To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

A book that I’ve read a few weeks ago and the story still lingers in my mind. I’m very new to American classics and I got to know bits and pieces of American history through some very brief introduction in high school but mostly through movies and documentaries. So this book really serves as a little eye opening for me about the problem facing the African-Americans in the 1930s.

The story is told through the viewpoint of a young girl, whose father works as a lawyer with a case defending a black man accused of raping a white woman. The young girl ‘Scout’ and her brother ‘Jem’ are brought up by their father who taught them that everyone is created equal and has the same rights in the eyes of law. Although for some viewpoints, I find it a little too adult for the young narrator to understand. However I have a feeling that small children can be very smart and observant too.

It’s an interesting and also a touching story about prejudice, racism, honor, fairness and the vast gap in the society for the ‘blacks’ living in a ‘white’ community at that time. As the story unfolds, Harper Lee really emphasized how one can form unjust prejudice of someone who one personally doesn’t know, or of someone who is ill be it physically or mentally.

There’s a rich usage of vocabulary in the book and also some southern American slang which I couldn’t understand sometimes, but that is not so much of a problem . The ending of the book really left me pondering, it’s very ‘hmm’ , if you know what I mean. It left the readers wondering about what really did happen and whether to choose to believe the bright side of a situation, or not.

I’d absolutely recommend this book!