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Let me ask the politically incorrect questions, since no one else has. Tom Send a noteboard - 24/05/2011 03:14:50 AM
To Kill a Mockingbird deals with racism, yet one has to ask the question: does it not engage in its own form of racism?

Take a look at the white characters in the book. If one sets aside Boo Radley and Atticus Finch, we are left with children and a host of characters with venial and not so venial sins. People can't act as their conscience dictates, or they are bigots, or they are just downright bad.

Now look at the black characters. They are shown to be uniformly respectful, good-natured and innocent. The oppression that they faced may have played a role in making Southern black society more polite, but I suspect that Lee is also unwittingly falling into the "noble savage" motif. The blacks in the book are victims, but they are also stereotyped and consciously set aside as being different.

While Lee may have also written the characters this way to make a point, the end result is that the book's statement against racism is weakened for it. It would have been a far more powerful book if Atticus had defended a guilty black man at some point as well, and had to explain to Scout that people of any color can be good or bad.
Political correctness is the pettiest form of casuistry.

ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius

Ummaka qinnassa nīk!

*MySmiley*
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To Kill a Mockingbird by Nelle Harper Lee - 22/05/2011 06:28:11 PM 8051 Views
I reviewed it last year - 22/05/2011 07:45:48 PM 1788 Views
Huh. I seem to have missed that. - 22/05/2011 11:17:11 PM 1715 Views
It's a beautiful, incredible book. - 22/05/2011 08:21:48 PM 1644 Views
Re: It's a beautiful, incredible book. - 22/05/2011 11:18:32 PM 1597 Views
Also - 22/05/2011 11:33:27 PM 1575 Views
Don't you think that, you know, too many people have read it already? - 23/05/2011 09:55:52 PM 1649 Views
Does that disqualify it? - 24/05/2011 01:49:54 PM 1614 Views
I don't know, if a lot of people want to have this book in a Book Club, I have no objections. - 24/05/2011 07:01:38 PM 1589 Views
Well, that's true. - 25/05/2011 01:20:54 PM 1720 Views
Loved that book. - 22/05/2011 09:07:16 PM 1592 Views
Re: Loved that book. - 22/05/2011 11:19:29 PM 1619 Views
A great book - 22/05/2011 09:13:12 PM 1666 Views
Re: A great book - 22/05/2011 11:20:02 PM 1622 Views
“Miss Jean Louise, stand up. Your father’s passin’.” *NM* - 23/05/2011 12:03:34 AM 859 Views
Indeed. *NM* - 23/05/2011 09:37:38 AM 848 Views
Bah. This seems like a lame book. It will never catch on. - 23/05/2011 01:31:10 AM 1747 Views
LOL *NM* - 23/05/2011 08:36:55 AM 819 Views
Hehehe. *NM* - 23/05/2011 09:38:03 AM 897 Views
Um, there's already a rfilm version of this. - 23/05/2011 01:11:36 PM 1483 Views
Suspect he knows that. *NM* - 23/05/2011 01:15:46 PM 863 Views
I don't think I've ever met anyone who doesn't like this book. *NM* - 23/05/2011 09:37:52 AM 846 Views
So it survives being taught in school? - 23/05/2011 09:39:18 AM 1611 Views
Yup. *NM* - 23/05/2011 02:47:17 PM 857 Views
I've met some, but it was a casualty of middle school English. *NM* - 23/05/2011 07:40:27 PM 783 Views
Thanks for the review. - 23/05/2011 10:07:46 PM 1942 Views
Re: Thanks for the review. - 24/05/2011 12:14:08 AM 1697 Views
Let me ask the politically incorrect questions, since no one else has. - 24/05/2011 03:14:50 AM 1836 Views
Hmm - 24/05/2011 10:22:50 AM 1706 Views
I think that's a fair point. - 24/05/2011 07:00:04 PM 1707 Views
Calpurnia is a stereotype too. - 24/05/2011 11:54:26 PM 1649 Views
The difference, at least in my recollection, is that Calpurnia is well-educated. - 25/05/2011 08:09:58 PM 1588 Views
Re: The difference, at least in my recollection, is that Calpurnia is well-educated. - 25/05/2011 10:59:26 PM 1651 Views
Yes. This. *NM* - 26/05/2011 04:56:48 AM 777 Views
I think there was at least once incident showing a racist black person - 24/05/2011 07:33:09 PM 1831 Views
Almost a non-incident - 24/05/2011 08:51:59 PM 1508 Views
I think it was written to accomplish a goal and it did that very well - 25/05/2011 04:08:17 PM 1631 Views
Given your introductory portion - 11/06/2011 01:28:40 AM 1621 Views
It just occurred to me - 11/06/2011 01:30:05 AM 1530 Views
Re: It just occurred to me - 11/06/2011 11:36:21 AM 1691 Views
I have read both - 11/06/2011 11:35:11 AM 1478 Views
All of Twain's stuff is great - 13/06/2011 02:27:55 AM 1687 Views
Re: All of Twain's stuff is great - 13/06/2011 08:17:05 AM 1598 Views
And some poets - Tennyson and Yeats come to mind. *NM* - 13/06/2011 10:11:31 AM 769 Views
Keats? - 13/06/2011 10:14:58 AM 1690 Views
I have to say... - 13/06/2011 05:27:26 PM 1543 Views
Re: I have to say... - 13/06/2011 05:54:45 PM 1624 Views

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