# Why is To Kill A Mockingbird so beloved? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 12, 2012, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-to-kill-a-mockingbird-so-beloved/637498 "2012-10-12T10:07:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-to-kill-a-mockingbird-so-beloved/637498/41 "2012-10-13T21:29:30Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > You can read the book in its entirety online for free [here](http://www.readanybook.com/ebooks/list-to-kill-a-mockingbird). That’s an awful rendition. There are noparagraphs and manywords are runtogether. I wouldn’t recommend itinthatformat oryou’llgoblind. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-to-kill-a-mockingbird-so-beloved/637498/42 "2012-10-13T21:35:51Z")
It’s not ideal, but it’s the only place I’ve found where you can read it for free, and at least get a sense of whether it’s interesting enough to purchase a better copy. IMO, it is worth it. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-to-kill-a-mockingbird-so-beloved/637498/43 "2012-10-13T22:00:19Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > It’s not ideal, but it’s the only place I’ve found where you can read it for free, and at least get a sense of whether it’s interesting enough to purchase a better copy. IMO, it is worth it. There is this place called the public library. I hear they have books for free. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-to-kill-a-mockingbird-so-beloved/637498/44 "2012-10-13T22:25:35Z")
I think the OP hit it on the head, it’s a good but not a great film and you watch it for Gregory Peck’s preformance. Kind of like watching Tombstone just to see Val Kilmer play Holliday. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-to-kill-a-mockingbird-so-beloved/637498/45 "2012-10-13T22:31:24Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > There is this place called the public library. I hear they have books for free. 😃 And so are naps. No need for an alarm clock; they wake you after two hours. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2012, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-to-kill-a-mockingbird-so-beloved/637498/46 "2012-10-14T00:49:45Z")
> [@Rubixcube](#): > > I thought the book was pretty meh honestly. The bits about Tom Robinson and the trial are utterly fantastic, but that’s just a subplot of the novel. The bulk of it is simply a tale of an intelligent tomboy who doesn’t want to conform to the ladylike standards forced upon her. In other words it’s basically every other children’s novel. > > Now in fairness I’m sure _To Kill a Mockingbird_ served as inspiration to that entire “sub-genre”, but by the time I read the novel I’d already read that exact story a dozen times over. Scout and her conflicts with her teachers and aunt? Utterly uninteresting. The interactions with Boo Radley? They don’t really fit with anything else in the novel and were quite predictable. > > The book reads like someone took two children’s short stories and sandwiched them around a totally unrelated legal thriller. I haven’t read the book but what makes a good book is more than the plot. It’s how it’s written. the ability to paint pictures with words transcends the literal exchange of information. Otherwise, books would read like technical manuals. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2012, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-to-kill-a-mockingbird-so-beloved/637498/47 "2012-10-14T01:53:31Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > There is this place called the public library. I hear they have books for free. 😃 Thank you, Andrew Carnegie. 🙂 The Library where I worked during my formative years, and met the woman I loved and married last year, is a Carnegie Library. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2012, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-to-kill-a-mockingbird-so-beloved/637498/48 "2012-10-14T19:57:55Z")
Good performances all around. The story is basically “feel good”-with the exception of the black guy that Atticus defends, everybody has a happy ending. Was it a fair portrayal of life in the South, pre-WWII? Who knows. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2012, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-to-kill-a-mockingbird-so-beloved/637498/49 "2012-10-14T20:13:37Z")
I came in to talk about the book. It’s a wonderfully well-written story: beautiful, even lyrical. It allowed me to immerse myself into the character. It presented a vision of manhood that as i child I wanted to believe existed and as an adult I aspire to. I have virtually no opinion about the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-to-kill-a-mockingbird-so-beloved/637498/50 "2012-10-15T13:54:45Z")
The book shows that, while everyone knew the true story of Maryellen Ewell’s “rape,” nobody could do anything about the trial’s outcome. But there were people like Atticus who were willing to try their best to get the truth out. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-to-kill-a-mockingbird-so-beloved/637498/51 "2012-10-15T14:00:21Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > The book shows that, while everyone knew the true story of Maryellen Ewell’s “rape,” I didn’t get that impression; the lynch mob surely believed it was rape, did they not? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-to-kill-a-mockingbird-so-beloved/637498/52 "2012-10-15T14:13:10Z")
The lynch mob was acting without thinking as mobs do. I should have said “During the trial, everyone realized the true story…” Remember, during the lynch mob scene, the judge had Atticus’s back, standing unseen at his window with a shotgun. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-to-kill-a-mockingbird-so-beloved/637498/53 "2012-10-15T14:32:22Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > The lynch mob was acting without thinking as mobs do. I should have said “During the trial, everyone realized the true story…” > > Remember, during the lynch mob scene, the judge had Atticus’s back, standing unseen at his window with a shotgun. I don’t recall the Judge. Perhaps it is time to read it again. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-to-kill-a-mockingbird-so-beloved/637498/54 "2012-10-15T15:08:00Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Remember, during the lynch mob scene, the judge had Atticus’s back, standing unseen at his window with a shotgun. In the book, I’m fairly sure it was the newspaper editor. Is it different in the film? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-to-kill-a-mockingbird-so-beloved/637498/55 "2012-10-15T15:08:32Z")
Actually, a quick Google reveals it was Sheriff Heck Tate with the shotgun. The same man who realized that prosecuting Boo Radley for killing Bob Ewell would be a sin and serve no purpose, and reported that Ewell “fell on his own knife.” > [@](#): > > A colored boy is dead for no reason and the man responsible for it is dead. Let the dead bury the dead, Atticus. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-to-kill-a-mockingbird-so-beloved/637498/56 "2012-10-15T15:22:56Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > Is that you, Hulga? heh. ---
**Author:** ![SeldomSeen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@SeldomSeen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeldomSeen)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-to-kill-a-mockingbird-so-beloved/637498/57 "2012-10-15T16:02:09Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Actually, a quick Google reveals it was Sheriff Heck Tate with the shotgun. The same man who realized that prosecuting Boo Radley for killing Bob Ewell would be a sin and serve no purpose, and reported that Ewell “fell on his own knife.” Perhaps in the movie (which I’ve never seen). In the book it was the newspaper editor/publisher. He lived in rooms over his office, which was adjacent to the jail. SS ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-to-kill-a-mockingbird-so-beloved/637498/58 "2013-01-07T21:00:55Z")
> [@SeldomSeen](#): > > Perhaps in the movie (which I’ve never seen). In the book it was the newspaper editor/publisher. He lived in rooms over his office, which was adjacent to the jail. > SS Indeed. > [@](#): > > From Chapter 15 > > "They’ve gone, " he said. “Get some sleep, Tom. They won’t bother you any more.” From a different direction, another voice cut crisply through the night: “You’re damn tootin` they won’t. Had you covered all the time, Atticus.” Mr. Underwood and a double-barreled shotgun were leaning out his window above _The Maycomb Tribune_ office. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-to-kill-a-mockingbird-so-beloved/637498.md?page=2)