Friday, July 25, 2014

Backwards background

Since I didn't post any background information before reading To Kill a Mockingbird, I'm doing things a little backwards and posting it afterwards.  You might already have read some of this from Andrew's blog post, but hopefully you'll learn something new.

The reason I chose To Kill a Mockingbird for my sort of free reading book is because several people had recommended it to me and had even gone as far to call it one of their favorite books.  Eager to find out what was so enchanting about this book, I put it on my reading list and proceeded not to get around to reading it for about a year.  Not that I wanted to read it, or even had forgotten about it, I just got distracted by other books.  It seems that having To Kill a Mockingbird on the summer reading list was the perfect thing to push me to finally read it.

Nelle Harper Lee was born April 28, 1926 in Monroe, Alabama, and is known for her first and only novel, To Kill a Mockingbird.  It was a huge success, winning the Pulitzer Prize and becoming an American classic.  Growing up, Lee was good friends with a boy named Truman Capote, who also later became an author, and defended him from those who picked on him.  Like Scout, she was raised in a small Alabama town with a lawyer for a father.  Some say that Mockingbird is loosely based on her own childhood.  During her college years, Lee wrote for the school magazine, was an exchange student at Oxford, and started law school.  After dropping out of law school, she moved to New York to pursue her dreams of being a writer.  It was during this time that she published Mockingbird.  Later, Harper Lee assisted her friend Truman Capote in writing In Cold Blood, a work of non-fiction.  She also worked on another novel that she never published.  Now aged 88, Lee tends to stay away from the spotlight or anything related to her book, though she just recently allowed it to be made into an e-book.

"Nelle Harper Lee." Bio. A&E Television Networks, 2014. Web. 25 July 2014.        

Saturday, July 19, 2014

My opinion after finishing To Kill a Mocking Bird

I'm sorry that I haven't been doing a very good job blogging through To Kill a Mockingbird, as I've been a bit busy lately.  Towards the end of June, I was busy volunteering with Kidz Romania at an English camp for children.  A while ago, I got back from an MK camp in Croatia.  I had a great time there, made some new friends, and had many wonderful and memorable experiences, but I didn't have any access to WiFi, which kept me from blogging.  However, between two 18 hour car trips (yes, 18 hours both ways), I did manage to finish reading To Kill a Mockingbird.

First of all I'll confess: reading classics or older books is a little difficult for me.  My mind is so programmed for the non-stop action found in books, movies, and shows today, that I tend to get bored with slower stories.  In older books such as To Kill a Mockingbird, the authors go through great lengths to describe the setting, the characters, and every day life.  Don't misunderstand me, I like descriptions and character development.  In fact, I consider them to be some of the greatest factors in what makes a good book, but I think that it's the description of every day life that tends to bog me down.  Harper Lee spends a great deal of time simply describing Scout's life in Maycomb, Alabama and random events that happened to her.  While some of the events she described where important, others seemed to simply be extra background information.  After finishing the book, I was under the impression that most of it was rather random and even unnecessary.  I'm not trying to say that's wrong, just different than what I'm used to/ prefer.

All that to say, I did like To Kill a Mockingbird.  I'll admit that it's not one of my favorites but I did like it.  When people have described the plot to me before, I've always been told that it's about Scout and Jem growing  up while their lawyer father, Atticus Finch, defends an innocent black man accused of rape.  Thus, it is usually thought of as a book fighting racism.  However, I wouldn't completely agree with that.  The Tom Robinson case isn't even mentioned until about halfway through the book.  The trial takes place over only a few chapters and Tom Robinson is a minor character.  In some ways, the trial seems to be more of a subplot.  Personally, I think that the main focus of the book is Boo Radley, the Finches' freaky white neighbor.  How is this a book about racism when it spends more time talking about the assumptions made about this white man than they ever do Tom Robinson?  Well, I would say that this is a book not about racism but about prejudice in general.  In Maycomb, people tend to make generalizations about certain families, people groups, and individuals.  As the story progresses, Scout learns that not all of these generalizations are true, especially ones made about Boo Radley.  She learns that she has to look at things from some one's point of view before she makes any judgments about them.

My favorite part about the book was the ending.  When I started the book, I expected it to end happily and hopefully, teaching that racism can be overcome.  Instead, Lee refuses to paint a false, rosy picture and shows the harsh reality of prejudice.  I like how she finally explained her point about Boo Radley, her usage of symbolism, and they way she tied the story together.  There is more I have to say about themes and symbols, but I don't think I can without completely ruining the book.