30 Days Book Meme: Day Fifteen
Day Fifteen: Favourite male character
Atticus Finch, To Kill A Mockingbird
For most readers, Mockingbird is about racism and injustice, and the key scene is the trial of Tom Robinson. In my case, the novel is
a vicarious golden childhood, because I have serious father issues and Atticus Finch is the Best. Dad. Ever. He's a widower, raising his two young children alone - with the help of Calpurnia and his family - but we get to learn and understand about the man through the eyes of his six year old daughter. Scout of course loves her father unconditionally, as most young girls do, but she inadvertently reveals how Atticus struggles to be firm but fair, protective yet liberal, instructive rather than active, and how he doesn't always strike the right balance. I don't care, Atticus Finch is my favourite fictional father! My favourite part of the book is not the tense courtroom debate, or even the climactic appearance of Boo Radley, but the everyday domestic dramas of two children who don't know how lucky they are. The fire at Miss Maudie's, for instance, when Atticus wraps his children up in dressing gowns and coats in the middle of the night and takes them outside, or Jem's drawn out punishment for killing the flowers in an old woman's garden. I just like to roll around in the insularity and nostalgia of Maycomb life, and share Atticus with Scout and Jem for the length of the book.
And Gregory Peck is always a bonus!
Atticus Finch, To Kill A Mockingbird
For most readers, Mockingbird is about racism and injustice, and the key scene is the trial of Tom Robinson. In my case, the novel is
a vicarious golden childhood, because I have serious father issues and Atticus Finch is the Best. Dad. Ever. He's a widower, raising his two young children alone - with the help of Calpurnia and his family - but we get to learn and understand about the man through the eyes of his six year old daughter. Scout of course loves her father unconditionally, as most young girls do, but she inadvertently reveals how Atticus struggles to be firm but fair, protective yet liberal, instructive rather than active, and how he doesn't always strike the right balance. I don't care, Atticus Finch is my favourite fictional father! My favourite part of the book is not the tense courtroom debate, or even the climactic appearance of Boo Radley, but the everyday domestic dramas of two children who don't know how lucky they are. The fire at Miss Maudie's, for instance, when Atticus wraps his children up in dressing gowns and coats in the middle of the night and takes them outside, or Jem's drawn out punishment for killing the flowers in an old woman's garden. I just like to roll around in the insularity and nostalgia of Maycomb life, and share Atticus with Scout and Jem for the length of the book.
And Gregory Peck is always a bonus!