10 great lessons to learn from To Kill a Mockingbird
Fifty-seven years ago today, Harper Lee’s Pulitzer-Prize winning novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, was published, and more than half a decade on, it still has a generation of schoolchildren transfixed. While regularly featuring on "favourite books” lists, a poll for World Book Day placed it fifth, behind Pride and Prejudice but ahead of the Bible. A similar BBC one puts it sixth. And a survey of British librarians rated it the book they would most recommend.
In 1962, a film starring Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch and Mary Badham as Scout, cemented the novel's popularity in the hearts of its fans.
Based around Atticus Finch, a lawyer in the Depression-era South, defends a black man against an undeserved rape charge, and his children against prejudice. Lee's prose has an edge that cuts through.
One of the central lessons of Lee's novel, according to the book's moral driving force, lawyer Atticus Finch, is to put yourself in other people's skin and walk around in it. Here are 10 other great lesson worth learning from the famed book.
- Never give up, no matter the outcome.
- People are complicated. Learn about their lives before judging them.
- Courage comes from within.
- Don't destroy the beauty in the world.
- Bad things happen. It's better to just accept that and work with it.
- Think for yourself, instead of following the crowd.
- People aren't always what they seem.
- Remain calm and civilised, even when people are rude to you.
- Treat everyone equally; you're no better than anyone else.
- Never, ever be afraid to stand up for what's right.