To Kill a Classic

You know, I was thinking. I read the book "To Kill a Mockingbird" in school sophomore year and I think I really nailed what Harper Lee was trying to tell us. It's not a bout Tom Robinson, maaan, it's a metaphor.

Think about it. Think back to when you read it (if you did). Think about when Tom goes to jail. Remember what happened? He tried to escape, he tried to jump the fence to freedom. But just as he got to the top, the guards shot him down. Well, dear readers, that fence is not just a fence. That fence is a metaphor. It's a metaphor for the racial tension between blacks and whites. And Tom, good, old Tom, he was a sort of catalyst. Sure, Tom was sent to jail, but he sure gave that just a run for their money. Nobody thought a black man accused of rape would even get a second look before being carted off. But that jury was deliberating for six hours about that man. Him and his those damn chiffarobes.

That's right. twelve white men, white farmers at that, didn't immediately say that Tom was guilty. That's saying something about what people were beginning to think. Maybe it was a turning point. Maybe.

Well, think of the fence as the racial tension between blacks and whites in America. Especially in the south. Well, Tom, he scaled that fence, both literally and figuratively. But just as things were getting to a turning point, he had an appeal and everything, he went and got himself shot. And then things regressed again, and something great that could have been wasn't. Not at least until the 60s.