Pulitzer Prize, and became a classic of modern American Literature.
The plot and characters are loosely based on Lee's observations of her family, her neighbours and an event that
occurred near her hometown.
The unforgettable novel of a childhood in a sleepy Southern town and the crisis of conscience that rocked it, To
Kill a Mocking bird became both an instant bestseller and a critical success when it was first published in 1960.
The title of To Kill a Mockingbird has very little literal connection to the plot, but carries a great deal of symbolic weight in the book. In this story of innocents destroyed by evil, the "mockingbird" comes to represent the idea of
innocence.
"Thus, to kill a mockingbird is to destroy innocence. Throughout the book, a number of characters (Jem,Tom Robinson, Dill, Boo Radley and Mr Raymond) can be identified as "mockingbirds" - innocents who have been injured or destroyed through contact with evil."
This connection between the novel's title and its main theme is made explicit several times in the novel: after Tom Robinson is shot, Mr Underwood compares his death to "the senseless slaughter of songbirds," and at the end the book Scout thinks that hurting Boo Radley would be like "shooting a mockingbird." Most important, Miss Maudie explains to Scott: "Mockingbirds don't do one thing but...simply sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." That Jem and Scout's last name is finch (another type of bird) indicates that they are particularly vulnerable in the racist world of Maycomb, which treats the fragile innocence of childhood harshly.
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