Okay, so there’s a high chance you’ve heard of this famous book by Harper Lee with it being a reading criteria in many countries, a graphic novel, and very shortly after its publication was turned into a motion picture success staring Gregory Peck, which I’d recommend watching, but wait!!! The original format of To Kill a Mockingbird is even better, and that’s what’s being reviewed here.
Famous for the highly moralistic Atticus Finch, a widowed father and lawyer, who takes a court case to defend a man wrongly accused of a crime, and who’s deemed guilty even before the trial, and why? Because of the colour of his skin. Set in 1930s America with a backdrop of the great depression, Harper Lee doesn’t shy away from the country’s age-old prejudices; racism, sexism, classism, while questioning and highlighting its shamefulness through the eyes of a child. The narrator being Scout Finch – Atticus’ defiant daughter, and the youngest character in the novel. It’s through her eyes, and her childhood experiences with her older brother and neighbour that we witness the children’s understanding of the world change as they mature within it. In this they see all its ugly parts – the persecution, the unjust hatred, the cruelty inflicted on others, to also the beauty in challenging assumptions, and in having role models to live by; from Atticus Finch to the strong-hearted Calpurnia (the housekeeper and a part of the family) who both help to teach the children principles and the importance of kindness to others.
Split into two parts, the first half revolves around the setting of the town; Maycomb – with it being clear from the start that its run on gossip and fearmongering, which can be seen for example in the rumours about an overly-righteous family that’s shut off from the community. Even the children form ghost stories about them, with many of their adventures revolving around what they’ve heard; that a young boy was once locked up in the house by his parents for many years, and with no one having seen him for many more. It’s therefore just too tempting a story for the children not to investigate, and so they formulate a series of plans to see him and to test their courage. This innocence of childhood and its games contrasts sharply against the cruelty, judgements and inequality placed on others, both on the once-locked-up child; Arthur “Boo” Radley, and on the wrongly-accused man; Tom Robinson, with Atticus teaching the children to open their eyes, and to not take people’s views as the truth.
In addition, To Kill a Mockingbird explores the impact of the depression; “The Cunninghams are county folks, farmers, and the crash hit them hardest.” From here Harper Lee provides a brief history lesson of economic linkage and its effect, beautifully summarised by the words of Atticus to his children, making it simple and understandable. By doing it in this way, as something to explain to the children, it doesn’t remove the reader’s empathy with a bunch of facts, and instead shows how easily this can happen to someone, and the circle of poverty it can cause.
Lee also takes care to introduce you to the townspeople; the sheriff, the relatives with their opinionated views, teachers with high ideals, a telephone operator, and a lady who makes the most sought-after cakes, and many more. The reason for this is because, as Atticus points out, some will become unfriendly over the months because of who he’ll be defending – the racism and divisions clear in a town that also hypocritically prides itself on being close.
“The court appointed Atticus to defend him. Atticus aimed to defend him. That’s what they didn’t like about it.”
The second part of To Kill a Mockingbird expands our knowledge of Atticus; he values life, doesn’t agree on capital punishment, and lives by a clear definition of right and wrong, which he firmly believes should be upheld by the law and by himself. He is therefore not someone to be swayed from his path, and takes care to make sure his children are the same, passing on life lessons and teaching them to have their own thoughts and high scruples to be minded by.
But Scout, our courageous young narrator, isn’t calm and patient like Atticus in waiting for answers to come to her, but is passionate and led by emotions – which Atticus spends a good part of the book in helping her to control, teaching Scout to think first before acting out. She’s also a clever narrator, her sentences truthful and eloquently put together with a language just verging on the genius. Also, she’s funny as anything, and delightfully, a real tomboy; “Scout here, she’s crazy – she won’t fight you any more.” To which she replies; “I wouldn’t be too certain of that”. But the book also looks at the pressure on Atticus and Scout for her to be more lady-like, and thereby conform to the stereotypes of the day – but I love her even more for the fact that she doesn’t. Scout is also taught a strong sense of morals by both her father and Calpurnia – and in this it reveals more of their characters as well.
Interspersed throughout the book, until finally reaching the court, are snippets of hints as to the case. The reason for this is because Atticus is trying to protect his children as much as possible, therefore only droplets of information are provided in what is a whirlpool of activity, the reader drawn forward into wanting more information. It’s only right then that when the date of the court case arrives, the setting, context and dialogue is provided as exactly as you’d imagine, and in this it loses Scout’s voice in favour of delivering a court appointed thriller, which in this instance works. Nothing is left out of the details as is fitting with the rest of Lee’s style, the scenes almost played out in parts like a play. Furthermore Lee provides meticulous depictions of body language that make each character more alive than the one before.
One thing is clear in Harper Lee’s epitome of a drama, every line is timeless, it provides codes of morality and home truths without being clichéd. Funny then that the original submitted novel was with older characters and with deep flaws, the book entitled ‘Go Set A Watchmen’, and recently published with the misleading hint that it was a sequel of To Kill a Mockingbird, when in fact it was a first draft. As such it received mixed reviews and many a query as to whether Lee really wanted this draft to be published? Personally, I feel that the many revisions and adjustments Lee later did in making the beloved and famous book To Kill a Mockingbird, were well-justified and so I’d stick to this book alone, and even if you’ve read it many years ago as a child, it’s a well worth a revisit.
Book Edition Information:
Publisher: Arrow Books (part of Penguin Random House)
ISBN: 9780099419785
Cover Design: Munro Naismith Associates
Presented Edition: 1989 Paperback
Background image courtesy of Rene Bernal on Unsplash
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (1960)
Okay, so there’s a high chance you’ve heard of this famous book by Harper Lee with it being a reading criteria in many countries, a graphic novel, and very shortly after its publication was turned into a motion picture success staring Gregory Peck, which I’d recommend watching, but wait!!! The original format of To Kill a Mockingbird is even better, and that’s what’s being reviewed here.
Famous for the highly moralistic Atticus Finch, a widowed father and lawyer, who takes a court case to defend a man wrongly accused of a crime, and who’s deemed guilty even before the trial, and why? Because of the colour of his skin. Set in 1930s America with a backdrop of the great depression, Harper Lee doesn’t shy away from the country’s age-old prejudices; racism, sexism, classism, while questioning and highlighting its shamefulness through the eyes of a child. The narrator being Scout Finch – Atticus’ defiant daughter, and the youngest character in the novel. It’s through her eyes, and her childhood experiences with her older brother and neighbour that we witness the children’s understanding of the world change as they mature within it. In this they see all its ugly parts – the persecution, the unjust hatred, the cruelty inflicted on others, to also the beauty in challenging assumptions, and in having role models to live by; from Atticus Finch to the strong-hearted Calpurnia (the housekeeper and a part of the family) who both help to teach the children principles and the importance of kindness to others.
Split into two parts, the first half revolves around the setting of the town; Maycomb – with it being clear from the start that its run on gossip and fearmongering, which can be seen for example in the rumours about an overly-righteous family that’s shut off from the community. Even the children form ghost stories about them, with many of their adventures revolving around what they’ve heard; that a young boy was once locked up in the house by his parents for many years, and with no one having seen him for many more. It’s therefore just too tempting a story for the children not to investigate, and so they formulate a series of plans to see him and to test their courage. This innocence of childhood and its games contrasts sharply against the cruelty, judgements and inequality placed on others, both on the once-locked-up child; Arthur “Boo” Radley, and on the wrongly-accused man; Tom Robinson, with Atticus teaching the children to open their eyes, and to not take people’s views as the truth.
In addition, To Kill a Mockingbird explores the impact of the depression; “The Cunninghams are county folks, farmers, and the crash hit them hardest.” From here Harper Lee provides a brief history lesson of economic linkage and its effect, beautifully summarised by the words of Atticus to his children, making it simple and understandable. By doing it in this way, as something to explain to the children, it doesn’t remove the reader’s empathy with a bunch of facts, and instead shows how easily this can happen to someone, and the circle of poverty it can cause.
Lee also takes care to introduce you to the townspeople; the sheriff, the relatives with their opinionated views, teachers with high ideals, a telephone operator, and a lady who makes the most sought-after cakes, and many more. The reason for this is because, as Atticus points out, some will become unfriendly over the months because of who he’ll be defending – the racism and divisions clear in a town that also hypocritically prides itself on being close.
“The court appointed Atticus to defend him. Atticus aimed to defend him. That’s what they didn’t like about it.”
The second part of To Kill a Mockingbird expands our knowledge of Atticus; he values life, doesn’t agree on capital punishment, and lives by a clear definition of right and wrong, which he firmly believes should be upheld by the law and by himself. He is therefore not someone to be swayed from his path, and takes care to make sure his children are the same, passing on life lessons and teaching them to have their own thoughts and high scruples to be minded by.
But Scout, our courageous young narrator, isn’t calm and patient like Atticus in waiting for answers to come to her, but is passionate and led by emotions – which Atticus spends a good part of the book in helping her to control, teaching Scout to think first before acting out. She’s also a clever narrator, her sentences truthful and eloquently put together with a language just verging on the genius. Also, she’s funny as anything, and delightfully, a real tomboy; “Scout here, she’s crazy – she won’t fight you any more.” To which she replies; “I wouldn’t be too certain of that”. But the book also looks at the pressure on Atticus and Scout for her to be more lady-like, and thereby conform to the stereotypes of the day – but I love her even more for the fact that she doesn’t. Scout is also taught a strong sense of morals by both her father and Calpurnia – and in this it reveals more of their characters as well.
Interspersed throughout the book, until finally reaching the court, are snippets of hints as to the case. The reason for this is because Atticus is trying to protect his children as much as possible, therefore only droplets of information are provided in what is a whirlpool of activity, the reader drawn forward into wanting more information. It’s only right then that when the date of the court case arrives, the setting, context and dialogue is provided as exactly as you’d imagine, and in this it loses Scout’s voice in favour of delivering a court appointed thriller, which in this instance works. Nothing is left out of the details as is fitting with the rest of Lee’s style, the scenes almost played out in parts like a play. Furthermore Lee provides meticulous depictions of body language that make each character more alive than the one before.
One thing is clear in Harper Lee’s epitome of a drama, every line is timeless, it provides codes of morality and home truths without being clichéd. Funny then that the original submitted novel was with older characters and with deep flaws, the book entitled ‘Go Set A Watchmen’, and recently published with the misleading hint that it was a sequel of To Kill a Mockingbird, when in fact it was a first draft. As such it received mixed reviews and many a query as to whether Lee really wanted this draft to be published? Personally, I feel that the many revisions and adjustments Lee later did in making the beloved and famous book To Kill a Mockingbird, were well-justified and so I’d stick to this book alone, and even if you’ve read it many years ago as a child, it’s a well worth a revisit.
Book Edition Information:
Publisher: Arrow Books (part of Penguin Random House)
ISBN: 9780099419785
Cover Design: Munro Naismith Associates
Presented Edition: 1989 Paperback
Background image courtesy of Rene Bernal on Unsplash
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