To Kill a Mockingbird.. and why we read it

To Kill a Mockingbird was a novel that almost everyone in Canada and possibly, North America, already read. I thought it was a good idea to reference it since we all should have read in school. The Library of Congress says that this book was the must-read book of all time. Not to criticize it, but maybe it received this recognition because every English teacher shoved the hidden literary devices down our throat during essay time. This was a good read for me, only because it was easy thinking of themes and overall essay ideas to write about. That’s probably why they made us read it, so much to look into…

GR 10 reference

Referring to the grade 10 novel I was studying, To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus had to solve a case to defend an innocent African-American. As the citizens of Maycomb were introduced as a racist white-population, it was difficult to defend his client. He thought of clever tactics to win the courtroom’s decision, it was a difficult thing to accomplish of him. He stated important points to appeal to the audience and it eventually saved him the case. We, the reader tried to figure out how to prove Tom’s innocence as well.

Our Character View

In this sense, reading novels is like living through someone else. When a main character is first introduced to a conflict, we, the reader are already thinking of how the conflict occurred. Then as the events unfold and information is brought out, we try to solve it as the main character is doing. As soon as a complication comes, the reader also tries to think of ways to rid this road block to the ending. They think and ponder about solutions, as we do too.

My Book Preference now

For me, serious, thought-provoking reads that involve real life consequences are always interesting to make sense of. Books that deal with actual everyday complications, like abortion, rape, racism are definitely areas of concern and awareness. When people arrive at situations like this, it’s fascinating seeing how the characters confront their situation, even if it is not the smartest way. What they do when people hear about them, how the public sees them. Hopefully I never run into too much of a serious issue like this, but the day may come. But now it’s just exciting to read and learn about, maybe it’s for good use for future conflicts in life.