To Kill a Mockingbird ~ Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird
by Harper Lee

It seems a little odd to me that as an English major in college and a librarian for the past thirteen years, I somehow managed to not read To Kill a Mockingbird.  Well, this summer, I finally bought myself a copy and found out what I was missing.

Set in Mississippi during the economically depressed 1930’s, the story is told through the eyes of Scout, daughter of Atticus Finch.  Atticus is a widower trying to raise two children, Scout and her brother, with the help of his housekeeper, Calpurnia.  This is a tough enough proposition, then Atticus is charged with defending Thomas Robinson, on trial for allegedly raping a woman.  Atticus knows that this is a losing battle because Tom Robinson has already been convicted in the court of public opinion simply because he is a black man.  Tom is a truly good and kind man though, whose only real crime is feeling sorry for a poor white woman.     

Though told from a child’s view, this is in no way a simple book.  The children go to school and learn to get along even when they are vilified for their father’s attempts to defend Tom.  They are fascinated with the neighborhood recluse, who they have never seen.  They take terrible scoldings from a crotchety old neighbor lady who verbally assaults them as they walk by.  Scout chafes under her Aunt’s tutelage to become a young lady.  But there is more than meets the eye to any situation and there are deeper lessons to these simple story lines, which I will not reveal here. 

It is the quintessential coming of age tale.  Scout learns to see the world through other people’s eyes; and she also learns that good men are sometimes laid low and the world continues to turn after a tragedy. 

To Kill a Mockingbird won the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and was voted best novel of the twentieth century by librarians in 1999.  I can see why.  It is fascinating and heartbreaking.  There are funny moments and scary moments.  There are even moments that brought a tear to my eye.  It has the type of ending that always appealed to me – not a happy ending, but life goes on, and we look for the best in the future ahead.  I would highly recommend it to most people.