(Original review, 2004-08-27)



There was a programme on the radio a few years ago which took a harsher view of the book. To summarise, Atticus Finch tried to win his case by substituting one prejudice (racism) with another (low-class women are loose and predatory). Beneath the charm, nostalgia and so on, there is a moral conflict if you like or confusion if you don't like. It's interesting that a female writer should elevate a male father-figure and denigrate a female alleged victim of rape. These are things to ponder, as a good play or novel should give us, and it isn't a children's book unless "Animal Farm" is also a children's book.

If you're into stuff like this, you can read the full review.

How does one review a classic when so many people have reviewed it before? This was a beautiful book, even though the unfairness depicted in it hurts.

My only complaint is that there was one disturbing thing that was not addressed. In the trial scene, Tom Robinson said that Mayella Ewell said she'd never kissed a grown man before and "what her pa do to her don't count." I suppose it's because the trial was for Tom Robinson, not Mr. Ewell, and in that time, most people wouldn't turn on a white man while they had a black man to browbeat, but I found the implication to be extremely disturbing and would have liked to have seen the town turn on Mr. Ewell for sexually molesting his daughter, even if they wouldn't turn on him for physically beating her or for bearing false witness against an innocent man.