, the narrator, tells the reader in the first lines of chapter 1 that Jem got his broken when he was years old. When Scout and her brother talk about it years later, Scout maintains that the whole story of Jem breaking his started with the Ewells. But Jem disagrees; he says it started earlier when their friend first came and visited and gave them the idea of “making Radley come out.”

Scout decides that if the story is going to be told correctly, a bit of family history is needed. The first Finch to come to , the state where the story takes place, was Finch, who was a devout Methodist. Scout tells us that he went against the church rules and owned , or “human chattels.” Usually the Finch men stayed on at Finch’s Landing, but Scout’s father, , left to study in Montgomery, Alabama. It was Scout’s Aunt Alexandra who continued to live at Finch’s Landing.

After Scout’s father finishes his studies, he moves to , Alabama, where Scout’s family lives now. Atticus’s “first two clients were the last two persons in the Maycomb County Jail. Scout thinks this case might be the beginning of her father’s distaste for law.

The reader finds out that Scout is about to turn years old and her brother is almost years old. She lives with her brother, father, and her cook, . Scout’s mother died when she was only years old. Although Scout and Jem find their father satisfactory, he is a bit detached.

One morning while Scout and Jem played in their backyard, they met Charles Baker Harris, who called himself . He tells the Finch children that he is going on years old. He was visiting his Aunt . He lives usually in , Mississippi.

After growing tired of the usual games they played, wanted to get Radley, whose real name is Arthur Radley, to come out. The children were intrigued by the mystery that surrounded the Radley’s household. There are many town myths about . There is one that involves him stabbing his in the with . is so excited about that he dares Jem to run up and touch the house. After Jem does it, they all think they saw a shutter move inside the house.