'To Kill a Mockingbird' Revisited

I was going to put this off until next week, but then today at work (I work at a thrift store) I saw a framed print of this image come through the line:

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Slightly weird face he's making, I know.

 I know better than to ignore a sign. I finished reading To Kill a Mockingbird for the first time since high school the other night. 

I don't remember reading about half of what was in the book when I was a high school sophomore. I don't remember Aunt Alexandra at all. I remembered Scout's first day of school and Burris Ewell walking out, but I didn't remember Walter Cunningham or the kid with head lights. There were some things I remembered better from the movie once I reached those parts, like Atticus keeping watch over the jailhouse.

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I consider myself more Texan than southern. But I still feel a little at home in 1930s Maycomb Alabama. Probably because of the southern accents and the people. Maybe it's the summer humidity. Or maybe Maycomb is a lot like what southeastern Texas used to be. Or maybe it's because back in Texas was where I read it.  

Yes, I did have in mind the current racial struggles taking place in the U.S.  I must confess, I am not as good of a citizen as I would like to be, and I haven't been able to get my mind around those issues as well as I would like. So I don't have anything enlightening to say on that subject in regards to Mockingbird. But I think we can learn a lot from Scout and Jem as candid observers of their society:

"Naw, Jem, I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks." 

I was thinking of Maya Angelou's memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, which I read for my capstone course at BYU. And since that capstone was focused on folklore and culture, I was primed to watch for little folklorish things in Jem and Scout's world as shared in Mockingbird. I also watched The Help a year or so ago. This time reading Mockingbird I had a better visual of Calpurnia as one of the maids featured in that film. And The Help also helped me to keep in mind just how petty some high-society women are. (I totally spaced what a breath of fresh air Miss Maudie was).

Atticus Finch is one of the most hardcore characters in literature, but rereading Mockingbird I got the chance to remember why. I had completely forgotten about the incident with the rabid dog. Atticus is a hero in the eyes of his children, and even when the rest of the community sees him as different they still respect him for doing his job--even though he is SO DONE with their ways. If you need to watch the speech again, watch it here:

So, with that important matter of business taken care of, sometime soon I hope to read the recently released sequel Go Set a Watchman. I am really curious to see how it will compare to the original. So no spoilers, please.