Literary Criticism of Harper Lee’s - To Kill a Mockingbird - 3014 words | Study Guides and Book Summaries

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 Literary Criticism of Harper Lee’s – To Kill a

Mockingbird

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Literary Criticism of Harper Lee’s - To Kill a Mockingbird - 3014 words | Study Guides and Book Summaries

To Kill a Mockingbird holds a unique position in America’s literary canon. It is both one of the mos widely read
novels of the las century, winning the Pulitzer in the year of its publication.

However, for about thirty years after its publication it received minimum critical attention, and was largely
considered to be a pleasant read rather than a profound satement on America’s social hisory. After that,
however, it sarted to attract a large amount of critical attention, both praise and derision, till it was rated as a book
that was ‘mos cited as making a diference in people’s life’, second only to the Bible. (Johnson 14)

This is the only novel by Harper Lee, and she usually refrained from talking about her work apart from some rare
interviews. The work, according to many has deep autobiographical elements inspired from real life settings and
incidents. The novel addresses the issue of racism in the Far South, and is considered to be a srong satement
agains racism.

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On a purely moral front, Atticus Finch has become a sort of role model for a generation: a veritable symbol of a
man sanding by his own ideals and beliefs despite widespread social opposition. Some ethnocritics have
criticized the book for its use of specifc language and terms that, in an inverted way, actually re-esablishes
racism in a subtle way. The book, despite dealing with these rather serious issues, is garbed in a diction that is
replete with irony and humor, making the book a unique contribution to the American literary canon.

The Autobiographical Element in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’

The autobiographical elements in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ were a major source of controversy during the book’s
release. Although Lee has insisently denied any direct autobiographical inspiration behind the characters of her
novel, yet parallels have been drawn and srains of autobiography have been revealed by critics and friends over
the years.

Atticus Finch is based largely on Lee’s father Amasa Coleman Lee, an attorney who was a champion of civil rights

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Literary Criticism of Harper Lee’s - To Kill a Mockingbird - 3014 words | Study Guides and Book Summaries

and an advocate of racial equality. Although he was not as radical and avowed reformis as Finch in the novel, yet
he did fght for African American causes. Amasa Lee once defended two black men who were accused of murder.

The trial left such a lasing impression in him that he never fought a case after the convicts were accused, hanged
and mutilated. Amasa Lee grew more liberal with growing years on the quesion of racial equality and often voiced
his opinions in the Monroeville newspaper, which he edited and to which he regularly contributed.

Maycomb, the fctional Southern town where Lee sets her novel bears close resemblance to her hometown,
Monroeville. (Goria 76) The racial quesion was very much central to the society of her native Monroeville, even
after segregation was ofcially denounced.

Parallels have also been drawn between the central character of Scout And Harper Lee herself, who according to
Marianne M. Moates, was ‘a rough ‘n’ ready tomboy…she had cropped hair, wore coveralls, went barefoot, and
could talk mean like a boy’. (Moates…)

We fnd more references to her actual life from the writings of Truman Capote, who lived long at Monroeville, and
was close to Lee. Together they referred to each other as the ‘apart people’, typing works on an old Underwood
typewriter. It is speculated that Truman Capote himself could be the model for Dill, Scout and James’ ‘summer’
friend.

One of the bigges controversies were woven round the character of Tom Robinson. Various attempts have been
made to locate his identity, and the character can have its origins in the local hisory of Monroeville. A white
woman accused Walter Lee, a black man for raping her: an incident that was covered in the newspaper of her
father when she was 10. (Matthew A3)

Although the charges were found to be false, the convict died of tuberculosis in jail. The incidents may also be
passively infuenced by the scandal surrounding the notorious Scottsboro Boys. (Johnson 11) Emmett Till, one of
the bigges immediate reasons behind the outbreak of the Civil Rights movement was also probably one of the
immediate inspirations behind the character. (Shields 118)

Central Issues in To Kill a Mockingbird

Probably the greates reason behind the popularity of Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird is its topicality and
its deft handling of issues that were not only burning ones at her time, but are of great relevance even today. The
frs part of the book is almos completely devoted towards analyzing the life of the children in the Southern town.
The fascination of the children towards their neighbor Boo Ridley, who was a secretive and even a shadowy
character lurking like an unidentifed presence in their vicinity, pervades the frs part of the novel.

The importance given to Boo Ridley and his shadowy presence, as well as the detailing of his house, has
encouraged some critics to categorize the novel as a Gothic fction, complicating the quesion of generic
categorization that the novel has always attracted. It has been often observed that it is not the characters who lead
the novel in the frs half, but the spirit of the American South.

The Deep South comes across like a being with almos a palpable presence, guiding characters into acting in the

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Literary Criticism of Harper Lee’s - To Kill a Mockingbird - 3014 words | Study Guides and Book Summaries

way they do. (Fred 2) It is therefore no surprise that much of the novel’s early attraction grew from a sense of
mysery associated with life in the South: its racial quesions, its wilderness, its peculiar social cusoms including
the obsession with families and individual genealogies, leading to an over-active case sysem.

However, this exotic charm of the frs half of the novel lead to a deeper and more grave race quesion in the
second part of the novel. Today, around ffty years after its publication, the novel is seen to be osensibly a work
on racial injusice. To complicate the issue, the novel is set at a time of socio-economic transition of the South,
when new relationships were being worked out among antagonisic factions of the society.

Such a process of transition usually leads to regimentation, a desperate attempt to ft in already esablished
categories of one’s ideological belonging, which becomes racial in this case. The consant use of prototypes is
noteworthy in the novel. The blacks are almos dehumanized by the whites and are presented more as types than
as individuals.

They are almos always ‘supid, pathetic, defenseless, and dependant upon the fair dealing of the whites, rather
than his own intelligence to save him’. (Siegel 133) When Atticus Finch sands up to fght for Tom Robinson, a
sequence of events happen that bring this racial anxiety and even fear to the fore. The attack on Scout and the
general opposition to Atticus’ action of defending Robinson are some of the incidents.

Atticus Finch’s commitment can be seen to be basically to break the myth of evil, immature, supid, and sexually
voracious black man. It is not jus the accuser in microcosm, and the white prejudices in macrocosm that he is
fghting agains, he is fghting agains a sereotype: a sereotype that developed in the South for over years, and
took the mos intense form during the time of a socio-economic transition.

However, it mus be remembered at this point that Lee’s treatment of the process of racial injusice is more in
depth, rigorous and problematic than a monolithic painting of characters in black and white. What makes To Kill a
Mockingbird particularly rich, is the way the racial quesion is intrinsically connected to quesions of class and
gender.

Lee’s treatment of the issue of class in Southern society has often inspired critics to identify her, at a very basic
level, with Jane Ausen. It cannot be denied that the concerns shared by the two were quite similar. Jean
Blackwell clearly spells out the similarities between the two when she says that for both Ausen and Lee, the
primary objective was ‘afrmation of order in society, obedience, courtesy, and respect for the individual without
regard for satus’. (Blackwell) The easily disinguishable tone of satire and irony is another common ground
between the two.

Individuals from all across the class spectrum are brought into play in the novel. The fact that she places the frs
person narrator in the middle class position, helps her cause as it allows her to look at society from both above
and below. Characters like Calpurnia, the black cook of the Finch household; Walter Cunningham and Aunt
Alexandra display various class attitudes that were prevalent in the Southern society at the time of the Great
Depression and immediately after it.

Similarly, the novel betrays gender concerns at great depth. The srong willed Calpurnia and Miss Maudie, as well
as Mayella Ewell provide examples of female independence of spirit working within a largely patriarchal setting.

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Literary Criticism of Harper Lee’s - To Kill a Mockingbird - 3014 words | Study Guides and Book Summaries

Scout also challenges gender sereotypes in her ways of dressing, actions and her commitment towards here faith
in human equality. Dean Shackleford elucidates the problem of this gender quesion in the following terms:

‘Lee gradually demonsrates that Scout id becoming a feminis in the South, for with the use of frs person
narration, she indicates that Scout/ Jean Louise sill maintains the ambivalence about being a Southern lady she
possessed as a child’. (Shackleford 101)

The mothers in the novel are absent and the fathers are typically abusive- this forms another major issue of Lee’s
novel. This is highly responsible for the society to go asray and builds up the traditional patriarchal society with
the complete absence of the mothers.

Atticus Finch: The Hero and the Model

One of the bigges causes of the popularity of To Kill a Mockingbird is the integrity and adherence to one’s
principles as depicted by the character of Atticus Finch. Finch has transcended from being a major character in a
novel to become almos a symbol of moral srength in legal circuit. Whatever be the reason behind the immense
popularity of Atticus Finch, one cannot deny from a critical point of view that the greates source of the character’s
attraction is his moral ambivalence.

Atticus Finch has transcended spatio-temporal boundaries to be counted as a role model in the legal profession in
particular, and humanity at large. However, Atticus is frmly rooted in his time. Despite being a champion of equal
rights and harvesing a srong dissent agains the racial prototypes those were prevalent in his time, Atticus works
from within the legal circuit to fght the evils.

There are two sides to this response, and adds to the character’s richness. Firs, it foregrounds order as it shows a
noble attempt to address deep rooted racis quesions from within the insitutionalized sysem of law. On the other
hand, this very approach has drawn criticism, because critics sate that despite his radical view towards racism,
Finch works from well within the sexis and the racial insitutions that were operative during that time.

Symbolism in – To Kill a Mockingbird

The very title, To Kill a Mockingbird itself has lots of symbolic connotation, which is used in the building up of the
plot. The desruction of the innocence by the evil forces and social vices represents the idea mentioned in the title
of the novel. The mocking bird is symbolic of the innocence and thus, to kill a mocking bird corresponds to the
death of the innocence.

It is probably for this reason that a child narrator is used who looks at the social vices of the time. Innocence
ceases to exis in the characters of the Dill, Jem, Boo Radley, Tom Robinson and Mr. Robinson with the
development of the plot. These characters are identifed as the mocking birds, which lose their innocence with
time.

When Mr. Underwood describes the untimely death of Tom Robinson as “the senseless slaughter of songbirds”,
then probably, he is referring to the title of the novel. Again, the mention of Scout that it would be like “shootin’a
mockingbird” hurting Boo Radley brings out the theme of Lee’s novel. Afraid of the racial injusice and the

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Literary Criticism of Harper Lee’s - To Kill a Mockingbird - 3014 words | Study Guides and Book Summaries

endangered innocence, Miss Maudie says to Scout that “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but . . . sing their hearts
out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”

There is an oblique hint at the jusifcation of the title of the novel in the las name of the family- Finch.
Mockingbird, the symbol of innocence, frs appears in the novel when Atticus presents the air rifes of the children
for shooting. He warns the children that if they wish they can kill the bluejays but they should keep in mind not “to
kill a mockingbird” as it is a sin to do so.

To kill a mocking bird simply means the death of the harmless and the innocence. To make any moral satement,
Lee is seen to refer back time and again to the symbol of mockingbird, which represents kindness, peace and
innocence.

Again the killing of the innocence and the childhood harshly is developed through the progress of To Kill a
mockingbird. The transition of the childlike innocence to the adult perspective is brought out very deftly with the
changing attitude of the children toward Boo Radley. The innocent Boo in the beginning of the novel grows up to a
developed and fully human towards the end of the novel.

Boo’s innocence is ruined by the behavior of his cruel father. Boo is the mos signifcant symbol, which represents
the guiltless mockingbirds and the exisence of the good within the evil within the heart of the human beings. In
spite of the suferings of Boo, he sill lisens to his heart while intermingling with the children. He is the ultimate
symbol of good that sill lingers amids the vices in of grown up world.

Through the various symbols and imageries introduced in the novel, Lee brings out the ethical character of the
human beings. The good and evil are juxtaposed and at the same time is balanced properly. To deal with the
diferent themes of the novel, symbolization plays a great role and makes To Kill a Mockingbird a great success.

Narrative Style of – To Kill a Mockingbird

The sorytelling method, which was adopted by Lee, elevates this novel to a superior work. The gifted art of
sorytelling makes Harper Lee one of the mos prominent authors of her age. The visual form of art and the
subtlety with which she handles her characters and plot binds her work as a complete whole.

She uses a child narrator and a grown up woman to see things from diferent points of view. The voice of the child
narrator makes a close observation on the things and the happenings, while the woman’s nosalgic refection on
her childhood memories creates a kind of aura in the novel. The proper blending of the adult world and the world
of the innocence accounts for the huge popularity of To Kill a Mockingbird. The novel traces the recession of both
the world which are wrapped in hidden motivations. The choice of vocabulary and the language creates a world,
which is very own of Lee.

Lee very dexterously blends humor within the tragic plot of the novel. This is supported by the view of the eminent
scholar named Jacqueline Tavernier-Courbin, who says: “Laughter … exposes the gangrene under the beautiful
surface but also by demeaning it; one can hardly … be controlled by what one is able to laugh at.” (Tavernier-
Courbin, 2007) There are several areas that provide humor within the sory line. There is subtle humor in the
mentioning of the Scout’s behavior with the boys and her srong dislike for putting on dress.

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The irony, parody and satire in To Kill a Mockingbird are used by Lee to deal with the complex issues within the
novel. The usage of the narration by the child builds up the complexities. Scouts way of attracting Dill towards her
by asking him to beat her up really gives way to the complex issues in the novel. The satirical touch used in the
description of Scout’s frs day in school is surely the result of the creative mind of Lee, which is open to the
hardcore real situations.

Irony, the major weapon of Lee in dealing with the theme of class, gender and racism puts her to among the
superior class of writers. While mentioning about Maycomb’s likeness for racism but sill maintaining some kind of
decency in the society, Lee uses irony with great care. In choosing the very title To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee
carefully introduces irony and satire.

She points fnger at the educational sysem, jusice sructure and societal pattern of her time but at the same time
adds humor while dealing with it. She carefully handles the social vices with the proper use of satire, irony and
humor. The introduced humor also, at times, paves ground for lots of entertainment.

Works Cited

1. Johnson, Claudia Durs. To Kill a Mockingbird: Threatening Boundaries. New York: Twayne, 1994.

2. Moates. A Bridge of Childhood: Truman Capote’s Southern Years.

3. Gloria, Steinam. ‘Go Right Ahead and Ask Me Anything (And So she Did): An Interview with Truman Capote.
McCalls.

4. Matthew, Bigg. Novel Still Stirs Pride, Debate: Mockingbird Draws Touriss to Coming to Grips with its Pas. The
Washington Pos: 09.23.2007

5. Erisman, Fred. ‘The Romantic Regionalism of Harper Lee’. The Alabama Review XXVI, April: 1973.

6. Siegel, Roslyn. The Black Man and the Macabre in American Literature’. Black American Literature Forum 10:
1976.

7. Blackwell, Jean. ‘Valorizing the Commonplace: Harper Lee’s Response to Jane Ausen’ in Alice Petry ed. On
Harper Lee: Essays and Refections. University of Tennessee Press, 2007.

8. Shackleford, Dean. ‘The Female Voice in To Kill a Mockingbird: Narrative Strategies in Film and Novel’.
Mississippi Quarterly: The Journal of Southern Cultures 50: (Winter 1996-1997)

9. Bloom, Harold. Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird: Harper Lee. Los Angeles: Chelsea House, 2006.

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10. Tavernier-Courbin, Jacqueline. Humor and Humanity in To Kill a Mockingbird in Alice Petry (ed.): On Harper
Lee: Essays and Refections. Memphis: University of Tennessee Press, 2007.

Author: Russell Ransom

in To Kill a Mockingbird

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