Mary McDonagh Murphy. Scout, Atticus & Boo: A Celebration
of Fifty Years of To Kill a Mockingbird. New York:
HarperCollins, 2010.
As reviewed by Ted Odenwald
If a novel, first published 50 years ago, still sells nearly a million copies per year, a celebration to recognize its enduring appeal seems appropriate. Mary McDonagh Murphy has created a PBS documentary and this book to commemorate the success of Nelle Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird. A recent article in Entertainment Weekly suggests that if TKAM were printed today, publishers might label it as juvenile or young adult fiction for it is told by a narrator using the point of view of a pre-teen. But drawing on the reactions of more than two dozen adults, Murphy demonstrates that while the novel first had an impact on the individual readers in their youths, it still moves them deeply for a variety of reasons; “…the community that this …novel invites…is one of the greatest social networks of all time.”
In the first section of this celebration, Murphy presents an overview of the novel’s publication history; the author’s background and character; a description of the setting, Monroeville, Alabama, which Harper calls Maycomb in TKAM; identification of the sources or models for several of the characters; the sociological and historical backgrounds out of which the major issues/conflicts of the novel arise; and the effect that the novel had on the society’s view of civil rights. Several of her supporting segments come from interviews which are quoted more extensively in the second major section of the book-the reader should be prepared for several repetitions of quotations.
A number of commentators are drawn to specific characters. Writers Wally Lamb and Anna Quindlin believe that the book is “all about Scout.” Lamb claims that Scout “…is a blast. I love the fact that she’s a little smart-ass. I love the fact that she can be self-deprecating. I enjoy the fact that she speaks first with her fists and then has to sort of back up three or four steps…she’s sort of an extension of a Huck Finn character…she’s very typically an American character in that she’s poking at the boundaries of good taste, and what’s proper….” Novelist Richard Russo is drawn to the insights concerning the father/daughter relationship of Atticus and Scout, finding models for his own writing. Rev. Thomas Butts of the First Methodist Church of Monroeville (the church attended by Lee’s family), observes that the novel focuses on how a child learns values at home. “… you don’t worry so much about anymore about children not listening to you. You worry because they’re watching you.” Novelist Mark Childress, who was born in Monroeville, believes “The fact that Scout is surprised by people’s racism is what was revolutionary about the book. Most little kids in little towns like that, they weren’t surprised because racism was all around them. It was the fabric of life.”
Several of the commentators focus upon Atticus in his advocacy of justice and fair treatment for all people. Tom Brokaw, observing the “universality of small towns” as depicted by Lee, believes that he “…knew …not just the pressures that [Atticus] was under but the magnifying glass that he lived in-he was the upstanding legislator and lawyer but also was a part of the fabric of the town.” Big-city dwellers could never understand the tremendous pressure he was under when a controversial event was taking place. Novelist Allan Gurganus of North Carolina is impressed that Lee dared to present the drama in which “…all the circumstances of truth, justice, and the American way, could be played out by a simple, just man who stands up to be counted.” Gurganus believes that Atticus “…resembled a lot of Harvard-educated lawyers who had gone away to school and came home…who could have done anything but chose not to leave, the people who had a kind of comprehensive vision of their sociology of the town and were unused by it, and forgave it, and defended the wrongly accused.”
The novel’s themes, powerful and significant at the time of publication at the beginning of the of the Civil Rights movement, remain poignant today. Mark Childress believes that TKAM “…gives white Southerners a way to understand racism that they’ve been brought up with and to find another way. And for white Southerners at that time, there was no other way. There were either outsiders yelling at you because you were a racist cracker, or your leaders, George Wallace saying, ‘I’ll never be out-niggered again.’ There was no middle ground.” While the novel is definitely an indictment of racism, Pulitzer Prize historian Diane McWhorter claims that “…it’s not really an indictment of the racist because there’s this recognition that those attitudes were ‘normal’ then. For someone to rebel and stand up against them was exceptional….”
Murphy has pulled together a collection of statements extolling the powerful portrayal of America. Oprah Winfrey calls TKAM “our national book” while Civil Rights leader and former mayor of Atlanta, Andrew Young, says that while the book was “an act of protest,…it was [also] an act of humanity” in that the author was saying “…we’re not all like this. There are people who rise above their prejudices and even above the law.” Lovers of the novel should savor this celebration of its fiftieth anniversary.
Ted Odenwald and his wife, Shirley have lived in Oakland for 40 years. He taught HS English at Glen Rock High School for all of those years plus one more. Now he is enjoying time spent with his family, singing in the North Jersey Chorus and quenching his wanderlust. Ted is also the Worship Leader at the Ramapo Valley Baptist Church in Oakland.