An Analysis of To Kill a Mockingbird To Kill a Mockingbird is a short story written by Harper Lee. By definition TKAM is a mediated presentation of a series of causally connected actions involving conflicting characters. Harper Lee uses mediation to create a theme that illustrates the injustices of prejudice, intolerance, and quick judgments of others. Harper Lee chooses the setting as a fictional county (Maycomb) in Alabama in the 1930s. He set the story during this time because it was a time of social turbulence and a time when Americans began to think about more modern social issues. Harper Lee chose to tell the book from Scout's eyes, because Scout's innocence and young age allow her to have a pure and uncontaminated vision on every event that happens. In general, Scout observes, but has no preconceptions about the developing events. Scout's point of view was also chosen because as a child she can find the smallest fragment of goodness that exists in anyone. It is easier for a child to see the shades of gray in someone's character. A child cannot mention age, gender, etc. of someone as the cause of his problems or defects. After examining every character in the book through Scout's eyes, no character made a conscious decision to be evil. The first character to be quickly and wrongly judged is Finch's neighbor, Boo Radley. Boo is presented as a hermit who lives indoors, completely isolated from the outside world. Dill, Jem, and Scout spend most of their free time ridiculing Boo or trying to lure him out of the house. Using children's innocent fear of the unknown, Harper Lee manages to demonstrate the basis of all prejudice. In the end, Finch's bizarre neighbor becomes a hero and saves the children from almost certain death. While the children imagined and concluded that Boo was some sort of monster, he ends up saving the children he knows next to nothing about. This part also leads to a decision that following the law would be an injustice. Harper Lee presents and portrays Bob Ewell as an evil and evil man, but creates Bob this way to illustrate how judgment is made too quickly. Harper Lee begins to reveal the root of Bob's anger.