Ms. Smarty Pants Know It All

I recently reread To Kill a Mockingbird after an almost eight year absence. It remains as thoughtful and as powerful as I remembered it to be.

I, however, did discover some new things.

Characters like Atticus, Miss Maudie, and Calpurnia are almost like Randian heroes. They know better. They do better. And they don’t feel the need to crow about it. Mockingbird, however, is more optimistic about them than Ayn Rand is about hers.

The book believes the townfolks recognize the grace and goodness of these characters and respect them for it. They will let people like Atticus do all the heavy lifting but they’ll honor him, perhaps silently and secretly, but they’ll honor him.

I’m not sure that’s how life really works anymore. It is to Harper Lee’s credit that she makes it all work in the book’s world. For a story that is so specific to a time and a place, it seems so very real to me.

Atticus doesn’t say much and explains himself rarely in the novel. Even so, I felt like I knew him. I could see him living down the street from me.

Sadly, I can’t say I know of any man like Atticus or a boy like Jem in my real life. But I feel like I could. As for Scout, well isn’t she every girl who is reading the book for the first time? Isn’t she every adult woman who still loves the book?

Another thing that struck me about the story is how humanistic it is. I’m not referring to the obvious themes of equality and justice but to the greater theme of kindness that trumps everything.

Atticus, many in the town, and perhaps an older Jem all knew the truth about Dill. But they didn’t speak it because there was no harm in the protective lies Dill told. Through the guidance of the author, we, the readers, feel more warmly towards Mrs. Dubois as a character in the book than we would if she was a real person in our neighborhood. I think we even feel for Mayella and Bob Ewell.

Everyone, every character, was granted the grace of his or her humanity.

At the end of the book, when the choice came down to truth or kindness, the correct path seemed clear.

Somehow I had missed all this on previous readings. This deeply sophisticated message was somehow lost amidst the other deep messages. It’s made me think about reordering my own real world priorities.

I wonder what this book will reveal to me in another eight years.

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