To Kill A Mockingbird
by Harper Lee
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Book Summary Information
Author: Harper LeeEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1982-01-01
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 281
Publisher: Warner Books
Product features:
- to kill a mockingbird
Book Reviews of To Kill A Mockingbird
Book Review: Excelent Book
Summary: 5 Stars
To Kill A Mockingbird is regarded as a time-honoured classic for its moral message of equality and preventing the innocent from being corrupted. Harper Lee does this very well, displaying how a small, rural town thought to be the perfect symbol of purity and excellence can, in a matter of days, turn into the epitome of a scum-filled town consisting of hypocrites. Now, although she writes a very good novel, the some of the characters she uses to do this are not great representations of her almost perfect novel. Mr. Bob Ewell is one example that ruins the believability and the ability to enjoy the novel. But, Lee's great story, main characters and timeless message prove this book to be one of the greats of the Twentieth Century.
The novel To Kill A Mockingbird is thought of as one of the best modern novels about racism and purity. Harper Lee certainly holds the problems of the society during the Nineteen Thirties and the Great Depression up to the metaphoric light and exposes the deep-seeded racism. In her novel, Harper Lee describes her focus town, Maycomb, Alabama, as "... an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop . . . [s]omehow it was hotter then . . . bony mules hitched to Hoover carts flicked flies in the sweltering shade of the live oaks on the square. Men's stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning. Ladies bathed before noon, after their three-o'clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum. . . . There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County. But it was a time of vague optimism for some of the people: Maycomb County had recently been told that it had nothing to fear but fear itself." In this description, she shows the slow moving pace of her hot, little rural town. But underneath this fictional, almost typical, `Thirties town lies a deep, dark secret: a prevalent feeling of racism. Minus select people, most of the townspeople have an feeling superiority over the common African-American citizens. According to Jean Louise (A.K.A. Scout), the novel's protagonist, "I heard...[Miss Gates, a citizen of Maycomb] say it's time somebody taught `em a lesson, they were gettin' way above themselves, an' the next thing they think they can do is marry us." Throughout the novel, signs of racism appear and whittle down to a court case in which a obviously innocent African-American is accused and convicted of raping a white woman, a charge that eventually leads to his death. Maycomb's ugly racism, as shown by actions and words from minor characters, portrays the extremely racist society of the Nineteen Thirties.
Harper Lee also took the metaphor of the title of her book, To Kill A Mockingbird, and used it as a common theme throughout her novel. Jean Louise learns this when she states, "`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.'" This action, the killing of a mockingbird, is metaphoric for the loss of innocence due to another's actions. During the length of her novel, this theme appears many times. This goes from the very small, the killing of a "Roly-Poly" [Armadillidium], to a larger scale of a man's innocence, such as the death of the accused African-American rapist and the almost exposure of a legend-filled recluse on the outskirts who preforms a heroic deed. This theme is one of the most major and important in the novel.
On the polar opposite end of the greatest characters in this novel, Mr. Bob Ewell is the stain on the face of Maycomb that not even the citizens like. Comparatively, Ewell is just a more radical form of the common citizen: über-racist and more uneducated than all the rest. In this novel, Bob Ewell is shown as a despicable character, cheating the Government out of relief checks during the Great Depression, harassing the local African-Americans and even going as far as to convince his daughter to accuse one of them of rape to cover up Bob's beating. His terrible demeanor is most clearly seen through his final act, to attempt to harm the Finch children. His ability to mentally handle the harassment of innocent victims proves that he is a horrible individual. But, in her attempt to personify Mr. Ewell, Harper Lee overdoes it quite a bit. His over-the-top actions and his coldheartedness are a little too stressed in her novel, and distracts the reader from the main plot of the novel by introducing him in little, completely meaningless, subplots. He takes away from the ability to enjoy the novel knowing that around the corner comes another Ewell escapade which will obviously not end in his favor. If altered a bit, his character could help the book's progression instead of taking away from it.
When looked at as a whole, Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird is a brilliant work of historical fiction that has the ability to greatly alter the life of almost any reader. Her themes and morals shine through in this novel and expose the bad qualities of life during the Great Depression. Although some of her characters take away from the premise of the novel, they do not block out the strength of her message that will ring true throughout time.
Summary of To Kill A Mockingbird
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