“To Kill a Mockingbird” (1960) – Harper Lee Though this novel was published in 1960, the narrative within focuses on the years around 1936 in a town called Maycomb, Alabama. The narrator of the story is a young girl named Scout who narrates most of the novel during her summer months though there are a few references to what occurs during the school years as a glimpse of who her classmates are and of how the school system seems to work. Though Scout has been fairly well educated by her father, Atticus, and their housekeeper Calpurnia, the school’s teachers do not like the thought that Scout is smarter than most of the children in her class and in many ways, is beyond the teacher’s educational reaches. “To Kill a Mockingbird” is classified as a Southern Gothic novel which means the story can some but not all of the following elements: deeply flawed, disturbing or eccentric characters who may or may not dabble in hoodoo, ambivalent gender roles and decayed or derelict settings, grotesque situations, and other sinister events relating to or coming from poverty, alienation, racism, crime, and violence. Though this story does not contain all of these, it does contain quite a few of these topics. Overall the novel has renowned for its warmth and humor since it comes from the perspective of a young girl who is between the ages of six and ten as the story progresses. Despite this, the book does deal with serious issues of rape and racial inequality and the destruction of innocence. This novel is often offered as part of required reading at the high school or junior high level as an introduction to the Depression Era in the 1930’s as well as a way familiarize students with issues that still faced the southern states even after the Civil War. Though book club is much more familiar with the events of the 1930’s and aware of the social stigmas that plagued the south during that time, it is always interesting to read a book from the perspective of someone who lived it and who can offer insight into the individuals who participated in the events. Though the novel is not fully autobiographical, many of the events that are depicted within “To Kill a Mockingbird” are similar to true occurrences in Harper Lee’s home town. The book does more than speak for itself with its content and its views on race through the eyes of a young white female growing up in Alabama. What is more interesting is that in the years that have followed Harper Lee’s critically acclaimed book, the author has hardly written another word and adamantly refuses to speak to anyone about her book or the contents within the tome. In the nearly five decades since the book’s release she has lived in nearly total seclusion and even when presented an award by President George W. Bush, she did so only under the condition that she would answer no questions and make no speech. Hopefully I am providing a little further in depth of a review of the book as well as some background information when I do these brief summaries for our online book club postings. Overall, I think everyone found this book to be fairly enjoyable and I hope we all continue to do so. I think for next month we will be looking to read a book that centers on the Holocaust even if we chose a work of fiction. There are several choices to choose from and we are unsure as to which one it may be as of yet. Please offer any thoughts or ideas for future books that you may have. Though we enjoy reading favorites, sometimes it is also nice to read a book that few have read. Thank you all for your continued support and participation! Onward to the next great adventure!
Posted on: Mon, 27 Jan 2014 03:40:17 +0000
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