“ Hit ‘em all the blue Jays, kill ‘em if you want, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mocking bird”
So goes the quote from this all time great American classic by Harper Lee. A Blue Jay is a bird regarded as a pest by many farmers in US, while a Mocking Bird is a bird which is welcome in many homes in US, due to it’s sweet voice . Hence To kill a Mocking bird alludes to hurting an innocent person. In this case the mocking bird refers to the innocent black man accused of raping a white female.
To Kill a Mocking Bird is one of the best novels I have ever read in my life. It gives a brilliant description of the life in Southern US full of racial discrimination, poverty and injustice. It speaks of an era when Blacks were not even considered to be human beings, especially in the South. The novel was based on Harper Lee’s own experiences in the Southern state of Alabama one of the most backward places in USA.
Plot
To Kill a Mocking Bird is narrated by a young 6 year old girl Scout Finch, who stays in the small town of Maycomb in Alabama along with her brother Jem Scout and her father the protagonist of the novel Atticus Finch a lawyer by profession. She and her brother have a fun filled childhood along with Dill and they keep fantasizing about the mystery man next door. Most of the earlier chapters of the book deal with Scout and Jem’s growing up in Maycomb, their school, their neighbours and of course the mysterious Boo Radley who stays next door. One fine day Scout’s classmates taunt her father about being a nigger lover . And she discovers the reason being that her father would be defending a black man named Tom Robinson who was accused of raping a white female. What Atticus Finch is doing was nothing short of blasphemy in the American South those days, where blacks were considered as sub human beings. And their family has to pay a price for this, with both Scout and Jem being taunted by classmates and neighbours about their “nigger loving” father. Their father’s sister Aunt Alexandra herself never approves of what Atticus has done. The court trial begins with the entire town turning against Atticus Finch for his decision to fight for what he believes is right. How Atticus fights for Tom Robinson’s innocence, how the residents of Maycomb react to this, how Jem and Scout have to face the consequences of their father’s act is what the rest of this novel is about .
Theme
Harper Lee not only exposes the racism prevailing down South, but she also rips apart the hypocrisy and double standards prevailing among the citizens then. Bob Ewell who accuses Robinson of raping his daughter calls him a “scum” conveniently forgetting the fact, that he himself is the scum of the worst sort, a drunkard who neglects his family and drives them to utter penury. But being a white man he is considered honorable. Another example of the bigoted thinking is Atticus sister Aunt Alexandra, who is not only racist, but thinks that little girls should not be playing outside and have no other purpose in life except to grow up and get married. When Scout’s class discusses about Hitler’s treatment of the Jews, she is appalled at the hypocrisy, considering that they were no better when it came to treating Blacks. To Kill a Mocking Bird deals of those times when freedom in America was meant only for certain categories of people, and other people were to be treated as no better than slaves. But amidst all this, there stands a figure of hope in the character of Atticus Finch, the man, who risks everything in his fight for justice. The entire town turns against him, his children have to face taunts as he is a “nigger lover”, his own sister doesn’t approve of his act, but he never gives up his fight for justice.
      

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