Book 11 – To Kill a Mockingbird
I re-read this book for the simple reason that I am due to read Go Set A Watchman for my book club and I wanted to re-familiarize myself with the characters first. I have since discovered that there is some controversy over the publication of Go Set A Watchman, as it is actually just a first draft of Mockingbird, and there is no confirmation that the elderly Harper Lee wanted it published at all. More on that in the next post, I suppose.
To Kill A Mockingbird is a lovely coming-of-age story about two children growing up in small-town Alabama in the 1930’s, who come face-to-face with the town’s racism and prejudice during a trial in which a black man is (seemingly) falsely accused of raping a young white woman. The town is ignorant of its racism, ironically revealed as the adults discuss the gross injustice of Hitler’s actions in rounding up the Jews just because they are Jewish while they ostracise one of their own because he had the audacity to marry and bear children with a black woman. Meanwhile, they are fully aware and proud of their prejudices, cheerfully dividing townspeople into people who are “trash” who live in the woods, “trash” who live at the dump, ordinary folks and people with background.
The moral compass of the story is provided by Atticus Finch, the lawyer hired to represent the accused black man and father of the two children, Scout and Jem. He seems to be the only one in town, apart from a neighbour, who understands the town’s biases and quietly works to change them.
Published in 1962, it is most unnerving and a little sad to consider that in small-town southern USA, things are probably not that much different today.
Rating: Buy it. This book should be in your collection.
