It seems to me that in summer the world collectively slows down. Bosses allow time off, friends make room for parties and bedtime bending hangouts, and the lingering daylight makes our weeks seem fuller. I have been a late night reader since the moment I could click on a flashlight. The summers were always a time of short, hot day trips to the public library and long, cool nights submerged in books. There are brilliant new novels being published that are well worth reading but why not sprinkle this summers reading list with some classics and beloved childhood favorites. A second look at them from this side of adulthood could make for a rich literary summer.
This winter, I reread 3 of my favorite childhood books and I was astonished by the details I missed when I was a kid. The tenderness of Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird, the ethereal strength of Marmee in Little Women, and the thought provoking questions of Lois Lowry’s The Giver. These three books are what inspired me to take a second look at some of the amazing books I read simply as assignments in school. I now can read them for the great works of literature that they truly are. I will share with you why I love one of these great books just to wet your whistle. I hope my experience inspires you to take a literary journey down memory lane this summer.
To Kill a Mockingbird.
I have read this book three times in my life. At 10, I heard about it on television I wanted to read it to feel smarter. I understood nothing about the racial and social inequality in the book and dark tones of small town happenings were way over my head.
At 14, it was a little better. I understood the big words, still missed many of the subtleties like the moral strength of Atticus and the pain and injustice of the accused Tom Robinson but I was more awakened to the beauty and innocence of the book through the eyes of Scout. I could identify with her feelings and fears because I had lived that stage of my life.
So at 25, being no longer a child and having a little life under my belt, the book exploded from the page. The books power struggle between good and evil laid in the setting of a quiet, southern town is powerful when narrated by this tiny, curious tomboy. I read amazed as Scout in her ignorance and innocence watches her hometown change alongside her brother Jem. The haunting gothic themes of strange events like an unexpected snowfall, a rabid dog, a house fire, and small trinkets left in a old tree set the emotional scenes of the book so effectively that I can feel the Alabama summer heat with the Finch family as they move through life.
But the strongest part of the book that had never caught me before was the incredible love that Atticus Finch had for his children. I am not a mother yet, but most of you know that sometimes it takes adulthood for one to appreciate their parents. All they sacrifice to teach and love us. Atticus is not your typical father, he is a bit on the older side to have such small children, he is not particularly affectionate, and he reads..alot…I mean like all the time. But the care he takes with his words and with teaching his two children is amazing. He takes a little incident like a schoolyard argument or an unkind word to a relative and turns it into an amazing life lessons that, if these fictional children were real, they would never forget.
Though sparse, his affection for the children is intentional and affirming. For Scout in her apparent babyishness and for Jem in his growing confusion as he matures. Though Atticus seems a bit intimidating, I would not mind being the third Finch child sitting under the tutelage of the great and powerful Atticus Finch. The journey the family takes with Boo Radley, from forbidden territory based on childish superstition to the realization that he is a true and noble human being, is an amazing one. All guided by Mr. Finch’s moral compass that always tells the children that people are all worthy of love and compassion.
Though this is my third go around, I had not remembered the ending of the book. With all the wild events of the novel; rape, incest, murder, innocence lost, racism, hatred, Harper Lee chooses to end the book with a picture of Atticus sitting at the bedside of his injured son as Scout looks on knowing that he father will be there when her brother wakes up. I found myself wiping tears from my eyes as I concluded the final sentence. The love of this family and fight for goodness and compassion just rocked me. Even the realization of my growing understanding of setting, motif, and theme was really rewarding as I read this book.
I graduated college about 4 years ago and I had the assumption that much of my learning would slow or stop if I was not being “taught”. Quite the opposite has happened. As I have taken this time away from formal education, I have received an emotional education as I take the time to savor the books I read, the pictures I draw, or the projects I work on. To no longer look at these things as tasks to simply be accomplished for a grade but as something that will impact my mind and heart and at time the lives of others. Therefore, my ability to recognize themes or symbols of the book was not connected to my brain but rather to my heart.
This is definetly a heart book. A really good heart book. Reread it, you won’t regret it.
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