plot lines concerns the Finch children's coming of age story.

As the children mature, they face and overcome obstacles. One of the obstacles they face concerns their fears, which are depicted in the characters Arthur Radley, whom the children call Boo Radley, and in Mrs. Dubose. Scout expresses their fears of these characters in the following passage found in the very first chapter:

When I was almost six and Jem was nearly ten, our summertime boundaries ... were Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose's house two doors to the north of us, and the Radley Place three doors to the south. We were never tempted to break them. The Radley Place was inhabited by an unknown entity the mere description of whom was enough to make us behave for days on end; Mrs. Dubose was plain hell. (Ch. 1)

Since these are fears the children have of other characters, we can call this an external character vs. character conflict. As the book progresses, the children learn that these two people aren't truly so frightful after all. Specifically, they learn that Arthur Radley is actually a benevolent, caring person who comes to their rescue. In addition, Jem learns Mrs. Dubose is actually a very brave person worthy of being emulated.

One internal conflict Scout faces as she matures, which becomes evident in the early chapters, concerns her desire to be a tomboy in the face of the reality that she is actually a girl. At first, Scout very easily accepts her preference for her tomboy lifestyle. However, as Jem begins spending more and more time with Dill, she begins feeling left out, which makes her feel torn between wanting to act like the boys and facing her reality that she is a girl. Scout begins to hesitate to play with Jem and Dill when they begin playing what they call the Boo Radley game (Ch. 4). She hesitates partially because she is afraid Boo will see and do something to them and partially because she thinks they'll get trouble from Atticus if they keep playing. Jem and Dill call her a girl for acting so cowardly and begin going off by themselves, as Scout notes in the following passage:

They spent days together in the treehouse plotting and planning, calling me only when they needed a third party. But I kept aloof from their more foolhardy schemes for a while, and on pain of being called a girl, I spent most of the remaining twilights that summer sitting with Miss Maudie Atkinson on her front porch. (Ch. 4)

Hence, as we can see from this passage, Scout is conflicted because, though she wants to play with them, her girlish instincts that tell her not to do anything reckless have kicked in, making her feel torn between her desires and the reality of her girlish nature. Since Scout feels torn between something she wants to be and something that she is in reality, we can call this a character vs. self conflict.

One conflict that arises in chapter 5 is between the children and Atticus regarding their treatment of Boo Radley. After Scout has her enlightening conversation regarding the true identity of Boo Radley, Jem and Dill decide to give Boo a letter. Dill tells Scout that they are going to politely ask Boo Radley to come outside sometime and tell them what he does inside his home all day. Jem then attaches the note to the end of a fishing pole and attempts to place it into Boo's shutters while Dill holds a dinner bell and keeps watch by the light pole. Unfortunately for the children, Atticus comes home and sees his son at the window of the Radley home holding a fishing pole. Atticus proceeds to chastise the children for bothering Boo Radley and pestering their reclusive neighbor. Atticus then tells them that the civil way to communicate with Boo would be by knocking on his front door. Atticus ends his conversation with the children by warning them to stop reenacting Boo's life in the front yard for the "edification of the neighborhood."

The main conflict that emerges from chapter 5 exists between the kids (Dill, Jem and Scout) and Atticus. When the kids create their game, acting out One Man's Family, and proceed to try to send a note to Boo Radley on the fishing pole, they are going against Atticus's express wishes that they leave Boo Radley alone. This can be defined as man vs. man; it could also be interpreted as in internal conflict for the kids, in that they know what they are doing might anger Atticus, yet they continue the shenanigans to get Boo to come out.

The main conflicts in Chapters 6-8 concern the children's all-consuming desire to get a glimpse of Boo Radley and the eventual realization that he is a friend--not a monster--deserving of the privacy that Atticus has so emphasized. In Chapter 6, the children make their nighttime raid on the Radley's back porch, only to be frightened away by Boo's shadow. The shadow disappears without bothering the children, and when Jem returns to the fence to retrieve his lost pants, a surprise from Boo is awaiting him. In Chapter 7, more gifts are found in the secret knothole, and the children come to see that they could only come from Boo. But their budding friendship with the unseen spectre suddenly ends when Boo's brother, Nathan, cements the knothole, preventing any further contact between Boo and the children. When Jem discovers that the tree is healthy--and that Nathan has closed the knothole to prevent Boo's communication with the children--he learns another harsh lesson about the Radleys' sense of justice and their cruel style of family punishment. Miss Maudie's house fire in Chapter 8 serves as a means for Boo to see his young friends once again. When Scout discovers a blanket across her shoulders, Atticus explains that it could have only come from Boo. Both of the children are bewildered: Scout nearly becomes sick at the thought:

     My stomach turned to water and I nearly threw up...

Jem can no longer contain himself, revealing to Atticus all of the children's secrets.

     Jem seemed to have lost his mind. He began pouring out our secrets right and left...

Jem finally understands that Boo is not to be feared, and he promises that

"I ain't gonna do anything to him..."

Chapter 9 actually serves as a transitional chapter, leaving the children's quest to see Boo behind and introducing more information about Atticus's defense of Tom Robinson. Just as the children have given up trying to lure Boo into the open, Scout has finally taken her father's advice and walked away from a fight--her first time ever--with Cecil Jacobs. But when Scout's cousin Francis accuses Atticus of the same things as Cecil, she relapses, and she

... split my knuckle to the bone on his front teeth.

The children are able to give up Boo, but insults about Atticus will still bring out their anger in the ensuing chapters.

In Chapter Thirteen of To Kill a Mockingbird, Aunt Alexandra has arrived in order to provide Scout with some "feminine influence"—a decision which Scout thoroughly does not agree with, since she struggles to relate to and converse with the woman. Aunt Alexandra is on the warpath to do "What Is Best For The Family" and to create a sense of pride in their personal history. Unfortunately for her, Scout and Jem have very little interest in the so-called "family consciousness" of the Finch lineage and do not possess pride in their ancestry.

Additionally, much of the conflict in this chapter comes from Scout's resistance to being turned into a proper young lady and a beacon of Southern womanhood, a task which Aunt Alexandra has narrow-mindedly insisted upon taking up. Although she may care enough about her family to settle down roots at the Finch household, her methodology is less than desirable in the eyes of Scout.

In chapter 14 of To Kill a Mockingbird, there is conflict between Scout and Jem. Jem tells Scout not to "antagonize Aunty." He says this because an argument ensues between Atticus and Alexandra after Scout asks to go to Calpurnia's house. Jem attempts to explain to Scout that Atticus has enough to worry about with Tom's trial. He doesn't want Scout to cause trouble between Atticus and Aunt Alexandra. Convinced that Atticus doesn't "worry about anything," Scout disagrees with Jem. She struggles with Jem's "maddening superiority" and is insulted when he says her mind can't retain information like the minds of "grown folks." She finally pounces on him when he threatens to spank her. Punching and slapping are involved before Atticus steps in to end the fight. Scout is delighted when Jem is given the same bedtime as her. The conflict ends as quickly as it began. Scout and Jem say "Night" to each other and go their separate ways.

Another external conflict between characters comes with Dill's running away from home as a result of a conflict with a father-figure who competes with him for the attentions of his mother.

An internal conflict in Chapter 14 of "To Kill a Mockingbird" is evident in Jem's struggles to become an adult.  At one moment he maturely urges Scout not to worry her father with trivial problems, then he fights with Scout and has to be separated by Atticus, and then he again seems as adult as he informs Atticus of Dill's surprise arrival.

One of the many conflicts that appear in Chapter 14 is the quarrel between Aunt Alexandra and Atticus. Scout is taken aback as she cannot remember a time when anyone has "fussed" with her father. It is through this incident that the reader starts to feel the tension of the trial and the impact it is having on the family.

The main conflict of chapter 15 can be understood in two ways—by focusing on the underlying concept or by focusing on the people who embody the concept. The chapter has some of the tensest moments in the novel, as Atticus moves from defending Tom as a lawyer in court to possibly physically defending him from a lynch mob. As the children do not exactly understand lynching but have an idea that something terrible might happen, they follow their father when he leaves the house one Sunday night (which he rarely does). After they all reach the jail, they find Atticus sitting outside. The group of men that approaches includes a few townspeople and some strangers. Realizing things will probably get out of hand, Scout throws caution to the winds and intervenes. The reality of a little girl’s intervention—including both some quick thinking and kicking one man in the crotch—de-escalates the situation, and the men back down without any harm coming to Tom.

While a number of specific conflicts are borne out, the chapter primarily lays out a conceptual conflict of law versus lawlessness. The former is embodied by Atticus, Mr. Underwood (who has been hiding with a gun), and the men who converge on the jail. Thus, the personal conflict is mainly between those men, with Scout, Jem, and Dill largely participating on the “law” side.

In chapter 23, the main sources of conflict are person versus person and person versus society. For example, Atticus has to contend with Bob Ewell after the trial (person versus person). Despite the latter's provocative behavior, Atticus refuses to engage him. He tells Scout and Jem that he would rather Bob Ewell take out his rage on him than on Mayella.

Meanwhile, Aunt Alexandra forbids the children from socializing with the Cunningham family. She tells Scout and Jem that the Cunninghams are "not our kind of folks." Aunt Alexandra's words demonstrate that there is another divide in Maycomb, one based upon socioeconomic factors (person versus person). Last, but not least, Scout finds herself in conflict with Aunt Alexandra (person versus person). For her part, Aunt Alexandra is committed to making Scout into a "lady." However, Scout finds it difficult to subscribe to the latter's narrow definition of ladylike behavior.

In the chapter, Atticus also has to contend with the society in which he lives (person versus society). Because he is defending a black man, he must face extreme wrath from many citizens in his town. In court, the jury is made up of Maycomb citizens, and they are unanimously allied against Tom Robinson. Once again, racism has reared its ugly head. For his part, Atticus is frustrated that the jury has delivered a guilty verdict (which results in the death penalty), based on nothing more than circumstantial evidence. This means that Mayella never corroborated her story with medical evidence of her rape at Tom Robinson's hands.

In chapter 24, the main sources of conflict are person versus self and person versus person. In this chapter, the person versus person conflict shows up as girl versus woman (Scout and Aunt Alexandra) and girl versus women (Scout and the missionary ladies). Meanwhile, the person versus self conflict shows up as girl versus self (Scout and her personal beliefs about femininity). In the chapter, Scout is again at odds with Aunt Alexandra. She feels uncomfortable dressed up in a starchy pink dress, but she knows that this is what her aunt expects. Others like Miss Stephanie also make pointed comments about Scout's habit of wearing pants. So, Scout has to contend with Aunt Alexandra and the ladies in the missionary circle who agree with her aunt.

During the social event, the ladies chat about everything from converting people in Africa to the Robinson trial. Mrs. Merriweather suggests that Atticus is one of those "good but misguided" people who have "stirred" up trouble in Maycomb. Miss Maudie responds with an acerbic comment, prompting Scout to conclude that she prefers the company of men to women.

But I was more at home in my father’s world. People like Mr. Heck Tate did not trap you with innocent questions to make fun of you; even Jem was not highly critical unless you said something stupid. Ladies seemed to live in faint horror of men, seemed unwilling to approve wholeheartedly of them. But I liked them. There was something about them, no matter how much they cussed and drank and gambled and chewed; no matter how undelectable they were, there was something about them that I instinctively liked...

Conflicts abound surrounding the trial of Tom Robinson. Long before the trial begins, Jem and Scout become aware that many people in Maycomb are unhappy that Atticus has taken the case. It is a decision he had hoped to never make, since he knows that defending a black man accused of raping a white woman is a case he could not win. Some are upset because they know that Atticus will try his best to win the case; others, like his sister, Alexandra, are upset because of how it might affect the entire Finch family.

As the spectators enter the courtroom, the divisive nature that surrounds the trial becomes more evident: Black people must wait until after all of the white people enter; once inside, Negroes are segregated in the balcony. When the trial begins, Atticus determines that Mayella was hit by someone who "led almost exclusively with his left." He all but accuses Bob Ewell of beating his own daughter. Once Mayella takes the stand, she contradicts her own testimony during Atticus's questioning, and she eventually refuses to answer his queries. When Tom takes the stand, Atticus allows him to tell his story, but the prosecutor attacks his credibility, primarily along racial lines.

Author Harper Lee builds the tension steadily, beginning with Sheriff Tate's bland testimony, and followed by Bob Ewell's explosive revelation that he caught Tom "ruttin' on my Mayella." Mayella's time on the stand is highly emotional: She is reduced to tears, and Atticus is forced to abandon his instinctive manners of the Southern gentleman and attack Mayella's credibility--he "rained questions on her." When Tom's testimony presents an entirely different version of the events, the prosecutor's cross-examination is so emotional that Dill needs to take a break from the proceedings. The scene with Dolphus Raymond gives the reader a breather from the racially-charged testimony before Scout and Dill return for Atticus's dramatic summation. Lee reestablishes the tension in the courtroom during Atticus's speech and, later, as the spectators wait for the verdict from the jury--one that ignores the conflicting evidence and testimony but proves correct Atticus's prediction that Tom's word could not possibly be taken over the word of the Ewells. The fallout of the trial creates more conflicts: Jem no longer trusts juries or the people of Maycomb; Bob decides that revenge is in order; and Tom dies after deciding that he has little chance with white man's justice.

Jem and Scout's relationship with their neighbors in Maycomb creates a great deal of the conflict and tension in the novel. As they watch events unfold in Tom Robinson's case, they often cannot understand what they see and hear around them, but they do recognize cruelty and hatefulness. Mrs. Dubose's tirade about their father's "lawing for niggers" infuriates Jem so much that he destroys her flowers. When cousin Francis calls Atticus a "nigger lover," Scout beats him up, just as she fought with Cecil Jacobs at school for essentially criticizing Atticus in the same way.

Scout's relationship with Aunt Alexandra is also one of conflict, and the tension between her and her aunt develops to the point that it fills Scout with great anxiety and frustration. In her attempts to mold Scout into a lady, Alexandra often insults Scout and hurts her feelings. When she tries to turn Jem and Scout into "respectable" members of the Finch family line, Scout sees Alexandra as a threat to the roles she and Jem have always played in their family and to the nature of their relationship with their father:

Atticus, is all this behavin' an' stuff gonna make things different? I mean are you--? . . . Do you really want us to do all that? I can't remember everything Finches are supposed to do . . . .

Scout's fears are resolved when Atticus tells her he doesn't want her to remember it: "Forget it," he tells her.

Finally, Scout and Jem's relationship with Boo Radley creates one particular scene of great dramatic tension when Jem returns to the Radley yard to retrieve his pants from their fence. Scout is certain her brother will be killed.