A review by merricatadamtine
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

5.0

I recently read three books in succession that told the story of childhood through the lens of an adult author, "Wild Things" by Dave Eggers, "The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake" and "To Kill a Mocking Bird". Of the three, Lee was best able to capture the true interior life of a child, without letting her adult perspective of childhood skew the story too much. The other two books made the mistake of letting their feelings about childhood get in the way of their expressing the meaning of childhood. Eggers mistake was that he tried to translate the actions of Max into a grown up perspective ("Why does Max act this way? Because he's confused.") and then solve it with an adult solution, (Max is self centered, he learns not to be by having to take care of an island of wild things). In "Lemon Cake" the author is given a special gift of being to feel her mother's innermost feelings. The result is that she grows up sooner than she should have too, since she can experience on an innermost level her mother’s angst and agony. Only Lee is able to create the character of Scout, from the ages of 5-8 as a true child, with her limited understanding (or concern) of the world of adults, or even her older brother Jem. Scout grows and matures only because of one thing, time. Even with the dramatic climax at the end, culminating with her and Jem's near death, she is not wise beyond her years, but she is able to comprehend an idea of justice that goes beyond just right and wrong. Having read this book originally in middle school English class I was glad to have the chance to read it again and come at it from a new perspective. Then I only had eyes for the strong willed, precocious tomboy, Scout. Now, I was able to feel for Atticus as a single parent, and wonder at the private transformation Jem endures as he becomes a pre-teen. It makes me realize, as my son is reading this now in his middle school class, that we can not really teach the classics, but only expose our children to them, so that not only will they have the experience of reading them now, but later in life they can return to them as old friends.