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| Cover art uncredited. |
| TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD Harper Lee New York: Warner Books, December 1982? (31st printing) 1 |
Rating: 5.0 High |
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| ISBN-13 978-0-446-31078-9 | ||||
| ISBN-10 0-446-31078-6 | 281pp. | SC | $4.99 | |
This novel of course is an American classic, and it is a poignantly engaging read. Narrated by Scout (Jean Louise Finch), it takes the reader through about six years of her life in the Alabama town of Maycomb. The author's understated style is very effective at presenting the growth of her and the other children portrayed and emphasizing, with a sort of literary ju-jitsu, the pathos of major events they experience.
Those events include the trial of Tom Robinson, a local black man accused of rape, with Atticus Finch serving as his defense attorney. Atticus demolishes the prosecution's case as thoroughly as Perry Mason ever did, but it makes no difference: a jury of rural whites convicts Robinson. They also include Bob Ewell, the father of the alleged rape victim, threatening to kill Atticus and later attacking his children Jem and Scout from behind as they walk through a pitch-dark stretch on the way home.2 The children survive, though Jem is injured in the fight.
"Jem was staring at his half-eaten cake. 'It's like bein' a caterpillar in a cocoon, that's what it is,' he said. 'Like somethin' asleep wrapped up in a warm place. I always thought Maycomb folks was the best folks in the world, least that's what they seemed like.' "'We're the safest folks in the world,' said Miss Maudie. 'We're so rarely called upon to be Christians, but when we are, we've got men like Atticus to go for us.' "Jem grinned ruefully. 'Wish the rest of the county thought that.' "'You'd be surprised how many of us do.' "'Who?' Jem's voice rose. 'Who in this town did one thing to help Tom Robinson, just who?' "'His colored friends for one thing, and people like us. People like Judge Taylor. People like Mr. Heck Tate. Stop eating and start thinking, Jem. Did it ever strike you that Judge Taylor naming Atticus to defend that boy was no accident? That Judge Taylor might have had his reasons for naming him?' "This was a thought. Court-appointed defenses were usually given to Maxwell Green, Maycomb's latest addition to the bar, who needed the experience. Maxwell Green should have had Tom Robinson's case." – Page 215 |
As I say, Harper Lee's low-key writing style is very effective at underlining the dramatic ironies of southern American culture in the 1930s. One of the most effective scenes for me was the ladies of the Missionary Society sitting in the Finch parlor3 nattering on about black folks getting uppity even as Tom Robinson is killed trying to escape from jail and Atticus's sister and her friend Miss Maudie (along with Scout) — all holding a decidedly different view — serve them coffee and pastries while pretending nothing is wrong.
To Kill a Mockingbird is a noble work of great verisimilitude, marred only by occasional passages in which Scout is given a vocabulary that seems beyond her years. (But altering these passages to conform to her way of speaking would probably make them unwieldy.) I give it top marks and rate it a definite keeper.
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