To Kill a Mockingbird:

The trial is told from the perspective of Scout. How does her perspective affect what you understand to happen during the trial? Consider how dramatic irony might affect how you understand this part of the novel.

To Kill A Mockingbird is Harper Lee's coming-of-age novel about a black man being wrongfully accused of a crime, due to the racial inequality present in the fictional town of Maycomb.

The narrator of the novel is Jean Louise "Scout" Finch. Scout narrates the story as an adult, but tells it from her perspective as a child of six to nine years old. She is a perfect narrator for the story, as she now understands the events she experienced as a child, but tells us what they looked like through the eyes of an innocent girl. This is an example of dramatic irony, as we know something that the characters don't. An adult Scout gives us hints about what is going to happen and teaches us certain moral lessons that the main characters (as they are children) fail to understand.

The main event in the story is Tom Robinson's trial. Until her father was chosen to defend Tom, Scout knew nothing about the racial injustice in her society. After Tom has been convicted, Scout witnesses the prejudice and is no more as naive as before. Scout's perspective affects the readers' understanding of the whole story and makes the story's themes more deep. As Scout gradually matures and is able to understand what is happening around her, so does the reader become more aware of the extent of racial inequality. Scout learns certain moral lessons and rules from her father Atticus, but finds out that these rules are not always followed in real life. Unfortunately, an innocent man is convicted of crime, and dies as a result of it. He certainly did not deserve to die, but through Scout's example, we come to understand that life is not always as fair as we want it to be.