I came to an appreciation of Harper Lee’s classic of American Literature late in life, despite the fact that I somehow managed to get an ‘A’ in a high school lit class on this section of the course without having ever read the book. Perhaps that had something to do with the fact that I was helping the teacher with the yearbook at the time and taking American Literature as an independent study course. If I recall I also passed the tests on The Great Gatsby without reading that book either. But I digress…
I had very set preconceived notions of what To Kill A Mockingbird was about and for years ignored my wife’s pleas to read this book, one of her favorites. I was being a bit of a stubborn jerk about the whole thing, truth be told. A couple of years ago I decided to get off my high horse. I bought her a really nice copy of the book and as part of her birthday present actually read it on the sly so that we could talk about it. I was taken aback with just how marvelous this book really is.
Since then I have recommended the book to friends, watched the Academy Award winning film, and last night I had the privilege to attend a live performance at The Kansas City Repertory Theatre. My wife got on the ball the day the tickets went on sale and procured excellent seats for us: third, or was it fourth? row back, dead center. There is nothing quite like live theatre and it is an even more engaging experience when you have the opportunity to sit close to the performance.
I was very curious as to how they would bring this novel, with all of its complexities, to the stage. My curiosity was rewarded with an amazing adaptation by Christopher Sergel. The presence of an adult Jean Louise “Scout” Finch as narrator skillfully tied together the elements that were occuring on stage with those that were only hinted at due to time constraints. It was a beautiful production. It says something when you know a story so well and yet that story, performed by a marvelous cast, still brings you to tears. It was very well done.
There are certainly many themes and messages that can be discussed and taken from Harper Lee’s masterpiece. Besides the more obvious race relations message, which is unfortunately still as necessary a message today as it was during Lee’s childhood (the more things change, the more they stay the same), I always take heart in the role of Atticus Finch. Atticus Finch has the unenviable role of raising two precocious children as a single father in the best way he knows how. He is described as a man who works hard in the law office and comes home at night to read. Maybe not the best recipe for raising kids? What you see as the story unfolds, however, is a man who is trying to emulate to his children just how a person ought to live their life and be giving to his fellow man, regardless of age, race, or sex. Mr. Finch demonstrates compassion and caring and courage to his children by his interactions with his neighbors. If you look closely, you also see how he takes time out of what could be a self-absorbed life to answer his children’s questions and teach them about life.
I have heard Atticus described by some as an example of an absent father and one who is more concerned about his own reputation than anything else. I couldn’t disagree more. What I see in Atticus Finch is a man who embraces the idea that one should have a sense of character, a high moral honor, and that to uphold that is the most noble thing that one can do in order to be the kind of friend, neighbor, and father that his children, and community, needs.
To this day I am grateful to my wife for continuing to pester me about reading this delightful novel. I am thankful to Jeff for pointing out that this was coming to town. And I am thankful to The Kansas City Rep for bringing quality theatre to the area that reminds me just how glorious going to a play can be.
For those in the Kansas City area, this show runs through February 17th and is well worth the price of admission.
I adored this book, as well as the movie.
Your “preconceived notions of To Kill A Mockingbird” reminds me of your preconceived notions of Harry Potter 😉
I’m not sure that I have preconceived notions of Harry Potter. What it mostly comes down to is the fact that I have never been a fan of multiple book series (trilogies=great! Anything beyond that starts to annoy me, mostly because I hate waiting for things to come out). Harry Potter just doesn’t have the kind of appeal to me over the TONS of other books I still haven’t read that I desperately want to read. That and the fact that I have a few people who I really trust who love the books but agree that after the first couple of books she really could have used the help of a good editor. I personally don’t see a payoff for me to read all those thousands of pages when I am not currently drawn to the story.
So yes, maybe I do have preconceived ideas. I have no doubt that it has some magic to it or it wouldn’t be so popular. I just honestly have so many more authors and books that I want to try and knowing that I can grab the DVDs anytime I want and get a good portion of the story shown to me makes me less prone to pick up the books.
With Mockingbird my preconceived idea was that this was just another book waving race relations issues around and I wasn’t in the mood for that. I couldn’t have been more wrong obviously as the book has so much going for it that I ended up really liking what it had to say about prejudice. Perhaps one day I’ll take the time to read the Harry Potter books, but I honeslty don’t forsee that and I feel bad about it because I know you and so many others love these books and while I want and hope that people read the books that I recommend I am having a really hard time laying down my pile of books to read Rowlings offerings.
Guess that makes me a book snob? 🙂 Thanks for giving me a hard time Janet. 😉
Ooh I really loved reading this book in high school. I remember being hesitant about it at first, but I just fell into the story. We watched the movie as well in class, which I also enjoyed. It sounds like the play was fantastic!
Your story reminds me of how I got interested in Jane Eyre. I was flipping through the channels, happened to watch it on PBS, then got interested and read the book. When I read that a play version was coming to my area, I immediately wrote down the dates and got rush tickets. I loved each and every version of that book, they all brought me a different appreciation of the story.
I saw the Christopher Sergel adaptation this past summer at the Stratford Festival here in Ontario and it was positively fabulous! I’m very, very happy to hear that you enjoyed it as much as I did. It truly is such a wonderful story, isn’t it?
Oh, I am soooo jealous! Sounds like a wonderful experience to see it on stage. This little jewel will undoubtedly always remain one of my favorite books.
I discovered this one late too…but better late than never!
It’s a very powerful book, and it sounds like the play is just as powerful. You’re lucky to have had the chance to see it!
You left a comment on my post with the Trek trailer in it, at MissMeliss.com. Sorry it’s taken me this long to respond. I often find that there are books I skimmed in high school just to pass the test, that upon revisiting I really appreciate. For me, it’s anything by Jane Austen. She didn’t strike my fancy when I was fifteen. Now, I love her.
I’m adding you to the blogroll at my more bookish blog, Bibliotica. I hope you don’t mind.
As much as I enjoyed the Harry Potter series I don’t consider them “must reads”. They’re pretty entertaining but…well…yeah fun characters, great journey….if you’re not inclined to read then there’s really nothing in the books you couldn’t get elsewhere.
“To Kill a Mockingbird” on the other hand, is truly one of the greats. It’s one of the few “literary” novels I reread when I was a teenager — I would only bestow that honour on Tolkien and romance novels. 😀
Unlike you, I actually READ the book in high school lit class…and fell in love!! To this day, it is my very favorite book of all time!! And I absolutely adore the movie. Gregory Peck will always be Atticus for me. And I totally agree with your take on how Atticus was as a father. He represents, at least to me, what a parent should be like. One to admire….and one that trys to show his children right and wrong.
Man…I love that book!!
Some friends of mine just finished up a run of “Mockingbird,” actually. I enjoy the play (and the movie) but to really experience the story in its fullness I always advocate reading the book. Plays and movies can never include everything that a book has to offer.
(But I couldn’t agree with you more regarding Harry Potter.)
Ah yes, I remember you saying that you hadn’t read and didn’t want to read this absolute gem of a book. Of course you loved it. What’s not to love about it??!
I’ve loved pretty much everything Gregory Peck has done in his career, but, definitely, To Kill a Mockingbird was a standout. Instead of simply representing a wonderfully written literary character, he *became* Atticus. But, as great as that adaptation was, I always felt it left out little things that made the book so memorable.
The artwork on that playbill is actually quite lovely, too.
Last year, I read three “new-to-me” and long-overdue classics: Jane Eyre, The Great Gatsby, and To Kill a Mockingbird. All three knocked my socks off. Isn’t it magnificent to suddenly discover such amazing novels that have been sitting right under our noses all these years? 😉
I can totally understand why this is one of Mary’s favorite books. It’s such an emtionally gripping story that touchs us on so many important issues. I will agree with many people above that as much as loved the play and love the movie the book itself is filled with so much more depth that it’s a must read or listen to on audio in my case. Thanks again for a wonderful evening Carl and Mary. Keri and I wish we could do it more often. 🙂
Jeff: I agree, the book is really the thing when it comes down to it. The interpretations, though wonderful, pale in comparison. I too would love to attend the theatre more.
CdnReader: I’m glad I’m not the only late bloomer to the classics. I finally read Pride and Prejudice for the first time last year and wondered what took me so long. Jane Eyre is one I’d like to read sometime.
Chelle: I really liked the artwork they did for the poster/playbill for this as well. Everything about it really works. Peck really did a great Atticus and I have to say that the actor who performed Tuesday night channeled some of Peck and some of his own interpretation and was absolutely marvelous.
Anne: Yes, I hang my head in shame over my stubborness about this one.
Wayne: that is cool, I keep forgetting about your theatre connections.
Stephanie: I certainly wasn’t trying to purposefully get away with not reading those books in high school, it was just my first year in that school and I was taking 9 courses in something like 7 periods and that independent study course, a requirement, really fell by the wayside as far as doing the actual work. My next year in high school, my senior year, signifcantly altered my reading life by exposing me to the wonder of the classics. We read Macbeth, and I became a Shakespeare fan. We read A Tale of Two Cities and it stands as one of my favorite classics of all time. We also read Of Mice and Men which I really enjoyed and A Farewell to Arms, my one and only Hemmingway experience which I also enjoyed tremendously.
Imani: I certainly struggle with trying to explain my feelings about Harry Potter without insulting it, Rowling, or anyone who loves it. In the end it doesn’t matter at all to me that it may be too verbose in some of the volumes. I have several favorites that others could level the exact same criticism at but it doesn’t matter because I love every word of it. I’m happy for Rowling and her success. It gives aspiring writers hope. I’m also thrilled that HP theoretically brought more kids, and adults, into reading. I am being very honest when I say that I have so many other books that have a tangible pull on my attention and to decide to set those aside to read Harry Potter just for the sake of doing so is something I cannot imagine doing right now.
MissMeliss: I certainly love being added to people’s blogrolls, you need not ask. Thanks. My experience with the classics in high school, which I talked about in this comment above, makes me an advocate of continuing to expose readers to the classics in school while jazzing the whole process up by including more modern works and works in many different genres.
Nymeth: I do feel lucky to have had the chance to see such a great performance.
Debi: It will certain remain one of my favorite classics as well.
Court: How wonderfully coincidental! I’m glad to hear someone else’s opinion of his adaptation. It was terrific, wasn’t it?
Kim L: I am interested in Jane Eyre for odd reasons. I became interested in reading it after reading Jasper Fforde’s book, The Eyre Affair and became even more curious about it after reading The Thirteenth Tale. Unfortunately from those books, especially the first, I know how it ends and that is the main reason I have held off picking it up.
Janet: I’m disappointed you haven’t came back and agreed that I am a book snob. Ha! 😉
Ha! I’m the same way. The more I feel like I ‘should’ read a book, the less likely I am to get to it. I’m totally pig-headed.
Pig-headed is probably a better description for me than book snob, Heather. 🙂
Don’t feel bad. Look how long it’s taken me to read The Stainless Steel Rat! I’m just as pig-headed as you my friend. 🙂
Thank you for talking about Atticus as a father – I think that is often forgotten or misrepresented when people discuss this novel. His relationship wit his children is quite unusal I think, at least for the time and place during which the novel was written.
The dramatization is magnificent, isn’t it? I saw it at Stratford (Ontario) and was moved beyond tears.
BTW, Melissa sent me 🙂
Welcome from Melissa! It is an unusual relationship but I interpret that as part one of the strengths of both the characters and the novel itself. They were unconventional kids being raised without a mother and I felt like Atticus was by no means perfect, but he was ‘real’ and he obviously loved his children and showed them love in a way that is very typical for men to show love…by being an example and by trying to teach your kids how to grow up to be men and women.
I join the crowd of those who didn’t read this until long after high school/college. Of course, I had heard of the book, but silly me, I thought Harper Lee was a man until a coworker corrected me at work one day (in a bookstore, nonetheless!). Ashamed and embarrassed by my ignorance, I quickly read the book and absolutely loved it! It’s one to read over and over, don’t you think?
Now that your wife has convinced you to read this gem, how ’bout picking up The Book Thief?! 😉
I have the book Thief and my wife certainly wants me to read it, as do I. In fact I want to read both of his books this year, but they will both have to wait until I’ve burned myself out a bit on science fiction and need a break with something different. Those are two books that I am really looking forward to, however.
I feel pigheaded about books in the same way. I’ve only just read Great Expectations, because people told me it was a good introduction to Dickens (they told me the same about David Copperfield and I haven’t read it yet).
I too did To Kill A Mockingbird at school — but loved it then and love it still. Partly (I admit) because my first day at school was more than a little like Scout’s.
I hope you have read Gatsby since then??? It’s almost as much a treat as this book. ALMOST.
But yeah, I agree, Atticus is an amazing dad. He teaches his kids to think for themselves, and he teaches them integrity. I can’t think of two better gifts a father could give.
Dew…ummm…. ummm… ummm…
Kicking K: I always recommend A Tale of Two Cities to people wanting to try Dickens because it is my favorite, was my first Dickens, and is such a powerful story.