I could see your argument if Tolkien were writing about feminism.
Tom Send a noteboard - 24/05/2011 02:15:42 PM
My complaint is not that all books should address all issues. My complaint is that if a book addresses an issue and makes it as central to the reading experience as Lee's book does, it should at least not be guilty of the same sins it accuses others of. While Lee's soft racism in the form of helpless, innocent, childlike blacks is a fairly benign form of racism, the point is that she still makes them an enigmatic "other" rather than show them as complex individuals who are no different from whites.
In legal parlance, Lee "opened the door" to this scrutiny by her choice of subject matter. If she had written about the South in such a way that the racism angle was completely tangential to her real story, then I wouldn't care if she engaged in this sort of idealization of the "other".
In legal parlance, Lee "opened the door" to this scrutiny by her choice of subject matter. If she had written about the South in such a way that the racism angle was completely tangential to her real story, then I wouldn't care if she engaged in this sort of idealization of the "other".
Political correctness is the pettiest form of casuistry.
ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius
Ummaka qinnassa nīk!
*MySmiley*
ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius
Ummaka qinnassa nīk!
*MySmiley*
To Kill a Mockingbird by Nelle Harper Lee
- 22/05/2011 06:28:11 PM
8331 Views
I reviewed it last year
- 22/05/2011 07:45:48 PM
1986 Views
Huh. I seem to have missed that.
- 22/05/2011 11:17:11 PM
1890 Views
As you noted, though, it's a fuller depiction of the South than "racist people."
- 23/05/2011 12:00:01 AM
1873 Views
It's a beautiful, incredible book.
- 22/05/2011 08:21:48 PM
1821 Views
Also
- 22/05/2011 11:33:27 PM
1753 Views
Don't you think that, you know, too many people have read it already?
- 23/05/2011 09:55:52 PM
1857 Views
Re: Don't you think that, you know, too many people have read it already?
- 24/05/2011 12:05:11 AM
1930 Views
Does that disqualify it?
- 24/05/2011 01:49:54 PM
1789 Views
I don't know, if a lot of people want to have this book in a Book Club, I have no objections.
- 24/05/2011 07:01:38 PM
1813 Views
Bah. This seems like a lame book. It will never catch on.
- 23/05/2011 01:31:10 AM
1923 Views
Um, there's already a rfilm version of this.
- 23/05/2011 01:11:36 PM
1675 Views
Suspect he knows that. 
*NM*
- 23/05/2011 01:15:46 PM
958 Views
*NM*
- 23/05/2011 01:15:46 PM
958 Views
Boy, that sarcastic subtext can be so hard to grasp in this virtual madness. *NM*
- 25/05/2011 06:49:03 AM
969 Views
I don't think I've ever met anyone who doesn't like this book. *NM*
- 23/05/2011 09:37:52 AM
945 Views
I've met some, but it was a casualty of middle school English. *NM*
- 23/05/2011 07:40:27 PM
868 Views
One of my nieces didn't like it. I think it was because she was forced to read it for school.
- 24/05/2011 02:33:23 AM
2013 Views
Re: One of my nieces didn't like it. I think it was because she was forced to read it for school.
- 24/05/2011 10:15:45 AM
1953 Views
*NM*
Let me ask the politically incorrect questions, since no one else has.
- 24/05/2011 03:14:50 AM
2008 Views
I don't understand why having a guilty black man would have made it more powerful.
- 24/05/2011 05:59:17 AM
1956 Views
Hmm
- 24/05/2011 10:22:50 AM
1895 Views
I could see your argument if Tolkien were writing about feminism.
- 24/05/2011 02:15:42 PM
1910 Views
I think that's a fair point.
- 24/05/2011 07:00:04 PM
1908 Views
Calpurnia is a stereotype too.
- 24/05/2011 11:54:26 PM
1826 Views
The difference, at least in my recollection, is that Calpurnia is well-educated.
- 25/05/2011 08:09:58 PM
1774 Views
Re: The difference, at least in my recollection, is that Calpurnia is well-educated.
- 25/05/2011 10:59:26 PM
1873 Views
I think there was at least once incident showing a racist black person
- 24/05/2011 07:33:09 PM
2055 Views
I think it was written to accomplish a goal and it did that very well
- 25/05/2011 04:08:17 PM
1813 Views
Given your introductory portion
- 11/06/2011 01:28:40 AM
1830 Views
I have read both
- 11/06/2011 11:35:11 AM
1657 Views
All of Twain's stuff is great
- 13/06/2011 02:27:55 AM
1875 Views
Re: All of Twain's stuff is great
- 13/06/2011 08:17:05 AM
1790 Views
And some poets - Tennyson and Yeats come to mind. *NM*
- 13/06/2011 10:11:31 AM
856 Views