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I have read some of the retrospectives and criticisms of To Kill a Mockingbird. July 11, 2010 is the 50th anniversary of the publication of Harper Lee's book, originally published by the J.B. Lippencott Company.
I hope that Harper Lee can take some pleasure in still kicking up a bit of dust and fuss with her book.
This post will contain spoilers so if you have not read the book or seen the movie stop and make amends at your local library, bookstore, Netflix or if you still have one, a DVD store.
Below is a scene from a documentary by Mary McDonagh Murphy on various authors talking about the book. I viewed this video at the current publisher Harper Collins 50th Anniversary web site.
There is a warm sadness of recognition for what the book and movie represents: prejudice, the limitations of the law, displays of respect and the constricting ties of community both seen and unseen.
There Are Questions
Any work of fiction or literature that can't hold up to questions and concerns ain't worth the pulp it is printed on or pixel that is pulsed.
To be sure, there have been folks questioning the validity of the book's high esteem among the public. Some are even saying that To Kill a Mockingbird is not worth the love and reverence that has been attached to the work or the movie. Some readers feel that it is not a good book.
The opinion pieces by Allen Barra in the Wall Street Journal and Malcolm Gladwell's 2009 article in the New Yorker ask legitimate questions about the book:
- Does Harper Lee use stereotypical characters to tell her tale, or did she accurately show the thought processes of an American 1930's community in the context of the story?
- Did the characters have a transformative experience that caused them see their world in a different light?
- If they did not change or evolve, does that invalidate the quality of the story?
Some fiction books really are rooted in their time of creation. It is also true that our tastes evolve and change. For some, rereading the book will not have the same resonance. It will be lacking something that you could not see until now. It happens.
To Kill a Mockingbird encourages us to face truth. If you no longer like the book then that is your truth. I understand and respect it. But judge it fair, within the context of its time and place.
The Author's Responsibility
An author only has one main responsibility: to tell the best story that he or she can produce.
Once it is fixed in a permanent form, the story takes a life of its own. The primary relationship is that of story to reader. An author can comment and provide additional insights, but the couple, the reader and the story, are left to work it out for themselves.
There is no question that the book and movie have inspired people. There are legions of young people who were inspired to become lawyers because of the character of Atticus Finch. Depending on how you feel about lawyers, Harper Lee should not be praised or condemned for that unforeseen circumstance. After all, she probably caused just as many folks to either start writing books or chuck the pen in the trash can in frustration.
Perhaps the inspiration comes not in the 30 second sound bite themes but in the small triumphs that occur just out of the line of vision. A son's growing respect for an older father. The insatiable curiosity of childhood. Maybe it is the self-determination of Scout to be who she wants to be and not molded into ideas of "girly things" before she is ready.
We understand the Cunningham family's total unwillingness to take any form of charity or governmental assistance. We know people like the Ewells who take what they can get, do as little as possible and wail to high heaven that they have been wronged. I honestly do not like the old term that refers to people as “trash,” yet I have met and known people, irrespective of class and race, that were indeed the embodiment of a living waste of being.
For those of us that have an appreciation of the work, we absorb some kind of communion with the characters that will not turn us loose after the last page. That
