Monday, September 8, 2008
To Kill A Mockingbird--Mary Sulzer (Academic Foundations)
For many of us, Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird was our first experience with a literary classic. I first read the novel when I was in junior high school. Every few years since then, I pull it out and reread it. Suffice to say that enough years have gone by that I am on my third copy, and it’s getting worn. A small southern town in the midst of the Great Depression is the setting for this gripping narrative, which is told through the eyes of an insightful young girl. When a young black man is unjustly accused of rape, the bitter racism of the time is vividly portrayed in all of its evil. This novel skillfully illustrates both the good and evil that exists in mankind. The appeal of To Kill A Mockingbird is timeless. Nearly fifty years after its initial release, it is still enjoyed by readers of all ages and experiences. Each of us strives to find a little bit of Atticus Finch in ourselves.
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Mary,
ReplyDeleteA few years ago I lent my copy of this book to a neighbor whose daughter was reading it in school. I've never gotten it back, and I feel a keen sense of loss every time I think of that book and all my marginal scribblings that were lost with it. But the one passage I always found most meaningful was the scene where Atticus is explaining to Scout the importance of trying to understand others who may be somehow different from ourselves--the need to "get inside another person's skin and walk around in it." The need for empathy is one of the best expressed themes of that novel, and I often find myself going back to that passage when I'm looking for a literary example that defines the notion of empathy to share with my students.
Kevin Hoskinson