To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee was published on July 11, 1960. It was published in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by J.B. Lippincott Co. For many years, it has served as a classic high school literary education piece. As of modern day, parents and other adults have been challenging the novel’s importance in education due to the language that was used in the past. I believe that To Kill a Mockingbird is an essential piece of literature and makes students aware of the challenges that African Americans faced in the past. 

The novel starts by looking back to when Jem broke his arm. The plot of the novel is the years leading up to Jem breaking his arm. Scout faces hardships at school when her classmates call her father a name that contains a slur. She also has pressure from the female adults around her to act like a “lady” would back in her day. Throughout the novel, the trial of Tom Robinson takes place, stirring trouble throughout the town of Maycomb. Scout and Jem try to uncover the mystery of Boo Radley and they play with Dill Harris, a boy who visits during the summer. After Scout’s father Atticus reveals that Mayella’s father may have been the person who raped her, not Tom, Bob Ewell threatens to get revenge on Atticus. Tom is wrongly convicted, and after trying to escape prison, is shot and killed. Later in the novel, Scout and Jem were walking home from an event when Bob Ewell tried to kill them, but Boo Radley saved their lives. 

To Kill a Mockingbird sheds light on many issues that took place at the time of publication. These issues include racism, gender roles, the wrongs of the justice system, and also contains themes of rape. The novel is loosely based on the childhood of the author. Harper Lee was a woman who was born in 1926, grew up in the South, and most likely witnessed such issues. Scout challenges gender roles throughout the novel due to her playfulness. Girls during that time were expected to act a certain way and wear certain things, all of which Scout did not do. Racism is addressed through the novel’s inclusion of segregation and the words that the residents of Maycomb. Tom Robinson, an African American man in Maycomb, is wrongly accused of rape, but still convicted due to the color of his skin. The people in the town use words that are seen as derogatory in modern society. 

The novel is often challenged by parents and organizations due to its use of slurs and dark themes. There have been many attempts to ban the book due to these things, but only two times has it actually been banned in the last three years. In Mississippi the book was banned due to a parent’s complaint that the n-word would negatively affect her daughter and the class. It was banned from that classroom at first, but was then re-added as an optional reading material. The book is one of the most challenged literary pieces, as well as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which also uses racial slurs. Another time both novels were banned from a classroom in Minnesota for multiple years due to their use of slurs. Protests from free speech advocates have restored the novel’s place in many schools and classrooms. 

I believe that To Kill a Mockingbird should be taught in schools. It brings attention to the mistakes of the past. It shows students today what is right and wrong. The overall theme of the book and the message that it spreads overshadows the language used. The novel provides education about law and the justice system, the Great Depression, and the hardships that African Americans had to go through during the 1900s. Some parents are against the inclusion of the novel due to the event of rape in the plot. I believe that it is important to teach students about the law and themes of rape when they are old enough. It is not possible to shelter specific wrongs out of an individual's life forever, and I believe that it is important to teach them earlier so that they learn how wrong it is. 

Although To Kill a Mockingbird could possibly encourage some white students to say slurs in the book and discriminate against African Americans, I believe that it should be taught in schools. Misinterpretation is the only way that it could spread racism, as it actually teaches against racism and discrimination against African Americans. The novel teaches students about discrimination in the past, the justice system, and about themes like gender roles and rape. Due to some aspects of the novel such as the use of derogatory slurs and rape, many parents protest against the inclusion of the novel in the curriculum. The novel does not encourage the use of slurs, but includes them to add the actuality of language during the 1900s. The novel actually preaches against using slurs and rape, which I thinks outways the negatives. “‘You aren't really a n*****-lover, then, are you?’

‘I certainly am. I do my best to love everybody... I'm hard put, sometimes—baby, it's never an insult to be called what somebody thinks is a bad name. It just shows you how poor that person is, it doesn't hurt you.’" (Lee 107-109). The quote shows that the novel was against racism, as Atticus said that he loves everyone and does not care if he is called that name. 

I would rate the novel 5 stars because I really love this book and have read it multiple times. 

Rating Key:

1 Star- Not very good

2 Stars- I was okay but not my style

3 Stars- It was pretty good

4 Stars- It was sooo good

5 Stars- I have to read this again!