“I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.”― Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
This classic story of racial injustice and loss of innocence has long been considered one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century. Author Harper Lee based the story loosely on her observations of her family, neighbors, and community and on an event that happened near her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama in 1936 when she was ten. The book is narrated by Scout, a young girl who is six years old when the novel begins. Her father, Atticus Finch, is an attorney who was assigned by the judge to defend Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a white woman. The townsfolk are not happy with Atticus for taking the case and become even less so as he attempts to establish Tom’s innocence. Atticus has become an enduring moral hero and a symbol of integrity that lawyers should emulate. Scout and her brother, Jem, learn much about blind prejudice and vitriol in the story but also about friendship and kindness from unexpected places.
Although there are heavy themes and difficult circumstances in this book, Lee handles them with a deft hand, even using warmth and humor to get her point across. This is probably the widest read book on racial injustice in the United States and it still packs a powerful punch.
Content Advisory: Racism, murder, abuse, use of the n-word