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To Kill A Mockingbird

© Erica Davis

In the ninth grade we had to read “To Kill A Mockingbird,” by Harper Lee as our reading assignment in Freshman English. It was the only novel we were required to read, and then we watched the film afterwards. I remember reading it every day, and wondering if it was written JUST for high school kids. The book seemed so full of lessons, and meaning, and morals, that I thought it had to have been written, with the author knowing and intending, to have it taught in English classes. It was just one of those books. One of those books you read in High School, and don’t really appreciate at the time, and then years later you look back and realize what a triumph of a novel it was. That is what I remember about Harper Lee’s only book.

The book was released in 1960. It is, in fact, the second most taught book in the American school system today. It’s lessons resonate in every page. Told from the perspective of Scout, an 8 year old girl living with her father and brother in tiny Maycomb, Alabama in the thirties. The book explores so many issues, from racism and slavery, to sexual abuse and incest, it truly is a work of art, and was a huge novel of the time. Harper Lee gave us some of the most wonderful characters in American Literature in this book as well. Scout, the tomboy; Jem, her older brother whom she spends every day with; Atticus, the father we wish we all had; Boo Radley, the neighborhood hermit who is practically a myth; and so on. The story is essentially about innocence and the loss of it. The title is very symbolic in this. The act of killing a mockingbird is actually considered a sin, as told in the book, and the mockingbird in the book is meant to represent innocence. Whether it is a person, a lifestyle, or a dream, the death of innocence occurs, and by the end of the novel, our characters are changed by these things that made them grow up and come to terms with the evil things that human beings can do to each other.

Atticus Finch is the main character in “TKM,” and is the embodiment of good values, honesty, and love. He loves his children, and teaches them morals and discipline with a gentle hand. Many of us think of Gregory Peck when we conjure up Atticus because of the movie, and I like to think that he was very close to what Harper Lee must have meant when she created Atticus Finch. In

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