When it comes to the book "To Kill a Mockingbird", I think most of my friends should not be too unfamiliar, because it is too classic.
The book contains stories of love and growth, as well as attention to social events such as good and evil, and racial inequality. Although the content contains serious themes and some displays of human nature, the style of the novel is quite warm. , looking at the people and things that happened in the town from the perspective of a child, so this novel was very popular as soon as it was published, whether it was a teenage novel or a literary novel, it was all right.
The people in the story live in a small town called Megan Township, and the protagonists are a pair of siblings named Jem and Scooter, whose father Atticus is assigned by a judge to defend a black man accused of rape. , and the story started with the time when Atticus was assigned. The whole story completely reproduces the lawsuit against black people. Whether it is the details of the trial or the causal relationship, the novel is very clear. .
Just telling the details of a person being accused does not make it a very famous classic novel in history. Its classicity needs to be linked to the era in which the story takes place.
It was the time of President Hoover and the Great Depression. Roosevelt had not yet entered the big stage of history, so this kind of depression would last for a while. There were still more than 20 years before the Little Rock incident in the 1950s. The decline of the people will naturally make people's living standards unsatisfactory, people want to find a punching bag, except for Hoover, people find black people.
Historically, the prejudice against people of color other than whites in this area of the Americas was extremely deep. The distinction between slave states and free states was a prejudice law created in the 18th century. Those who lived peacefully in free states Black people, in slave states, no matter who they were before, would become slaves and be slaughtered. Even the outbreak of the Civil War in the 19th century did not ease this situation much.
One can imagine how profound the racial conflicts were at that time, and the story of "To Kill a Mockingbird" took place in the 1930s. Only half a century had passed since the Civil War. They still own their land many years after the war, and the Finch family, represented by Atticus in the novel, also made their fortune on the land of America.
To reclaim the colonies, there must be enough manpower and funds, so the slave trade naturally emerged. Even in the more democratic era of the 20th century, the living environment of blacks has not been improved.
They still need to work on the land or home of their white employers, and their education level is generally not high and their status is low, so many times they make mistakes, and they always have to be severely punished. Even if they did not make mistakes, they were discovered by other whites or With perjury, they still cannot escape the guilt.
It's been this way for a long time, and it's what makes To Kill a Mockingbird a classic.
The adaptation of the movie is based on the popularity of the novel. Adapting such a popular classic novel is naturally a lot of pressure. The movie was adapted from the 1960s, and it has been 30 years since the story happened. , but issues such as racial inequality have been taken seriously, which is also a big reason why the film was successfully released later.
The movie version of "To Kill a Mockingbird" is almost completely re-enacting the plot and details of the novel, but due to the time limit of the movie, many details that are not related to the main line have been deleted, but even so , In 1963, actor Gregory Peck won the Best Actor Award at the 35th Academy Awards for this film, which shows that the novel still retains its own full charm after being transformed into a movie.
Many times, we think that novels should be written with tension and excitement, containing all kinds of whimsy, but in fact, the stories that happen around us often touch the hearts of readers the most.
Many of the adventures of the Finch brothers and sisters and Dill were cut from the film, and Mrs. Dubose's struggle with addiction was also removed, leaving only the brothers and sisters' adventures in the eccentric Radley's yard. Mrs. Morty's appearance, the stories of the Cunningham family and the Finch family, and the full details of the trial, and those about the secrets of the Finch family, the story and location of the black community and the Ewell family, are not mentioned. So, if you're a fan of the originals, you'll be somewhat disappointed by the omissions from the movie.
However, this also has the advantage of being more compact.
The appearance of the Cunningham family and the eccentricity of the Radleys are the manifestations of their characters, and only through such appearances can readers and audiences realize what kind of people they are, the father of the Cunningham kid gave Atticus Sending pecans to pay off debts is a show of integrity.
Later, Scooter was beaten by the teacher because of Cunningham's boy and held a grudge against him, but then they took Cunningham to their house for dinner, and it was also a kind of respect not to laugh at him because of his eating habits.
These two events led to Cunningham's attempts to solve the black suspect by himself, but he was persuaded by the Atticus and Finch brothers and sisters, and went to court. As a member of the jury, Cunningham reciprocated. , tried his best to convince people to acquit the defendant, and although he failed in the end, he tried his best to repay the kindness of the Finch family, which is the tradition of the Cunningham family and their responsibility as a member of the family.
The eccentric Radley family, never joined the laughs in the town, they are always alone in their house and rarely go out, but they are not bad people, they are just not good at talking to people .
They hide a lot of fun little things in tree holes, such as pocket watches that won't walk, wood carvings of Jem and Scooter, and even chewing gum, but then they strangely fill the tree holes with cement on, and keep others from knowing their thoughts and secrets.
The best example, in fact, in the next episode, the movie keeps the Finch siblings and Dill sneaking into the yard of Mr. Radley's house without him catching them or intimidating them.
Brother Jem's trousers were scratched by the wire and left on the wire mesh. When he secretly went back to get the trousers, he found that the hole in the trousers had been mended. These two things are enough to explain Mr. Radley's good.
The details I am talking about are all fragments that have been told in the novel and reappeared in the movie. These details make these characters more three-dimensional, closer to us, and even have an illusion - we can directly touch these people , happy or disturbed for their goodness, evilness, although the black man named Thomson ended up in prison, even though he was innocent, he was still sentenced to death, even in the later period, their chances of winning were so Big......
It was an era when black people had no right to speak, but at the same time, it was also an era in which hope could not be given up. Because of this, Atticus picked up the invisible chalk in his hand and taught the Finch brothers and sisters a lesson about growth and love. Lessons, the complexity of human nature cannot be taught no matter what, but Atticus can use actual behavior to tell the brothers and sisters what is justice, what is right, and what is equality.
In the end, Ewell suffered the consequences, and it could be considered to have paid for Thomson's life.
We must always hope for the world, as Atticus said to Scooter at the end: "Scooter, most people are kind, and you'll find out when you finally get to know them." Some people's prejudice is just a product of circumstances, and the stereotype of the black community in the town of Meigang, perhaps under the influence of Atticus and many good people, will be better in the next generation, even those who The bad guys on the surface still have merit.
Robins are beneficial birds, they don't steal food, they just chirp, they are not harmful to people.
So killing a robin is a crime. This is probably what the novels and movies are trying to tell us.
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