To Kill a Mockingbird

Chapter 1 introduces the reader to the book’s narrator, Jean Louise Finch, who is more commonly known as Scout. Scout begins her story by recounting how her older brother, Jem, broke his arm. She links the events that led to Jem’s broken arm into the broader chain of events that led her family to settle in Maycomb, Alabama, providing her child’s perspective of their legacy.

In the south, the social standing of a family is based on how long it’s been connected to the town. The Finch family legacy runs back to a fur-trader named Simon Finch, who fled England to escape religious persecution. Simon Finch set up a farm called Finch’s Landing on the banks of the Alabama River. The farm supported Scout’s father, a lawyer named Atticus Finch; his brother, a doctor named Jack; and his sister, Alexandra, who continued to live at Finch’s Landing.

Atticus serves as a single parent with the help of Calpurnia, a self-educated Black woman who serves as the family cook. Scout mentions that her mother died when she was only 2 years old, so she has few memories of her. Jem, however, was a few years older when his mother died, and he appears to miss her greatly from time to time.