To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a great Classic which I think everyone should read at some point in their life.

To Kill a Mockingbird is based in the early 1930s in South Alabama. The great depression caused poverty and unemployment to be widespread. Racism in the area was at an all-time high. The story follows the life of Scout over the space of a few years. She was five at the beginning of the book and the everything that happens is from her perspective. She has a brother called Jim, a couple of years older than her and a friend called Dill who comes to visit every summer. They are all inseparable and spend their whole life together.

I studied this book for my GCSE, but had read this book beforehand anyway. I loved the book and was so excited to study it. It is a common book to study but is a great book to read for leisure as well.

One thing I loved about this book is that you can see it from the perspective of a small child, therefore you can see the way she thinks about certain issues in the society at the time. Scout all the way through the book says things how it is. One example of this is about racism, where Scout tells her teacher that the white community who are prejudice towards the black community are just as bad a Hitler being prejudice towards the Jews. The adults at the time would have seen the two situations as very different, but Scout was able to see this through children's eyes. You can also see how she develops as she gets older. I also love how they look at the issue of racism, in the context of a time when it was so widespread.

Lee grew up in Alabama at a similar time to the book being based, her father was a Lawyer like Scouts father. This means that she probably used her experiences growing up to shape Scout and the rest of the book. She has always, however, denied the book being in any way autobiographical.

There is a film of To Kill a Mockingbird which was made in 1962, I have never watched it though. I have heard that it is very different to the book, which I don't like the idea of. During year 11 I also thought it would confuse me whilst doing my GCSE’s.

Rating: 10/10

Prayer points:

I pray for people who still face prejudice; whether it is racial, religious etc.

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