“To Kill A Mockingbird" (Setting/INTRO)

I am Scout Finch. I live with my brother Jem, my father and our cook Calpurnia on the main residential street in Maycomb, Alabama.

My brother Jem is 4 years older than me. Jem broke his arm when he was 13 so his left arm was shorter than his right. My father is a lawyer. My mom died when I was two, Jem often miss her. We have an old local family. Finch’s landing make our living from cotton. Simon Finch is one of our ancestors, he is a fur-trapping apothecary from Cornwall. Simon died rich, because of his industry, my father was related by blood or marriage to nearly every family in our town.

Maycomb is an old town. Sometimes, people have no money to pay, they simply pay what they have. The weather here is really hot. People move slowly in this town. Calpurnia is our cook, she also helps my father to discipline me. People said that there is a malevolent phantom called Boo in the Radley Place where three doors from us to the south. All the people in the town are afraid of him, we all stay away from the Radley Place.

We met Dill in a summer. He was from Meridian, Mississippi. We soon became good friends. He made a bet with my brother of making Boo Radley come out. We ran away after Jem slapped the house. And this is all what I remembered in that summer.

My brother takes me to school the first day. My teacher is Miss Caroline. She doesn’t trust me that I learnt reading by myself. I explain for my classmate Walter but she still doesn’t trust my words. She is angry with me. She hauls me up to the front of the room and pats my hand with a ruler. Teachers are very strict with students.

Yes, as you can see, this is my life so far.