To Kill a Mockingbird

I found a most interesting book in the library today, Readings on To Kill a Mockingbird. One of the best sections of the book includes a series of letters to the editor of the Richmond News-Leader over the banning of the book in Hanover, Virginia.

The school board sided with parents who charged the book with being too controversial because of rape and racism.

The paper, to its credit, set up a fund (The Beadle Bumble Fund) that offered to purchase copies of the book for any students who wanted to read it after the school had it banned.

Here are a couple of interesting comments from some of the sample letters.

Editor, News-Leader

I enthusiastically applaud and concur with your comments concerning the removal of "To Kill a Mockingbird" from Hanover County school libraries. I have long held that the only Mockingbirds which deserves to be killed is the one which screeches outside my window at some ungodly hour every morning, but the board's move came as no great surprise. Nor would it have surprised anyone who generally reads bulletins posted in Virginia public libraries.

These official guardians of literary morality enshrined on the State Library Board (or whatever it is) have, I am sure, produced some ethical gems in the past. Now they have turned again upon children and really outdone themselves. Among the latest batch ordered removed from circulation in public libraries one will find the Tom Swift series, the Hardy Boys' series, the Uncle Wiggly series, the Wizard of Oz (shame on Judy Garland), and, no kidding, "The Bobbsey Twins."

We are informed that these books, among others named, constitute cheap sensationalism. God, what a twisted kid I must have been! I actually enjoyed them! And I still can't even rationalize how they contributed significantly to my complete degeneration. My sympathy to Dick and Jane.

Bruce C. Campbell

* The irony of this entry and sarcasm are wonderful.

Editor, News-Leader:

As a regular reader of your paper I am very disappointed in your recent position regarding a certain book in a Hanover County school. I have not read the book (nor do I intend to do so) but I did see the diabolical movie, which was repulsive enough. No doubt, had I read the book, I should have found a rather detailed and descriptive account of what actually took place in the story.

The decision of our School Board does not deny anyone the right to purchase this controversial book, nor any other book, if he so desires.

In our community, Mr. Bosher is a respected businessman of irreproachable character. Were there more such officials of his caliber in the "driver's seat" of the local, state, and federal government of this nation, the rampant moral decline with which we are currently oppressed might have been avoided.

Someone had the audacity to refer to Mr. Bosher as "ignorant." The term is employed today, often indiscriminately by some folks who attempt to categorize those who disagree with them. All of us are ignorant of various matters.

To put so much emphasis on the fact that the author of "To Kill a Mockingbird" was awarded the Pulitzer Prize does not impress me. Martin Luther King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. What irony!

I am thankful that at an early age my parents introduced me to wholesome reading material. Consequently, never having cultivated an appetite for baser literature (and I use the word "literature" loosely), I have always sought undefiled reading material.

I don't recall that such a commotion came about when an atheist in Maryland carried to the federal courts her protest against the use of prayer in the public schools.

Everyone should be cognizant of the fact that a young mind is a flexible and a vulnerable mind. Therefore, influences such as books, movies, etc. can either elevate or degrade that mind.

It takes a strong back to stand up and be counted. May I say, bravo, Mr Bosher! Carry on!
Miss Vivian Blake

* Now this one is interesting too. I'm not sure what she means about Martin Luther King winning the Nobel Peace Prize, though. Is it a racist jab? Her ignorance is clear, though, having not read the vile book and basing her opinions on the disgusting film version. I think it's interesting that she mentioned she was raised on "wholesome reading material." Yet, she never bothers to mention what precisely that material is.

However, Lee's own response to the controversy trumps all:

Editor, News-Leader:

Recently I have received echoes down this way of the Hanover County School Board's activities, and what I've heard makes me wonder if any of its members can read.

Surely it is plain to the simplest intelligence that "To Kill a Mockingbird" spells out in words of seldom more than two syllables a code of honor and conduct, Christian in its ethic, that is the heritage of all Southerners. To hear that the novel is "immoral" has made me count the years between now and 1984, for I have yet to come across a better example of doublethink.

I feel, however, that the problem is one of illiteracy, not Marxism. Therefore I enclose a small contribution to the Beadle Bumble Fund that I hope will be used to enroll the Hanover County School Board in nay first grade of its choice.

Harper Lee

* Of course, I doubt that Miss Vivian Blake would catch the 1984 allusion since that was likely not deemed "wholesome reading material."

That third paragraph is exactly why I teach the book.