To Kill A Mockingbird

Hello everybody and welcome back to Wednesday Works. I hope everybody had a great holiday and enjoyed a good Thanksgiving meal. Today we’re going to be talking about another favorite book of mine, “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee. I first got to read this book in my junior year English class and, like most high school students, thought it was such a boring book for a reading assignment. However, after I graduated from high school I picked up the book again and began to read it. This time around, I understood it a little bit better than when I read it a few years back and it grew to be a personal favorite of mine.

“To Kill A Mockingbird” follows the character Jean Louise, or “Scout,” as she is nicknamed. We follow her character and how she comes to learn about nobility and sensitivity. She also comes to learn about harder topics like being prejudice against others. She lives with her brother, Jeremy, and father, Atticus Finch. Scout’s father, a lawyer, agrees to defend a local African-American man, Tom Robinson, after he was being accused of raping a local white woman. Atticus is threatened by the local community for “representing a black man” in a trying case. However, Atticus is a noble man and does not judge someone based on the color of their skin. He passes his nobility to his children by encouraging them to have empathy and to be just.

“It is a sin to kill a mockingbird” is one of Atticus Finch’s noteworthy lines that he tells his children. This line is a parallel and foreshadow of events that happen in the book.

“To Kill A Mockingbird” is set during the Great Depression in a town in Alabama. It talks about hard subjects such as prejudice, rape and murder. The book has been ranked seventh in the American Library Association’s Top 10 Most Challenged and Banned Books due to “racial slurs and their negative effect on students” (“Top 10”).

Though it is a tough book to read due to the language and hard subjects portrayed in the reading, it is a story that will leave a mark on your heart.

Sources: www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/top10#:~:text=Every%20year%2C%20the%20Office%20for,from%20communities%20across%20the%20U.S.

Savannah Boone is a staff writer for the GCDW. In this column, she will write about books and other forms of writing. She loves spending time with her family and friends, reading and watching movies, specifically the Harry Potter series. If you would like to share your story or if you need a friend to talk to, Savannah can be reached at sboone@gcdailyworld.com.