Atticus Finch! A favorite (albeit fictional) Hero! The first time I read To Kill A Mockingbird in junior high, it made me proud that just like Scout's father, my father was also a lawyer!Our Bookgroup discussed the novel Tuesday night. While it wasn't exactly a rousing or spirited discussion, Harper Lee's book is a wonderful classic! And, as Lee's only novel, (albeit a Pulitzer Prize winning one) the book is definitely a one hit wonder!
Several passages this reading gave me insight to the "old book, new perspective" concept!
Imagine my surprise at the opening line in Chapter 10 when Scout states: "Atticus was feeble: he was nearly fifty." Excuse me? Feeble? (as in, lacking vigor, weak, inadequate) And only nearly fifty? Yikes, it makes me wonder how Scout would describe me; 51st birthday looming ahead!
Early in the novel Scout remarks on her frustrations with Atticus. Some of Scout's laments were that Atticus didn't "do anything that could possibly arouse the admiration of anyone." and "Besides that, he wore glasses." (the shame!) "He did not play poker or fish or drink or smoke. He sat in the living room and read." Perhaps, worst of all, on top of those flaws, Atticus "would not remain as inconspicuous as we wished him to."
But Scout came to see her father differently following some dramatic events. Near the end of the book, Scout remarked, "At the same time I marveled at Atticus. This was the first time he had let us know he knew a lot more about something than we thought he knew."
Scout's character reminds me of the famous Mark Twain quote: "When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished by how much he'd learned in seven years." (change the ages and years; dead ringer for Scout)
Just like Scout, I'm still learning along the way (yes, even in my feeble 50's!). One great concept I learn over and over (sometimes on a daily basis) is voiced by Atticus at the very end of the book. Scout is half asleep rambling to Atticus about someone everyone thought was bad but then Scout discovers, that actually, ..."he was real nice." To which Atticus wisely replies: "Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them."
