to kill a mockingbird

I recently finished To Kill A Mockingbird the other day and can see why it's often assigned to kids in school. I found it to be a short, well-written, and descriptive coming-of-age tale that offers the reader a peak at the life within a small southern town during the Depression era. And being told from the point of view of a young girl, I think that it's able to grapple with a number of difficult issues in a way that's easily digestible, especially for younger readers.

In confronting the reality of racism and the unequal treatment of blacks in the US, for example, it's clearly evident from Scout and Jem's point of view (as well as Atticus' understanding of law) that the treatment of black people by the justice system and white society in general is wrong, and it hurts them deeply to see what befalls Tom Robinson and his family.

I think Lee also manages to address the longstanding existence of racial prejudices, white privilege, and classism in a simple yet powerful way. Here, I'm particularly thinking of Atticus' speech at the end of the trial, which acknowledges that, as a poor women in rural America, Mayella Ewell is disadvantaged in life; but being white, she's still better off/privileged compared to anyone who happens to be black.

It also explores things like social norms and gender roles, and how one has to sometimes ignore them in order to be their best selves despite the disapproval of 'polite society,' which is often anything but polite. Mr. Raymond is in an interracial marriage but has to pretend to be a drunk for that to be tolerated. Scout wears pants, questions authority, and does other things considered unladylike, even feminist, which engenders a fair amount of criticism from her aunt. Atticus (a personification of an ally) is treated harshly by many of the citizens of Maycomb County for defending a black man against his white accusers because, under the law at least, he believes that black lives should matter as much as anyone else's.

And all of that leads to the underlying themes of being yourself and doing the right thing, even if it's difficult or puts you in danger. In doing so, the book delivers a powerful moral lesson about equality and respect without being preachy. It's as if Lee tried, and somewhat succeeded, in penning a modern parable extolling the virtues of Christian (and arguably humanistic) ethics like the golden rule we'd ideally like to be the moral foundation of our society but so few actually seem to live by. That said, it's not quite universal, and not everyone will get the same messages out of it.

I find myself agreeing with Roxane Gay's critique of the book, for instance, as being primarily written for a white audience and not people of colour, who themselves are painfully aware of the inequality and racism that exists in our society; that the language is oftentimes harsh and offensive; and that the black characters are relatively shallow. Which I think goes to show that for all their positive impact, even literary classics can still have their flaws.