What ‘To kill a mocking bird’ taught us…
A small white family residing in the outskirts of Alabama, comprising of a lawyer(Atticus Finch), his two kids(Jem and Scott) and their caretaker(Calpurnia, an African American lady) Mentioning their respective races here only because the story is set in the backdrop of racial discrimination back in the day in the United States.
The two kids have a normal childhood(pretty relatable)like other kids their age except that they are constantly picked upon in school when their father decides to defend an African American (Tom Robinson) on the death row for a crime( in this case, rape) that he didn’t commit.
Although the particular case is thrust on their father for some socio-political reasons at the workplace, it so turns out that they could not have chosen a better person for the job since Atticus Finch not only gives him a chance of a fair trial but also protects him during the course of the proceedings in court.
He ends up losing the case in spite of the decades of expertise under his belt much to the shock and dismay of his friends and kids who turn up to watch their father in his element carefully dissecting every nuance of the case and proving beyond doubt that the man under trial was being unfairly accused because of the color of his skin for a crime he did not commit.
Their father could have refused to take up the particular case or not give it much effort. However, it was an example that he was setting in the process for his kids to remember for the rest of their lives. An example that every man irrespective of their race/religion/place of birth/socioeconomic status deserves to be treated equally under the eyes of the law.
I am still not sure what Calpurnia meant when she told Jem Finch, “Shoot all the blue jays you want if you can hit them but remember it is a sin to kill a mocking bird.” The reason being that the blue jay does nothing but sing it’s song. It harms no one. Maybe it is a way of summarizing the whole story in which their father is only doing his duty but is ostracized by the very community he belongs to for an unpopular decision he made.
It is very difficult as their father proves it, to change mindsets overnight. The jury(all 12 of them) perfectly good people by every other standard had pronounced the accused ‘Tom Robinson’ guilty, although the evidence spoke otherwise loud and clear but it was stacked against a white woman’s testimony. They, as it turns out either had their biases deep rooted and un- shakable or just wanted to fit in or avoid trouble in their daily lives.
To shatter years of prejudice and see things for the way they are or at least want to, you would have to be righteous lawyer like Atticus Finch or see the world through the unbiased eyes of a child like Jem or Scott Finch. It is after all, the Atticus’s of the world with their righteous unpopular opinions and the legacy that they leave behind that slowly over the years change the world that we live in, the world as we appreciate better today.
As for Boo Radley(their neighbor)who saves the day for Scott Finch, is a reminder that we sometimes demonize people because we do not take enough efforts to know their whole story, but it is those very Boo Radley’s that sometimes silently have your back .
