'To Kill A Mockingbird' - Book Review

It has been a long time since I last read a book. Unable to decide which one to pick up, I searched the internet for the top ten books to read before you die. This book was listed No. 1 in one of them. Having read lots of positive reviews about it, I decided to take this one up. So here I am, writing how I found the much acclaimed- Pulitzer Winning book.

 The story is narrated from the eyes of Jean Louise, a six year old girl who lives with her brother Jem and father Atticus Finch. The author has intricately sketched the characters of the three children and built around them stories to reflect the dilemmas that most of us experience while growing up. Jem, who is 4 years elder to Jean is her partner-in-crime in the adventures they undertake with their friend Dill. The three of them play together, eat together and enact plays among themselves. Through out the story, they remain afraid of Mr. Arthur Radley, nicknamed ‘Boo Radley’ by the kids, a mysterious man who is seldom seen out of his home and a story that he is lunatic and is kept in chains is doing the rounds. For some days, the kids find some amusing gifts in an oak tree near Boo’s house. Even after repeated attempts, they are not able to find out who the well wisher really is. The story is set in the mid-1930s in a fictional town named Maycomb in Alabama. Maycomb County is a place with whites as the majority and where blacks are looked down upon as people who commit crimes and live in extremely poor conditions. Jean’s father Atticus is one of the few in the town who don’t abhor the blacks, rather treat them as equals. The kids take their father as a peaceful man, someone who would not even touch a weapon but are startled sometime later to find out that he could shoot with great aplomb when he once saved the neighborhood from a rabies-infected dog by killing him in a single shot. A lawyer by profession, he is a perfect father who has raised his kids well instilling in them the correct ethics while simultaneously keeping them aware of the social prejudices that remain in our society even after honest attempts by good-natured people to eradicate them. One of the blacks, Tom Robbinson who is otherwise known as a responsible citizen is wrongly implicated in a false rape case of the daughter of a white man- Mr Ewell. Atticus puts all his efforts in defending him even after he and his family are ridiculed for such an act by the whites. Mr. Ewell wins and Tom is declared guilty. He tries to run from the prison and is killed during such an attempt. But Ewell does not stop at this. He harasses Tom’s wife, harms the Judge of the case and finally tries to kill Atticus’s children Jem and Jean while they are returning from a Halloween play. A man unknown to Jem and Jean saves them and brings them home. Ewell gets killed in the scuffle and Atticus doubts that Jem might have killed him in his defense. But on further investigation, it is figured out that he might have fallen on the knife himself. Simultaneously, Jean is surprised to find out that the man who saved them is no one but Boo Radley himself. The fact that he was a normal man and not the monster that the kids expected him to be confuses Jean even further. The story ends with Atticus explaining her how people are actually not what we assume them to be.

The author Harper Lee has beautifully described in detail the assumptions we make about people even without knowing them completely and consequently the prejudices we hold against them which they don’t really deserve. We frequently build thick walls around ourselves, not allowing fairness to seep in and break our rigidity of thoughts. The book won a Pulitzer Prize, which I feel is well deserved because of the brilliance with which a sensitive topic has been discussed that holds relevance in our society even after more than half a century has passed after it has been published.

The book even after being published in 1960 and set in 1930s is still a perfect reflection of today’s society. Prejudices on the basis of color, ethnicity, geography and gender very much exist even today. The recent Nido Tania case in Delhi reflects the intolerance we have towards our own countrymen. Communal riots still occur frequently for the walls we have created against people from other religions. Little girls are brutally killed and women harassed openly in daylight thanks to the lack of gender equality in our society.

I liked the flow of the book and  words that perfectly describe the story scene-by-scene in a way that is simple to understand. The story has not been stretched unnecessarily. The plot is crisp and certain characters stay alive even after the book is finished.

Summing up, the book is a must-read for anyone who cares about the society and is interested in reading a good piece of literature. Mocking bird is a beautiful bird which does no harm to anyone and sings melodious songs for everyone. ‘To kill a Mockingbird’ signifies the killing of innocence in the form of unfair killing of Tom Robbinson, a man who actually did no harm to anyone. Every time an innocent living being is treated unfairly, a mockingbird is killed, thus the title.

Give this book a try and you too will realize why it tops the list of the top ten books to read before you die!