Published in 1960, TKM is a study in courage. One of the key scenes in the novel — also memorialized in the movie starrring Gregory Peck — is when Atticus Finch, “nearly blind in his left eye,” takes aim and shoots a rabid dog in the street.
Lee’s intended symbolism is obvious: the mad dog represents institutional racism that has unfairly accused a handicapped black man of raping a white woman.
After killing the dog, Finch warns his young son, Jem: “Don’t you go near that dog, you understand? Don’t go near him, he’s just as dangerous dead as alive.”
Do you think Lee was sending a message to Jem’s generation? Email connie.post@coxinc.com
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