How Harper Lee changed my life
Updated February 19, 2016 1:39 PM
By Randi F. Marshall
... when she introduced me to Harper Lee, my life, my perspective, my understanding of the world changed. From the first page of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Lee brought me into Maycomb, Alabama — and a piece of me never left. Lee put us .. in Scout’s skin and had us walk around in it ... We saw the world of Maycomb — the racial injustice, the complexities, the oft-wrong stereotypes and assumptions, and the small joys and big worries of a small southern town — all through Scout’s eyes.
And what a world it was. I was a suburban kid from New Jersey, growing up in a virtual bubble, far from most inequalities and hatreds. Lee .. popped the bubble, opening our eyes to a world far different from our own — and yet, in some ways, exactly the same. After all, I identified with Scout — with her curiosity, her impatience, her fears, her triumphs, her desire to understand.
But Atticus was my hero. The Atticus I knew represented everything right with the world ...
I am a better person, a better writer, a better thinker, and a better parent because of Harper Lee and “To Kill a Mockingbird” ...
http://www.newsday.com/opinion/how-harper-lee-changed-my-life-1.11489542
