With our hectic lives and all of the new books that we are trying to keep on top of, we can often forget about the classics, those books that we loved to re-visit or the books that we just haven’t got to quite yet. Every week, we pick a classic book of the week that is a favourite of ours in the office. This week, we will be looking at the classic, To Kill A Mockingbird.
“Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.”
Published in 1960, To Kill A Mockingbird came along at a time of severe civil unrest in the United States right at the height of the Civil Rights movement. Often included as part of the school syllabus, the book is listed as one of the greatest literary achievements of all time. British Librarians have even listed it as a book that every adult should read before they die, placing it ahead of the Bible. Astonishingly, since it was first published, the book has never been out of print.
Lee never expected To Kill A Mockingbird to be a success, in fact she once became so frustrated with writing the book, she threw her manuscript out the window. Overall, it took her over two years to write the piece, becoming the only novel that she ever wrote.
The story revolves around a small family, the wonderful Atticus Finch, his daughter Scout, from whose perspective the story is told and her brother Jem in the years of the Great Depression. The family live in Maycomb, Alabama, a town which we soon see is overrun with racism. Finch, a lawyer, agrees to take the case of one Tom Robinson, a black man who has been accused of raping a white woman, Mayella. Throughout the court case, many aspects of Finch’s personality are shown, his steely determination, his compassion, his love for humanity, his honesty, his teachings but most of all, his moral codes.
While the court case continues, Scout and Jem live their lives under the comfortable supervision of Cal, their housekeeper, all the while trying to discover why exactly their mysterious neighbour Boo Radley hides away from them.
To Kill A Mockingbird is a fantastic piece, a book that will re-define how you see others and certainly how you should see others. Atticus has long been held up as the one of the great father figures in literary history, a wise man who always makes the correct decision, no matter how difficult it is. It also depicts an era in the South that is now mostly gone but never forgotten and of course, the end of innocence.
If you have read it before, go back and read it again. It is a masterpiece.
“Remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” That was the only time I ever heard Atticus say it was a sin to do something, and I asked Miss Maudie about it. “Your father’s right,” she said. “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy . . . but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”
