To Kill a Mockingbird - As Scout sees it !
I read 'To kill a mocking bird - Harper Lee' about 2 years back - and I completely fell in love with the book. I was amazed at the tom boyish character of six year old , Scout , the innocent, 'uncertain but sure', 'growing into adulthood' character of her ten year old brother Jim and the poise, the courageous, mature and just character of Atticus Finch her father. I guess, I could identify a lot about the characteristics of Jim and Scout, with my brother and mine. The growing up years and the curiosities of a child - her frustration in understanding certain ways of the world and hence her difficulty in adapting to it - are something me and I am sure , any modern girl will relate to.
The best part of the book is that , it is written in first person - and shows the world as seen through the eyes of a six year old girl - Scout.
Some of these conversation though seemingly innocent and sometimes innocently funny, seem to make you think and ponder on the bigger realities of life - Check out a few conversations that I could manage to list out -
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[Jem] was certainly never cruel to animals, but I had ... never known his charity to embrace the insect world. "Why couldn't I mash him?" I asked. "Because they don't bother you," Jem answered in the darkness. He had turned out his reading light. "Reckon you're at the stage now where you don't kill flies and mosquitoes now, I reckon," I said. "Lemme know when you change your mind. Tell you one thing, though, I ain't gonna sit around and not scratch a redbug." "Aw dry up," he answered drowsily. Jem was the one who was getting more like a girl every day, not I.
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As most girls and boys grow up - dont we all go through phases in which we question about - why are girls like this - why are they supposed to be like 'girls' - why are boys different ? - why should they behave like boys ? You never get the answers to those questions though :)
Also it is very confusing for scout about why her brother was behaving differently as they were growing up. Strikes a chord doesnt it ? :)
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Somewhere, I had received the impression that Fine Folks were ... people who did the best they could with the sense they had, but Aunt Alexandra was of the opinion, obliquely expressed, that the longer a family had been squatting on one patch of land the finer it was.
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Funny na, when you realize how simple and uncomplicated a child's life is - and how much we as adults mess up in our understanding as we grow up.
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... I asked Dill where his father was: "You ain't said anything about him." "I haven't got one." "Is he dead?" "No." "Then if he's not dead, you've got one, haven't you?" Dill blushed and Jem told me to hush, a sure sign that Dill had been studied and found acceptable.
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Liked this conversation because of the clear difference in the perspectives with which Jim and Scout were comprehending the situation. A six year old cannot fathom how you can have a father who is not dead and not have him with you ! Highly impossible. But Jim, who is 4 years older , understands.
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Atticus Finch: Do you know what a compromise is? Scout: Bendin' the law? Atticus Finch: [slightly bemused] Uh, no. It's an agreement reached by mutual consent. Now, here's the way it works. You concede the necessity of goin' to school, we'll keep right on readin' the same every night, just as we always have. Is that a bargain?
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A six year old has her own understanding of life and situations - and love the way Atticus , her father handles her and manages to make her see sense without making her wrong.
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If you havent read this book yet - pick it up immediately - else you have missed something in life :)
If you have, what are your favorite Scout Finch conversations in the book.
