Killing the Mockingbird

HAD not heard of the Muskogee High School in Oklahoma, U.S.. But a news item about the school shocked me. The school recently pulled out from the required reading list for freshmen, one of the best novels of recent times, Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird.

The school Principal, Terry Paul acknowledged that Mockingbird was a great novel. But according to him it contained "racially charged language and innuendoes". The Principal said the school did not want to put the students in an "uncomfortable situation".

Uncomfortable? Heck, no. I think school and college students would enjoy this novel, Harper Lee's first effort. And a better first novel has never been written. It is one of the best novels I have ever read and I had the good fortune to teach the book for two years to students of Second Year BA (English Major) at a college in Ahmedabad.

One had to accept the fact that English standards in Gujarat University were not very high. But its Board of Studies was quite forward-looking and did not hesitate to recommend controversial books for the post-graduate courses in English literature. I had the good fortune to study Pasternak's Dr. Zhivago and was overwhelmed by its lyricism and character delineation. An earlier batch studied Khushwant Singh's outspoken novel about the partition, The Train to Pakistan. The book was full of crude sexual references, but it dealt with a major historical event. Conservative elements in Gujarat protested about the choice of the book, but there were no violent demonstrations and the students were left alone to study the book.

I had just finished reading To Kill a Mockingbird in its paperback edition sometime in 1965 and was delighted to handle it in the classroom. Most of my colleagues were not willing to take on the job because they were accustomed to rely on age-old notes on traditional topics like Elizabethan era or Principles of Literary Criticism. They pointed out there was no "material" available on the Harper Lee book. In the process they lost out the opportunity to handle a book which spoke straight to the heart.

In the days, months and years which followed, I read the book many more times. That was why I disagreed with the Muskogee school principal's comments that the book contained racially charged language and could put the students in an uncomfortable position.

Every American student must be aware of the racial tensions which existed in the South which culminated in the civil war. This was part of history. The activities of notorious organisations like the Ku Klux Klan has been chronicled time and again, both in history and fiction. One of John Grisham's bestsellers, The Chamber gives a chilling account of racial tension, killings and Klan activities. Only recently, a white man was sentenced to life imprisonment for killing a Black by beating him and then dragging him along tied to his jeep.

To Kill a Mockingbird does not have any of these horror stories. In fact, racial tensions are only part of the story which can be divided into three sections. The book deals with the heart- warming close relationship between a southern lawyer and his two children, a son and a daughter. There is an element of mystery about the house next to them which was always kept locked. But the children constantly detect movements inside the mystery house and investigate the same. The sections which deal with racial tensions refer to the trial of a black man who has been framed for a rape case by a white woman, whose advances he had turned down. He is defended by the lawyer Atticus Finch (superbly played by Gregory Peck in the movie version of the book; Peck won the best actor Oscar for his performance). Finch knows his client would not get justice at the hands of the white jury and accepts with resignation the death of the black man who is shot dead while trying to escape.

The book has some extremely moving sections while dealing with the white-black relations. Atticus Finch does not become embittered at what has happened to his client. He goes on with his work hoping that people's attitudes would change in the days to come. His son and daughter love their black maid servant, Calpurnia, who is considered part of the family. Atticus' optimism for better days has borne fruit. Today, the Klan has no support, the Blacks vote without fear. Violent racial prejudices do exist, but only in small pockets.

Why shouldn't American school students learn about the divisions in their own society? Will the Oklahoma school remove all the books dealing with such themes from the school library or students' reading lists? America has been hailed as the Land of Great Opportunities. But it is also full of ugliness, hatred , violence and class distinctions, which should not be hidden from its people. How can our understanding of India be complete if we chose to ignore the caste system and its impact on our society?

American children, I am sure, are exposed to a lot of rubbish on television. By pulling out To Kill a Mockingbird from the reading list, the Muskogee school authorities have deprived its students of a warm, positive, beautifully written novel. Even if the book is not on any official reading list, the students should still read it and derive pleasure as well as knowledge. And know a lot more about their own country.

V. GANGADHAR

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