# Why don't more people recognize that "To Kill a Mockingbird" is white apologist crap? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 25, 2018, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-more-people-recognize-that-to-kill-a-mockingbird-is-white-apologist-crap/821902 "2018-09-25T18:01:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2018, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-more-people-recognize-that-to-kill-a-mockingbird-is-white-apologist-crap/821902/101 "2018-10-01T14:54:54Z")
> [@rat\_avatar](#): > > While white Okies were described as being as sub-human as the slaves The Grapes of Wrath doesn’t even address African American suffering. I don’t think it addresses racial tensions except using them as plot lines. > > It seems to ignore that both black and white people were migrating. > > Sure it targets poverty and powerlessness, but I don’t think it is a good example of a better book in this case. > > Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man is the one from that era that I know of that I would probably say is the most honest (from an extremely ignorant standpoint of a white male who wouldn’t have been exposed to most books) > > But can you explain what I am missing here in my interpretation of the books? To Kill a Mockingbird is a sentimentalized recollection of a changing time in a small southern town. It is about the common humanity of all people and what happens when that is ignored. The Grapes of Wrath is a black and white fable where the character’s sufferings are used to elicit political feelings in the reader. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2018, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-more-people-recognize-that-to-kill-a-mockingbird-is-white-apologist-crap/821902/102 "2018-10-01T18:39:28Z")
And of course the OP is dead wrong. If indeed, TKaM was “white apologist crap” then it would have a happy ending. The white folks in town would realize how wrong they were. Instead, nothing like that happens. Even Atticus is a reluctant warrior, appointed by the court, who finds his sense of justice outweighs his Southern instincts. Scout is just defending her father. Few heroes here. Most of the novel is just about Scout’s fascination with her unusual neighbors, etc. And of course, no one else seems to think it is _white apologist crap_ since the book is widely regarded as great American literature. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2018, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-more-people-recognize-that-to-kill-a-mockingbird-is-white-apologist-crap/821902/103 "2018-10-02T18:13:31Z")
Basically _To Kill a Mockingbird_ is a fictional book about a fictional town with fictional people living there. Since Harper Lee is dead we’ll probably never know why he wrote it. Why not just take it as a parable about how things could be better? ---
**Author:** ![Crane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crane/32/3495_2.png) [@Crane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crane)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2018, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-more-people-recognize-that-to-kill-a-mockingbird-is-white-apologist-crap/821902/104 "2018-10-03T13:26:42Z")
He? ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2018, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-more-people-recognize-that-to-kill-a-mockingbird-is-white-apologist-crap/821902/105 "2018-10-03T18:44:40Z")
> [@Crane](#): > > He? He who is a her.:smack: ---
**Author:** ![Sloe\_Moe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Sloe\_Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sloe_Moe)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2018, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-more-people-recognize-that-to-kill-a-mockingbird-is-white-apologist-crap/821902/106 "2018-10-09T01:44:16Z")
No one has started a thread on Moby Dick and homosexuality. Still the greatest American novel, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2018, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-more-people-recognize-that-to-kill-a-mockingbird-is-white-apologist-crap/821902/107 "2018-10-10T20:55:06Z")
(Disclaimer: I haven’t read TKAM since jr. high 30+ years ago.) I think the OP has some valid points. That said, I think the important thing is to view this as a book written in the early 60s for an audience of people living in the early 60s. To the extent that it’s a book that is intended to cause young white people to be less racist (certainly an arguable proposition to begin with), I think it’s vastly more effective as is than if it had been more cynical and brutal. Some random 12 year old in 1960 who has presumably been exposed to a fair bit of racism already but hasn’t had time to calcify into a full on racist is more likely to be charmed and swayed by a story in which he can identify with heroic characters than a book which is just “hey, here’s the brutal and unapologetic truth about how things are, and you white people are nearly universally awful…”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-more-people-recognize-that-to-kill-a-mockingbird-is-white-apologist-crap/821902.md?page=5)