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| The leather bound copy in my library |
To Kill A Mockingbird
By: Harper Lee
While in middle school, my classmates and myself were instructed to read To Kill A Mockinbird, one of the greatest pieces of American literature. Unfortunately, my class never truly read the book and relied on the cliff notes instead, thus allowing us to never truly understand and relate like Harper Lee wanted us to. Fast forward to more recently, my Kindle Fire has a bunch of classics that were recently put on it. In an effort to increase the number of good books that are read by me, To Kill A Mockingbird was loaded up and the rest is history.
Let me start by saying that this is, by far, one of my favorite books of all time. It is well told, relatable, and transformative. So writing a review should be easy, right? Oh man. Where to begin.
For those of you who barely remember reading the book or you spark notesed it all the way, let's go over a brief synopsis. The book is told during the Great Depression from the point of view of Scout Finch, a fiery, intelligent six-year old who loves hanging out with her proud brother Jem and their best friend and her "future husband" Dill who comes from a broken home and visits Maycomb, Alabama where the Finchs live. The three children, spend much time trying to understand and meet Arthur "Boo" Radley, a neighbor who has been locked away for years. Jem and Scout's father, Atticus Finch is the lawyer for the county of Maycomb and always stands by what is right. The book centers around a trial involving an African American man, Tom Robinson, who allegedly raped a white girl, Mayella Ewell. Atticus Finch takes on the case to defend Tim Robinson and presents evidence that shows that the girl was not raped, but that her father, Bob Ewell who allegedly saw the rape, is lying and is an abusive drunk. During the trial we learn that Mayella, one of the oldest of the Ewell clan is quite lonely and had made sexual advances towards Tom Robinson. Despite all of the evidence against the rape charges, Tom Robinson's all whit, male jury sides with the prosecution and Tom is sent to jail. Sadly, while in jail he is killed after trying to escape, despite promises by Atticus to help free him. After being terribly embarrassed in front of the entire county, Bob Ewell promises to get back at Atticus. For Halloween, Jem and Scout go to the Halloween Fair at the school and while walking home from the fair, they are attacked in the darkness. A brawl ensues and Jem is knocked out, but is being carried by someone back to their house. Scout follows quickly and is met by concerned adults and the doctor is called. The doctor informs them that Jem has a concussion and a broken arm, but will ultimately be okay. After this announcement, Scout then realizes that the person who had saved both Jem and Scout was the one person they had been dying to meet, Boo Radley. The sheriff arrives shortly after to find Bob Ewell with a knife in him. Attitcus and the sheriff argue about whether Jem or Boo should be charged and ultimately agree that Bob Ewell, being the town drunk, must have fallen on his knife. The story ends with Scout walking Boo home and then thinking about how things must be from Boo's perspective.
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| A still from the movie version |
Throughout the trial of Tom Robinson, race comes up as an issue again and again. Despite the fact that most of the county knows that Tom never raped Mayella, he is still convicted and talked about like he was always a pariah on society, while in truth Tom was a good, god-fearing man that loved and provided for his family despite having an arm that had been injured while on a job. In addition to the trial, there are a few instances where Scout and Jem observe the racial inequalities. One of those instances is when Scout and Jem visit Calpurnia's church, during the heat of the trial, on a Sunday while Attitcus is away. While with Calpurnia, the Finch family's maid, a member of the congregation gets upset that Calpurnia would think about bringing white children to a black church. Despite a very heated discussion, members of the congregation come to Calpurnia and the Finch children's defense and accept them with open arms.
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| Harper Lee with friend Truman Capote |
Courage is a strong theme throughout the book, mainly seen through Atticus. Despite knowing that his chances were slim at freeing Tom Robinson, Atticus fought and believed that Tom would go free. When the mad dog was stumbling down the street, Atticus takes the gun and takes down the mad dog in the middle of the street as the dog starts galloping towards him. He is strong, courageous, fights for what is right. Both Jem and Scout idolize him and his ability to fight for the small people.
Finally, one of the regular themes throughout the book are gender roles. Scout, an intelligent tom-boy who fights for her family's honor in the school yard on more than a few instances, has trouble reconciling her desire to be one of the boys and growing up to be a woman. Despite her dislike of all things female. During the trial, Atticus's sister is sent to stay with the Finch's to make sure that they are taken care of, but she takes it upon herself to make sure that Scout is growing up to be a fine young lady.
All in all, the book and the many themes it contains lets the reader feel like they are standing in Scout's shoes and experiencing all of the drama and day-to-day activities of a Great Depression era, southern rural town, all while growing up all over again. This books is a required reread for everyone if you haven't read it since you were in school. You will find new things you missed and being not forced to read the book lets you open up and truly experience the greatness that Harper managed to capture. If you happened to cliff note the book in school, you simply must read it and you will be happy you did.
