Talking about one of my favourite books

I have come to believe that a book chooses the reader and it knows when the reader should pick it up. Has it ever happened that you have bought a book a long time ago and yet never happen to read it? It seems that all your curiosity to read suddenly ends till one day, you finally start reading it, and not only read it but understand it better.

That’s exactly what happened to me. I had bought the world-famous novel ‘To kill a mockingbird’ in 2012. I picked the book a lot of times from my shelf but never read it. The desire to read this classic in my lifetime wouldn’t go from my mind, yet somehow I didn’t read till March 2020.

I was conducting a prelim of class 10 students and had nothing to do. I looked into my bookshelf and picked up Mockingbird; finally! I will not bore you with the redundant details of the book as Google will do that for you. I will get to the point.

I love this book the characters, the plot, and the setting. The book is written from the perspective of a 6-year-old Scout. The book is 3 years in the lives of the characters and the town of Alabama and we witness events happening around her through her perspective. Her elder brother Jem, their father, Atticus, and the maid Calphurnia create a huge impact on these two kids.

The novel presents a court trial of a Black man, Tom, charged of raping a White girl and has less to no chance of being proven innocent, thanks to the bias in the society against Blacks. Unfortunately, the kids witness this trial and many more ugly things throughout the novel.

The novel is also a lesson in parenting. Kids so young and tender ask questions, and we have no idea of how to simplify things for them. Moreover, whether they will understand is the bigger question and hence, most parents dodge such questions by scolding kids. Atticus, on the other hand, answers every question asked by his kids and does it so in the proper tone of voice. Kids address their father Atticus with several names and the most interesting being addressing their father by name, calling him ‘Atticus.’ It acts as an ice-breaker between the father and the kids multiple times.

The trial of Tom becomes the turning point, especially for Jem, who realises that idealism does not work in the real world. Scout too realises the same. Atticus is a man of his word and is firm without really scolding his kids. He is an embodiment of a moral human being. He does things because he knows that he needs to lead by example and that his kids are watching him.

The novel moves the reader more because of the perspective of a 6-year-old. Had this been written from the perspective of a grown-up, it may not have appealed so much. This book became my favourite the instant I read it. It has been the only book in all these years that I read twice within six months. The book has also been made into a movie which is equally appealing. Goes without saying, the book is unbeatable but they have done justice to the book while making the movie.

Mockingbird is followed by (published after a really long gap) ‘Go set a watchman.’ If Mockingbird is idealism, Watchman is reality. No wonder people adore Harper Lee and her works.

And hey you! Thanks for being here. Means a lot. If you liked reading this, do share it with others, comment your thoughts on it and help share the optimism.