for these places, and the children made snowmanâs mud out of it.
Chapters 9-11
In chapter 9, Louise for the first time hears that her father will defend a black man in court, and many did not approve of this. The girl defended her fatherâs honest name as best she could, flying with fists at peers who insulted Atticus. The tenth chapter tells how he was able to shoot from afar and get into a mad dog and thereby save the inhabitants of the town from it.
In chapter 11, his father taught the lessons of proper education - he said that Jim, who had trampled down Mrs. Dubois's camellias, will now go to her room every day and read. The boy did this because she also spoke poorly about their father. When the terminally ill old woman died, they gave Jim a box of camellia. This ends chapter 11 and part 1 of Harper's novel Killing a Mockingbird. The summary will tell about the second part.
The second part of the novel
Readers learn from it that the black man Tom Robinson is accused of raping Mayellâs girlfriend. Even when the investigation was conducted, her father Bob Ewell persuaded the men and they arrived at the police station to commit lynching. But the brave Atticus Finch found out about the conspiracy and decided to watch. Jim and Louise came secretly after his father. The immediate girl saved Atticus. She saw Walter Cunningham in the crowd and said that she was studying with his son in the same class, was friends, and he had them at dinner. She was able to touch the manâs heart, he told the raiders to return home.
Just by chance, the children went to court. Father did not want this, because the topic is not for children's ears. A wise lawyer was able to destroy all the arguments of the prosecution and prove that Tom Robinson is not to blame.
This could not be forgiven to Bob Ewell. He guarded the children of the lawyer as they walked from the school costume ball and attacked them. Louise was saved by her uncomfortable, but rather durable pumpkin costume, and by Jim Scarecrow Radley. In the fray, Ewell was killed, but the sheriff did not initiate proceedings, he told everyone that Bob had fallen on his knife.
The work ends very movingly - the girl takes the hand of their savior - Scary Radley, escorts to the house and talks, as with an old friend.
This concludes the retelling of the book âTo Kill a Mockingbirdâ. Students can write a summary in English themselves, just translate this article.