This summer marks the 50^thAnniversary of Harper Lee’s well-known novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird.”  On Saturday, to mark the anniversary, the Freedom Center is hosting a screening of the 1962 film of the same name, with Gregory Peck playing the courageous attorney Atticus Finch. A brief discussion will follow. For more information about the screening click here.

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal, “What ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ Isn’t” by Allen Barra, claims that Harper Lee’s literary talent does not measure up to Southern writers of the caliber of William Faulkner or Tennessee Williams. The general public — and teachers, who have made Mockingbird required reading in classrooms across the land — should stop praising the book as a “timeless classic,” Barra wrote.

Its bloodless liberal humanism is sadly dated, as pristinely preserved in its pages as the dinosaur DNA in “Jurassic Park.”

Barra also wrote that “To Kill a Mockingbird” lacks any moral ambiguity and quotes another reviewer as describing Lee as “an ungainsayable endorser of the obvious.” 

Is that fair? Is Barra correct in saying that the book is a sugar-coated myth of Alabama’s past that millions have come to accept?

I don’t think so.  What is sugar-coated about a town wanting to lynch an innocent man for a crime he didn’t commit?  What is sugar-coated about the hero, Atticus Finch, defending the African American man in question against the town’s judgment?  What is sugar-coated about the innocence of childhood being overshadowed by hate and prejudice?

I’ll never forget the first time I read “To Kill a Mockingbird”– I was 14 years old and to this day is one of my favorite books.  The book is still relevant and I’m of the personal belief that Lee’s novel is a must read for all Americans.

What do you think? Share your memories of reading this great novel.