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Should We Continue To Use To Kill a Mockingbird In New Brunswick Schools?
Is Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird inappropriate for use in New Brunswick high schools? There are many people out there who have said, over the years, that To Kill a Mockingbird is inappropriate, and that it should be removed from high school reading lists. I beg to differ. I think this novel teaches valuable lessons, and that “we shouldn’t ban the book, we should read a lot more like it” (Hill). To Kill a Mockingbird is a profound, life-changing story, and should remain on high school reading lists in New Brunswick.
In my opinion, the majority of the arguments made against the use of this novel are not valid arguments. They are put forth by people who believe that if they are offended by something, everyone should be offended by it. One of their more frequent complaints is that the book contains vulgar and obscene language; this is irrelevant. The colourful language adds realism and helps show just how deep prejudice ran, and in some cases, still runs, down in the Deep South. Another widespread criticism is that the discussion of rape is inappropriate for students in grade ten. I do not believe this is true. By grade ten, most students are already aware of this subject, and are able to discuss it in a responsible, grown-up manner. Some parents condemn To Kill a Mockingbird because they do not want their children exposed to racism in any form. This may sound like it is in the best interest of the child, but it is not. Only by educating our children about racism can we make them more aware of it, and thus more likely to take action against it. That is why I do not believe there are really any valid arguments against Harper Lee’s masterpiece.
To Kill a Mockingbird not only has a meaningful allegorical significance, but we are also able to learn a lot from the literal side of the story. It shows us just how seemingly hopeless the lives of African-Americans were in 1930’s Alabama. Caucasians, for the most part, absorbed the deep-rooted hatred of African-Americans almost from birth, and that really comes across in the actions of some of the characters in the book. However, it also shows the few people fighting for human rights, who shone like a beacon of hope to all the down-trodden blacks everywhere. Beyond that, this book also acts as a window into how the white society, along with its collective psyche, functioned. It shows how the scales of justice were tipped in their favour, or how they thought they really were better than the blacks. Also, it shows how simple constitutional rights of African-Americans were overlooked, on the basis of African-Americans not being “real” people. The accurate portrayal of the setting acts almost as a history lesson, and a very moving one at that, which is why I think we should continue to use it. In fact banning it would almost be like “erasing history,” (Alcoba) because we would be getting rid of a document that pays homage to all the brave souls who fought for human rights, in an era where that simply wasn’t done.
My final argument to defend To Kill a Mockingbird is that prejudice still exists in our world, and this book is one of the best ways I know of to learn about prejudice, and just how wrong it is. Despite being published almost fifty years ago, and being set even farther back in time, the symbolic meaning of this book still strikes a chord today. It teaches us how to be tolerant of others and to love everyone, no matter what the colour of their skin happens to be. It also shows us just how much progress humanity has made towards equality and justice for all in the past seventy-five years. However, despite that, we still have a long way to go, which is where To Kill a Mockingbird comes to the rescue once again. To Kill a Mockingbird gives a variety of role models, such as Atticus, who are determined to fight justice and what they know is right. They have inspired many generations of people to join with this noble cause and fight for equal rights for all. This book is a tool to help us in our journey towards a Utopia, where every person is created equal, and has the exact same chances in life as everyone else, regardless of race, gender or religion. That is the most important reason to keep To Kill a Mockingbird in the classroom.
In summary, To Kill a Mockingbird should remain a vital part of our curriculum. The arguments against it are shallow and short-sighted, and ignore the book’s true value. It acts as a window to the past, so that we may catch a glimpse of what it was like to live in that time period, and in that environment. Finally, in my opinion, Harper Lee’s incredibly precise and honest exploration of deep-rooted southern prejudice is one of society’s most important tools in educating the younger generation about racism, so that they will be able to understand it, and move past it. That is why I think removing To Kill a Mockingbird from our reading list would be doing exactly that. It would be like killing a mockingbird (Lee 370).
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