To Kill a Mockingbird

To my surprise I enjoyed To Kill A Mockingbird, despite the fact that it wasn't the usual type of novel that I tend to read. I also watched the 1962 movie too, starring Gregory Peck, to enhance my understanding of the points the story was making: it covered most of the major plot elements contained in the book, albeit in a slightly different order, emphasising certain aspects of the novel for dramatic effect and leaving others out; it was an interesting comparison. In this brief review I'm not going to run through the plot, rather I'm going to touch on the various themes which I noticed:

Good versus Evil

“Mockingbirds don't do one thing but . . . sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.”

The exploration of what it means to be good or evil is covered extensively. Mockingbirds (such as Tom Robinson, Boo Radley and possibly even Atticus) are almost entirely good but the characters exhibit and deal with this goodness in different ways, for example Boo hides from evil and Atticus fights it head on. However with Atticus he also understands that good people are weak enough to support an evil cause, for example Mrs. Dubose. Atticus also recognises that we all have a basic level of human dignity which requires respect and an attempt to understand individual points of view, he says:

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view—until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”

The novel suggests that failure to “stand in the other persons shoes”, leads to intolerance and fear which then leads to prejudice and injustice. Once you take the time to understand why a person is behaving in a certain way then tolerance and sympathy will follow which will then ultimately remove prejudice.

This lesson in morality suggests that you can live with dignity without becoming overly pessimistic at how others conduct themselves. Scout grasps this when later in the novel she acknowledges Boo for who he is not who she thinks he is; he becomes fully human to Scout, illustrating that she has developed into a sympathetic and understanding individual. Despite the pain Boo has suffered, the purity of his heart guides his dealings with the children; he saves Jem and Scout from Bob Ewell and is the greatest symbol of what it is to be good.

Interestingly, the novel doesn't provide clear guidance on how to approach those people who are integrally evil and who are indifferent to reason. That is left up to the reader to consider alone.

Groups versus Individuals

I mentioned the effect that the irrational grouping of people has in my review of Cats Cradle; while Atticus considers the individual others in the book use religion, race, class, gender or the expected behavioural patterns of society to group people together, set certain standards and norms, create stereotypes and then demand conformity to these; this is sometimes called “prejudice” (see above).

Perhaps the most powerful example is how most people in the book perceive black people: they are either stupid or evil, both assumptions are skilfully dismissed by the author. For example, even though the black characters are of a lower class than the white Ewells they are more law abiding, accommodating and hard working.

Growing Up

The children in the book question what doesn't make sense to them, for example the pervasive prejudice and as the novel progresses the children age and slowly lose their innocence: at the start they equate good to mean Atticus and the citizens of Maycomb and evil is personified in the mysterious Boo. As the book concludes their outlook becomes more realistic and they begin to understand the complex nature of morality: everyone is good or evil to a greater or lesser extent.

To Kill a Mockingbird also condemns standardized school education: memorisation of facts and figures and the hypocrisy shown when it comes to the discussions about the Nazi party and democracy all highlight how schools create conformist children as opposed to critical thinkers who foster shared understanding across the artificial boundaries mentioned earlier.

Courage

The theme of courage was perhaps the most powerful for me. Atticus defines courage are follows:

“It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.”

Courage therefore is not the same as power or might, it's about doing what you know is the right thing regardless of what others think (here's an example of this).

As:

“The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience.”

In conclusion, the skill that has gone into writing this novel is really only understood when you have completed it and thought about the entire story. One the one hand it is a simple morality tale but on the other it really is one of the books that every adult should read before they die.