德里高利派克出演的律师父亲是一个真正的英雄。

Stella: To Kill a Mockingbird is set in Alabama （亚拉巴马州）during the Great Depression （大萧条）. Atticus Finch is a single father to Scout and Jem and works as a lawyer. The story is told from the point of view of Scout, a girl who ages from 6 to 9 during the story. It is about a mysterious neighbor who never leaves his house, and a case that accuses（指控） a black man of raping a poor white woman.

Q:这本小说的作者哈珀李把故事布置在美国南方亚拉巴马的三十年代大萧条时期。大家知道美国南方正是种族歧视最厉害的地方，而且，还在经济不好压力最大的时候。小说是从一个大约6-7岁的小姑娘眼睛里叙述出去的，所以虽然涉及的主题都非常严肃比如阶层，歧视，种族歧视，性别歧视，误解，贫穷，不公，但整个语言却能保持温暖以及价值观的纯真。Stella，How does the story end?

S: Atticus believes that Tom Robinson - the accused - is innocent and supported his belief well in court, yet Tom was still pronounced guilty. This was wrong because this happened mainly due to Tom’s skin color. People saw blacks as lower than everyone - including poor white women. Tom then tried to escape from prison and was killed. Scout was devastated. The mysterious man who lived next door saved her and her brother’s lives and proved to be an innocent man, which is contradictory to what she had heard about him.  

Q: 这本小说涉及了两条主线，一个是一件强奸案，黑人男性Tom被指强奸贫穷家庭的白人女性，Scout的父亲Atticus做Tom的辩护律师，Tom最终仍然难逃死去的结局。另一条线是邻居家的一个神秘男人从未进入公众视野，其原因在小镇众说纷纭，最终却是这人救了孩子们的命。这两条线会在结局的时候交汇。在这个保守的小镇，父亲要顶住压力为黑人辩护，孩子全不顾邻里的流言止不住的好奇想了解这个神秘的邻居，都彰显了一种强烈的个人意志。来我们先说说父亲，律师，Atticus。

Stella： As a father, he treats his children as equals, educating them on what is right and answering any questions they raise. 1930s America is racist. People are biased against African Americans and regularly use racial slurs, yet Atticus does not and teaches his children to not do so as well. He believes in doing what is right, not following the crowd.

Q：Stella说到作为父亲他平等对待孩子，回答他们的所有问题，并且教育孩子做正确的事情,而不是去从众。

Stella： He was assigned to defend Tom Robinson, an African American man in court. He knew before he began the case that he would lose due to people’s bias against African Americans. Atticus still went through with the case because he wanted Tom to have the best defense possible and he truly believed Tom was innocent. Atticus believes in defending the innocent, in treating everyone equally even though doing so is against the norm.

Q：作为一个律师，尽管Atticus非常清楚由于整个环境对黑人的歧视他会输掉案子，但是他仍然尽全力在法庭上为汤姆辩护，顶住了来自周围的强烈压力。这些压力，大家可以去仔细看一下书里的细节，不仅涉及他在小镇的名声，更有关他和孩子们的安全，非常的大。他在坚持自己认为正确的事情坚持专业上，显示了非凡勇气。当年大明星德里高利派克演的他。原书里，他对儿子这样说勇气，“when you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what".这个人物，被认为是极具影响力的虚构书中英雄。而且，他还特别低调。

Stella: Jem, Scout’s brother, grew more respect for Atticus once he found out Atticus was a great shooter. Atticus told him that he wanted Jem to know what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that it is a man with a gun. Real courage is doing something even though you know you will fail, and insisting on standing up for your beliefs.

Q:这位文质彬彬的律师父亲是一位神枪手，儿子根本不知道。这位父亲清楚告诉儿子勇气是什么，用我们中国人的话说，虽千万人吾往矣。

S：The books also talked about a few strong women who all taught and influenced Scout positively.

Q: 哈珀李是一个女作家，她在书里塑造了好几个温暖又坚强的女性形象，从各个方面给予小姑娘影响。Scout虽然年幼，她的叙述里有显示她正直善良又充满孩子天生的纯真直接。

S：I liked this book. Life was different and not very easy for people back then. We were required to read this book in 8th grade. There were many class discussions.  The book was not boring because there was a lot to discuss.