Book Review: To Kill A Mocking Bird
“I want something new
to read now” I told Eeshan, as we were sipping coffee in the office
cafeteria a few days back. I had just finished the other piece of fiction he
had loaned me. Since he was turning out to be a mighty cool supplier, seeking
him for more was only inevitable. “Okay,
tell me”, he asked, “What kinda book
do you wanna read now?” “I dunno, but
something nice. Something that can make me a better person”, I replied purposefully.
To this, he chuckled and said, “I don’t
know if that can make you a better person, but this book that I’ll get you
tomorrow is one of my favorites, and will certainly take your mind off things.”
I had been dealing with a myriad of issues, over which I could
barely exercise any control. So, I got fairly excited at the prospect of adding
a new dimension to my hitherto kaleidoscopic thought process.
The next day he handed me a copy of “To Kill A Mocking Bird”
and the first look at it delighted me. It has a velvety black cover with a
matchstick figure of a bird in crayon orange, and the title and author’s name
in stark white. With a little over 300 pages, it exuded that warm and assuaging
fragrance of paper and ink, which can tranquilize any book lover’s parched
mind. It gave the feeling of being a suspense thriller, but having pursued
reading for so many years now, I know much better than to judge a book by its
cover. So, I allowed the book to mesmerize me. And I am so glad it did.
Set in the America of 1930s, it is a very vivid, first
person account of the world around her and the mosaic of people who inhabit it,
by the 8 year old Scout Finch. The Finches have a legacy of family history, of
which Scout is somewhat wary of, but she deeply loves her father Atticus Finch,
who is a lawyer, and her brother Jem Finch who is 4 years her senior. Both
these men are her window to the world, as much as these are each other’s world.
In her very fluid style, Harper Lee weaves this story around
the ‘irrationality of adult attitudes towards race and class’, the fatalities
that injustice can cause and the amount of effort two very sensitive and loving
children of a staunchly virtuous and upright father, put in to understand the
mechanics with which their Maycomb county and its residents operate. In the
process, she has created timeless characters, which are poetry in motion; adorable
beyond scope, beyond will.
The mental somersaults of an 8 year old, whose father is
defending a black man against the charge of raping a white girl, are expressed
with immaculate innocence, realism and rationality. The humor is sunshine-ish
and the emotions unadulterated. The pain in the story hurts, just as its
goodwill uplifts. There is stiff competition between what is more likable –
Scout’s rendition of her county and its neighborhood, or the person that she
herself is.
Without a particle of doubt, this book deserves its
Pulitzer. It is a celebration of relationships, humanity, virtues and emotions.
It is a celebration of the purest form of outright righteousness. It is a
celebration of ‘Scout-ism’ - the innocent grace and élan, which is so eccentric
to the ‘daughter’, ‘sister’ and ‘lady’ she is. This book could easily give any
bestselling parenting guide a run for its money.
Since I was a little girl, I always wanted an elder brother.
Reading this novel made me yearn some more. But now that enough years have
passed, there is some respite – in the fact that my younger brother has
outgrown me in height and strength. Today, he is way more mature, responsible
and caring, almost like an elder brother.
I try to let the hope of being able to spend a lot more time
with him now, not depress me about not getting the opportunity of being
together in our growing up years. If only I could be with him as much as I didn’t
get to. But for all that I missed, this book is a very beautiful reminder of
how it could or would have been. That launch into time-travel is simply
effortless.
If I have become a better person or not after reading this
book, I know not. But I am certainly inspired to become a better sister,
daughter and eventually a parent, every forthcoming day. Thank You Harper, for
penning this down. And Thank You Eeshan, for passing it on to me.
