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23rd April 2014
05:46pm BST

The story revolves around a small family, the wonderful Atticus Finch, his daughter Scout, from whose perspective the story is told and her brother Jem in the years of the Great Depression. The family live in Maycomb, Alabama, a town which we soon see is overrun with racism. Finch, a lawyer, agrees to take the case of one Tom Robinson, a black man who has been accused of raping a white woman, Mayella. Throughout the court case, many aspects of Finch's personality are shown, his steely determination, his compassion, his love for humanity, his honesty, his teachings but most of all, his moral codes.
While the court case continues, Scout and Jem live their lives under the comfortable supervision of Cal, their housekeeper, all the while trying to discover why exactly their mysterious neighbour Boo Radley hides away from them.
To Kill A Mockingbird is a fantastic piece, a book that will re-define how you see others and certainly how you should see others. Atticus has long been held up as the one of the great father figures in literary history, a wise man who always makes the correct decision, no matter how difficult it is. It also depicts an era in the South that is now mostly gone but never forgotten and of course, the end of innocence.
If you have read it before, go back and read it again. It is a masterpiece.
“Remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” That was the only time I ever heard Atticus say it was a sin to do something, and I asked Miss Maudie about it. “Your father’s right,” she said. “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy . . . but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”Explore more on these topics: