The staples of English classes at high school, “To Kill a Mockingbird” is more than 50 years old, and it is one of the best selling novels of all time. What gives its enduring appeal?
I, for some reason, have not been assigned to read this novel during high school, and I’ve decided to read it myself to understand.
I’m sure others can find the book’s plot summary, background and the major themes of racial tension and inequality in various study guides, so not worth adding here
What exactly was this universal appeal?
First of all, readers from different cultures can relate to the story’s inequality background. Like American history where it is full of such injustice where innocent blacks were killed, injustice is a common occurrence in the history of other cultures, such as Jews, Asians in North America, etc. Often racists give no mercy to the weak who could expect no justice from the courts.
Yet, what separates this story from a tragedy was because of the character Atticus.
Atticus lived in a racist society but he was not corrupted by it. He had the courage to make changes to his society Maycomb by sacrificing himself. “There are some men in the world who were born to do unpleasant jobs for us. Atticus is one of them.”
Finally, the title of the story is an analogy for saying it is sinful to kill the innocent and harmless, exemplified with characters such as Boo Radley/Tom Robinson. “The mocking bird makes music for us to enjoy. They don’t do anything but sing their hearts out to us and that’s why it is a sin to kill them.”
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Memorable quotes
I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.
There are some men in the world who were born to do unpleasant jobs for us. Atticus is one of them
You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view–until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.
