A Critique of Harper Lee’s Novel, To Kill a Mockingbird

Harper Lee’s classic Novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, is set during the great depression in a quiet rural southern town. The story revolves around a young girl and lead character, Scout, and her father, Atticus. The local townspeople are upset when Atticus agrees to defend a black man, Tom Robinson, falsely accused of rape. Tom Robinson is ultimately convicted by an all-white jury and shot to death during an escape attempt. Through the extreme racial prejudice and hatred of the time, Scout is exposed to the adult world and must confront the fact that there is evil in the world. Atticus is a man of great moral standing and tries to convey some very important lessons to her. He believes that there is good and bad in all people, and the important thing in life is to treat others well and see the world through their eyes. Primarily through his teachings, she ultimately learns how to accept this adult world, and comes to see that people are not all good or all evil. She learns how to see the good in people and to understand the bad. This framework is used to explore several universal and timeless themes relating to morality, the state of man and human nature.

Harper Lee grew up in a small southern town during the great depression very similar to the one where the story takes place. Her father, like the books character Atticus, was a lawyer who once defended black men against serious legal charges in a time and place where racial prejudice and hatred were common (Shields, 2008). Harper Lee, like Scout, was a tomboy as a young girl. Despite these similarities, the author denies that this is a story about her childhood, but clearly, her childhood experiences shaped the events she portrayed. The book was written during the 1950s and published in 1960 at a time when the civil rights movement was becoming very active in this country. The events of this time in American history are reflected in one of the central themes of the book, the moral conflict created by racial prejudice and hatred. While the timeliness of the book probably contributed to its initial bestseller status, the continued popularity of the book supports my opinion that the themes in the book are universal and still relevant today.

The people of the town of Maycomb where Scout lives with her brother, Jem, and her father, Atticus, are mostly struggling to make ends meet. Because Atticus is a well-respected lawyer, the Finches are relatively well off by depression-era standards. The people who live in town are below the Finches in social standing, followed by the people who live in the country, and below them are those in the black community. The social divisions of the town are very sharp, and this confuses Scout. She is treated well by the black community and even sits in the segregated black seating during the trial of Tom Robinson. At the same time, the white children are bullying her and Jem due to her father’s actions to defend Tom Robinson during the trial. This confusion is used to illustrate another theme of the book, which is that social division can be destructive leading people in one class to oppress and harm innocent and good people of a lower class. A concept that might easily be understood by recent immigrants struggling to be successful in this country or people left poor and unemployed by the recent economic recession. The nature of social divisions may have changed to some degree, but these types of divisions still exist.

A major character in the story, Boo, lives down the road in the creepy old Radley house. Boo is a tragic figure that rarely ventures outside because an abusive father has traumatized him. Scout, Jem, and their friend Dill become fascinated with what they perceive as the “creepy” Boo who lives in a creepy house. But eventually, Boo wins them over by leaving them presents in a tree and appearing several times on different occasions to do good things. He even saves Scout and Jem from an attack by the father of the girl Tom Robinson was accused of raping. Towards the end of the book, Scout finally comes to empathize with Boo and to see him as a good human being, rather than just creepy. A change of view that shows how she has matured to have a more complex and adult view of the world. The discovery that the world is not all good is one that everyone experiences as they grow up and became more independent. I believe most people can relate in a very personal way to this aspect of Scout’s story. This is another example of why I believe the book has a universal and timeless appeal.

A symbol in the book, and the subject of its title, are mockingbirds. Boo and Tom Robinson were the two characters that I found most represented the idea of the mockingbird. The symbolism of the mockingbird wasn’t clear until it was explained in Chapter 10 when Atticus tells Scout “… it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” and a neighbor, Miss Maudi, explains “… Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy…”. The “mockingbirds” are the innocent people that are hurt by bad people. This is easy to see with Boo as his father hurt him when he was a young and innocent person. His actions clearly show that despite this he has a good and generous heart. The innocent man Tom Robinson who was found guilty of rape was killed trying to escape from prison. This “mockingbird” was literally shot. Although a few characters could fit in one way or another the image of a mockingbird, these two seemed the most obvious mockingbirds to me.

Perhaps the greatest moral message the author is trying to convey is that although there will always be good and evil in society, it is possible for individuals with strong morals to treat all people with compassion and empathy, to try and understand the bad side of people, and to continue to see the good in humanity. It is interesting that the story is told from Scout's perspective. She starts out as innocent and not aware of the evil in the world. One sees that the central moral lesson she learns is not something she is born with but is taught to her by her father. She discovers that her impressions about Boo are not true, she has seen how cruel some people can be and how some people, especially the jurors that convicted Tom Robinson, can abuse their power. She also has seen innocent people wrongly punished. All these experiences help to form her view of the world and Atticus helps her along the way with these moral lessons. The role of the schools in teaching these moral lessons is downplayed and in some respects, the schools are even portrayed as being contrary to learning these types of lessons. The author seems to be making yet another point about the importance of informal education in learning important lessons in life.

Some people may view this book as overly moralistic or “preachy” and even depressing. However, if you think hard about all the events that happened and watch the development of Scout one can come away from the book with an optimistic view of human nature. The moral lessons presented are relevant to today’s society. Children still must confront the evils of the world, and they must be taught how to process and cope with problems that are part of any society. Prejudice towards minorities may not be as blatant as it has been in the past, but it still exists in many different forms. Some would argue that the civil rights movement of our generation is to overcome the prejudice and discrimination that exists against gays and lesbians. Social-economic divisions may be further apart than ever before which has given rise to Occupy Wall Street and the 99% movement. The poor and innocent still suffer from discrimination and in some cases the abuse of power by those in higher social classes. These problems will likely always be part of society, and children will always have to learn the lessons that Scout learned. Because of this, To Kill a Mockingbird will always be relevant and appeal to a universal audience.

Reference

Shields, CJ (2008). I am Scout. The biography of Harper Lee. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company, LLC.