To Kill A MockingBird

To Kill A Mockingbird: Movie and Novel Comparison The novel To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee and its movie version feature the same basic story, but both adaptations contain similarities and differences. Some similarities and differences between the movie and the book include the deleted church scene, the movie’s exclusion of Aunt Alexandra— who played an important role in the novel — and the trial and conviction of Tom Robinson being emphasized in both versions. Firstly, the movie removes the church scene in which Scout and Jem go with Calpurnia to her church where they meet Reverend Sykes. This is a difference because in the novel they already know Reverend Sykes before the trial. In the movie Reverend Sykes is first seen at the trial when Jem calls out his name and asks him if they can sit with him in the balcony with the other coloured people to watch the trial. This is a very confusing part to viewers that have not read the novel because the children sit beside Reverend Sykes and all the coloured people and trust them as if they met them before in the movie, but there is no mention of them meeting Reverend Sykes before the trial. Secondly, the movie excludes Aunt Alexandra. In the novel, she lives with Atticus’ family in order to give Scout a female influence, she embodies the local prejudice in Maycomb, like the hatred of coloured people, tells Scout that a lady like her shouldn’t be friends with a trash like Walter Cunningham and she also tells Atticus that he will have to get rid of Calpurnia one day. Although she was an important character in the novel the screen writers took her out of the movie because they tried to emphasize the trial and she wasn’t really relevant to it. Her main purpose in the novel was to help teach Scout how to become a lady.
Lastly, the trial and conviction of Tom Robinson is being emphasized in the novel and in the movie. The trial scene in both the novel and movie has the same cross examination that Atticus points out, the same quotes that the people say and the same conclusion of the trial. The only thing that makes the trial scene in the novel and in the movie different is that in the movie, you can see the facial expressions of the characters, such as Tom Robinson’s shock and sadness on his face when he the jury found him guilty of raping Mayella Ewell, and the sound such as the sad background music after Tom Robinson was led away. You feel like you are in the trial when you are watching the movie.
In conclusion, although the movie had scenes and characters that were excluded, it still portrayed the important parts of the novel, such as the children sneaking into the Radley’s front porch, the trial, the deaths of both Tom Robinson and Bob Ewell, and when Scout sees Boo Radley for the first time.