Kill a Mockingbird a Timeless

¶ … Kill a Mockingbird a timeless classic? Explore the issue of race in the novel. How is the issue of race significant to the time in which Lee was writing and the time period of the novel? Explore the Civil Rights Movement specifically; start by reading Growing Up White in the South in the 1930s, and The Voices of Civil Rights. Is To Kill a Mockingbird and the issues that it explores relevant today? Why or why not?

Harper Lee's 1960 novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" puts across a series of concepts related to discrimination on account of race in the South during a critical era. The novel provides readers with a thorough understanding of racial prejudice in the early twentieth century -- a time when the Southern society still had trouble accepting African-Americans as their equals. Bob Ewell and most individuals in Maycomb put across their opinion in regard to Tom Robinson and in regard to black people in general during the trial. The novel is apparently meant to go beyond the concept regarding racism being bad and focuses on describing how it works.

Most people in the town of Maycomb seem to be unwilling to change their perspective regarding African-Americans. Southern tradition is one of the principal factors that influenced them in taking on this thinking, especially considering the history of white-black relations in the area. Racial segregation was still present in the South in the first decades of the twentieth century and it was very difficult for society to accept reform. While Civil Rights movements were particularly successful in the North, Southerners had trouble adapting to change as they preferred to keep the feelings they had in regard to black people.

One of the most intriguing factors in the novel is that the writer himself appears to have been influenced by his contemporary society. The African-American characters in the novel are apparently meant to contribute to shaping the characters of white people and they fail to express their personal identity. Considering that the novel was written at a time when civil rights movements had already experienced notable progress, one can get a better understanding of why white people in Maycomb failed to fully comprehend the wrongness in their behavior.

Whereas jury systems are typically perceived as being representative for justice in general, the one present in "To Kill a Mockingbird" only proves that these schemes actually have flaws. This is especially valid when considering the position of a white jury concerning a black man suspected of rape. Even with that, the only thing worse than a corrupt jury system is a racist angry mob. Although many white people in the South expressed racist beliefs during the early twentieth century, it is very probable that most of them were unable to argument their thinking. The novel is likely to fit perfectly in civil rights literature because of the way that it addresses the concept of racism.

The general style of the novel and the elements present in it "enable the student to begin the process of becoming a critical reader by learning that there is more to reading fiction than simply being able to tell "what happened" (Glenn). Boo Radley's character is most probably meant to be a reference to the fact that people should always look for good in other people. While Scout, Jem, and Dill were initially mystified with Boo, they eventually realized that he was a good man and regretted that they did were not thankful for his gifts. Similarly, the people of Maycomb failed to understand Tom Robinson's situation because they were prejudiced. Their reluctance to employ impartiality in judging him made it impossible for him to be given a fair chance.