A classic that can still be called a contemporary.
To Kill A Mockingbird is a novel written by Harper Lee in the 1960s and is still a popular and a Best Seller novel. If you’re wondering what makes it so special, well then, you can only find that out if you read it. Truly, there is no other way to find it out.
In the book, “To Kill A Mockingbird”, Harper Lee has used a very unusual and strong contrast: Child and Rape. This is a story of a Rape trial and the protagonist is 6-year-old Jean Finch (Scout) and her elder brother. It is set in Makem, a small town in Alabama in the south of America. Jean Finch and her brother stay with their widowed father who is a lawyer. He is appointed with a case in the Court of Law where he needs to defend a Black Man who is accused of raping a white girl.
In an era where racism, sexism, slavery, and crimes were at their peak, this plot was way too real. The book is very straightforward and blunt. Harper Lee has written it from the point of view of Scout, a leading character, who is downright blunt, arrogant, and certainly lacks manners. It’s because of the boyish and rowdy behavior that she is often scolded and punished by her father and neighbors. Coming to the neighbors, they are typically small-town neighbors who like to gossip and tease the children for the “unaccepted” behavior of their family. And Finch siblings are subjected to a lot of those.
It wasn’t so before. Finch’s family was loved and respected in the neighborhood and life hadn’t been much of a struggle. It was only after Mr. Finch’s Case that now the family was hated. Even the two children faced loathing. Starting from the school, neighborhood and even at their cousin’s place, everywhere they went, hate comments were passed and they were teased.
Seeing his two children were keeping up with all of those bearings and keeping up with all the insults, Mr. Finch was both happy and sad. But, once someone goes against the “rules” and “beliefs” of the society, society does everything in its power to get them on the so-called “right track”. It could be through mocks, insults, and even threats.
Mr. Finch will be fighting the case of the accused Black Man. Whether they win or not is a secondary thing. Mr. Finch is responsible to keep his client, himself, and above all his children safe. “To Kill A Mockingbird” is a slow but engaging novel that will hook it’s reader till the last word. The start of the book is a bit slow. For the maximum part of the novel, Lee builds up the character and the plot, but doesn’t that make a law centered book interesting?
DISCLAIMER:
Since the author uses a very strong language, along with the strong plot, it may hurt the sentiment of the readers. Pick the book only if you can read this masterpiece without getting offended.
