Harper Lee. Doesn’t that name sound familiar? It takes you back to your High School days in English class. Oh, that’s right! She was the genius mind behind the book “To Kill a Mockingbird.” This book was one of the most defining pieces of literature dealing with racial tension in the Southern United States. On February 19th, 2016 she passed away at the age of 89 in Monroeville, Alabama.
To honor her and the legacy that she has left behind, I would like to honor her with 5 things that she taught us about life.
1. Not all Boo’s are scary.
Remember Boo Radley? The scary man down the street who Scout and her brother were terrified of? He was also the one who helped Scout when she broke her leg. So what does this tell you? Not to judge a book by its cover. We’ve all been guilty of this and only seem to change our mind about the person when the do something that surprises us. So instead of judging people, we should learn to appreciate who they are and what the can contribute. The quiet guy in your Biology class? May not be the shy guys he’s portraying and is instead just trying to focus on one of his hardest classes.
2. Family is everything.
While it was just Scout, her father Atticus, and her brother, Jem, that didn’t restrict the love that went around the house. While the whole town was furious with Atticus for defending his client, the family stuck by him. They showed him that no matter what happened, they would always love him. They went through a lot together and it always goes to show you that blood is the greatest bond we have with someone.
3. Innocence will eventually be lost.
That is where the title, “To Kill a Mockingbird” comes from. Songbirds are peaceful creatures; ones who people would never think of killing. While through the book, several characters are described as losing their innocence. Perhaps she was warning us that sometime an instance in our lives will change us. It will make us see the world in a different way. It will show us that not everyone is kind and sometimes there are just bad people out there.
4. American classics are actually not that bad.
Personally, I would like to thank my high school English teacher for making us have required readings and ensuring that somehow we would read the books. With her, you couldn’t get away with just reading Spark notes. So instead I read this book and it changed my view completely on American Literature classics. While some may not hail this as an “American classic”, I am. It teaches us about a part of our history and is so well written, I couldn’t seem to put it down. Since then I have picked up numerous classics that are entertaining to read, just as her book was. Once you get your foot in the door of American classics, you can’t seem to get it back out.
5. Change can happen in the smallest of ways.
When the book came out in 1961, Harper Lee set off a storm. Violent upheavals were all around in her home state of Alabama after the publication was released. She was sharing a side of a story that people did not want to hear. People all around the country ate it up. They enjoyed viewing racial issues from a 6-year old girl’s perspective. It gave them a different spin on an issue that they were already well aware of. Now, many years later children in classrooms are still educated on the racial issues that America dealt with and deals with currently today. Who knew that a book would be able to keep people talking about an issue 50 plus years later?