Harper Lee’s realistic and poignant story: To Kill a Mockingbird

Image: Encyclopedia Britannica

Sofía Piña

To Kill a Mockingbird is a classic American novel that most people read at least once in their lives. Some are forced to read it at school, some just tried it because of the recognition this book has. Nevertheless, most people who read it do because of the wrong reasons. They just don’t get it. How can someone not get the importance of this Pulitzer Prize winner?

In a nutshell, To Kill a Mockingbird narrates the story of a family living in Alabama during the 1930s. This family is composed of Atticus Finch, a lawyer, and his children Scout and Jem Finch. The whole story focuses on how their sense of morality is challenged by society. This might seem a little boring at first and might be the reason why many don’t like it. But this book gives a crude understanding and a soulful consideration of the real value of society and real justice, and that is what is valued.

When Atticus agrees to defend Tom Robinson, an African-American man accused of rape, all the Finches are morally challenged through different situations, starting with the insults and threats Atticus received because of this, coming from all the white people in Maycomb, the town where they live. Scout and Jem more than hear degrading comments about their father coming from their classmates. How do these children tolerate this? How can children choose if their father is right or if the whole society is right? They are just children! As a reader, this not only creates a feeling of sorrow for Scout and Jem, but it truly makes us reflect on how the community in which we live has an effect on our morality.

During and after the trial of Tom Robinson, readers are moved and outraged as we see how racism and society obstruct real justice. The accusation of rape is a fraud, and although most people know this is true, they don’t defend it because it’s a fight between a black man and a white family.  Seeing how the evidence is manipulated and how real evidence is ignored can mean a lot for the spectators of the story. More details are revealed as the story goes on, which gives the chance for readers to wonder, to stand between a white man and a black man, between the evidence and the different points of view. They have the chance to truly feel disappointed, to feel like the whole system is wrong because an innocent man is going to get killed in an electric chair, leaving his children and wife destitute. At this point in the book, we start wondering, could this still happen today?

This book is nothing but a reflection about human nature. A critique of the system, of the lack of compassion humans have, of the awful reality in which we live. But overall it is a lesson for the readers to reflect. It’s an invitation to be more kind, more friendly, more human. This lesson can be summed up in one of the most famous quotes from this book: “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.” This is why many love this book. It is a story that will definitely move your heart and teach you to think carefully about us and our world.