To Kill a Mockingbird

For my American Legal Systems class, we had the opportunity to read To Kill a Mockingbird. Having never read the novel, I did so over spring break. Reading the book as an adult, it’s easy to how the book won a Pulitzer Prize and why it’s considered nothing less than a masterpiece that still rings true today.

First, much of the story centers on Tom Robinson, the black man falsely accused of rape in whom Atticus Finch represents. Atticus knows he most likely will lose the case due to racial prejudice, and he does. The story takes place in Alabama in 1935 and it struck me as no less than amazing we were able to elect the first African-American president less than 75 years later.

Second, Entertainment Weekly has a “Heroes and Villains” issue this week. Number 19 under Heroes is Atticus Finch. Why him? According to the magazine, “In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and in the movie with Gregory peck, Atticus transforms quiet decency, legal acumen, and great parenting into the most heroic qualities a man can have.”

Third, Scout Finch, through whom the story is told, is a great role-model for girls. Even in 1935 Alabama, you know she will shatter preconceptions about what a girl should be and make her own, unique mark on the world.


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