Part 6 (2/2)

In many ways, her childhood is very lonely, and it's only her interest in other people that makes it a full childhood. She's really an explorer, but I don't think the exploration is cast in any way that makes it seem fun or endearing. You get the sense it's really how one might be as an adult, put into a foreign city, forced to create a life for oneself.

You're not supposed to feel sorry for Scout. I never felt sorry for her. It's only that when you go back and look at it as an adult that you see you might as well be reading Ethan Frome Ethan Frome. It's a sad novel in a lot of ways.

As a girl, I was never even interested in the court case. I felt like that was an explicit plot really put in for the adults. I know that's the whole point of this novel: that it's about the South, that it's about justice, that it's about how life doesn't work out OK. But I feel that that's something established within the first chapter. I didn't need her to learn any lesson for it to become interesting for me.

In some ways, I think, for me, that's the weakest part of the novel. It's the lesson for the reader, really.

Going back and looking at the novels of the period of the sixties, seventies, and eighties, I've often noted that the girls are filled with a lot of anger. They're difficult girls. They're not necessarily the child you'd want to babysit. In fact, they're definitely not the child you'd want to babysit. There's nothing charming about them at all.

So that's who Scout makes me think of. And in some ways, she makes me think of Laura [in Little House on the Prairie Little House on the Prairie], although Laura is her precursor. I've always thought that Laura is interesting to girls. The reason why those Laura Ingalls Wilder novels are not about Mary [Laura's sister] is that Mary is so boring. She's got no conflict. She doesn't struggle with life. Laura really is always trying to control herself and to make sure she doesn't damage what she loves.

I think that's true of Scout, too. She struggles with things in a very genuine way. She's always having to ask for forgiveness or figure things out or repair things that she's done, but she's not a bad girl.

She truly struggles in the way we struggle as adults to figure out how to be in the world.

The second half of the novel, those grand themes of justice, injustice-those are about how the world acts on us. But Scout is really about who we are in the world, how we decide that.

Scout maybe doesn't understand that she's a seeker. Scout is maybe a little too young to feel justified in her curiosity about the world, especially when there are very few happy answers to the things she's curious about.

I think they were teaching it to us with this idea of children can be exposed to the adult world, and here's what happens when children are exposed to it: They learn. And I really felt Scout was interesting on her own. I don't think she needed that case to become interesting.

Lee Smith Lee Smith was born in 1944 in Grundy, Virginia. A retired professor, she is the author of twelve novels, including The Last Girls The Last Girls (2002) and (2002) and On Agate Hill On Agate Hill (2008), and a short-story collection, (2008), and a short-story collection, Mrs. Darcy and the Blue-Eyed Stranger Mrs. Darcy and the Blue-Eyed Stranger (2010). (2010).

The first time I read To Kill a Mockingbird To Kill a Mockingbird, I was in high school and I was just knocked out. I was especially fascinated because I was from the mountain South, where we had no black people. We had our own sort of weird cla.s.s system of who lived in the town and who lived in the hollers. But the novel was about a whole different South, and it was just incredible to me.

It made me think a lot about the poorer people among us, the marginalized people in the Appalachian South who were discriminated against in so many ways. You can't really romanticize racism, but picturesque poor people on their porches chewing tobacco and stuff, you can.

So To Kill a Mockingbird To Kill a Mockingbird brought me a whole new awareness of people who were brought me a whole new awareness of people who were other other, and what they suffered because of it. It is fair to say that this novel changed my life-changed the way I thought about race, cla.s.s, and discrimination.

Another experience that I had with this book was between my junior and senior year in college, the summer of '66. I was working for a newspaper in Richmond, Virginia, and Hanover County had just banned To Kill a Mockingbird To Kill a Mockingbird then. [When a prominent physician protested that a novel with rape in its plot was ”improper for our children to read,” the Hanover County school board ordered all copies of then. [When a prominent physician protested that a novel with rape in its plot was ”improper for our children to read,” the Hanover County school board ordered all copies of To Kill a Mockingbird To Kill a Mockingbird off the shelves, calling it ”immoral literature.”] The editor of the newspaper said that any child who wanted a copy of off the shelves, calling it ”immoral literature.”] The editor of the newspaper said that any child who wanted a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird To Kill a Mockingbird should write him a personal letter and tell him why, and we would send them one. Well, I was the one who sent 'em. I thought I was going to be a star reporter, of course, and basically all I did was address copies of should write him a personal letter and tell him why, and we would send them one. Well, I was the one who sent 'em. I thought I was going to be a star reporter, of course, and basically all I did was address copies of To Kill a Mockingbird To Kill a Mockingbird and send them out to every child in Hanover County. I thought it was fabulous, though. I was proud to be doing this. and send them out to every child in Hanover County. I thought it was fabulous, though. I was proud to be doing this.

I think one of the amazing things about the writing in To Kill a Mockingbird To Kill a Mockingbird is the economy with which Harper Lee delineates not only race-white and black within a small community-but cla.s.s. I mean is the economy with which Harper Lee delineates not only race-white and black within a small community-but cla.s.s. I mean different kinds different kinds of black people and white people both, from poor white trash to the upper crust-the whole social fabric. of black people and white people both, from poor white trash to the upper crust-the whole social fabric.

I have taught To Kill a Mockingbird To Kill a Mockingbird for years, from junior high to graduate school; I have read it probably twenty-some-odd times. And every single time, it rewards you, and you see something new. I think at first the thing that strikes you so strongly is the depiction of racism and the tragedy of race. But Boo Radley is indelible too. Boo Radley cannot be overestimated as an important factor in this book because every neighborhood has that house that's overgrown and those neighbors that are weird or that you never ever, ever see. And stories grow up about them. I think that figure always occupies a place in a child's imagination. And to demystify that-to make us see that people so radically different from us are OK, and can be helpful and wonderful-I think this is so important. for years, from junior high to graduate school; I have read it probably twenty-some-odd times. And every single time, it rewards you, and you see something new. I think at first the thing that strikes you so strongly is the depiction of racism and the tragedy of race. But Boo Radley is indelible too. Boo Radley cannot be overestimated as an important factor in this book because every neighborhood has that house that's overgrown and those neighbors that are weird or that you never ever, ever see. And stories grow up about them. I think that figure always occupies a place in a child's imagination. And to demystify that-to make us see that people so radically different from us are OK, and can be helpful and wonderful-I think this is so important.

There is no more dramatic book, when you think about the pacing and the order of chapters and the way Boo Radley keeps coming back and coming back, and then the Ewells sneaking around. It is an incredibly dramatic book.

The novel is also dead-on about childhood; it evokes childhood so beautifully. But it also evokes the whole community. I think we forget sometimes that kids live in community in community, and it's so helpful in terms of how children relate to older people in the community. There's also something so evocative about the fact that these are motherless children, although they do have Calpurnia, and they do have their aunt. Somehow, I think, all children, in a way, feel isolated-n.o.body feels the things that they feel. Because these are motherless children, I think the young reader empathizes with Scout and Jem even that much more; Dill too, who doesn't get along with his stepfather. So they're kids against the world-I think that's very attractive to younger readers.

When I was growing up, girls in the South were-and are still today, I think-oftentimes raised to be fitting into some sort of a ladylike mold where they are not supposed to express feelings and they are not supposed to stand up for things. I just think of girls in the South being squashed as they're being raised. So the role that Scout has played in all these girls' minds as they have read the book is very important. Here's Scout who believes in things, who is funny and curious and pa.s.sionate and a tomboy. I think Scout has done more for Southern womanhood than any other character in literature. I'm quite serious. She's turned girls into the kind of women we want.

I think one thing that is really important to remember is that students are reading it today with the same responses we all had in the sixties. I just spent a day in a high school doing a workshop, and it was funny, at first I could not get the students to talk to me about what they were reading. Then a boy said To Kill a Mockingbird To Kill a Mockingbird, and everybody started talking about it and what they had gotten out if it-every single one of them! It still has a galvanizing effect on a younger reader.

This is a novel which endures endures, as opposed to other cla.s.sics which don't appeal as much to readers today. The Sun Also Rises The Sun Also Rises is a good example, because students just say, ”Who are all these people drinking in Spain? What is this about?” You never get that reaction to is a good example, because students just say, ”Who are all these people drinking in Spain? What is this about?” You never get that reaction to To Kill a Mockingbird. To Kill a Mockingbird. It remains as relevant today as it was the day it was written. It never ages. It's a story of maturing, certainly, and initiation, but told in such beautifully specific terms that it never seems generic. It remains as relevant today as it was the day it was written. It never ages. It's a story of maturing, certainly, and initiation, but told in such beautifully specific terms that it never seems generic.

People want to read something with real substance. I think they want to read a novel that gives us all something to believe in. And I think To Kill a Mockingbird To Kill a Mockingbird manages to do that without being too preachy. manages to do that without being too preachy.

Most writers write entirely too much, 'cause it's what we love, it's our pa.s.sion. And I know it's Harper Lee's pa.s.sion too, because n.o.body can write like this who doesn't feel like that. So I absolutely don't understand why we don't have another book. Maybe there will be a great number of them left for us sometime. I don't see how she could bear not to be writing, with a talent like this.

Lots of times I've had trouble writing, but I've always felt a need to do it, because it's the way I've made sense of my life. I think that's true for most of us. It's just astonis.h.i.+ng to me that Harper Lee just stopped. I bet she hasn't, I bet she's sneaking around doing it. I bet she's sitting in her house like Boo Radley, writing. I hope so.

Adriana Trigiani Adriana Trigiani grew up in Big Stone Gap, Virginia, in the 1970s. She is a doc.u.mentary filmmaker, playwright, and television writer/producer.

She has written ten novels, including Big Stone Gap Big Stone Gap (2001), (2001), Lucia, Lucia Lucia, Lucia (2004), and (2004), and Very Valentine Very Valentine (2009). In 2009, Trigiani published the first in a series of books for young adults: (2009). In 2009, Trigiani published the first in a series of books for young adults: Viola in Reel Life. Viola in Reel Life.

I got got To Kill a Mockingbird To Kill a Mockingbird off of the Wise County Bookmobile in Big Stone Gap, Virginia. And I was twelve years old. It was a perfect time to read it, because around that age I became aware of the different backgrounds of people in the community. I was hyperaware of ethnic differences, because we were Italians in a small Southern town, so we felt like we were from Pluto. This book really helped me understand how segregated the South was before we arrived. 'Cause I really didn't get it. I didn't know the South before integration. off of the Wise County Bookmobile in Big Stone Gap, Virginia. And I was twelve years old. It was a perfect time to read it, because around that age I became aware of the different backgrounds of people in the community. I was hyperaware of ethnic differences, because we were Italians in a small Southern town, so we felt like we were from Pluto. This book really helped me understand how segregated the South was before we arrived. 'Cause I really didn't get it. I didn't know the South before integration.

It's interesting that I chose the book at all, because the t.i.tle To Kill a Mockingbird To Kill a Mockingbird is very literary. As a child, I found the t.i.tle off-putting, because I was reading is very literary. As a child, I found the t.i.tle off-putting, because I was reading Harriet the Spy Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh at that time. by Louise Fitzhugh at that time.

At first, I thought Harper Lee could be a man, it sounded like a man's name to me. Then I found out Harper Lee was a woman author. And I was thrilled. Harper Lee seemed to embody the character of Scout. You felt that, in this instance, the author was the character. To Kill a Mockingbird To Kill a Mockingbird hooked me on books written in the first person. I wanted the author to speak directly to me. I love the voice of the first person, whether it's hooked me on books written in the first person. I wanted the author to speak directly to me. I love the voice of the first person, whether it's To Kill a Mockingbird To Kill a Mockingbird or or Jane Eyre Jane Eyre. When the author writes in the first person, I feel like I know her by the end. And you sure feel like you know Scout by the end of this novel.

To Kill a Mockingbird is really the model for anyone who wants to write a story in the first person. Harper Lee writes with humor and such grace that as a reader, you're sold the minute you read the first sentence. You're with her for the journey of this book and this story. is really the model for anyone who wants to write a story in the first person. Harper Lee writes with humor and such grace that as a reader, you're sold the minute you read the first sentence. You're with her for the journey of this book and this story.

Harper Lee takes you inside a character, and then she takes you outside the character, and then she takes you back in again. She lets you know, in really gorgeous prose, what the character is feeling and also how everyone around her feels about her. This is really hard to do. There's that old John Ruskin quote about writers who must learn to tell what they see ”in a plain way.” Imagine that scene with Aunt Alexandra with the Add-A-Pearl necklace and the dresses and how a girl is supposed to behave. And how Scout stands up for herself with common sense and says, in effect, Well, I can do that in pants. Scout is just a fantastic character, written with such an authentic voice and such honesty.

People are always bemoaning the fact that Harper Lee never wrote another novel, but I think it's great that this novel was her definitive work. If you're going to write a book, write one of the great American cla.s.sics and say what you need to say. When an author writes a lot of novels, I think we're simply turning the same rock over and over again, exploring the same themes, solving the same riddle. We're just dealing with the same issues over and over again. And if you feel that you've completed that mission and that you've written about it the best you can, really, what else is there to say? I think it's great that To Kill a Mockingbird To Kill a Mockingbird is Harper Lee's opus and that we can read [it] time and time again. is Harper Lee's opus and that we can read [it] time and time again.

Also, I think, to a great degree, the craft of writing novels in order to sell them has changed. It used to be that a novelist would write a book and you got to have that glorious life of solitude and quietude. You could just stay in your room and do your work. After all, we become writers because we like to be by ourselves and create, figure things out. Now, after we write a book, it's inc.u.mbent upon us to go on the road and sell it. We have to be with the public.

Now, there are great, wonderful things about that that I wouldn't trade for anything. I like to talk with my readers. But for some authors, it really defeats the purpose of being a writer. Some authors don't want to be out and about, milling around talking to people. I think Harper Lee's quest for solitude and quietude is really admirable in a time when everyone's required to be out on the street with a sandwich board, selling their work. Once the publis.h.i.+ng houses knew that you could reach a wider audience by traveling to your readers, they sent you out. After all, it's a business.

For Harper Lee, her novel rolled out beautifully, it sold beautifully, it took on a life of its own, and its success had very little to do with the fact that she had to be out selling it. The book stood for itself. It would be nice to have that kind of a culture today, but we don't anymore. The world is big and yet tiny, because we have access to anybody at any time, any place through e-mail, telephone-whatever. It's a different time, and I think how delicious it must have been to be Harper Lee when To Kill a Mockingbird To Kill a Mockingbird came out. She was home and would receive these handwritten letters. For that to be your main source of communication with your public was so great. She could sit down and answer those letters at her leisure or just savor them and not answer them at all. She could do whatever she wanted to do. came out. She was home and would receive these handwritten letters. For that to be your main source of communication with your public was so great. She could sit down and answer those letters at her leisure or just savor them and not answer them at all. She could do whatever she wanted to do.

Good for her. Good for Harper Lee, for being the person she is, knowing her limitations, knowing what she wanted to do, knowing when to quit, and knowing when to say, ”Enough.” Imagine actually knowing when enough is enough. Maybe she felt that this novel said it all. Any reader will tell you that she accomplished her goal.

I think this book speaks to kids today because of the nontraditional settings children are being raised in. Blended families didn't exist then to the degree that they do now. I was in this big Italian family, and I craved the kind of life [Scout] had. She seemed to me to be fiercely independent; there seemed to be a streak of Pippi Longstocking in her, like she owned the town, and that appealed to me.

Atticus Finch, a decent man, a man of principle and values, was a model to Scout. He gave Scout a sense of self-esteem, of self-confidence. Her ideas were not put down. She was heard. And yet everyone does not treat her as Atticus does. Aunt Alexandra puts pressure on Scout, on the way [Scout] looks. Well, this is what we do to girls in life. We imply, You're worth something if you're beautiful. You're worth something if you're appealing. You're not, really, if you aren't. You're worth something if you're beautiful. You're worth something if you're appealing. You're not, really, if you aren't.

What I always loved about Atticus was that he had common sense and a clean, clear notion for his daughter, Scout: Be who you are. And that's enough, and by the way, that's pretty great. A child needs to hear that, whether it comes from a parent or a parental figure, an aunt or uncle, whoever it happens to be. So I thought their relations.h.i.+p was beautiful and profound, and when I read it the first time, it felt right and comfortable to me. Yeah Yeah, I thought. You're a great girl. Be who you are. You're a great girl. Be who you are.

My father died in 2002. I find it incredibly difficult to write his voice. Harper Lee wrote her father's voice. And she not only wrote her father's voice, she nailed his temperament, his appearance, his place in the community, his ability in the courtroom, his professional life. It's as if she had an insight into him that no one else did, which is another reason why this book is so compelling. Harper Lee was able to take complex, grown-up issues and really bring them down to their root basics, so that the reader could understand and embrace the characters and the story. She did it perfectly. That would be another reason never to write another book. When you get that right, your hunt is done. You're finished, in a certain way.

Also, if you write about the person who you feel was instrumental in your life in an honest way, you've said all there is to say. Artistic process is so much about formulating, Why was I put in this family and where do I fit in it, and why did I get these parents? And once you get past the why, which is some kind of mystical thing, and you attempt to communicate those relations.h.i.+ps as a writer, that's the tough stuff, the bare-bones work. Our job is to describe people and to remember how they sounded, and then to relay that to a reader. Harper Lee studied her father, observed everything about him, enough to explain him to us, her readers.

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