Memories of To Kill a Mockingbird

I first read Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird in the 8^th grade. This time, I read more than 2/3 of it on various airplanes, flying between DFW and Philadelphia and Rochester, New York, on a Friday and Sunday. I flew up to visit my brother in New York and started the book early because I wasn’t planning on reading much over Spring Break. (However, due to a little snafu, my time will no longer be occupied and I will be staying in Fort Worth instead of travelling to Sandestin, Florida.) This book made the whole process of flying (on two big jets and two seemingly feeble smaller jets) much less uncomfortable and helped pass the hours I spent on each, along with the hours I spent in Philadelphia awaiting layovers. (Surprisingly, contrary to the title of the popular TV show, it was sunny neither time I was in Philadelphia.)

 Looking back, I don’t know how I understood much of it. Lee uses employs so man clever innuendos and euphemisms that I know I wouldn’t have gotten as a naïve little 13-year-old. Along with all of the witty word play, there all also many words I know I wouldn’t have known back then, and some I still have trouble defining today. This being said, I remember how much I admired Atticus Finch, for both his demeanor and his name. (I kinda hope to name one of my kids Atticus.) But Atticus is one of my favorite literary characters of all time. He’s just, calm and collected, knowledgeable, and knows how to raise a family.

Again, along with Huck Finn and The Man Who Was Almost a Man I’m not so much averse to the racial slurs and offensive language used, but rather I think it makes the events more believable and the characters more real. Atticus is the exception to the rule in that he’s in a southern town and doesn’t use the N-word, however it makes sense that the majority of the townsfolk do.

Another part of the novel that stood out to me more this time was the chapter involving Jem’s explosion at Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose, and his subsequent punishment. This brief anecdote stuck with me for some reason, and was one of the only parts I remembered from the first time I read the novel. Something about Jem’s initial judgment and then Atticus’s revelation gave me a catharsis that lasted through the years. The only other thing that really stuck with me was Scout’s cute little line when she first saw snow and built a snowman with her brother: “I ain’t ever heard of a n***** snowman, Jem.” This innocent little line was funny to me in 8^th grade that somehow it lasted the years. Also, it may be ingrained in memory because I have no recollection of my first snow; in Illinois it’s a terrible burden from November to April. Oh, the other thing that stuck with me through the years was obviously the moral of judging a man by his character, rather than the color of his skin (or other outward appearance).