To Kill a Mockingbird
by Harper Lee
Ah where do I start?
I first read To Kill a Mockingbird when I was in high school. I was fortunate to have great English teachers that stopped just shy of torturing texts for meaning but showed the heft behind simple phrases or plot events. As a result, I walked away from the book awed by the magnitudes of meaning behind the book but thought very little of it once I left the classroom.
Two months ago, I started a PE firm and the name of Atticus popped into my head, partially because I had visited a tea shop with that name in Utah. The other part was remembering that Atticus in TKAM was, well, this wise and solid figure. But that’s what kicked off my interest in reading TKAM a second time.
This time, I was able to appreciate the book far more than before. Somehow, someway, TKAM painted a vivid picture of the “old” days. The ones where I didn’t have a care in the world (besides sometimes my grades). If nothing else, just being able to invoke and cherish these memories make TKAM a classic to me. What’s more is in the trial of Tom Robinson. The monologue of Atticus was one of the best speeches I’ve read and the delicate trail of justice was both welcome and satisfying.
There definitely are a lot of nuance in the book and by modern standards, polarizing. But I think most importantly, the book walked us through the complexities of humans living in society. Only the kids are unbounded by the informal rules, laws, and rumors. But not for long. The blanket of life smoothers innocent.
9/10
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