Summary
To Kill a Mockingbird opens with a stylistic credit sequence of a young girl examining the contents of an old cigar box, which includes valued trinkets like soap doll figures, an old watch, crayons, marbles, a pencil, and a spelling bee medal. The girl begins giggling and humming to herself as she colors the film’s title on lined paper. She then draws a stick figured mockingbird and tears the paper through the bird.
The camera then descends on the languid, “tired old town” of Maycomb, Alabama. Via voice-over, an adult version of Jean Louise “Scout” Finch narrates the film’s events, which are told from Scout’s point of view as a young schoolgirl in the early 1930s, at the peak of the Great Depression. The adult Scout recollects her upbringing in the Deep South, remarking, “The day [in Maycomb] was 24 hours long, but it seemed longer. There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go and nothin' to buy...and no money to buy it with. Although Maycomb County had recently been told that it had nothin' to fear but fear itself...That summer, I was six years old.”
We then see a poor farmer, Walter Cunningham, approach the Finch household. Scout, dressed in tomboyish overalls, greets Mr. Cunningham. She then calls for her well-dressed, older father—Atticus—whom she calls by his first name. Atticus is one of the town’s defense attorneys, and Mr. Cunningham offers Atticus hickory nuts as part of his entailment for Atticus’s legal work. Atticus warmly accepts the payment, which was collards the previous week. As Mr. Cunningham leaves, Atticus asks Scout not to call for him the next time Mr. Cunningham returns to the house, as it likely “embarrasses him [Mr. Cunningham] to be thanked.” Scout then inquires about her family’s socioeconomic status. Atticus admits that they are poor, albeit not as poor as the Cunninghams, who were greatly shaken by the Depression.
When Atticus asks Scout to call for her brother, Jeremy “Jem" Finch, for breakfast, she reveals that he has retreated to the treehouse and is refusing to come down until Atticus agrees to play football with him. Atticus explains to Jem that he is too old to play—”I’m the only father you have. You wouldn’t want me to go and get my head knocked off, would you?” A frustrated Jem still refuses to join the family for breakfast, and begins to complain to Miss Maudie Atkinson, a kind neighbor who is quite close with the family. Jem laments, “Every time I want him to do something, he’s too old. He’s too old for anything...He won’t let me have a gun, and he’ll only play touch football with me, never tackle,” and Miss Maudie defends Atticus, telling the children to “count [their] blessings and stop complaining.”
Scout joins Jem in the treehouse, and Jem spots a young boy crouching in the collard patch belonging to Miss Stephanie Crawford’s garden. The small, peculiar boy introduces himself: “I'm Charles Baker Harris. I can read. You got anything that needs reading, I can do it.” Jem then asks for the age of the boy, who says he’s “going on seven,” and Jem replies, “No wonder, then. Scout’s been reading ever since she was born and she don’t start school till next month.” Jem also comments on the puniness of the young boy, who claims, ”I’m little but I’m old.” He proceeds to give more information about himself: people commonly call him “Dill,” he’s from Meridian, Mississippi and spending the next two weeks next door with his aunt, Miss Stephanie. Dill also says that his mother worked as a photographer who entered his picture in a “Beautiful Child" contest and won five dollars. Scout then joins the conversation; she remarks that her and Jem’s mother is dead and asks Dill about his father. Dill says he doesn’t have a father, Scout then asks if his father is dead and Dill says no, to which Scout rebuffs, “Well, if he’s not dead, you got one, haven’t you?” Dill looks hurt, so Jem tells Scout to hush.
Scout then introduces Dill to Calpurnia, a black woman who works as the housekeeper and cook for the Finch family. Jem then spots Mr. Radley, the “meanest man that ever took a breath of life," walk on a nearby sidewalk. Jem then takes Dill and Scout to the creaky Radley property, which is a few houses down the road. Jem proceeds to explain to Dill that Mr. Radley keeps his son Boo Radley trapped and chained to a bed in their house. Boo supposedly only comes outside in the pitch dark, and Jem asserts that he heard Boo scratching on their screen door one night. Jem offers a visual description of Boo: he’s about 6’6 tall, eats squirrels and cats, and has rotten teeth, popped eyes, and a long scar across his face. Miss Stephanie then approaches the children and forbids Dill from playing near the Radley house due to the dangerous “maniac” who lives there. She fills the impressionable children’s minds with more fearsome, gossipy anecdotes about the mysterious and troublesome Boo, who apparently attempted to kill his father with scissors and was locked in a basement thereafter.
When the clock strikes five, Scout, Jem, and Dill run to greet Atticus. Jem warns the two younger kids about another neighbor—Mrs. Dubose—an elderly, wheelchair-bound woman. Jem remarks, “Listen, no matter what she says to you, don't answer her back. There's a Confederate pistol in her lap under her shawl and she'll kill you quick as look at you. Come on.” As they pass Mrs. Dubose, Scout accidentally acts somewhat disrespectfully to the woman, who then shouts at Scout and calls her ugly. The three children rush to Atticus’s side. Atticus calms Mrs. Dubose with compliments for her garden and flowers. Hiding behind Atticus’s back, Jem illuminates his understanding of his father’s use of polite diplomacy as a means of conflict resolution: “he gets her interested in something nice, so she forgets to be mean.”
Later, while Atticus and Scout read Robinson Crusoe aloud in Scout’s bedroom, Scout can’t get Boo out of her head and asks Atticus about him. Atticus firmly tells Scout to leave the Radley house alone and cease her gossipy tormenting of the family. Scout agrees to her father’s request and asks him about his antique watch. Atticus informs Scout that he will offer Jem the watch once Jem is grown, and Scout will receive beloved valuables—a pearl necklace and ring—from her deceased mother. Atticus then wishes Scout a good night and exits her room.
Scout then calls out to Jem, who is sleeping in the adjacent bedroom, and asks about their mother: whether she was pretty (“Uh, huh”), if they loved her (“Yes”), and if he misses her (“Uh, huh”). It is also revealed that Scout was only two years old when their mother passed away, so she doesn’t have any real memories of her. Atticus overhears this poignant conversation while sitting on the porch outside. Then, an older local judge, Judge Taylor, approaches Atticus and asks if he will defend Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a white woman who will be charged by a grand jury the following day in court. While Atticus is busy with his practice and children, he ultimately agrees to “take the case,” and represent Tom in court.
Analysis
These first few scenes of To Kill a Mockingbird provide critical exposition for Scout, Atticus, Jem, Dill, and even the town of Maycomb. In particular, the film immerses the viewer in its childhood perspective within its first few minutes in the opening credits sequence.
Though the face of the young girl humming in this sequence is never seen, we nonetheless presume the character to be Scout, as the contents of the cigar box are full of treasures that unfold as meaningful symbols—the soap figures, the pocket watch, the pearl necklace—later in the film. The sequence even foreshadows the forthcoming injustice and tragedy in the film. After the girl shades in her rudimentary mockingbird drawing, she tears the paper through the bird, hinting at the senseless racial divisions and tensions that will not only demolish the child’s fragile, naive perception of the world, but also reveal the evil, ingrained prejudice of Maycomb.
The opening credits introduce a childish point of view; everything in the sequence conjures a specific atmosphere of childhood, from the child’s innocent giggling, to the small marbles that look as imposing as globes, to the amateur drawing of the stick figured mockingbird. Notably, the scene presents mundane and ordinary objects (the mirror, whistles, the aforementioned watch and dolls), but these objects are shot from disorienting, unusual angles, which de-familiarizes them. These valued possessions are separately seen in fragmented, uncanny closeups, forcing us to view them as singular, imposing statues, removed from their overarching purpose and use in the real world. These snapshots of de-familiarized daily objects evoke the film’s overall point of view. We predominantly view the film’s events through our protagonist’s—a six-year-old Scout—eyes, so characters, dialogue, strange or banal occurrences, and objects are not easily digested or presented with clear context. For instance, when Scout is confused by Dill's declaration that he is fatherless, we understand why and don’t question the validity of Scout’s point of view: some things in life don’t make much sense, and Scout is not yet able to grasp some of life’s perplexities. These opening sequences of To Kill a Mockingbird speak to one of the film's greatest achievements: reorienting the world in a fresh light and plunging the viewer in Scout’s mindset.
The pervasive point of view of the innocent child is often characterized as at once solipsistic and mature. As aforementioned, Scout is unable to comprehend how Dill doesn’t have a father despite the fact that his father hasn't died. She even challenges Dill (“Well, if he’s not dead, you got one, haven’t you?”) because Dill upholds a perspective and experience of fatherhood that doesn’t apply to Scout, a girl with a loving, morally upright, and dependable father. Because Scout can’t relate to Dill—who undoubtedly has a less than ideal home life—she can’t consider his point of view, feel empathy for him, or even detect his discomfort at discussing his father. Instead, she rebuffs Dill’s circumstances as a defense mechanism for her own inability to come to terms with the ambiguities of life and realize how many people do not share the comfort, stability, and love she experiences with her family.
The childhood perspective, however, can sometimes reveal an unrelenting honesty that probes closer toward the capabilities of fully-developed adults. After Jem pokes fun at Dill’s height, Dill vehemently claims, “I’m little but I’m old,” a statement underlining why his height does not align with his maturity. Here, Dill essentially announces his belief that he is wise beyond his years, which is likely accurate—his eccentric nonchalance, peculiar theatrics, and mannerisms evoke those of an elderly man. Through his “little but old” comment, Dill also implies that “little” or younger people like him can often grasp events and injustice better than his elders, a theme that resurfaces in the trial scene.
Meanwhile, Jem’s point of view teeters between Scout’s undeveloped, self-centered perspective and Dill’s wiser perspective. Jem, a few years older than Scout and Dill, is frustrated at Atticus’s refusal to play football with him. Jem claims Atticus is “too old to for anything,” an appropriately childish view of Atticus’s character and a demonstration that he has not yet developed the capacity to understand how Atticus could be thinking of him without simply doing what he wants—namely by protecting his children and not risking their future by putting himself at risk in a game for which he is too old. Atticus is merely looking out for his children, but Jem is unable to see this; instead, he focuses on how Atticus seemingly deprives him of short-term fun. Conversely, Jem demonstrates his maturity in his first interaction with Dill. When Scout challenges and naively pries into Dill’s family life, Jem notices Dill’s embarrassment and tells Scout to hush, a glowing example of how Jem can show empathy for other people’s feelings.
Scout, Jem, and Dill’s fixation on Maycomb’s pariah, Boo, also acts as an indicator of their impressionable, naive minds. All three children are equally terrified and intrigued by the mysterious and elusive Boo, despite having never seen him in person—Boo is only what they have heard from town gossip and in turn conjured in their own imaginations. They accept such cartoonish superstitions about Boo, from his cat and squirrel diet to his popped eyes, as a means to fuel to their own insatiable curiosity. As children, Scout, Jem, and Dill are especially susceptible to accept absurd popular legends and gossipy anecdotes. At this point in the film, Maycomb is a slow-paced, poor town with little attractions for children, with an exception of Boo and the Radley house, whose mysteriousness feeds their active imaginations. However, as the film’s events unfold, this seemingly simple society reveals its darker, more prejudiced sides, all the while refuting Scout, Jem, and Dill’s fearful beliefs about Boo.
