My Thoughts on To Kill a Mockingbird after 100 or so Pages

By Nate Feldman

Reading To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a seemingly timeless assignment at T/E Middle School in Berwyn, PA.  I had to read it when I was in eighth grade, and so did my daughters, Sara and Sofia, almost 30 years later.  With a copy of the book in the house, I picked it up for the first time in 30 years and am now over 100 pages into it.  

For those unfamiliar, the main plot of the story is Atticus Finch, a lawyer in a small town in Alabama in the 1930s, must represent Tom Robinson, an African American wrongly accused of a crime.  Despite there being deep racism during that time period, Atticus does what he feels is the right thing, even as he and his children face the wrath of prejudiced townsfolks.  

However, I haven't gotten that deep in the story yet.  They have just really introduced the upcoming court case, with Jean Louise Finch, also known as "Scout," who is Atticus' young daughter, talking about being taunted by relatives and classmates for her father daring to represent an African American.  

The biggest drama in the story up until now has been Scout and her brother Jem, along with Dill, a friend who visits during the summer, daring one another to go to the nearby Radley house, where Arthur, or "Boo" in the story, lives.  Boo Radley never comes out.  He lives with his family who seem to shelter him.  Because of this, a sort of town legend has evolved about who he is and why he lives this way.  His reclusive style has made him a gossiped about outcast to the community.   

One thing I was thinking of while reading this is perhaps Boo Radley was someone with Autism Spectral Disorder (ASD) or some form of neuro-divergence before such terms were used.  There seems to be nothing wrong with him.  In fact, he apparently covered Scout in a warm blanket while she was standing in the cold one night, so he is quite nice.  The only thing against him is that he is considered "odd" by the townspeople.  And this, sadly, has been the fate of many well-intentioned people on the Autism spectrum throughout the ages.  Their unique ways and desires to be among themselves has given people an excuse to chastise and outcast them when what they really needed was empathy and understanding.  

And reading that made me wonder how many people with neuro-divergence never had their chances to show their capabilities to their societies because of stigmas and ignorance.  It's sad and something we must continue to work on.