I went to a banned book play.
To Kill a Mockingbird, the classic 1960 novel about racial injustice in a Southern town, has been banned and challenged in numerous communities. Challenges often cite language and racial depictions.
This hit Broadway adaptation by Aaron Sorkin has been a lightning rod for controversy.
The use of the word “nigger” was used frequently in the stage play. TKAM takes place in rural Mississippi in 1934 and the play stayed true to the times. I remember reading the book in high school, seeing the word on the printed page, and thinking that it was an ugly word. It still is. Reading the book and hearing the actors in their roles are two different things. Listening to Bob and Mayella Ewell spew their hatred of Tom Robinson just because he’s “a nigger” was very unsettling. The audience could hear the Ewells' rage and see the hatred toward this man in their voices. Some audience members gasped at the language, the bigotry and the inhumanity.
Richard Thomas playing the role of Atticus Finch was outstanding. His closing argument to the jury to find Tom Robinson not guilty was so compelling, so full of emotion, that for a brief moment I hoped that the story would be rewritten and the jury would find Tom Robinson not guilty. The writers stayed true to the story, as I knew it would happen, and the hate and bigotry of the 1930s Deep South won. I cried.
This theater version of To Kill a Mockingbird depicted the past as Harper Lee wrote and was peppered with contemporary commentary. Very relevant, very powerful, very thought-provoking.
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"When I meet people from other cultures I know that they too want happiness and do not want suffering: this allows me to see them as brothers and sisters."
~ Charles Schulz
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On a happier note, I worked at the farm during the day we attended TKAM. In the tree by the farmstand, a mockingbird tweeted its beautiful song.
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