Major characters
Jean Louise(Scout) Finch, the narrator of the story, is a major character. She is a girl who wishes she was a boy, she refuses to wear dresses and loves to be outside adventuring with her brother Jem and their friend Dill. Scout has a strong impact throughout the story as although she is innocent, she has strong opinions that regularly contradict the adults; these actions have got her into trouble as much as she has saved people.
Jem Finch is the older brother of Scout who at the beginning of the story would always be playing with her, but as the story progressed and he became a teenager he slowly started to become more individual and ‘too cool’ to play with Scout. However, he still felt as if he had to be her protector and always silently made sure she was alright. If Jem got challenged to any kind of dare, he would take it up and do it with pride; he was always the risk-taker and got the three(including Dill) in trouble with Atticus for his imaginations of Boo.
Atticus Finch is the father to Scout and Jem, he is a busy man who is at work all day then comes home to read or sleep; however, he is still very caring for his children and ensures there is time to be with them throughout their childhood. He would be the most well-mannered and caring man in Maycomb who puts himself at risk to help others, just like in the case with Tom. Atticus would be one of the only men in that era who believes in racial equality so strongly. He has been a great father to the two kids and they’ve grown up with a great sense of morality and hasn’t let them get caught up in the injustice in the town.
Tom Robinson is the main character in part two, he has been put on trial for raping Mayella Ewell. He was prejudiced accused of raping a girl, just because he was a negro and the Ewells knew they could get away with it because of the unjustly narrow-minded community of Maycomb. Tom was, in fact, a very caring man who would help Mayella with chores for free. Sadly, Tom was one of the books ‘mockingbirds.’
Minor characters
Charles Baker “Dill” Harris is the best friend to Scout and Jem every summer and they got many adventures together. He, along with Scout, shows a child’s perspective and innocence throughout the book with their obliviousness to the situations around them. Dill has a very strong imagination, sparking images in the other kid’s minds about Boo Radley.
Calpurnia is the cook for the Finch family, they are very fond of her and the mothership she can have for them. She has helped them have empathy for the black community and gave them opportunities to show the community they care for them too. Calpurnia has helped Jem and Scout to be disciplined and to control their opinions.
Aunt Alexandra is Atticus’s sister who decides she would move in with them during the trial ‘to help Atticus’ even though he was fine. She tries to change Scout into a lady even though that is not who she is and Aunt and Atticus get into numerous fights about it. She pushed into their lives and tried to control every situation, believing Atticus wasn’t taking good enough care of them; she tried to even fire Calpurnia.
Characters that change
I believe that Scout Finch is a character that has changed throughout the novel, this may be due to her growing older, or her new people in her life who have influenced her. Scout starts the novel as a complete tomboy, who will only ever wear overalls and will be beating up the boys up at school. This is because she has a brother Jem, who she adores and has shaped her personality around. Scout never thought about becoming a lady as Atticus never pushed it and Jem always teased her about being a girl. However as the story goes on and she is going from 6-9 years old, she begins to mature into a lady with the strong influence of her Aunt Alexandra; this was the normal thing for all girls in that generation and Scout was catching on a bit late. When Scout’s aunt moved in with them she always argued with Atticus about Scout needing to change her ways. Scout hated it, how someone just came into her life and tried changing who she was “I walked home with Dill and returned in time to overhear Atticus saying to Aunty, ‘…in favor of Southern womanhood as much as anybody, but not for preserving polite fiction at the expense of human life,’ a pronouncement that made me suspect they had been fussing again.” Aunt Alexandra managed to influence Scout enough to start wearing dresses, occasionally, and she also made her attend the ladies tea gatherings (there was usually lots of gossips so Scout didn’t mind.) However, the one thing that never changed was her strong opinion, and she wasn’t afraid to let her aunt know what she felt about becoming a lady, “I felt the starched walls of a pink cotton penitentiary closing in on me, and for the second time in my life I thought of running away. Immediately.”
The second character I think changed throughout the book was Jem Finch, Scout’s brother. He was becoming a teenager during the story, so we saw many changes both physically and mentally. Physically, Jem will have grown into his body more, and would have been trying to get strong, as he was really into football. Jem changed mainly mentally, he used to be really close to Scout and they used to play games, but throughout the book, he slowly started to become “too cool” for Scout. He would prefer to be in his room alone and wouldn’t want to be seen with her at school. Jem would also become frustrated with Scout as she hadn’t quite matured as much as he so got annoyed by her innocence. During the trial, he was beginning to understand the events unfolding around him and became quite upset when the trial didn’t go fairly like he thought it would, so in this way he was still quite innocent.