"Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird" is Atticus Finch’s most powerful words. Within its 300 pages, winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1961, and more than 50 years later, one of the most popular and awarding books of all time, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, is still widely being taught in Australian schools and striking chords with readers today. Why is this one specific book relevant to Australians? The content of the book represents many things that are still evident in society today, such as occurrences of racial discrimination and power.
To Kill a Mockingbird has been mistaken as being too simple and has been labelled a ‘children’s book.’ An Australian author Anna Funder …show more content…
4.6 million Mockingbirds. It is clear why this novel is still explicitly taught in Australian school, and striking chords with readers today.
Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird also portrays the lack of women’s rights at the time. During the time the novel was set in, women suffered from inequality. The women of Maycomb are reduced to the social expectancy of remaining a house-wife. Scout is confronted with this unrealistic ideal after being told time and time again that she is not what a girl should be. When she retaliates after being told that Miss Maudie can’t serve in a jury, Atticus gives her the only reason on why she can’t and that is because “she’s a woman.”
Now over 50 years later, women still face gender equality. The 2017 Australian Gender Pay Gap statistics clearly show that full-time working woman earns 16% less than men. This is only one instance where men are represented as the superior gender in …show more content…
The themes of To Kill a Mockingbird resonate greatly within Australian society. Just replace the words ‘negro’ and ‘black man’ to ‘Aboriginal’ and ‘women’ or even any marginalised group to grasp how relevant the novel really is to our
To Kill a Mockingbird has been mistaken as being too simple and has been labelled a ‘children’s book.’ An Australian author Anna Funder …show more content…
4.6 million Mockingbirds. It is clear why this novel is still explicitly taught in Australian school, and striking chords with readers today.
Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird also portrays the lack of women’s rights at the time. During the time the novel was set in, women suffered from inequality. The women of Maycomb are reduced to the social expectancy of remaining a house-wife. Scout is confronted with this unrealistic ideal after being told time and time again that she is not what a girl should be. When she retaliates after being told that Miss Maudie can’t serve in a jury, Atticus gives her the only reason on why she can’t and that is because “she’s a woman.”
Now over 50 years later, women still face gender equality. The 2017 Australian Gender Pay Gap statistics clearly show that full-time working woman earns 16% less than men. This is only one instance where men are represented as the superior gender in …show more content…
The themes of To Kill a Mockingbird resonate greatly within Australian society. Just replace the words ‘negro’ and ‘black man’ to ‘Aboriginal’ and ‘women’ or even any marginalised group to grasp how relevant the novel really is to our