Reading these awesome books made me realise that all is not lost, there are always like-minded souls out there and really you are not a freak if you think differently from the mainstream thinking. Books do liberate the minds if only you read them. I very much believe books I read changed and emancipated my spirit from certain shackles which otherwise would remain lifelong. That does not mean I profess to be a very clever person, far from it. I am just a humble person, trying to make sense of my life, people around me, my interaction with other members of society, my feelings and my aspirations. Society most of the time expects to us to conform, books help us learn to look at things from different perspectives.
First on my list is To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee which I read about ten years ago (have always wondered why Mockingbird is spelled as one word). The book won the 1961 Putlizer Prize for Fiction. I think the Malaysian equivalent in terms of literary importance would be something like Salina by A. Samad Said or Ranjau Sepanjang Jalan by Shahnon Ahmad.
The book was made into a movie of the same name released in 1962, starring Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch and Mary Bodham as the bookish and adorable Scout Finch. Thank you Zam and Ain for letting me have the chance to see this movie (copied it from your external hard drive).
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Summary
The story takes place during three years (1933–35) of the Great Depression in the fictional "tired old town" of Maycomb, Alabama, the seat of Maycomb County. It focuses on six-year-old Scout Finch, who lives with her older brother, Jem, and their widowed father, Atticus, a middle-aged lawyer. Jem and Scout befriend a boy named Dill, who visits Maycomb to stay with his aunt each summer. The three children are terrified of, and fascinated by, their neighbor, the reclusive "Boo" Radley. The adults of Maycomb are hesitant to talk about Boo, and, for many years few have seen him. The children feed one another's imagination with rumors about his appearance and reasons for remaining hidden, and they fantasize about how to get him out of his house. After two summers of friendship with Dill, Scout and Jem find that someone leaves them small gifts in a tree outside the Radley place. Several times the mysterious Boo makes gestures of affection to the children, but, to their disappointment, he never appears in person.
Judge Taylor appoints Atticus to defend Tom Robinson, a black man who has been accused of raping a young white woman, Mayella Ewell. Although many of Maycomb's citizens disapprove, Atticus agrees to defend Tom to the best of his ability. Other children taunt Jem and Scout for Atticus's actions, calling him a "nigger-lover". Scout is tempted to stand up for her father's honor by fighting, even though he has told her not to. Atticus faces a group of men intent on lynching Tom. This danger is averted when Scout, Jem, and Dill shame the mob into dispersing by forcing them to view the situation from Atticus' and Tom's points of view.
Atticus does not want Jem and Scout to be present at Tom Robinson's trial. No seat is available on the main floor, so by invitation of Rev. Sykes, Jem, Scout, and Dill watch from the colored balcony. Atticus establishes that the accusers—Mayella and her father, Bob Ewell, the town drunk—are lying. It also becomes clear that the friendless Mayella made sexual advances toward Tom, and that her father caught her and beat her. Despite significant evidence of Tom's innocence, the jury convicts him. Jem's faith in justice becomes badly shaken, as is Atticus', when the hapless Tom is shot and killed while trying to escape from prison.
Despite Tom's conviction Bob Ewell is humiliated by the events of the trial, and vows revenge. He spits in Atticus' face, tries to break into the judge's house, and menaces Tom Robinson's widow. Finally, he attacks the defenseless Jem and Scout while they walk home on a dark night after the school Halloween pageant. One of Jem's arms is broken in the struggle, but amid the confusion someone comes to the children's rescue. The mysterious man carries Jem home, where Scout realizes that he is Boo Radley.
Sheriff Tate arrives and discovers that Bob Ewell has died during the fight. The sheriff argues with Atticus about the prudence and ethics of charging Jem (whom Atticus believes to be responsible) or Boo (whom Tate believes to be responsible). Atticus eventually accepts the sheriff's story that Ewell simply fell on his own knife. Boo asks Scout to walk him home, and after she says goodbye to him at his front door he disappears again. While standing on the Radley porch, Scout imagines life from Boo's perspective, and regrets that they had never repaid him for the gifts he had given them.
A Little On The Mockingbird And The Reclusive Harper Lee
In July 1960, J.B. Lippincott Company published To Kill A Mockingbird, a story of social injustice, morals, and growing up in the Depression-era South. It was the debut novel of a 34-year-old woman named Nelle Harper Lee, who dropped the "Nelle" from her pen name because she didn't want it to be mispronounced. Lee's book went on to become one of the most successful novels in American history. To Kill A Mockingbird has sold more than 30 million copies, with another 100,000 flying off the shelves each year. The book has a place on virtually every Best Of, Greatest Novels, and Favorite Books list in existence. The movie adaptation is a classic in its own right. The success of both guaranteed fame and financial security for the rest of Lee's life.
Every word of To Kill A Mockingbird has been analyzed in countless essays and critical papers. But far less is known about the book's author, and that's just the way Harper Lee wants it. Unlike her childhood friend and fellow literary superstar Truman Capote, who once confessed to having a love affair with "cameras—all cameras,"1Harper Lee has studiously avoided the public eye since the publication of her one and only novel. (She's alive and well, and reportedly splits her time between New York City and Alabama.) She declines interviews. She refuses public appearances and says little when she makes them. Enterprising reporters have knocked on her door and she has firmly turned them away, though not without autographing their copies of To Kill A Mockingbird with a polite "Best Wishes."
Biographers have practically torn their hair out trying to get close to their unwilling subject, with one even faking his way onto an online reunion site in an attempt to contact her old classmates. We won't go that far. What we have here at Shmoop is the story of Harper Lee's life and work—as much as she has been willing to share with the world. And we think that's enough. Harper Lee wrote a book that has brought hope and tolerance to countless numbers of people. And as Atticus Finch reminded us with respect to the title's mockingbird, to harass a creature that brings nothing but joy is a sin.
There are only so many things that we know for sure about Nelle Harper Lee, born 28 April 1926, and the author of To Kill A Mockingbirdand precisely zero other books. We know that she was a lawyer's daughter, raised in a small Alabama town in the 1930s, just like her plucky narrator Scout Finch. We know that Lee was aware of the racial injustices and ugly prejudices that simmered in small towns like hers, and that sometimes these prejudices erupted in trials similar to the one at the center of her book. We know that in 1960 she published a novel that became an instant classic, inspiring millions with its unique blend of humor and sharp social observations. And then, at the peak of her fame, Harper Lee decided to turn down the limelight offered to her. She is, as the writer Garrison Keillor has put it, "a woman who knew when to get off the train." Lee has put her legacy even more simply: "I said what I have to say."
At a time when everyone seems to have their own blog, Twitter feed, and hourly Facebook updates, it can be hard to understand why someone would turn down the recognition that comes with the rare feat of writing a bestselling and highly-acclaimed book. According to people who know her, Harper Lee is not a creepy recluse like Boo Radley or a social misfit or misanthrope. She's funny, outgoing, and a valued member of the Alabama community where she lives. She simply values her privacy and would prefer to let her beloved book speak for itself. The little she has shared about her background helps us understand the time and place in which Mockingbird is set. But that's all we're going to get. And, really, it's all that we deserve. "She is apparently in good humor and enjoying her food and not planning to go on Oprah or Charlie Rose," Keillor wrote. "And so there, dear reader, you will just have to leave her."
The story takes place during three years (1933–35) of the Great Depression in the fictional "tired old town" of Maycomb, Alabama, the seat of Maycomb County. It focuses on six-year-old Scout Finch, who lives with her older brother, Jem, and their widowed father, Atticus, a middle-aged lawyer. Jem and Scout befriend a boy named Dill, who visits Maycomb to stay with his aunt each summer. The three children are terrified of, and fascinated by, their neighbor, the reclusive "Boo" Radley. The adults of Maycomb are hesitant to talk about Boo, and, for many years few have seen him. The children feed one another's imagination with rumors about his appearance and reasons for remaining hidden, and they fantasize about how to get him out of his house. After two summers of friendship with Dill, Scout and Jem find that someone leaves them small gifts in a tree outside the Radley place. Several times the mysterious Boo makes gestures of affection to the children, but, to their disappointment, he never appears in person.
Judge Taylor appoints Atticus to defend Tom Robinson, a black man who has been accused of raping a young white woman, Mayella Ewell. Although many of Maycomb's citizens disapprove, Atticus agrees to defend Tom to the best of his ability. Other children taunt Jem and Scout for Atticus's actions, calling him a "nigger-lover". Scout is tempted to stand up for her father's honor by fighting, even though he has told her not to. Atticus faces a group of men intent on lynching Tom. This danger is averted when Scout, Jem, and Dill shame the mob into dispersing by forcing them to view the situation from Atticus' and Tom's points of view.
Atticus does not want Jem and Scout to be present at Tom Robinson's trial. No seat is available on the main floor, so by invitation of Rev. Sykes, Jem, Scout, and Dill watch from the colored balcony. Atticus establishes that the accusers—Mayella and her father, Bob Ewell, the town drunk—are lying. It also becomes clear that the friendless Mayella made sexual advances toward Tom, and that her father caught her and beat her. Despite significant evidence of Tom's innocence, the jury convicts him. Jem's faith in justice becomes badly shaken, as is Atticus', when the hapless Tom is shot and killed while trying to escape from prison.
Despite Tom's conviction Bob Ewell is humiliated by the events of the trial, and vows revenge. He spits in Atticus' face, tries to break into the judge's house, and menaces Tom Robinson's widow. Finally, he attacks the defenseless Jem and Scout while they walk home on a dark night after the school Halloween pageant. One of Jem's arms is broken in the struggle, but amid the confusion someone comes to the children's rescue. The mysterious man carries Jem home, where Scout realizes that he is Boo Radley.
Sheriff Tate arrives and discovers that Bob Ewell has died during the fight. The sheriff argues with Atticus about the prudence and ethics of charging Jem (whom Atticus believes to be responsible) or Boo (whom Tate believes to be responsible). Atticus eventually accepts the sheriff's story that Ewell simply fell on his own knife. Boo asks Scout to walk him home, and after she says goodbye to him at his front door he disappears again. While standing on the Radley porch, Scout imagines life from Boo's perspective, and regrets that they had never repaid him for the gifts he had given them.
A Little On The Mockingbird And The Reclusive Harper Lee
In July 1960, J.B. Lippincott Company published To Kill A Mockingbird, a story of social injustice, morals, and growing up in the Depression-era South. It was the debut novel of a 34-year-old woman named Nelle Harper Lee, who dropped the "Nelle" from her pen name because she didn't want it to be mispronounced. Lee's book went on to become one of the most successful novels in American history. To Kill A Mockingbird has sold more than 30 million copies, with another 100,000 flying off the shelves each year. The book has a place on virtually every Best Of, Greatest Novels, and Favorite Books list in existence. The movie adaptation is a classic in its own right. The success of both guaranteed fame and financial security for the rest of Lee's life.
Every word of To Kill A Mockingbird has been analyzed in countless essays and critical papers. But far less is known about the book's author, and that's just the way Harper Lee wants it. Unlike her childhood friend and fellow literary superstar Truman Capote, who once confessed to having a love affair with "cameras—all cameras,"1Harper Lee has studiously avoided the public eye since the publication of her one and only novel. (She's alive and well, and reportedly splits her time between New York City and Alabama.) She declines interviews. She refuses public appearances and says little when she makes them. Enterprising reporters have knocked on her door and she has firmly turned them away, though not without autographing their copies of To Kill A Mockingbird with a polite "Best Wishes."
Biographers have practically torn their hair out trying to get close to their unwilling subject, with one even faking his way onto an online reunion site in an attempt to contact her old classmates. We won't go that far. What we have here at Shmoop is the story of Harper Lee's life and work—as much as she has been willing to share with the world. And we think that's enough. Harper Lee wrote a book that has brought hope and tolerance to countless numbers of people. And as Atticus Finch reminded us with respect to the title's mockingbird, to harass a creature that brings nothing but joy is a sin.
There are only so many things that we know for sure about Nelle Harper Lee, born 28 April 1926, and the author of To Kill A Mockingbirdand precisely zero other books. We know that she was a lawyer's daughter, raised in a small Alabama town in the 1930s, just like her plucky narrator Scout Finch. We know that Lee was aware of the racial injustices and ugly prejudices that simmered in small towns like hers, and that sometimes these prejudices erupted in trials similar to the one at the center of her book. We know that in 1960 she published a novel that became an instant classic, inspiring millions with its unique blend of humor and sharp social observations. And then, at the peak of her fame, Harper Lee decided to turn down the limelight offered to her. She is, as the writer Garrison Keillor has put it, "a woman who knew when to get off the train." Lee has put her legacy even more simply: "I said what I have to say."
At a time when everyone seems to have their own blog, Twitter feed, and hourly Facebook updates, it can be hard to understand why someone would turn down the recognition that comes with the rare feat of writing a bestselling and highly-acclaimed book. According to people who know her, Harper Lee is not a creepy recluse like Boo Radley or a social misfit or misanthrope. She's funny, outgoing, and a valued member of the Alabama community where she lives. She simply values her privacy and would prefer to let her beloved book speak for itself. The little she has shared about her background helps us understand the time and place in which Mockingbird is set. But that's all we're going to get. And, really, it's all that we deserve. "She is apparently in good humor and enjoying her food and not planning to go on Oprah or Charlie Rose," Keillor wrote. "And so there, dear reader, you will just have to leave her."
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