Why is Scout the narrator in To Kill a Mockingbird?

Scout is the narrator because having a child tell the story adds an element of interest and makes it a coming of age story.

Harper Lee used a child narrator because it allows for additional layers to the text.  The Scout that is telling the story is not the child Scout, but an adult version.  In this way, she can look back on how she felt as a child but also have the understanding of an adult.

Child narrators are known as unreliable narrators.  An unreliable narrator tells things from a slanted perspective.  We also consider narrators who are reflecting back over time unreliable.  Scout seems to have two marks against her.  However, as a narrator Scout is very entertaining.  She is humorous, precocious, and insightful.

Scout is the perfect narrator for this story because she is Atticus Finch’s daughter.  This gives her inside information on the trial, but also allows us to follow the Boo Radley plot line.  In many ways, Boo Radley is directly connected to the events of the trial.  In this way, it is good to have Scout narrating because as she grows up she comes to better understand Boo Radley.

Boo Radley is important because he rescued Scout and Jem.  This is related to the Tom Robinson trial because the reason the children were in danger was that Bob Ewell was angry at Atticus. If we had not had Scout’s perspective on Boo Radley as she was growing up, this incident would not be as meaningful.

Scout is the narrator instead of Jem because she is younger.  This makes her coming of age and growing consciousness more interesting.  For example, Scout is afraid of Boo Radley for most of the book.  After he saves them, she looks back at her life from his perspective.

Summer, and he watched his children’s heart break. Autumn again, and Boo’s children needed him.

Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough. (Ch. 31)

Scout is an excellent narrator because she is genuine.  She is not lying to the reader or trying to sugar-coat things.  The Tom Robinson case was the trial of the century for Maycomb.  Reading about it from the point of view of a young girl who happens to be the daughter of the lawyer is a great touch.

How is Scout a reliable narrator in To Kill a Mockingbird?

Scout's status as a child makes her a reliable narrator of the events that unfold in Maycomb in the 1930s. She has a child's eye for detail, a child's literalism, no interest in sugarcoating the truth, and access to information that adult white people do not have.

The curious Scout records what she witnesses in an unvarnished way. For example, she overhears the racism of the white Maycomb ladies of the Missionary Society whom Aunt Alexandra entertains at the Finch house. Scout shows that they are more concerned with helping black people in Africa than in Maycomb, despite the great need at home. She notes how they silence the black servants who dare to show unhappiness after the Tom Robinson verdict. Through her innocent but observant eyes, we see how self-serving the racism is, helping these ladies to keep their low-cost help.

Scout also sees parts of life that most white people shun. For example, when Calpurnia takes her to the black First Purchase church, Scout witnesses firsthand the poverty and lack of education in the black community. She also sees the way the black people pull together to help Tom Robinson's family.

Scout does not know enough to try to twist or sugarcoat the blatant injustice of the Tom Robinson trial. She tells what happens as it happens, conveying that Tom could not have been guilty of raping Mayella.

Scout's child's perspective exposes the ugliness of Maycomb's racism, but her love of her childhood and the innocent adventures she has in the town help show its better side as well.

The role of narrator in To Kill a Mockingbird is served by Scout Finch. Scout primarily tells the events of the story from her perception as a young girl. However, in the second paragraph of the novel, Scout mentions, "When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we sometimes discussed the events leading to his accident." The accident alluded to here is Jem's broken arm. Her statement provides evidence that she is looking back on the events of the story.

Scout is a reliable narrator because she tells the events as she remembers them from her perspective as a young girl with honesty and naivety. The reader knows that Scout often does not fully understand the context of some of the events and conversations taking place. However, when it becomes necessary, she clarifies information using her adult perspective. As an example, consider Scout's narration during Tom Robinson's trial. If Scout's perception was only that of a child, the reader would potentially have missed many important details, since a young girl would have little awareness of some of the events. One example of Scout's adult perspective adding understanding can be seen when Atticus is questioning Mayella Ewell. Scout notices that "Atticus was quietly building up before the jury a picture of the Ewells’ home life." This may have gone unnoticed and unmentioned by using only the point of view of a young girl.

Scout can be considered a reliable narrator because as a child she has no agenda, and does not sugarcoat or ignore the facts.

Scout is often considered an unreliable narrator because she is a child, and as a child she does not know or understand everything that is going on, and because an older Scout is telling the story from memory.  While this is true, we should not paint Scout as the unreliable narrator so broadly.  As a citizen of Maycomb, she knows more about the town and its happenings than most outsiders.  She is also a very perceptive and precocious little girl. 

Scout’s ability to parse the facts and come to the truth is demonstrated by how she talks about Maycomb.

There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County. But it was a time of vague optimism for some of the people: Maycomb County had recently been told that it had nothing to fear but fear itself. (Ch. 1)

The reader can tell from this example that Scout is more aware than the typical youngster, and is capable of reliably narrating the story.  As a child, she does not bend the facts to her will.  She simply reports them.  Sometimes she does not understand them completely, but no adult would either.  This makes Scout the perfect narrator for a story about how adults let emotion and tradition get in the way of common sense.

In To Kill a Mockingbird, who narrates the story and from what point of view?

Jean Louise “Scout” Finch is the narrator of To Kill a Mockingbird.  She is an adult at the time she narrates the book, but the book is told from her perspective as a young child over a period of years from about six to nine.  A first person point of view is used, with an unreliable narrator.

The adult perspective also adds a measure of hindsight to the tale, allowing for a deeper examination of events. (enotes style)

We know that Scout is older because she writes from the perspective of an adult looking back, trying to understand what she saw as a child.

When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we sometimes discussed the events leading to his accident. (ch 1)

Despite the age of the adult narrator, we still get a child’s perspective on most events.  This is what is known as an unreliable narrator, both because a child is narrating and because it is a memory.

Since Scout is so young at the time of the book’s narration, she can describe events with a child’s innocence.  During the trial, Scout understands most of what is going on, but not as much as her older brother Jem.

"I think it's okay, Reverend, she doesn't understand it."
I was mortally offended. "I most certainly do, I c'n understand anything you can."
"Aw hush. She doesn't understand it, Reverend, she ain't nine yet." (ch 17)

Scout’s coming of age story allows the reader to get a feel for what life would have been like in the deep south in the Great Depression.  Her naïve, blatant, no-holds-barred approach lets the reader into the inner circle, making us feel like a native Maycombian.

The story is told directly by one of the main characters, Scout Finch. This is an example of first person narrative. Scout is an inhabitant of the town of Maycomb and relates the story of a particular period of her life when she was growing up there. The most dramatic event in her narrative is the trial of Tom Robinson which becomes the focus of the book's examination of the theme of racism and other social prejudices. The narration is quite subtle in that it is being told from the point of view of Scout when she is considerably older and is looking back to that earlier time, but we still get all the thoughts and feelings of the young Scout, supplemented by commentary from her older and wiser self. This makes for a fuller, more rounded out perspective overall. 

In To Kill a Mockingbird, what type of narration is used?

Harper Lee wrote the novel To Kill a Mockingbird using first person narration. As was mentioned in the previous post, Jean Louise "Scout" Finch narrates the story from a retrospective point of view. Jean Louise is older and remembers the events leading up to her brother's accident. After a short exposition, the story begins with the arrival of Scout and Jem's new playmate, Dill Harris. From there, Scout narrates the story from her point of view as a six-year-old tomboy. Throughout the novel, Scout gives the reader her perspective of events as she understood them when she was a child. Much of Scout's perspective throughout the story is naive and innocent. As the novel progresses, Scout learns important lessons and develops into a morally upright individual who has a deeper understanding of the world around her.

Who is the narrator of To Kill a Mockingbird?

Jean Louise "Scout" Finch is the narrator of Harper Lee's classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Jean Louise Finch narrates the story in retrospect of the events that led to her brother breaking his arm, and she chronicles her childhood growing up in the small southern town of Maycomb, Alabama. Jean Louise does not reveal her exact age, but the reader can infer that she is an adult narrating the story because of her diction, syntax, and use of literary devices. The use of first-person narration provides the reader with a unique and humorous view of the events of Jean Louise's childhood from her perspective, which also allows the audience to trace her maturation and moral development throughout the novel. At the beginning of the story, Scout is a naive, innocent four-year-old girl, who relies on her father, brother, and neighbors to understand her community. By the end of the story, Scout is almost nine years old and has significantly gained perspective on her prejudiced community and developed into a morally-upright person like her father.

The entire novel is narrated by an older Scout Finch. She is an adult remembering her childhood in Macomb, Alabama.

Because of this, the entire story follows her perspective only. As readers we only know about the plot and other characters through her eyes. She is also very young in this memory, only five at the beginning of the book, which some have argued could make her an unreliable narrator given the fact that children perceive the world very differently because they are so young and naive. 

Whether we view Scout as reliable or not as a narrator, the fact remains that this is HER memory. The events she includes, the details she provides, the emotions she remembers feeling are all from her unique perspective. If this book had been narrated by multiple characters, it would have been a far different story simply because the perspectives would have changed all of those elements.

From what point of view is To Kill a Mockingbird written?

Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird is told from the point of view of Scout, an adult who narrates in retrospect during the time of the narrative.

This interesting mix of adult and child in Scout as narrator contributes greatly to the narrative as a bildungsroman, or a novel of maturation. While the ingenuous Scout describes the events of the story in such a manner that the reader receives a non-judgmental commentary and can follow the maturation of the main character, the adult Scout can insert herself into the narrative when needed for explanation. 

Such an occasion for this injection of the adult perspective occurs when Scout first attends school and her teacher Miss Caroline seems different from other teachers. The adult Scout inserts herself into the narrative, explaining that Miss Caroline is from Winston County in northern Alabama, a county to this day that is viewed with negativity by many residents of Alabama because it was disloyal to the state during the Civil War by being sympathetic to the North. Scout even adds commentary on how this county is more like a Northern state:

North Alabama was full of Liquor Interests, Big Mules, steel companies, Republicans, professors, and other persons of no background. (Ch. 2)

The use of Scout-the-child and Scout-the-adult as narrator enriches the narrative of To Kill a Mockingbird, making the novel appealing to both young and old.

What is the narrative voice and viewpoint in To Kill a Mockingbird?

To Kill a Mockingbird is a first-person narrative told from the point of view of a young, elementary-school aged girl named Scout. Scout is a tomboy who views life with open-eyed frankness. She lightens a narrative about the unjust conviction of a black man for rape with the everyday childhood events.

Using Scout to tell the story was a good decision. She hero-worships her father, but because she is such a blunt and no-nonsense girl—and because she is a child—we accept her idealized view of her father. This makes it easy and uncomplicated for him to become the moral center of the story. We accept that he is more or less perfect because Scout does.

Second, because Scout is an innocent chid she gives a frank, unvarnished account of the trial that shows the injustice of what was done to Tom Robinson. She doesn't know enough to rationalize or rearrange events to make white people look better. She also has access to parts of Maycomb society that would be closed to adult white people, such as Calpurnia's black community church service. This gives her direct experience of the local black culture, unmediated by racist discourse.

Finally, because Scout notices all the small details of life in her town, as a child would, she brings a sense of reality to the novel. She places us in Maycomb in way that makes it feel alive and real.

The novel is told as a first person narrative from the perspective of Jean-Louise "Scout" Finch. The story is narrated in flashback: Scout details the events of three years (1933-1935) in the history  of Maycomb, Alabama. The complex and disturbing events of the text are given a chilling clarity as witnessed by a young girl then catalogued in her adulthood.

Scout is very much part of the action and learning experiences that the community go through in this pivotal time. She is the daughter of Atticus Finch, a respected white lawyer requested to defend a black man (Tom Robinson) accused of raping a white woman (Mayella Ewell).

Scout is also significant in the sub-plot of the story-the revelation of the true Arthur "Boo" Radley.

What's the name, gender, and age of the narrator in To Kill a Mockingbird?

Harper Lee's classic novel To Kill A Mockingbird is narrated by its protagonist, using an interesting point of view which generally tries to show the story through the eyes of the child Scout was at the time of the events described, while occasionally giving some indication that the actual writer is an adult now, viewing the story in retrospect. Scout is a girl, whose full name is Jean Louise Finch. She is the child of the town lawyer, Atticus Finch, and the sister of Jem.

At the beginning of the story, Scout indicates that when Jem broke his arm, he was "nearly thirteen." He was four years older than Scout was, so at this point, Scout would have been eight, nearly nine. However, she also notes that this is not really where the story begins—rather, it starts two years previously. So the main events of the story span the time between when Scout was six, going on seven, and when she was eight, going on nine.

Who is the narrator in To Kill a Mockingbird?

An adult Jean Louise (Scout) Finch is telling the story. 

Scout, or Jean Louise Finch, is going into first grade when the events of the story start. The narrator is an adult version of Scout, however.  You can tell first of all by the fact that she starts by explaining what is going to happen and second by the way she comments on events.  Scout is smart, but it is not a six-year-old’s perceptions we are getting. 

When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we sometimes discussed the events leading to his accident. I maintain that the Ewells started it all, but Jem, who was four years my senior, said it started long before that. (Ch. 1) 

As a narrator, adult Scout telling this story is a combination of her memories of herself and her adult wisdom reflecting back on them.  Therefore, she focuses on the way she interpreted things as a child, but has the intelligence and wisdom to understand the events she is describing. 

The events are the most important of her young life.  They played a very big part in forming her personality.  Her father defending a black man and the town’s reaction caused her to grow up quickly and sooner than she would have, as she had to learn to understand events that even adults grapple with.  The adult narrator’s insights on Scout’s state of mind help us understand the journey she took.

Somehow, if I fought Cecil I would let Atticus down. Atticus so rarely asked Jem and me to do something for him, I could take being called a coward for him. I felt extremely noble for having remembered, and remained noble for three weeks. (Ch. 9)

Scout is a remarkable narrator.  She is precocious, empathetic, and resourceful.  For a little girl, she goes through a lot.  The story is told with humor and compassion, and we leave it feeling thoughtful about the story’s themes, including race, friendship, and parenthood.

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.

What narrative conventions does Harper Lee use to represent racism in To Kill a Mockingbird?

Narrative conventions are literary devices used by a writer to tell a story. One narrative convention used by Harper Lee to represent racism is the conflict between a black man and a white man. The author also employs the narrative convention of plot, telling a story that involves the interactions between a black man and a white man. The fact that the novel takes place in the American South is also meaningful. Harper Lee selected a setting, another narrative convention, that heightens the racial tension between the two men.

On a more subtle level, Lee employs the narrative convention of symbolism to represent racism. Tom Robinson's withered left arm represents the extent to which blackness can be a vulnerability in the American South during this time in history. When he was a child, Tom's arm got caught in a cotton gin, and this accident resulted in his lifelong disability. That Tom's arm was injured by a cotton gin is important; a cotton gin is a machine that separates cotton fibers from seeds, and the slave trade is closely associated with cotton. Tom's disability was caused by his status as a black man, and it serves as a visible reminder to the reader, and to the members of the Maycomb community, that he is a vulnerable individual as a black man.

I would like to offer a slightly different definition of "narrative conventions." The items named by the previous poster -- "points of view, character development, descriptive language, conflict, climax, plot, theme, etc" -- can certainly fit under the term, but the term means a lot more than that. At least to me it does.

Narrative conventions are the extremely common and easily overlooked patterns that we've grown to expect in stories that we encounter. They certainly do include character development, for example, but they can also include slightly more abstract ideas, such as exemplification, or specific patterns or techinques of storytelling, such as realism or the bildungsroman (the novel of development).

On exemplification: As an adult reader, I rarely enjoy stories that end with a strongly phrased moral lessons, but I do tend to enjoy stories that present moral or ethical issues through well developed and extended examples. To me, To Kill a Mockingbird can be read as presenting issues in a fairly complex way. For example, I can read the novel and find myself agreeing or disagreeing with the covering up of Bob Ewell's murder at the novel's end. The story may prompt me to agree with the cover-up, but I'm not required to.

On realism and the bildungsroman: Lee's novel is certainly written in the tradition of realism, seeking to recreate within the covers of the book an entire community, with its complex hierarchies and conflicts, and using a narrator who is removed (by several decades) from the community that she is describing. At the same time, To Kill a Mockingbird is also a tale of development of one or more children who are central to the story.

I haven't had much luck finding a good link on narrative conventions in novels, but I did find something that addresses narrative conventions in popular TV sitcoms.

Narrative conventions include points of view, character development, descriptive language, conflict, climax, plot, theme, etc.

In this novel, racism is represented in several of the narrative conventions. I will get you started on some, and you can take it from there.

Plot - A main plot in this story is the accusation of rape and subsequent trial of Tom Robinson. Tom is black and has been accused of rape by a white trash white woman. He is not guilty. Atticus Finch defends Tom and even though Tom is convicted due to the racism in the town, Atticus puts up a brilliant defense. The blacks in the community stand when Atticus leaves the courtroom to show their gratitude. During the trial, Scout and Jem are constantly defending their dad's decision to "defend niggers."

Characters - There is the character of Tom Robinson. He is a rather stereotyped character but his character illustrates the racisim prevalent in the South at the time. He is a good man, but he is poor, black and uneducated, and a scapegoat to be blamed for a rape that never occurred. Mayella Ewell accused him of raping her to protect herself from her crazy father because, in actuality, it was SHE who tried to seduce Tom.

Also, the character of Calpurnia illustrates racism. Calpurnia is the Finch's maid. She is wise and intelligent, but another black stereotype. She reverts to "her own language" when she is under stress or among her own people, but when she is working among whites, her language is that of an educated person. It illustrates how blacks were forced to act in different ways, depending on where they were.

Setting - The story is set in the South, where racism was more prevalent. Also, the blacks live on the other side of town. Calpurnia takes Scout and Jem to that part of town from time to time, and they stand out because they are white. They are uncomfortable. Also, Atticus visits Tom's wife on that part of town and is spit on for being a "nigger lover." Also, during the trial, Scout, Jem and Dill sit in the balcony, with the "coloreds" - not in the regular courtroom. Atticus has told them not to come to the trial, but they come anyway and are embraced and protected by the blacks.

Get the idea? Now you can do the rest. If you are writing an essay, perhaps you will want to limit your subject to one or just a few of these elements, because there are so many in the novel. Racism is one of the themes, so naturally it is going to permeate all of the narrative conventions.

What narrative point of view does Harper Lee use in To Kill a Mockingbird?

The narrator is an adult Scout looking back on the events of her childhood that made her the person she is.

The narrator at the beginning of the book is a woman named Jean Louise Finch.  As a child, she was called Scout.

The first paragraph of the novel is interesting, because it is clearly from the perspective of an adult.  We learn a lot from this one paragraph.  We learn that the narrator is older, looking back on an incident of long ago.  We learn that something happened to injure Jem, and it was something significant.  We also learn that Jem did not really care as long as he could play ball.

As the narrative continues, we learn more about this important incident.

When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we sometimes discussed the events leading to his accident. I maintain that the Ewells started it all, but Jem … said it began the summer Dill came to us, when Dill first gave us the idea of making Boo Radley come out. (ch 1)

We do not know how long “enough years” are for them to look back, but we can assume Scout and Jem are at least adults.  They are equals at this point, and four years makes no difference now.  It only mattered when they were children.

The narrative soon switches to a much younger six year old Scout and ten year old Jem.  This is important because we need to see things from a child’s perspective.  It is one of the morals of the book that adults are jaded, and only children can see the world for what it really is.

What narrative style does Harper Lee use in To Kill a Mockingbird?

We see the story through Scout's eyes, told as a first-person or "I" narrative. Scout is a young girl, starting at age six and gradually maturing over several years as the story unfolds, in fictional Maycomb, Alabama, in the 1930s, the era of the Great Depression.

Because Scout is telling the story, we get a lively and intelligent child's perspective on life in a small Southern town, and we are able to feel the texture of day-to-day life as Scout experiences it. Because she is so young, she has not fully internalized the town's racism and can't, for example, understand why she shouldn't visit Calpurnia's home or treat Calpurnia with anything but respect as a surrogate mother. Seeing life through Scout's eyes, we are able to perceive more fully the absurdity and injustice of Southern racism that leads to Tom Robinson's obviously wrong murder conviction and death.

Perhaps more importantly, we learn about Atticus through Scout's perceptions of him. He is a hero figure to her, a fount of knowledge, integrity, courage, and wisdom. Yet because Scout makes mistakes about him—for example, comically believing he doesn't measure up because he is older than the other parents and doesn't "do" anything (at least until he shoots the rabid dog and she learns he is a sharpshooter)—it is easier for us to accept Atticus's many merits. Through Scout's depiction of Atticus and her evolving appreciation of him as an exemplary human being, we also learn the same life lessons about honor and character that Scout learns from this extraordinary father.

The story is told as a first person narration by Jean-Louise (Scout)Finch. Scout is telling the events of her childhood.

Scout is only six at the beginning of the story, but the tale is actually narrated by Scout as an adult, reflecting on the events of her childhood. There is a great advantage in this style as we the reader are given the child's perspective on events which help us see the injustice of the racist views of the time much more clearly, and we become involved on Atticus' education of his daughter to appreciate people for who they are. When Scout has had her terrible first day at school, Atticus helps her to see how to consider the views of others-

“First of all,” he said, “if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view—“

“Sir?”

“—until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”

The narrative style is not restricted to childish language and expression, however, as Scout is reminiscing as an adult. Harper Lee's style therefore gives the reader the advantage of an adult narrator with a child's innocence and clarity.

Why is Scout's narration important in To Kill a Mockingbird?

Harper Lee's novel addresses several serious failings in the adult community in which see lives. As a young and innocent narrator, she can bear witness to events without seeming to be casting too strict a judgment on events that may be beyond her understanding. This is likely one of the reasons her early editor suggested she take the manuscript that came out recently as Go Set the Watchman and reduce the novel to Scout's perspective.

Readers develop an intimacy with the narrator, and even unsettled or mad narrators such as we find in Poe create a closeness to the reader that the author uses for effect.

Scout is at a perfect age to identify situations that seem amiss but to not quite understand them. She notes, for instance, that the courthouse is segregated and that the jury is made up largely of white farmers, rather than black citizens or white townspeople. She recognizes that her Aunt holds certain prejudices that don't feel natural to Scout, such as an unwillingness to socialize with people like the Cunninghams. Scout can observe the symptoms of racism and classism, even while she isn't old enough to fully reflect on what these symptoms mean.

Where the messages about race and class that are so lyrically conveyed in this novel presented by a different narrative voice, the novel might end up seeming preachy or condemnatory. However, the initial readers of Lee's novel might have been thinking of these difficult topics with the same degree of innocence regarding these social issues that a young girl would, and this allows their construction of the darker meanings driving the injustices in the novel to feel more authentic and therefore more powerful.

There are several reasons as to why the story of To Kill a Mockingbird is narrated by Jean Louise "Scout" Finch. Harper Lee chose to narrate the story from a child's perspective to comment on the ills of society throughout the novel. Children are brutally honest and have the ability to notice obvious aspects of society without bias. Scout is able to perceive the blatant issues with the education and justice systems, as well as the hypocritical nature of Maycomb's citizens. Her childhood innocence allows the audience to view these broken institutions from an unbiased point of view. Scout's perspective also adds humor to the novel. There are numerous scenes throughout the novel where Scout's lighthearted innocence adds additional entertainment value. Scout's narrow perspective also illuminates the traits of many of the characters throughout the novel. A child's point of view does not recognize the complex qualities and attitudes individuals exhibit. Scout makes generalizations which enhance characters' predominant traits.

What is the narrator's age in To Kill a Mockingbird?

In Chapter 1 of To Kill a Mockingbird, the narrator explains that her brother had gotten his arm broken at the elbow. The passive construction of this sentence is a hook to get the reader's attention; if the boy had not broken his own arm himself, who did the breaking and why?

The narrator continues to allude mysteriously to the incidents that led up to this traumatic injury, but it is unclear to the reader exactly how many years have passed since Jem's arm was broken. The narrator explains only that "[w]hen enough years had gone by," she and her brother would sometimes talk about what happened in the years that led up to his injury. The vagueness of this language suggests that perhaps quite a few years had to pass before Jem was prepared to talk about everything that happened, and it is possible that the narrator is now fully an adult when she tells the story of the events in the novel.

We know from the very first page of To Kill a Mockingbird that the narrator tells her story from a retrospective view many years in the future, since she mentions that she and her brother, Jem, were now "far too old to settle an argument with a fist-fight." After several pages describing the town of Maycomb and the history of the Finch family, the narrator reverts to a present day perspective. She picks up the story when she is "almost six and Jem was nearly ten" years old and Dill comes to visit them for the first time. We only find out late in the first chapter that the narrator's nickname is Scout.

What is the narrator's perspective in To Kill a Mockingbird?

The novel To Kill a Mockingbird is told in flashback by an adult Scout in the late 1950s looking back some twenty-odd years on when she was six in 1933.  So, even though the narrator is an adult, she maintains a child-focused perspective in order to achieve a bildungsroman, a novel of education.

Indeed, Lee's coming-of-age novel focuses first on her childhood innocence and fascination with Boo Radley (in Part I) and then on her harrowing experiences during the Tom Robinson trial (in Part II).  The novel is framed by the memory of her brother Jem's broken arm as its trigger (notice: "mockingbirds" Tom and Jem both have broken limbs (wings?), symbols of suffering and cruelty).

Overall, the novel is a children's / young adult book with some adult themes.  It contains elements of the Southern Gothic and the Southern novel of manners.  Though it is told in first-person, Scout focuses as much on Jem's coming-of-age as her own.  The narrator certainly has a legal mind (Harper Lee and her father were both lawyers), not to mention that the novel lauds Atticus as a noble Populist and champion in grass-roots civil rights.

So says Enotes:

Scout Finch, who narrates in the first person ("I"), is nearly six years old when the novel opens. The story, however, is recalled by the adult Scout; this allows her first-person narrative to contain adult language and adult insights yet still maintain the innocent outlook of a child. The adult perspective also adds a measure of hindsight to the tale, allowing for a deeper examination of events. The narrative proceeds in a straightforward and linear fashion, only jumping in time when relating past events as background to some present occurrence.

How is Scout interesting as a character and narrator in To Kill a Mockingbird?

Scout is made interesting bot has a character and narrator because, as the previous editor noted, as a narrator Scout is grown up but reflecting back to a time when she was young.  This offers the reader an interesting view into her character that allows her to become endeared to the readers.

Scout is also interesting because she is so easy to relate to.  She goes through rites of passage - a terrible first day of school, standing up for herself (and her father) by beating her cousin up, learning what it means to be a woman rather than a tomboy, learning to see what really goes on around her and so on.  Since we all go through similar rites of passage, these allow us to connect with Scout.

Another reason Scout is so interesting is her innocence.  Obviously, Scout is not your normal child.  She can read fluently prior to school and has an advanced vocabulary.  However, while she may be advanced, she still suffers from the trappings of a child - she asks her uncle to "pass the damn ham" at Christmas dinner, she wears her jeans under her skirt at her Aunt Alexandra's lady's lunch, she consents to marry Dill and then wonders how they might go about getting themselves some children.

Part of the charm of the novel is watching Scout, the character, mature from a tomboy to the young lady who is narrating the story.

Who is the narrator of the novel "To Kill a Mockingbird"?

The narrator of To Kill A Mockingbird is Scout Finch. She is the daughter of Atticus, and the brother of Jem, and the novel begins when she is almost six years old. Her real name, used only by a couple of characters in the novel, is Jean Louise. The story is told when Scout is much older, and so it takes on the character of a reminiscence: a woman remembering the maturation process of her childhood as much as the very traumatic events that surrounded the trial of Tom Robinson. What is especially powerful about the novel is that its themes of racial injustice appear particularly insidious when viewed through the eyes of a young girl, who has not yet absorbed the prejudices of her community. In addition to the trial, Scout's relationships with her father and brother, her friends, and with the mysterious Boo Radley, are at the center of the novel.