To Kill A Mocking bird
To Kill a Mockingbird may have been written by Harper Lee over 50 years ago but this timeless classic is a must-read for everyone. Harper Lee has created characters so endearing and dealt with issues so deep that you will remember them for life.
The novel is set in a fictitious sleepy Southern town called Maycomb. It is a typical small town in Alabama, America where everyone knows each other but underneath the Southern charm and hospitality is a deep-seated prejudice that affects all members of society.
The main character is a young girl named Jean Louise Finch, fondly known as Scout. She and her brother, Jem get into all kinds of trouble from attempting to peep into their recluse neighbor’s house to fighting with some nasty children at their school.
But always there to guide them to learn from their mistakes is their upright father,
Atticus Finch who is also the town’s lawyer.
The children’s antics are hilarious but at the heart of this novel is the thought-provoking issue of prejudice and racism. As the novel is set in the 1930s when racial discrimination of Negros in American was rampant, Harper Lee deals with this issue head on. A young, Negro man named Tom Robinson is accused of attacking a poor, white woman. Atticus bravely takes on the case to defend Tom, a move frowned upon greatly by the rest of his town. This allows the children to learn about moral courage and see their father in a whole new light. Be sure to look out for Atticus’ clever court room tactics as he deftly uncovers the truth and tries to uphold justice in a deeply prejudiced society.
Harper Lee uses the neighborhood recluse, Arthur “Boo” Radley, to reiterate the theme of prejudice. At the start of the novel, Scout and Jem are terrified of him believing that “he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that’s why his hands were blood-stained” and “what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time”. But as the novel progresses, they are forced to face their own prejudice and come to learn about who Boo Radley really is. The children’s interactions with Boo are both comical and heartwarming and are probably my favorite parts of the novel.
Look out for other colorful characters like Dill, Calpurnia and Miss Maudie who are a joy to get to know. One of my favourite characters is Dill with his “snow white” hair that “stuck to his head like duck-fluff”. It is Dill who instigates Scout and Jem to try to lure Boo Radley using a range of imaginative tactics.
Even though this novel is set in America and deals with prejudice against Negroes, it is still very relevant to us as Singaporeans. We live in a multi-racial society where understanding and respect are very important in maintaining peace and harmony. We therefore can learn a lot from ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ which teaches us that “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.”
This novel is easy to read and extremely enjoyable while being thought-provoking at the same time. I have read this book many times but no matter how many times I read it, I still laugh at its humour and cry at its tenderness.