I read To Kill a Mockingbird when I was a teenager. I feel that I wasn’t aware enough or old enough to completely understand it, so I re-read the book this month. I had understood just the basic story of the novel, nothing more than that and this book is not at all superficial. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a story set in a small Southern American town, Maycomb, Alabama, and focuses on the Finches’.
It doesn’t seem realistic to give a plot summary here for this novel because I won’t be able to make it as brief. The story is narrated by a six-year-old girl Scout, i.e., Jean Louise, and it takes place approximately over a span of three summers. Scout Finch lives with her older brother Jem, her widowed lawyer father Atticus, and their maid Calpurnia. Scout, her brother, and their neighbor’s kid Dill, who lives in Mississippi, spend the summer having fun before school starts. They live a completely normal life. As kids do, they complain about school, adults confuse them, and they let their imaginations run wild when it comes to the Radley house, especially Arthur Radley, they believe the rumors about him and build a picture of him in their heads with such information.
When the court appoints Atticus Finch as a lawyer to defend a black man, Tom Robinson, accused of raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell. Scout and Jem are harassed and taunted by their peers, neighbors, and extended family. They don’t want Atticus fighting the case for Tom, Scout even asks her father about this, and he explains that he is doing the right thing. The mindset of kids is very fixed; they see everything and everyone in terms of good and bad. The people around Scout that she thought were good prove otherwise through their behavior. She starts questioning her understanding of people, and in a way, Tom’s case is like an end of innocence for Scout, Jem, and Dill.
We come to realize that the people of the town are deeply prejudiced. Some of them are extremely racist. Even for Scout, discrimination against blacks is somewhat normalized before she starts to understand how wrong it is. Even when Atticus successfully proves to the court that Tom couldn’t have hurt Mayella because he has no use of his left arm. The jury is made up of white men with the exception of just one member, still, Tom is found guilty. Tom is shot and dies when he tries to escape the Sheriff’s custody. The racist prejudices are normalized and ingrained in people that there is no question of right or wrong to it. The prejudices apart from racism especially in Scout’s context are sexism and classism, which come into the story.
The main theme of the novel remains the morality of people. To put it simply, it is a battle between good and evil. Atticus is highly moralistic; he has a strong sense of right and wrong. He tries to ingrain this quality in his children. He tells Scout that you have to think from the other person’s perspective too. He doesn’t back down even when everyone is against him because he knows what he is doing must be done. Like I said before, Scout sees things in a very black-and-white manner; she is influenced by what she hears and sees. The narration does come across with a hint of innocence since Scout is six. It gave the story an evolving perspective, I felt. Scout’s understanding and experiences of her society shift during the story’s course.
To Kill a Mocking has a strong sense of morality at the center of its story. The characters are well-written and slightly unconventional. The hero of the story is Atticus Finch; he is not a hero in a traditional sense due to his physical traits, but he is a hero because of his values. I am glad I re-read this book. I realized how many things had gone completely over my head the last time. The beginning was a little slow with all the descriptions that turned out to be necessary for the setting of the story. Overall, the book maintains a good pace. It is a great book. It did get too much during some parts, and I had to put it away for a while. This is a book everyone should read.
An important book and one that shows the problems that plagued America. A child should be old enough to comprehend quite a few things before reading this book, or watching the movie. I completely disagree with the previous "teacher" reviewer, she is a great example of why we need parents to have a say in what kind of literature is available in our kids' schools, and NOT left up to administration, teachers, etc. I do not see this as "white saviorism", and since some wish to bring color into this; as a black man, I have never hesitated recommending this book to everyone I know.
This title has:
Educational value
Great messages
Great role models
8 people found this helpful.
October 31, 2014
So many levels to enjoy this book
I listened to the audio with my 10 year old [Sissy Spacek read it, yes please!!] Everyone thought she was too young. She absolutely was not. She learned so much from the book about history, empathy, human nature, and justice. Now, I cried like 8 times, she didn't get a lot of the tragedy or poignancy but she loved the adventures of Scout and Jem. And she has read it twice since, the narrative voice is so appealing and real. about the rape...thats what i was concerned about. I told her the yules [sp?] Accused tom of attacking maella [sp? Again....cut me some slack, it was the audio! ] and she was satisfied with that. However, of course scout asks calpurnia "what is rape?" To which cal ingeniously responds "ask your dad"...to which atticus tells her "carnal knowledge of a woman without her consent". Thats the extent of the graphic nature of the book. As for the N word, good opportunity to teach your kid how hideous the word is and how much painful history is bwhind a word thrown around so carelessly these days. And thats not enough to sway you from reading this with your child, letting them read it and reading it yourself as an adult. An absolute work of art. Perfection.
This title has:
Educational value
Great messages
Great role models
5 people found this helpful.
Hailey B. Parent of 8, 10, 13 and 17-year-old
February 23, 2023
Do NOT read this book.
This is hand-me-down, the absolute worst book I have ever read in my life. I LOVE books, so of course, I thought I'd love this one. But I absolutely did not. In the beginning, it was incredibly boring, and throughout the book. There was probably a million racial slurs and swears in the book. Not to mention how it focus' on a Rape crime the entire second half of the book. As a person of color, I find it absolutely offensive how black people are denied a voice in this book, and how it mainly focus' on the white children. Who, although are some fun characters, shut the people of color down completely. If I could go back in time and fistfight the author, I would. To every reader out there, young and old, this book is horrible. Please, for your own sakes, do not read it.
This title has:
Too much violence
Too much sex
Too much swearing
Too much drinking/drugs/smoking
3 people found this helpful.
December 31, 2018
The older, the better
I am also a secondary English teacher [7-12]. This is a high school textbook--typically grades 10+. I would not put this book on a list that should be read by age 12. Discerning parents who believe their young'n can handle it--go right ahead. But the older the reader, the more appreciated the book will be.
3 people found this helpful.
September 17, 2017
Wait until your child can understand the full significance . . . .
I don't understand why the ratings say there is no "sex" in this book. The alleged crime is a rape! To really understand this story and grasp the significance that the author intends, the reader needs to understand what sex is and that rape is sex against someone's will and it was against the law or at least against the cultural norms of the time for a black person to have sex with a white person in the South. So why have a child who doesn't and shouldn't understand rape read this book? The story isn't just about someone who is accused of a crime like theft but didn't do it; it has way more significance than that, so if the reader misses this significance, then what is the point? Just because Scout is between the ages of 6 - 9 doesn't mean that children close to that age should be reading this. The narrator is telling it as an adult looking back. Consider what your child is ready for. There are plenty of other books for children in the meantime. I vote at least 13 years of age and maybe later when they actually have the developmental capacity to ask deeper questions and generate deeper thoughts about the intersection of sex, race, rape, prejudice, etc. Just because a child has a broad vocabulary and reads well on a technical level, doesn't mean they really understand the full meaning so why encourage it? I remember reading it as a freshman in high school and it was the right time for greater absorption of the full significance of what was going on.
1 person found this helpful.
January 11, 2016
very great book, many uses of the"n-word" but it fits with the time the story takes place in.
This title has:
Educational value
Great messages
Great role models
1 person found this helpful.
jtoxx Parent of 7-year-old
February 28, 2023
Helps kids develop empathy, compassion
I remember reading this book when I was 8 or 9 because it was sitting on my Dad’s bookshelf and I was bored. Curious children shouldn’t be discouraged from reading it simply due to mature themes; many children understand more than adults give them credit for. Learning about injustice at a young age helped to open my eyes to it more in the lives of people around me. It also deepened my ability to imagine what another’s experience might be like, even if much different from my own.
This title has:
Educational value
Great messages
Great role models
March 3, 2022
Beautifully written story, but messages of white saviorism and denying black characters a voice
Before I say anything else, I should start by saying I grew up loving this book. The writing and story are beautiful, and the characters are intriguing. However... I am a Humanities Curriculum Director in Massachusetts and have been a teacher for 15 years. I am a white woman. I have taught many students of color and I believe this book needs to be acknowledged for presenting only one dimensional characters of color, as well as depriving them of a voice, agency, or autonomy. The character of Tom Robinson [and his family] have to rely completely on the help of a white man, Atticus Finch, who serves as a "white savior" role. This sets up the message for readers young and old that white people are in a role of authority to "save" the black community. Though this is how social power dynamics were at the time of this story, the fact that it is written by a white woman and does not include voice or agency of people of color is problematic. I have concerns that this story provides a reflection to black students that they are powerless and voiceless, and must turn to a white person who "knows better" to save them. We need more books in our school curriculums that are culturally responsive, allowing students to see characters like them who are empowered. Additionally, we need to teach white students and adults that marginalized communities are strong, wise, and powerful, and we need to be allies to the work they are doing.
June 7, 2021
GREAT BOOK
I think To Kill a Mockingbird is a great novel. Harper Lee really put together a very nice book. The characters she created in this novel are profound. The way she connects the reader to each character building up to the trial was also very brilliant. I believe there are two really big lessons that Lee teaches us through book and one is obviously to stop racism. The other is that NO MATTER the chances of your success, you have got to keep pushing. To Kill a Mockingbird is definitely a recommendation!
Is To Kill a Mockingbird actually a good book?
Published July 11, 1960, the novel was an immediate bestseller and won great critical acclaim, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1961. It remains a bestseller with more than 30 million copies in print.
What is the main point of the book To Kill a Mockingbird?
The main point in To Kill a Mockingbird revolves around the value of protecting innocence. In a society where innocence is decided by skin color and presuppositions based in social status, gender, and other such things, valuing innocence turns out to be a vital part of growing up.
Why is the book To Kill a Mockingbird so popular?
This book is very important to everyone because it vividly demonstrates the effects of racial discrimination in a simple, but startling, manner. Its lessons are no less applicable today than they were when the book was first published. Unfortunately, they are still as necessary today as they were then.
What age is appropriate to read To Kill a Mockingbird?
To Kill a Mockingbird By: Harper Lee. For 7th grade and up.