Thank you to Sara for hosting a fantastic evening. We enjoyed sandwiches from Panera and Sara’s world class salad (recipe to be posted soon) along with some chocolate brownie, pudding creation for dessert…oh, so good. We missed our fellow Mainers, Allison and Amy, and look forward to their visit next month.
To Kill a Mockingbird proves to be a wonderful book club choice. Great pick Sara!!! For some of us it was our first time reading TKAM and for others it was like slipping on an old pair of shoes. As Susan’s son said, Atticus’ is the man! We loved Atticus’ character...double meaning here as he really had character. As Marrie pointed out he never disappointed, although not infallible but pure. He did have two major misgivings, that being he didn’t see Tom’s imminent death nor take Bob Ewell’s threats seriously. His misgivings just made him stronger. We loved his parenting style and the way he handled things with Jem and Scout. Charli loved how his stood up to Aunt Alexandra and defended Calpurnia’s importance to the family. We did question what happened to the mother, as Lee never really gives an explanation for her death.
Scout is a credible narrator despite her young years given her intellect, upbringing, and overall spirit. She certainly is a product of her father, who nurtured her mind (now you tell your daddy to stop teaching you how to read!!), gave her a conscience and encouraged her individuality.
Scout and Jem were both exposed to ‘evil’ at an early age, directly impacting them in different ways. The trial was a strain on both, but for Jem it was a particular eye opener into the cruel, unfair and unjust ways blacks were treated. He took the verdict as a personal assault. “I peeked at Jem: his hands were white from gripping the balcony rail, and his shoulders jerked as if each “guilty” was a separate stab between them.”
There are so many great characters in TKAM. One that came up a couple of times last night was Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose, the racist neighbor who gave constant harassment to the children as they walked by her front porch. We chuckled as Marrie recalled being dropped off to ‘visit’ the old folks, a duty Jem had to do as punishment for his anger getting the best of him. Atticus admired Mrs. Dubose’s courage as she battled her morphine addiction, but it took Jem (and Scout) a while to see the ‘good’ in Mrs. Dubose.
Of course, much of our time focused on Boo Radley. There was some debate on whether Boo was abused or mentally disabled (or both). Evidence does suggest that Boo’s father was a mean man as he did lock Boo away because of trouble he got into as a child (the other trouble makers were sent to reform school, but this would have been too embarrassing for the family). Religion played a role in the Radley home and was used to explain many oddities. On the other hand, was Boo being protected from society by his family because he was mentally disabled? At that time people with disabilities were often put in mental institutions. Perhaps the Radley family sheltered Boo from the cruelties of being mentally disabled. Boo is undoubtedly a symbol for those who are innocent (mockingbird) and needing protecting from ‘evil’. This leads to the ending of the book…where we once again debated the ambiguity of who killed Bob Ewell. Some thought Jem had done it and the story was concocted to protect the child. Others felt Boo had done it. Sheriff Tate knows that Boo, like Tom, will be misunderstood by the town and likely be convicted in a trial. To protect Boo the story of Bob Ewell falling on his own knife is given. At the end Scout likens the ‘sin’ of naming Boo as Bob Ewell’s killer to shooting a mockingbird.
Lastly we discussed how TKAM has two central storylines (the children’s fascination with Boo and the trial of Tom) and the question of whether Lee successfully incorporated the two. It appears the two storylines run parallel and intersects at the end, but Marrie did point out that the ignorance of the unknowing was a constant theme throughout the book.
I look forward to seeing you all next month at Susan’s to discuss Those Who Save Us.
Best,
Jenn
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