I am in honors english, and i have to read this book. I have already started and am in part 2. so far i like it. but does it end up good or is it a bad ending?
2006-07-31 05:53:07 · 15 answers · asked by booiscaredu428 2 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
It's an excellently written, captivating, but very grim book set in the South in the 1930s, concerning events surrounding the case of a black man falsely accused of raping a white woman.
The plot focuses on a high-prinicipled lawyer and his young daughter, who is very bright and has nearly unbelievable wisdom for a child. I have read this 1960 book by Harper Lee only once, when it came out in the "Reader's Digest Condensed Books" version.
There is an excellent website devoted to the study of all aspects of this book, but I'd advise just reading the book, and not getting bogged down in interpretations and commentaries.
A good ending? Not at all. Yet unpredictable as well as predictable events make the story interesting, and, in the end the lawyer and his daughter survive, and the little girl-- predictably-- becomes "sadder and wiser", so there's a kind of bittersweet ending for the nice, talented white-folks hero and heroine. This made the book palatable to 1960 white audiences.
What makes this novel poignant to me is that a similar incident actually took place in my home town in the 1930s. The rape, or any encounter at all between the alleged victim and the accused, was later judged by nearly everyone as extremely unlikely. But, in the passions of the moment, the lynch mob saw things differently. The fictitious black defendant in the book is not exactly lynched, but his outcome is not good.
If someone has written a book about the more subtle, coded lynchings suffered by poor defendents of all races in our current court system's "assembly line", clue me in. I, also, "feel more sorry for the victims than the criminals", but, in the speed to clear overloaded court dockets through plea bargaining and other quick-acting "enzymes", I sense a danger that the the guilty are not always adequately sorted out from the innocent, and perhaps sometimes draconian punishments are meted out for minor crimes.
2006-07-31 07:10:54 · answer #1 · answered by John (Thurb) McVey 4 · 11⤊ 2⤋
It's a great book, especially the part near the end when the alien mothership comes down and takes everyone back to their home planet, but not before Boo Radley is named king of the Vanutians of Sector 7 in the Delta Quadrant...
2006-07-31 13:15:02 · answer #2 · answered by bodinibold 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's good stuff.. When I was doing some student teaching, that was the book I had.. It's definately one of my FAVORITE books... and the ending is warm and fuzzy, like all good classics ought to be. BUT to make it a good book for you, you need to know the history that accompanies it. If you understand the novel in the context of it's time, then I'm sure that you will love it :-) Happy Reading!
2006-07-31 12:57:50 · answer #3 · answered by nik 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I love "To Kill A Mockingbird". I read it before I was supposed to and still end up reading it again every few years. The ending actually fits the story, it's not perfect, but it works.
2006-07-31 17:14:34 · answer #4 · answered by Jessica H 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I have to agree with everyone else......the book is great, it's an American classic, and I think you'll learn a lot from it....I know I did. The movie is pretty good too, black and white, but a great adaptation of the book...
2006-07-31 21:14:32 · answer #5 · answered by Genea_80 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes!!!
It is a good book. The ending works for the story. It's not a "happily ever after" fairy tale kind of thing, but it's completely satisfying.
2006-07-31 16:04:55 · answer #6 · answered by poohba 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I've read the book more than once... its that good. The movie is also good, but read the book first!
2006-07-31 13:07:05 · answer #7 · answered by dee r 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is a great book. I have a 13 year old and she read it and loved it. I have read it several times myself.
2006-07-31 13:15:33 · answer #8 · answered by shafermeyer 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is wonderful. Oprah even made it a book selection. I don't want to spoil the ending.
2006-07-31 12:58:23 · answer #9 · answered by redunicorn 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It was my favorite book that I had to read in high school!
2006-07-31 13:01:05 · answer #10 · answered by Dana Renee 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋