Please, Kill the Mockingbird!
By Kelly Stormcloud
Although hailed as a great classic in American Literature, one must ask if To Kill a Mockingbird truly belongs there. Harper Lee attempts to show Atticus Finch as a heroic character who stands up for a minority character. This premise is promising, but the story fails to deliver. This is because Atticus Finch is both a cis-man and white in the whitest of all careers: lawyering. Consequently, this story’s true emphasis is not on minority rights or plights, rather it zeroes in on the terrible narrative of the Great White Cis-Male Savior.
Harper Lee not only fails his audience in this aspect but also in the plot of the story. Not only is it slow and lacks any memorable scenes, it also is missing any LGBTQ+ characters, and makes no references to any Latinx people. As a result, the plot does not have enough diversity, so, therefore, is lacking in every way. It is an easy fix, as Atticus is a widowed man, so any future renditions of this book in a film should portray him as either a closeted bi-sexual or homosexual trans man who adopted Scout and Jem. Furthermore, the children should be different ethnicities and it would bring so much more to the story without changing its true dynamics in the slightest. Scout should be half Latinx and half Black, while Jem should be a gay Chinese boy who was kicked out of his country for his orientation before arriving in the much more welcoming 1930s America.
To Kill a Mockingbird’s greatest weakness is its use of female characters. The story would’ve been better if Harper Lee had dedicated a chapter or two to the romantic intimacy between Mayella Radley and Tom Robinson, and even better if it was emphasized throughout the entire book. Unfortunately, Harper Lee did neither, and instead committed the most EGREGIOUS SIN in American Literature. Mr. Lee may have implied that the romantic interest was mutual- and it would’ve been better if it was- however Mayella Radley was brutally raped and beaten by the aggressive mega-predator known as Tom Robinson. She claimed that she was set upon against her will, and yet the mansplaining author implies that she may have been the instigator of her rape. Worst of all, MRA Harper Lee portrays Ms. Radley in such way as to suggest that she could have been lying about the nature of her brutal sadistic encounter with Tom Robinson. I do not understand how we can feel sympathy for Nazi sympathizer Mr. Atticus Finch who defends this monster. Thankfully, white supremacist Atticus fails spectacularly in court in his bid to defend a rightfully maligned and despised sexual predator. Despite the best efforts of the town to peacefully help Atticus to see reason, he remained stuck in his alt-right white cis-male ways and continued to defend Mr. Robinson despite the public outcry. The story fails female characters in not just this way, additionally, it ignores the potential of Scout. Scout and the story would be way more interesting if Scout was older and also was in love with Mr. Robinson. In this better version of the book, Tom Robinson truly loved her Brother Jem despite his separate secret affairs with Mayella and Scout. Unfortunately, Tom was forced to marry Mrs. Robinson who used voodoo to control his actions during daylight hours. If Harper Lee followed my suggestions, this book would've been an instant classic and reached a whole new level of literary achievement.
In conclusion, if you are truly a Feminist that value women’s rights, you will be glad to hear that Mr. Robinson did not get away with his uncontrollable raping cis-male urges. While attempting to illegally escape prison, he was shot, just like every one of those God-awful irritating mockingbirds should be. Can't they ever give it a rest??! No, they cannot, which is why all mockingbirds should be shot. The book is a bore, and I honestly couldn’t read past that last part, which is ok because it was bigoted white cis-male trash and I already wasted too much time reading this “classic” of American Literature. One day, America will move past its most horrendous legacies, however, I doubt it could ever remove the stain that is To Kill a Mockingbird.
PS: Film executives, I will write a brand new, better plot for To Kill a Mockingbird if you give me a chance. It's a 10,000 page Twilight fan fiction transcript that would work perfectly.
