Most times I do not re-read books because there are so many that I still need to get to but I have found that the practice is very worthwhile in regards to the required readings of high school.
I took another look at The Great Gatsby as an adult and it truly changed everything for me. The book was so much more relevant and meaningful as an adult then it was when I was force fed it as a fifteen year old. The same holds true for To Kill a Mockingbird.
The Harper Lee classic was required summer reading the term before freshman year. At the time I had just turned fourteen. Fourteen! How can someone with such a small grasp of the real world even begin to appreciate the social hierarchy, racial tension, and literary breakthrough that this book is? They can't. The mastery that is 'To Kill a Mockingbird' was completely lost on me and every other high school student who has read accompanying notes instead of the book in an effort to not fail the test.
On one hand I understand that if some people aren’t required to read they will not....actually I don’t understand that but I digress. If in high school, when authority and fear of failing the tenth grade actually have some pull on students, the opportunity is wasted to introduce them to literary classics then those people may never in their life read them. However, the other hand shows the tale of a student who is forced to drudge through Shakespeare and literature that is not relevant to their lives and it turns them off of these stories forever. Who knows maybe later on they would have discovered them only to turn their nose down and remark 'ugh, I had to read that in high school, it's terrible.'
If this little blog does any good let it re-open your mind to considering revisiting some of these classics. To Kill a Mockingbird sheds a light on a time when racial inequality was considered necessity and protected in little Maycomb County Alabama. Atticus Finch, a literary power house of a character, takes on the defense case for a Negro man charged with the rape of a white woman. Precocious Scout Finch and her older brother Jem give us a look at racial tensions through the innocent eyes of children who are yet to be corrupted into thinking people are not equal.
Layered in with the story of poor Tom Robinson and Atticus' defense is the mysterious recluse Boo Radley. Radley is such an intriguing character that in print hardly exists. We learn little about him but in his subtle way becomes a prominent character.
So many aspects of this story are ahead of its time, it is hard to highlight them all. The challenge of gender roles by Scout, the revolution that was a white man being defensive of a black man, the very mature life lessons learned by children showing that they are more than 'seen but not heards'.
If classics have been on your list of things to read, or you buy those nice hard bound Dickens' and Austen's telling yourself that you will get to them, then add To Kill a Mockingbird back to your list. It will not drudge on, it will not fly over your head but it will make you appreciate the masterwork of Harper Lee and you will realize that literature, life lessons, and girl in overalls can all coexist and make you a better person.
To not read and appreciate this would be...well it would be like killing a mockingbird.
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