What a book!!

I have mostly rambling thoughts and comments about the text but was hit hard with the powerful ending of this book. Lee writes with such simple intensity. Another way to describe childhood. Scout's simple directness is refreshing, almost an interruption, in the way we do adulthood. I liked the way Scout gets mixed up about time and decides she needs to ask Jem (p. 278) For instance, the way she spoke to the men in front of the jail and the way she took Arthur's hand and led him through their home, chatting all the way. And the description of Boo (p. 310). Humor in one liners runs through the book p. 309 "We'll have to make him a deputy, go ahead." and when Tate says "Scout is eight years old, he said. ' "She was too scared to know exactly what went on." "You'd be surprised," Atticus said grimly."' Or when Scout says "I thought Jem and I would get grown but there wasn't much else left for us to learn, except possibly algebra."

Why this book isn't about Tom Robinson at all. He's almost a minor character! I liked the objective of "current events" (p. 279) I am a bit confused about Arthur or "Boo". Wasn't he the son who was rebellious and was confined to his house? But according to the end of the book, he was really a painfully shy individual. Perhaps there comes a point in the relationship between a child and a parent when the hug is more for the hugger (Atticus) than the huggee (Scout) p. 307.

So Scout, in her simple direct way thought accusing and then ultimately convicting the man who actually committed the crime (if crime it be), Arthur, was like "killing a mockingbird". A sin indeed.

So Boo killed Ewell, right? Initially, Atticus thought it was Jem. Heck knew it was Boo but blamed it on Bob Ewell.

Yes, that is the beauty of a good book. A classic. The next time I read it, I will love it all over again. It's not a book; it's a friend.