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Jean Louise "Scout" Finch tells the story of her life from ages 6–9 in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. The story is written from Scout's adult perspective from some future point in time as she remembers specific events and people during those critical years in her life, as well as during Maycomb's history. The novel is a bildungsroman, or a coming-of-age story, that chronicles the events that helped to teach the protagonist to learn and grow from a limited understanding of childish things to a strong understanding of the world of adults. The major things that Scout learns about are prejudice, hospitality, discrimination, hypocrisy, love, loyalty, and learning that people aren't as bad as gossip makes them out to be. The world of Southern life during the 1930s is exposed for the racist world that it was before the Civil Rights movement thirty years later. As one reads through the text, it is interesting to experience the childlike perspectives and attitudes portrayed through Scout's narration as she learns and grows during each event. Meanwhile, one can clearly sense the adult voice behind the experiences as well, which helps to fill in any gaps of memory that one might have while looking back over a number of years.
The narrator of To Kill a Mockingbird is, of course, Jean Louise "Scout" Finch, Atticus' daughter and the character that is based on author Harper Lee herself. Scout tells the story from two perspectives: from her youthful side (aged 6-8) and from her adult viewpoint many years in the future. It explains why some of the passages seem so simplistic (and why Scout appears clueless about much of what is going on around her) and why she has such a wise grasp on other situations. Scout is based on the author, who was a notorious tomboy growing up in Monroeville, Alabama (the basis for Maycomb). Her best friend in Monroeville was the future writer Truman Capote, who was the inspiration for Dill. Atticus is based on Lee's own father, who was also an attorney.
From Scout :)
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