This is my favourite novel. I can’t even mention the amount of times I’ve read it.
So, the story is set in Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930’s and is narrated by a six year old girl named Scout Finch. Her father, Atticus Finch, is a lawyer and has taken a case of defending a black man. In those days, that would have been an unimaginable act, what with Jim Crow Laws circulating around in the south. Alongside this, you’ve got Scout, her brother Jem and their friend Dill, trying to make Boo Radley come out of his house. A lot of bad rumours have been told about this man and they want to know if it’s true.
This book not only includes racial themes, but also shows what happens when lies are told about people and the effects it has not only on that person but also on the people listening to the lies.
Scout is the reason I love this book so much. Her innocence and stubbornness is what really makes this book. She is too young to understand exactly why it is so wrong for her father to defend Tom Robinson, but she doesn’t let anyone elses opinoins alter her perception and continues to defend her fathers honour. In her eyes, all people are equal, blacks and whites etc, so she can’t understand why it is such a big issue.
She also makes you see things as she does and feel what she feels. Scout has the ability to persuade you that her way is the right way and that everyone one else is wrong, even if she is the only one with a different idea.
Because she’s so young and naive, she opens up this world through a child perspective. The colour of your skin doesn’t, but it what you do that counts. This is something constantly reinforced to us and I agree 100%. On top of that, she makes you become captivated by these rumours about Boo Radley. Because she thinks they are real, you begin to as well.
Alongside Scout, you’ve got her older brother Jem and their new friend Dill. These two are very funny characters. There are moments when Jem is “too old” to play with Dill and Scout. These scenes made me giggle because it was the same thing my brother would say to me when we were growing up. Jem’s views on the multiple situations within the stories are very different to Scouts. He seems to understand a lot more of what is actually going on. (And he can control his anger better.)
Then there’s the little relationship with Dill and Scout. So cute.
Atticus is the ultimate hero in this book as well as in Scout eyes. He may not have been able to save his defendant, but he tried as hard as he could, which is more than anybody else did. Although, in those times, he didn’t have much of a chance saving the poor mans life, with racial prejudice and that.
Atticus puts himself and his family in danger to protect this man and he knows exactly what he is doing.
Boo Radley is a completely different aspect of the novel. He is suppossedly a deranged boy who kills people and stalks you when you sleep, when in fact, he’s just a guy hiding in his house to protect himself from the horrible people in the world. In the end, he helps to save Scout, which goes against all of the rumours spread about him.
That was a lesson I learnt from the book. That rumour are nothing but rumours. They’re spread around about people who are different that what society considers the norm, and it is up to you whether or not you choose to believe it.
All in all, fabulous novel. There are definitely aspects of it that could be applied to today’s society: the harshness of gossip, being prejudice.
Definitely a novel worth reading if you haven’t already.
J.
Book Review 