I think they should bring back corporal punishment in schools. No - not for the kids. We should cane parents who object to their children reading books like To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. A high school in Brampton, Ontario, has removed Lee’s book from the curriculum after a single parent complained because To Kill A Mockingbird uses the N-word.
This parent should be caned and then forced to write 1,000 lines of “I must not object to classic books that offer amazing, inspiring stories about prejudice and forgiveness.”
How could you not want you child to discover Atticus Finch?
You may find this article interesting. It puts Finch in a modern context and finds him less than praiseworthy. A creature of his time.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/08/10/090810fa_fact_gladwell
It’s an interesting article but almost certainly a case of something being over analysed. For me the best scene in the book is Atticus sitting outside the jail and quietly talking down the mob.
No point in punishing parents. There will be always be a few idiots. The book is valuable in depicting a time and place and urging people to overcome racial and other prejudice.
It is very probably that the parent never read the book himself/herself.
Eh. Of course I don’t think the book should be banned, but I don’t think it should be looked at anymore as the gold standard for anti-racism literature.