To Kill a Mockingbird

The book represents a point of view of a child during the 30's written by someone who was a child during the 30's, which brings valuable historical authenticity. It was published in the 60's and due to its immediate success it was a part of a shift in attitudes regarding the civil rights movements of the 70's. Reading the book with this context in mind is an interesting experience because to a contemporary mind, the 60's is in many ways more absurd than was the 30's to the author.

The novel own its own merit is greatly delivered, with enough character building and contextualization that by the time the main plot arrives my metropolitan millennial mind is decently acclimatized to a completely alien society and culture. The naive, progressive-household-raised, clean slate kid point of view gives the narrator plausible bewilderment when facing the pervasive racial injustice and hypocrisy the book aims to criticize.

But this book too is a product of its time and one can immediately recognize the white savior angle. The white gentleman class is displayed one cut above the white trash that are no better than also-poor-but-black folk, and raises itself a toast for being so intellectual. A pat on the back for being kind enough to employ honest colored folk and defending the sanctity of written law. The expectation is overwhelming gratefulness in return, even if the result is still injustice. The portrayal of "the good blacks" is subservient and forgiving, and the weapon of choice to build empathy is pity and the analogy with the sin of killing a creature that is dedicated to servitude and entertainment - the mockingbird.

Five stars as an expertly crafted novel with admirable goals and celebrated impact, one star as modern literature on racial injustice. I don't think the two aspects have equal weight but lacking better utilitarian formulation I'm averaging to 3 stars.

As a teenager, I was forced to read many books in high school. There had been really nothing I had liked. Most of them, I had to force myself to read for tests or find those delightful cliffnote books you could get just to trudge through them. This book was different. This book with it's characters, storyline of injustice and prejudism captivated me. I had actually enjoyed a book I was forced to read by the teachers. A rare fete upon itself.

With the last of the year only days away and fresh snow on the ground, I decided to revisit my favorite novel once more. I had not picked it up since my time in high school. It was like reconnecting with old friends again and listening to a story being told once more around a table with hot chocolate in mugs and a grandmother who had lived during this time and had been part of the world.

I am not sure what made me like this book. I think it was the fact that here was a man accused of a crime that he did not do. No matter how the law says "innocent until proven guilty". he was still guilty because of the color of his skin. this was a time still of segregation and people of color were still a long ways from gaining any rights of an American citizen.

If a teacher hands you this book to read, take a moment and enter into this world. Listen to what all the characters have to say and observe a decade where people who were different from others struggled for their rights.