To Kill a Mockingbird, a Tribute to a Classic

To celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the novel To Kill a Mockingbird we asked Fictionista Workshop readers to tell us what the book meant to them and what they would say to Harper Lee given the opportunity.

Sorryduck had this to say:

What does the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, mean to you? What significance does it hold?

I believe Lee’s book set the framework that enabled our nation to enter the Civil Rights Movement running. I’m not confident the CRA of 1964 would have been enacted without the influence. Who knows how long it would have taken for Martin Luther King’s voice to be heard had Lee not exposed so many readers to Atticus Finch and his attitudes against racism?

I’m from the deep south and during my childhood in the 60′s & 70′s, segregation was firmly entrenched. I witnessed it firsthand at luncheonettes where whites were seated and non-whites forced to stand.

My family was Jewish and I experienced antisemitism from the very racists who enforced the segregation laws. However, I was allowed to use bathrooms and waiting rooms where non-whites were prohibited. There were even separate drinking fountains where white men would often urinate into the ones marked “For Blacks.” The signs reading “Whites Only” permeated the town, I can remember seeing one as late as 1972!

For me the novel reinforced what my parents taught us and I believed. It provided affirmation for my belief that segregation and separatist ideas were in the minds of the ignorant.

What would you ask or say to Harper Lee if you had the opportunity?

So much has been written about you including theories regarding the inspiration for your masterpiece. What do you feel led you to and through your story and what was life like growing up in the Lee household?

Why did you stop writing for publication after To Kill a Mockingbird?

Is Boo Radley based upon yourself?

Thank you sorryduck for sharing with us.

If you would like to win your own copy of the fiftieth anniversary edition of To Kill a Mockingbird, please leave a comment in any post relating to the novel and your name will be entered into a random drawing.

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