This summer marks the 50thAnniversary of Harper Lee’s well-known novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird.” On Saturday, to mark the anniversary, the Freedom Center is hosting a screening of the 1962 film of the same name, with Gregory Peck playing the courageous attorney Atticus Finch. A brief discussion will follow. For more information about the screening click here.
A recent article in the Wall Street Journal, “What ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ Isn’t” by Allen Barra, claims that Harper Lee’s literary talent does not measure up to Southern writers of the caliber of William Faulkner or Tennessee Williams. The general public — and teachers, who have made Mockingbird required reading in classrooms across the land — should stop praising the book as a “timeless classic,” Barra wrote.
Its bloodless liberal humanism is sadly dated, as pristinely preserved in its pages as the dinosaur DNA in “Jurassic Park.”
Barra also wrote that “To Kill a Mockingbird” lacks any moral ambiguity and quotes another reviewer as describing Lee as “an ungainsayable endorser of the obvious.”
Is that fair? Is Barra correct in saying that the book is a sugar-coated myth of Alabama’s past that millions have come to accept?
I don’t think so. What is sugar-coated about a town wanting to lynch an innocent man for a crime he didn’t commit? What is sugar-coated about the hero, Atticus Finch, defending the African American man in question against the town’s judgment? What is sugar-coated about the innocence of childhood being overshadowed by hate and prejudice?
I’ll never forget the first time I read “To Kill a Mockingbird”– I was 14 years old and to this day is one of my favorite books. The book is still relevant and I’m of the personal belief that Lee’s novel is a must read for all Americans.
What do you think? Share your memories of reading this great novel.
Tags: Allen Barra, Gregory Peck, Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Wall Street Journal
Posted on Thursday, July 8th, 2010 at 2:21 pm in Commentary, Events.
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