Harper Lees To Kill a Mockingbird - Faults with Characters, Plot, and

The Flaws of To Kill a Mockingbird    Is it possible to judge literary classics to have failings or are they beyond contemporary measurements? As perfection is not attainable in any media, "classics" such as To Kill a Mockingbird, a novel by Harper Lee, can be found to have many instances of fault and flaw. A great novel should ease the reader into learning the story's characters and histories. It should include a plot that keeps the reader up all night wanting to read more. And it should also include a theme that remains clear and focused; to reach out to a reader without being encumbered. However this is not the case with To Kill a Mockingbird. To Kill a Mockingbird has faults with its characters, plot, and overall theme. The introduction of both the characters and their histories are flawed. The novel hastily presents a great number of characters within a short amount of written space; causing the reader trouble when trying to differentiate between them. With a few dozen individuals taking part in the goings on in the story arc, one finds oneself constantly backtracking through the story to find previous references and descriptions of the characters to remember who they are. What is worse is the fact that many of the names of said persons mentioned early in the story make no appearance at all later on in the work. "...but they were Haverfords, in Maycomb county a name synonymous with jackass...John Hale Finch was ten years younger than my father" (Lee 5). "Jem gave Dill the general attitudes of the more prominent figures: Mr. Tensaw Jones voted the straight Prohibition ticket; Miss Emily Davis dipped snuff in private; Mr. Byron Waller could play the violin..." (Lee 159). This leads t... ...un in his hand" (Lee 112). This lesson or theme is one of several that the children learn in the story, this particular one being from the incident with Mrs. Dubose. The majority of the novel makes use these sub arcs and lessons to add meat the novel. But instead dilutes the true them of the book, and the reason for which is was made. In conclusion, one finds that because of problems found within the characters, plot, and theme of the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, that this piece of classical literature is not perfect. Clearly by realizing its faults one can see that even a well-known and loved book is often no better than any of the mediocre novels of today. Classical works can indeed be judged, and many are far from perfect. Work Cited: Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird. (New York, N.Y.; Warner Books, Inc., 1982) 3-5, 99, 112, 159, 164, 247.