Compositions: A Random Collection

To Kill A Mockingbird (a review)

Why Continue to Tell This Story?

(from TO KILL A
MOCKINGBIRD: Dramaturgy & Glossary
created by Brooke Viegut)

To Kill a Mockingbird is one of the most popular novels taught in high schools today. It is a story of discrimination, racism, cruelty, and the destruction of innocence. Written in the 1960s, it is the story of an early racism written during and with the influence of the Civil Rights movement. Scout spends the majority of the book learning how to follow instructions given to her by Atticus; to step into someone else's shoes and to see the world from their eyes. To Kill a Mockingbird shares a lesson that everyone needs to hear regardless of who they are, a lesson of empathy.

We are living in a world where talk of racism and race relations are an almost daily occurrence on the news or social media. There is always some video or another of a person of color being discriminated against for a variety of reasons. To Kill a Mockingbird is a very important story to tell during this time. Though it is set roughly eighty years ago, many issues still remain. Like Tom Robinson, people of color are still being brought to trial for different reasons, some lawful and some not. Children are still growing up in poverty, experiencing life with a single parent, and now more than ever people need to take charge of their own education as Scout does. The judicial system is often put into question today just as it is in Mockingbird. From the perspective of a 935 small town in Alabama, To Kill a Mockingbird still brings to light major social issues we discuss today. At the heart of it all is empathy. Empathy for the fellow man, regardless of race, religion, wealth, place of work, etc. 

This play tells a story of race and religion through the eyes of the majority. It is more accessible for a wider range of people needing to hear these messages of empathy, due to the prevalence of white people in the story. Even though by the end of the play not much justice has been served, it is still a step forward. Atticus kept the jury of the people of Maycomb out of the courtroom for hours on a trial that would have originally lasted much less. Opening the minds of people, causing them to really have to think, is progress. Toward the end of the play Miss Maudie says "And I thought to myself, well, we're making a step - it's just a baby-step, but it's a step." 

There is a difference between stupidity and evil. Dietrich Bonheoffer once said, "Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of good than malice. One may protest against evil; it can be exposed, and if need be, prevented by use of force. Evil always carries within itself the germ of its own subversion in that it leaves behind in human beings the sense of unease. Against stupidity we are defenseless." To Kill a Mockingbird tells a story of the power of empathy and open mindedness. Little by little, people's minds can be changed. Praising empathy and walking in other people's shoes changes the relations of people. Society can easily interfere with the reasoning process, but Mockingbird is an example of how slowly but surely progress could be achieved. It tells the story of racism and hate from a more objective view of the past, but still brings to light very prevalent issues in today's world. There is no better time to continue telling this story.

A/N
To Kill A Mockingbird by Nelle Harper Lee is a beautiful masterpiece. It's a serious but fun read and very enlightening. I plan to reread this book as much as I want and as long as I live.

The sequel though. :0

Everybody says the sequel is horrible. And so I did something I've never done: I spoiled myself. I read a dramaturgy about TKAM and read that its sequel, Go Set A Watchman isn't actually supposed to be published. I read about the reasons and thought, yeah, maybe it's better off not read. XD