Mockingbird Monday: More than Meets the Eye
(Today’s Guest Blog written by Chet Bush) What I love about To Kill A Mockingbird is parabled in the great mad-dog showdown. When a sick dog sidles down the street threatening the neighborhood with its crazy twitch and stagger, there is only one sharp-shooter fit to drop the animal: Atticus Finch. This scene captures the essence of what makes this novel great for me. This...
“Atticus Finch is Missing”
My good friend was driving through Nashville, TN last week and saw signs posted all around her neighborhood…”Atticus Finch is missing.” (Someone had apparently lost track of a well-named cat). I think most people who grow to appreciate Lee’s novel are fascinated with the qualities of Atticus and what he has to teach us about compassion and courage. There is...
Seeing the world from someone else’s point of view
Over the next couple of weeks, I will be winding down the theme of “Mockingbird Mondays.” As I come to the end of this journey, Iwanted to reflecton a few of my favorite quotes, characters and lessons from Harper Lee’s classic. The novel’s most famous line is also it’s most profound: “You never really understand a person until you consider things...
What is wrong with being safe?
Miss Maudie comments to the narrator of To Kill a Mockingbird, that in a town full of religious folks (people who don’t miss a church service), they arefortunate to have at least one man (Scout’s father, Atticus) that has the courage to stand up and do what is right. In a town where racism is the “usual disease”, Iwonder ifMaudiedoesn’t articulate the...
Mockingbird Monday: Lee’s Novel Reminds us that Courage is a choice
On Memorial Daywe take moments to celebratethose people who have demonstrated tremendous acts of self-sacrifice and courage. In honorof the national holiday I thought it would be good to focus on “The Parable of AtticusFinch” and meditate onthe realities ofhow courage really happens: “At this point in the novel, with the Tom Robinson trial on the horizon and the...
The Story Behind publication of The Mockingbird Parables
I set out to tell the long story of finding a publisher for my first book several weeks ago with hopes that it might provide encouragement for inspiring writers, entertainment for readers of The Mockingbird Parables and enlightenment for anyone interested in the (sometimes complicated) process of publishing a book. We still aren’t certain of all the behind-the-scenes circumstances,...
Mockingbird Monday – The Story Behind The Mockingbird Parables
Many authors and agents have expressed to me that I went through more drama getting my first book published than I will probably experience in my entire writing career. It is an interesting story which I began writing about last week — you can get caught up on last week’s blog here: http://mattlitton.com/2011/05/09/mockingbird-monday-the-story-behind-the-mockingbird-parables/....
Mockingbird Monday – The Story Behind The Mockingbird Parables
Publisher’s Weekly ran a short piece last fall about the publication of The Mockingbird Parables. Honestly, the PW piece is just a teaser for what other authors tell me is a very interesting and unusual story. I thought that I would spend the next several “Mockingbird Monday’s” giving you some background on the many trials the book had before it was finally...
Mockingbird Monday: Oak Trees, Shooting Stars, Rediscovering Curiosity and Wonder
I love the sequence in Harper Lee’s novel when the children catch the glint of something in an oak tree on their travels from school. The tree is part of the scenery of routine life for Jem and Scout; they pass it each and every day. I was speaking in the south several months ago and had a woman from Monroeville, Alabama (Harper Lee’s hometown) approach me. She claimed...
A CNN Religion Op-Ed on Spiritual Lessons from Lee’s Novel & News about a special interview this Friday with the author of bestselling books – Mockingbird and I Am Scout
Fans of To Kill a Mockingbird will not want to miss the special guest on this coming Friday’s edition of “Five Good Answers.” Best-selling author Charles Shields,who wrote biographies of Harper Lee – Mockingbird and I Am Scout, was kind enough to spend some time answering questions here onthe blog. He talks alittle about To Kill a Mockingbird, his opinions...
Mockingbird Monday – Boo Radley and the Potency of Questions
“The more we told Dill about the Radleys, the more he wanted to know, the longer he would stand hugging the light-pole on the corner, the more he would wonder. ‘Wonder what he does in there,’ he would murmur. ‘Looks like he’d just stick his head out the door…’” “Wonder what he looks like?” said Dill (Chapter 1). I was speaking at my...
Mockingbird Monday: What To Kill a Mockingbird Can Teach us about Political Correctness
When Atticus comes face-to-face with the political, religious, and social demon of racism, he does not mince his words. In a conversation with his brother Jack, he calls it “Maycomb’s usual disease”; and when he is forced to confront it at the trial of the black man falsely accused of rape and assault, he calmly and evenly delivers the truth of the accusers’...
Mockingbird Monday: The good Reverend Sykes & what it means to care for our neighbors
Maudie laments that most church people “are so busy worrying about the next world they’ve never learned to live in this one…” she continues, “you can look down the street and see the results.” We find a beautiful answer to her commentary later in the book though. One of my favorite scenes in any story takes place when Scout and Jem visit the First...
Mockingbird Monday: Atticus Finch, the “loser” hero (a blog from Christianity Today).
As I began writing this week’s Mockingbird Monday post, I was in the midst of piecing together my thoughts about how Atticus Finch’s convictions (more than the possible outcomes of his choices) truly shapehisdecisions. I have been gathering some of the leadership qualitiesthat can be taken fromHarper Lee’s story for an upcoming event. But as I preparedmy presentation,...
Mockingbird Monday: Parable of the Ewells – would you hang around with bob ewell?
We are so enamored with the noble Atticus Finch in Harper Lee’s novel and his commitment to his principles and doing what is right — win or lose — that we often overlook who is, in my estimation, one of the most unlikable (and believable) villains in American literature. Bob Ewell is thoroughly detestable because of his ignorance, his racist attitudes, and the...
Mockingbird Monday: A visit to the missionary tea – can compassion begin with confession?
Harper Lee’s harshest criticism of Christian church practice can be found in the missionary tea meeting in chapter 24 of To Kill a Mockingbird. It is the candid scene where the town women gather in the Finchhome to discuss the work of a missionary (J. Grimes Everett) and the recent events of the Robinson trial. The women in this living roompersonify the racism and bigotry...
Mockingbird Monday:Teaching our children accountability
I have a chapter in my book The Mockingbird Parables that looks at the literary character Atticus Finch as a role model for parenting. Not only is he renowned for his courage and moral stands against racism and injustice, but when you take a close look at him in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird – he is a pretty darn good parent. In fact, there are so many great parenting lessons...
Mockingbird Monday: Are Maudie and her flowers really going to hell?
I know it is still February, but the brief onset of warm weather and rain has things budding (maybe prematurely) here in Ohio and it has me thinking of springtime. I am looking forward to warmer temperatures, things turning green again, and being outside. I thought it would be appropriate to talk about Miss Maudie and her flowers today. This is an excerpt from “The Parable...
Civility and compassion in public discourse? Walking away from the Last Word (an excerpt from TMP)
I listened to a fellow educatorlamentlast week that ourstudents no longer understand how to civilly disagree with one another. I thought about his comment this weekend as I observed the newsfrom Wisconsin and watched the Sunday morning punditsyell ateach otherover the direction of our country’s politics. More than anytime I can remember, we seem to be fighting to have the...
Would a younger Atticus have changed the story?
“The Parable of Atticus Finch” was one of the more engaging chapters to write because it allowed me to dive in and examine the attributes of the character that, for many, is the reason they love To Kill a Mockingbird. Exploring Atticus helped me to realize how much faith was a guiding force in his actions. He tells his daughter Scout that he couldn’t go to church...
