To Kill a Mockingbird is Harper Lee’s literary masterpiece with commendable quality of universal appeal. It is a novel that can be enjoyed by everyone irrespective of age, race, or social class. The moral and intellectual value of the novel has made it have continued relevance for many decades after its publication.
Vivid Imagination and Storytelling
To Kill a Mockingbird is written in a manner that brings the imagination to life. The narrator practically holds the reader by the hand and them all the places and people of Maycomb County. The reader becomes a child again and begins to play as a child, react as a child, and see things from the perspective of a child.
Using a child as the narrator is a brilliant stroke that adds a fresh touch to the novel. The only downside to the child narrator Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird is that Scout sometimes exhibits intellect and wisdom that is unrealistic for a child of her age.
Meaningful Theme
The themes in the novel are meaningful and insightful. They teach the reader some truth about life, the good, the bad, the unfair, and the unjust, and leave a reader with a lot to think about.
Themes of injustice, race, parenthood, childhood, culture and law as a reflection of a people are all things that everyone reads about and draw lessons from.
Great Characters
The characters in To Kill a Mockingbird incorporate a wide spectrum of people from innocent children to villainous old men. It is difficult to not have stirrings of emotions towards the character in To Kill a Mockingbird. The characters are also very relatable, and one can imagine one’s self, a family member, an acquaintance, or a neighbor as one or more of the characters.
Brevity of Volume
One feature of a novel that is often underrated is brevity. Novels that are not very voluminous appeal to a wider range of readers because reading them consumes less time. To Kill a Mockingbird is a book that an average child or teenager can read without being intimidated by the size.
Given the powerful story that is contained in so brief a volume, it will be a shame for every book lover not to read To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.
To Kill a Mockingbird Review
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To Kill a Mockingbird: A Laudable Literary Piece
To Kill a Mockingbird is a great novel that was the center of Harper Lee’s career as a novelist. The brilliant balance of reality and imagination makes the book a work of genius. It is not often that we read a well-crafted story with so powerful a message within a few pages and that is many points to the credit of the novel. The novel teaches morals without sounding like a preaching. It skillfully depicts small town life in the 20th Century Deep South and allows readers to see both the beautiful and the ugly aspects of the Southern culture of the time. It is written in an engaging conversational style that gives room for the readers themselves to put elements together and deduce their own meaning. This novel comes highly recommended.
Pros
- Profound Storytelling
- Great Characters
- Brevity
- Meaningful Themes
- Scenic Setting
Cons
- The extent of wisdom exhibited by the children in the novel is somewhat unrealistic for their ages
