Campus Life

A book for the ages

To Kill a Mockingbird is still a fixture in English classes more than 50 years after it was published

Catie Reeves, Guest Contributor|January 11, 2017

Published in 1960, To Kill a Mockingbird is widely read in English classrooms across America. Freshmen Kierstin Caver is one of hundreds of 9th graders currently reading the book.

More than 50 years after it won the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and was scripted as a movie that ultimately won several Academy Awards, To Kill a Mockingbird is still meaningful in many high school classes in the United States.

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The themes and the ideas that the characters have to deal with are still relevant today,

— English 1 teacher John Singleton

“Reading To Kill a Mockingbird for our freshmen, just like reading Shakespeare or any of the great things we read in terms of literature, is important because even though the settings may be distant in time and in place, the themes and the ideas that the characters have to deal with are still relevant today,” English 1 teacher John Singleton said.

Freshman English 1 students read the famous novel written by Harper Lee as an assignment to allow them to better understand the conflicts of segregation in the South

“To Kill a Mockingbird has themes that are incredibly relevant to today from a changing society to relations between ethnic groups, coming of age, or growing up in a certain time,” Singleton said. “Those things are just as much alive today as they were in The Great Depression Era, so I think that it’s beneficial to our students to continue to read literature that allows them to reflect upon those common themes and allow them to take a modern and contemporary perspective that they live with and apply it to this work of art that comes from a different time.”

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I think it is an important novel to read,

— freshman Adrienne Taylor

Relevance to today is one thing, but for English 1 students, the book also give teenagers a glimpse at America nearly a century ago.

“I think it is an important novel to read,” freshman Adrienne Taylor said. “It helps us better understand The Great Depression and how African Americans were treated during this time.”

The message of the book is still passed from generation to generation and is considered a classic read for young adults.

“The main character is transitioning from being a child to a more adult role, which is kind of the same thing as a freshman because they’re used to middle school and then high school is a major difference with new responsibilities,” junior Steph Kaczala said. “They share a similar journey.”