『앵무새 죽이기』: 인물과 작품의 진보성을 중심으로

Abstract

To Kill a Mockingbird is a realistic novel which is based on the author’s observations of her family and neighbors, and deals with life of the Deep South in the 1930’s. The author has a progressive view which she shares with the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960’s, on the issues such as the racial injustice, the status of women in society and the religious narrowness of the Deep South. The African Americans were freed after the Emancipation, but they were still strictly segregated and discriminated against. Moreover, as the “Scottsboro Boys Trials” showed, African Americans could be convicted and sentenced to death by all-white juries despite weak and contradictory testimonies. In the novel, Tom Robinson who has been accused of raping a white woman is convicted even though significant evidence points to his innocence. The author makes us see how absurd it is, by showing it through an innocent child’s eyes. Atticus Finch, the narrator’s father, has been regarded as a paragon in his profession. However, some critics point out that he is less than admirable in regards to anti-racism. They say he doesn’t try to change the system of racial injustice and even seems to condone the actions of his bigoted fellow Southerners. Furthermore, when he defends Tom Robinson in court, he tries to show the jury that Mayella Ewell, the rape complainant, is an unreliable, questionable person reminding them of the fact that she is “white trash.” It reveals that he has prejudice about people of the low class. In addition, he shows that he has every kind of misconception and fallacy about rape, which means that he has male-oriented conceptions like most men of his time. Even if we can admit that the character of Atticus Finch is a man limited by his own time and place, To Kill a Mockingbird is a great anti-racist novel. The author Harper Lee observes the lives and thoughts of white Southerners from within. She depicts the deep rooted racial prejudice, and at the same time shows the slow change and improvement that is taking place. She could do this well because she has a progressive and anti-racist view. At the same time, she describes African Americans in a sympathetic way, avoiding stereotypes. For these reasons we can call To Kill a Mockingbird a great anti-racist novel.