On Friday, Harper Lee author of “To Kill a Mockingbird” passed away. I was sitting in my dorm room when my roommate showed me the news on her phone. I was devastated.
When I was in sixth grade, my teacher gave me “To Kill a Mockingbird” to read because she was tired of me reading books below my reading level. I took it skeptically and began the agonizing start of a new book that I was reluctantly reading. Within the first few chapters, I was hooked. Lee's book was the first book that truly turned me onto reading. I had been reading for as long as I could remember, but they were books that did nothing for me. My elementary mind wanted magic, princesses and dragons. I didn't care about social issues or justice, but all of a sudden, that's what was presented to me.
As I grew up, I stopped reading fantasy books and started reading books that mattered. I wanted to understand why African Americans were looking for equality in the 1960s. I wanted to understand why American colonists were expanding westward after defeating the British. I wanted to understand why people took up arms to fight a supposed enemy because a pope said so. So I started to read nonfiction and history books. Lee was the one that started my love for reading that has still not faded to this day. One of my favorite quotes is,
"Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.
Lee challenged the society she lived in when she published "To Kill a Mockingbird." In a time of unrest for African Americans, she published a novel that challenged the typical views of the south. Atticus Finch was a normal man that was heroized by Lee for his bravery and determination. Scout was a common young girl, who just wanted to live her life and looked up to her father. A normal book that turned into a classic, where today it is read by most high schoolers. Lee truly deserved all of the recognition she got.
I was fascinated by her and when I found a book dedicated to her called "The Mockingbird Next Door: Life with Harper Lee" I couldn't wait to read it. I read it this past summer and fell in love with Lee even more. Marja Mills tells the story of how she set out to write a piece on the mysterious Harper Lee and ended up forming a lifelong friendship with her. It tells intimate details of who Lee was and the people surrounding her. Lee was such a private person that no one truly knew her, or could know her. Yet the book reveals the funny, determined, and kindhearted side of an author that wowed a nation.
Harper Lee was a truly amazing person and an influential writer. We lost another great mind today that could never be replaced.
