Harper Lee: To Kill A Mockingbird

[SFG75]

I should be reading this novel for school, but I just can't get into it right now. Guess I'm just not in the mood for it. There are too many other books vying for my attention.

Part one drags a bit. I'm afraid the dialogue does get tedious. It isn't until the children start catching some flak for their father defending Tom Robonison, that it gets truly interesting. I did love how Atticus had the children face up to the mean old lady.

I wanted you to see something about her-I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do. Mrs. Dubose won, all ninety-eight pounds of her. Accordign to her views, she died beholden to nothing and nobody. She was the bravest person I ever knew.

 

[Occlith]

we cannot know Boo's intentions or inner thoughts...All we know is what other people say about him, because he does not speak for himself--and those who talk about him don't know him well either. Perhaps Atticus does, but he keeps it to himself. . .
My point is that to assume one thing or another (he is harmless/he is dangerous) is a choice the reader makes based on the perceptions of, perhaps, Scout, who declares that he is like a mockingbird. But is he? Can we trust her judgment?

I feel that because Scout is telling the tale years after the events happened, her judgment can be trusted. If the mockingbird is a symbol of innocence, that can describe Boo. If I remember correctly (I don't have the book at hand to check) Boo is mistreated by his father and he stabbed him in self defense. His brother then becomes the caretaker and isolates/protects Boo and the family from further scandal and harm.
Atticus would likely have access to the details of the case and family history and knows that Boo is no threat. After Bob Ewell's death Atticus at first assumed it was Jem who stabbed Bob, it didn't occur to him that Boo was involved.

 

[novella]

I feel that because Scout is telling the tale years after the events happened, her judgment can be trusted. If the mockingbird is a symbol of innocence, that can describe Boo. If I remember correctly (I don't have the book at hand to check) Boo is mistreated by his father and he stabbed him in self defense. His brother then becomes the caretaker and isolates/protects Boo and the family from further scandal and harm.
Atticus would likely have access to the details of the case and family history and knows that Boo is no threat. After Bob Ewell's death Atticus at first assumed it was Jem who stabbed Bob, it didn't occur to him that Boo was involved.

I particularly like your point about the story being told by Scout, in retrospect, as an adult, and so that would make for a trustworthy point of view. That's absolutely true. It makes me wonder what their relationship grew into, "Boo in His Later Years." Theoretically, of course.

Though the circumstances of Boo's previous life are all hearsay, one can safely assume that Scout grew to know that he was okay in these events and after. Bravo Occlith, for your insight.

 

[Yossarian89]

the book's a classic, its a good read from start to finish

 

[novella]

Can't you say something more?

 

[Arabian Gurl]

Loved IT *.*

I Just Finished Reading This Wonderful Book .. Just a Min ago *.*
I Truely LOVED it ... *Everything about it* .. The Way Scout Tells the Story .. The Mystry about Boo .. IM SPEACHLESS .. Its Amazing ='[

 

[Deleted member 6550]

^ Glad you enjoyed it.

To Kill A Mockingbird is arguably my favorite book ever, and I'll briefly summarize why.

Everything about the novel is perfect, and the Pulitzer Prize it won was well-deserved. The setting is meaningful, and really fits the plot well -- a quiet, cozy Alabaman town in the '1930s, Maycomb County. Scout, the narrator, a six year old tomboy is my personal favorite character, and the struggles she goes through throughout the novel are monumental. Her brother Jem, and friend Dill, are good kids. Bob Ewell is one of my most hated characters in the history of fiction. Boo Radley exemplifies mystery (another great asset in To Kill A Mockingbird). And who could forget Tom Robinson, the innocent black man accused of raping Mayella Ewell. The moral of the story is loud and clear, and we, as readers, love it. Finally, the story, as almost every knows it, is upsetting and realistic.

Yeah, quick summarization there.

 

[novella]

Part I: Being a Person--

First, think about yourself and how you relate to the world.

Number Two: Communicate with other people.

Number Three: Do not repeat what everyone else in the world has already done.

 

[Deleted member 6550]

Part I: Being a Person--

First, think about yourself and how you relate to the world.

Number Two: Communicate with other people.

Number Three: Do not repeat what everyone else in the world has already done.

The morals? Perfect.

 

[RobertM]

mcilroga noted:

"Scout, the narrator, a six year old tomboy is my personal favorite character"

She was great in that film. Did you know she was also in a Twilight Zone episode? She played the young girl who (with her little brother) dived into the swimming pool to escape her constantly-fighting parents in 'The Bewitchin' Pool'. And the writers gave her character's name Scout...just like 'Mockingbird.'

 

[Deleted member 6550]

Film? Well, haha, the movie is incredible too; albeit, not as good as the book, but great nonetheless.

 

[eyez0nme]

Boy's Life is ten times more powerful than this pile of donkey crap.

 

[Deleted member 6550]

Boy's Life is ten times more powerful than this pile of donkey crap.

Well, okay... what exactly makes Mockingbird 'a pile of donkey crap'? (very anecdotic attempt at making a point, by the way.) Is it the in-depth character development, the intriguing plot, the controversial subject matter, the realistic yet moving dialogue, the memorable setting, the mystery (of Boo Radley), the morals, the abrupt but lasting ending, the broad descriptions, the two stories that connect, or the perfect length the novel is? Humor me.

 

[eyez0nme]

Just boring; no tension, no atmosphere.

It just didn't hold me like Boy's Life.

I do not like woman's writing. Doesn't compare with men.

 

[Deleted member 6550]

Just boring; no tension, no atmosphere.

No atmosphere?! Good God. Oh, and there is tension in the book (not to mention the movie). When Bob Ewell jumps out Scout in her costume, for example. The entire court sequence, another.

It just didn't hold me like Boy's Life.

Eh, Boy's Life is "good."

I do not like woman's writing. Doesn't compare with men.

I'm a guy and I have to say, that's pretty inane (but it's your opinion). Shirley Jackson, Jane Austen, Virginia Woolf, and Zadie Smith are all great, great female authors. Alice Sebold wrote The Lovely Bones and Flora Rheta Schreiber wrote Sybil. That's not taking away anything from men.

 

[eyez0nme]

Those are only a few gifted female writers. I'm talking about the general female population writes like how they drive. Horrible. They have a lack of restraint. They have an atrocious addiction with adverbs.

To quote E.A. Bennett:

Women (may) have given up italics; but they have set no watch against over-emphasis in more insidious forms. And so their writing is commonly marred by an undue insistence, a shrillness, a certain quality of multiloquence. With a few exceptions, the greatest of them suffer from this garrulous, gesticulating inefficacy. It runs abroad in Wuthering Heights and Aurora Leigh and Sonnets from the Portuguese. And George Eliot, for all her spurious masculinity... And the worst is that these tactics inevitably induce formlessness and exaggeration; the one by reason of mere verbiage.

Women talk a lot, but seldom say anything significant. It is difficult for them to omit needless words. They tend to wander off in their writing, and rarely do they get to the point.

 

[RobertM]

eyezonme says:

"I do not like womens' writing. It doesn't compare with men."

And:

"Women talk a lot, but seldom say anything significant. It is difficult for them to omit needless words. They tend to wander off in their writing, and rarely do they get to the point."

Well, the first thing I think of when reading these comments is to wonder how I will compose an answer without becoming insulting. You make it difficult, indeed. These comments are more sexist than anything else. The easiest thing would be to roll off a few classic female-written titles, but I don't think this would work. Your problem is more deep-seated, and is NOT strictly based on the talents of women writers.

A sweeping generalization like "women talk a lot, but seldom say anything significant" has nothing to do with books. This is a swipe at women in general...and reveals a personal issue you have with women, not necessarily whether they can write...

'The Diary of Anne Frank' is my favorite female-written work, although she was actually a 'girl' at the time she wrote the diary. A real hack she was...and brought nothing significant to the literary world. (lol)

 

[Deleted member 6550]

Those are only a few gifted female writers. I'm talking about the general female population writes like how they drive. Horrible. They have a lack of restraint. They have an atrocious addiction with adverbs.

A few? Some others:

Isabel Allende, Margaret Atwood, Ursula Le Guin, Ali Smith.

Seriously, many women are great writers. You're generalizing an entire sex for using excessive adverbs? Ever read any H.P. Lovecraft? Oh wait, he's one of the greatest writers ever.

Women talk a lot, but seldom say anything significant. It is difficult for them to omit needless words. They tend to wander off in their writing, and rarely do they get to the point.

Oh, dear Jesus. I'm not guessing here, but how many books written by women have you even read?

'The Diary of Anne Frank' is my favorite female-written work

Good call.

 

[beer good]

And here we go again and again and again and again and...

Jesus Christ, eyez0nme, at least try to come up with some new ways of getting your precious attention.

 

[Deleted member 6550]

Now wait a god damned minute.

Pay full attention to the red.

Now scroll up a few posts.

Boy's Life is ten times more powerful than this pile of donkey crap.

Now, as far as I know, Harper Lee has only published one novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, am I right? So...