Narrator Scout Finch, To Kill a Mockingbird
It’s a lyrical work that never fails to sound a chord deep within most of its readers. We each find ourselves meeting the tale that it tells from our own well of history and experience. And if you are a Southerner - you might hear something more — something deep and searching, familiar and innate.
My first experience with To Kill A Mockingbird was watching the movie as a little girl. I loved Scout. I trembled at the thought of the Radley house. And my young mind grappled inadequately with the courtroom scene and the issues that were unforgettably dealt with there.
But later when I read the book To Kill A Mockingbird as an adult - I found a new and profound respect and appreciation for the quality of word crafting that makes up this work. It is the kind of writing that makes you feel - and it’s nearly impossible to read it without the tense jangling of your nerves or the warm stroking of emotion.
Published in 1960, winner of a Pulitzer Prize and translated into more than 40 languages with sales of over 40 million copies - To Kill A Mockingbird has a solid place in American classic literature and is on countless required reading lists across North America.
Narrated by 6-year-old Scout Finch, the novel’s storyline weaves through themes of racial prejudice, relationships in an old Southern family, societal views of class and poverty in 1930s Alabama and even just the day to day growing pains of children in a small town where they are often labeled by family histories.
"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 ... until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."
Atticus Finch, To Kill a Mockingbird
As the novel progresses, we follow the world of Scout and her family but also the growing obsession that Scout, her brother, Jem & their young neighbor Dill have for a mysterious recluse neighbor, Boo Radley.
When Scout’s father steps up to represent Tom Robinson, a black man accused of beating and raping a young white women - we walk through the rocky and multifaceted territory of prejudice, hate, ignorance and fear but with Harper Lee’s skillful writing, we are also able to witness courage and strength of character.
"Well, most folks seem to think they’re right and you’re wrong … They’re certainly entitled to think that, and they’re entitled to full respect for their opinions," said Atticus, "but before I can live with other folks I’ve got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience."
Atticus Finch, To Kill a Mockingbird
Harper Lee - born Nelle Harper Lee in Monroeville, Alabama in 1926 - wrote about a world that she knew and people that were familiar. Her work reveals a South that she deeply loves and yet recognizes in its raw, flawed & damaging prejudices.
Lee wrote To Kill A Mockingbird in a cold-water NY flat, submitted it to a publisher in 1957 and then spent 2 and a half years in revisions - but upon publication, it received almost immediate acclaim.
The characters in the novel are well-developed and memorable. As we read - Scout and her brother, Jem somehow feel familiar to us through their struggles, triumphs, lessons and fears. Atticus Finch - a moral compass of the novel - is a father and a man to be loved and admired — and has become a famous figure in literature for his strong character and innate kindness. The Finch family housekeeper, Calpurnia, brings a gentle but firm guidance to Scout and Jem’s motherless lives as she teaches them consideration of others and basic manners. The innocent playfulness of young Dill - based on Harper Lee’s lifelong friend, Truman Capote - and the other various neighbors who surround them are richly drawn and worth a savor as you read. This important work manages to skillfully portray both the soft gentility of small town Southern life and the meanness of spirit that dirt-poor poverty can create when unaccompanied by education.
This book is a classic for a reason. There is plenty of time – start reading!
The Jane Austen Tea Society has happily returned to a study of a Southern classic - To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee with a Winter Book Breakfast & Discussion to take place on Saturday the 22nd of January at 10am.
"Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."
Atticus Finch, To Kill a Mockingbird
