Book of the Week

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Recommended by Claudius Wheeler

This novel is based around early 20^th century Alabama, in Maycomb county. It was written by an author famous for this single novel called Harper Lee and is narrated by a girl named Scout, whose experiences relate to Lee’s childhood, having been brought up around this area at the same time the novel is set in. The title is taken from the wise words of her father, Atticus Finch: 'mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy… it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.'

The plot of the novel is Scout and her brother Jem living their everyday life in Maycomb county, while their father, who is a lawyer, ends up early in the novel defending a black man, Tom Robinson, falsely accused of raping a woman, in a court appeal.  As the word of this spreads across the racist county, Jem and Scout become subject to names at school that they can’t quite grasp but understand they are insults to their father.  Despite the pressure, they must restrain themselves from violence to these other children and people, although this is not always kept. The novel generally focuses on Scout, the younger sibling, through whom Lee portrays a vision of youth and humour in her actions as a six-year-old girl, but also keeps in the background the story of racial injustice. Scout has a childish perspective of this that can be ironic, which shows how such a serious matter is viewed through the eyes of an immature child, which also expresses the humour of Scout’s character as well.

Establishing the theme of injustice for Lee must have been tough but she manages it by showing it through  a child who wanders the street with her brother (and Dill, a friend made by them) making funny views and observations about their neighbours, and also through her individual vision of the complexities of how justice works, which Lee manages brilliantly to achieve in such a hard context. The quote I mentioned at the start is also very relevant to analysing this theme, as Tom Robinson didn’t do a thing, he’s as innocent as a mockingbird, and just as it is a 'sin' from Atticus’s perspective to kill a mockingbird, it’s therefore the equivalent to kill a black man who hasn’t done anything - it’s murder.

The development of moral understanding in children is also an important theme that Lee wants to express: there is a boundary in this novel, a line that is drawn where Scout stays on one side, still creating theories about neighbours like Boo Radley, and hateful but humorous opinions on others, while Jem slowly makes the transition from childhood, and begins to mature in his mind. Scout is at first confused by this, but then becomes amazed by his 'developed wisdom', which signifies him beginning to understand the prevalence of evil too.

This is highlighted by his feelings about the background story now, which also shows how his interests have moved in some way from ‘playing’ to understanding the present-day world, and his reaction [spoiler alert] when Tom Robinson is shot for trying to escape having been convicted is damaging. He loses faith in justice and the secured ‘goodness’ that exists in humanity, for he has matured and now has a better understanding of what injustice actually is and how people behave in his society to blacks and in general. Although Scout does show signs of maturing and following her brother’s footsteps, the line that is sketched so discreetly but is so important has not been crossed by her: she remains perplexed by the tragic situation that has occurred, and why Jem and Atticus are so grieved by it.

Overall, I believe the vision and perspective that Lee chose for Scout was carried out incredibly: through such a young child, who is humorous and childish, there is painted a picture of her little understanding of injustice and evil that is so relevant in the novel, that even younger readers can appreciate.