To Kill A Mocking BirdTo Kill A Mockingbird "Classic," a term one uses to describe many things, such as a defining moment or an object such as a book. When used in this context, such as describing a book, it persuades the reader to examine the novel further to discover what makes this piece of literature so memorable to people who have read it. One such novel is Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird. One may describe this novel as a classic because the messages described in the novel can be perceived on so many different levels that any reader, no matter the level, can observe these messages. The prime messages observed in this novel is that of racism, how the actions of a community, not just a parent, can affect a child, and how rumors and invalidated facts can destroy anyone's reputation. Racism is mentioned throughout the second part of the novel. It is the prime and most mentioned part of this section of the novel. This message is displayed on many levels so even the lowest level reader can visibly ask oneself why this is occurring. The easiest way to observe this may be the town's actions toward Tom Robinson, the "negro" on trial. The townspeople, for the most part, dismissed the entire trial on the basis on that it does not matter what Atticus can do, Mr. Robinson is automatically guilty. This message can also be seen in a severely symbolic manner, Tom Robinson's death. The manner in which he dies is that he escapes and attempts to climb the fence to freedom, however he only has one good arm and that is his detriment. It slows him up enough to allow the police to shoot him numerous times. Symbolically this can be viewed as a glimmer of hope to end this suppression. As this glimmer of hope is about to reach the mainstream and acceptance that racism is evil, it is shot down and dead, thus ending the opportunity. Mr. Robinson got into this position by the jury giving in a guilty verdict, despite numerous evidence to the contrary.
