Today!!!

Today I finished reading To Kill A Mockingbird for the third time. I first read it and fell in love with it back in the sixth grade, and those who have not read it should.

Most of the time, this book is described as being centrally about a rape case, in which an African American man has only his word against the accusing white family (by the way, this book takes place in the thirties, back before the civil rights movements and what-not). However, though this is definitely an important part of the book, I would say that it is an inaccurate description of it. Told from the point of view of six=year=old Scout (Jean Louise Finch), whose voice changes as she ages, this book is about growing up, and the elements that impact her and her older brother (Jem)'s life.

In the very beginning of the book, it is summer, and Scout and Jem are in their backyard when they notice a kid their age in the yard adjacent. This child is Dill (Charles Harris), and he quickly fits in and becomes friends with Scout and Jem.

In Scout's neighborhood, near the school, there's a decadent house in which lives the mysterious entity Boo Radley (Arthur). The rumor in the neighborhood is that old Mr. Radley chained Boo inside the house after the latter had commited a few minor crimes with a gang from Old Sarum. Not many people in the neighborhood had ever seen Arthur Radley, though the gossipy Stephanie Crawford claimed that he came out at night to peep through people's windows. Once Scout and Jem inform Dill about the Radleys, the latter becomes morbidly fascinated with them, and the three children spend the rest of the summer attempting to persuade Boo Radley to come out of the house.

I won't give away more of the book, but as the two main characters (Jem and Scout) age, these two coinciding events (the trial and the presence of the Radleys) combine to create a surprising and heart-warming ending, and the author drives her point home with a recurring quote from Atticus, the father of Jem and Scout, who also happens to be Tom Robinson's (the African American man) lawyer: "You don't really know a man until you step into his shoes and walk around in them."

It's a beautiful book that deserves 8 stars out of 5. Read it now!