This one was a reckoning for me... I haven't read Fried Green Tomatoes in a long time, but I do remember loving the book and the movie at the time... and now I have read all the quotes you pulled from the book and realize I didn't really read it, not really, not with an ear open to the actual words, not with a heart open to the full humanity of all the characters in the story, not with my eyes open to the constructs of racism that surrounds us always, in every single aspect of our lives here. Today I know better, so tomorrow I can, and will, do better. So much learning- and unlearning- to do! Thanks for shining a light in this space.
I felt the same way. How did I miss all that when I first read it? But it’s like Maya Angelou said When you know better you do better. I didn’t know better then but I do now 🖤
I *somehow* avoided the pitfalls of many of the most popular white savior narratives presented during my youth, but growing up in the south, they were still the prevailing narrative to understanding race. I have always been suspicious of things I am "supposed" to like, and it's probably the only reason I didn't fall all over myself to love these things, not because I was aware enough to know better. I do think it helped me be more open to the facts of the matter once I got to college and actually took an African American literature class where I was faced with the realization that being nice did not equal not being racist. I never once questioned the realization once it was presented to me, even though it was terribly uncomfortable. Thank you for sharing your always astute observations and giving a lot of us a chance to sit with uncomfortable realizations. I wish more people saw the value in these types of moments rather than immediately seeking the comfortable novocaine of lies we have learned to expect.
Thank you for this. I dreaded reading it because I knew I was going to be shocked at my own deafness and blindness and I was. Many books/movies hit so differently after reexamination. It didn't age well. May we and our country age better and not try to return to these good old days. I'm sorry you had to visit them in the pages of this book.
To Kill a Mockingbird was required reading at my high school, and was the first book I’d ever read that discussed the lives and culture of African Americans. It was a milestone, and I’d guess the same is true for many white folks. At a glance it may seem awkward that a novel featuring a Black experience is written by a white author, but Harper Lee addresses her own ignorance of the nuances and history of Black culture by telling it from the perspective of a female child, who is trying to understand the world around her. The symbolism of Scout as our own white ignorance is very powerful, and reassures the reader that it’s okay to feel confused and surprised by the depth of a racial system we’ve been conditioned not to notice.
Unlike the Help or Hairspray, To Kill a Mockingbird never read to me as a white savior narrative. The white protagonists are aware that despite Atticus’s white privilege and status, he cannot save a good man from the horrific system that their parents, grandparents and even themselves have inflicted upon the Black community. It’s a tale of reckoning, as they come to terms with the fact that the monster they created is beyond their control. It forces white people to reflect on systemic racism and their own white privilege (particularly how white poverty still yields greater privilege than being a Black person of any wealth status in America). It’s a story of remorse and of awakening; it sends the reader on their own journey of racial reckoning. I believe that’s why people checked out the book.
Thanks for your take. I just have a few questions:
What novel by a Black author about the lives and the culture of Black people was also required reading for you in high school and was as routinely assigned as TKAM in high schools across the country?
You said that for you the book is about white ignorance and that Lee uses a child to show this ignorance. Okay, but besides lessons on White ignorance what does the book have to say about Blackness outside of whiteness? What does it teach readers about Black pride, Black love, Black freedom, or Black childhood even?
Of course, the book centers around Scout because it’s loosely based on Harper Lee’s own childhood. So I get that. I think Lee told a story that only she could tell. And that’s fair. Nothing wrong with that. But why would a book based on White ignorance be a story about racial reckoning when in 2020 White people have far more access to books about the interior lives of Blackness - and not only books but also music, tv shows, plays, movies, and even social media? I guess what I’m really asking is do really need white ignorance to teach us that racism is bad? Can’t we do better? Haven’t we done better? It’s 2024, after all.
Also, you mentioned that the story was about remorse and awakening. What was awakened? Who was awakened? Who was remorseful? What was the racial reckoning? Could there be a racial reckoning when absolutely nothing changed racially for anyone in the town? It seems that the only true remorse and redemption that is shown in the book is towards Boo Radley. Tom is thrown in prison—which the book pretty much tells us is inevitable from the jump because he is Black and poor. The only people surprised by the verdict are the children. But are they surprised that a Black man went to prison for the rape of a White woman or are they surprised that their father who they look to as a hero and savior has fallen when he loses a case? I think they’re more shocked seeing their father lose. The whole town is against him when the whole town used to revere his goodness and wisdom—but not this time. I think that’s what shook Jem so. How could his father not win! Oddly however, the Black characters aren’t allowed to be disappointed in Atticus. Only his children are allowed that.
Lastly, do you think the words of a fictional story set in the homes and around the lives of main characters who are White - written by a White woman is a sufficient catalyst for a White reader’s racial reckoning? Shouldn’t the stories of Black people written by Black people (or Asian or LatinX or Mexican or Pan Asian or Indigenous etc…) be a reader’s racial reckoning? I think so. And at the time this book was published a lot of those stories were happening in real time. They were plentiful but not believed and not as well-read or applauded. At the time this book was published, Dr. King was not a beloved hero to most Americans but Atticus Finch was. I find that problematic. We read this book over and over again as a country and yet— how are we doing racially?
The fact that this was the first intro to the black experience is 100% a problem, and i thought my comment made that clear, but as it did not, I will say it: all of the other books that year were by white authors, about white people, which perpetuates a very limited, Euro white centric view of the world. In terms of TKAM: sometimes people need a bridge to help them get from what they know, to what they need to know, like an English-Spanish dictionary. I think to kill a mockingbird provides that bridge for a lot of white people, and if that is what is needed to help them begin or continue their journey of racial reckoning, then that is a good thing. It’s not fair to expect one book to meet all the needs you’ve mentioned; after reading it, it’s up to white people to take more actions to educate themselves, to unlearn their prejudice and take action to make the country a better place.
Did you read TKAM in 1960? Even if you did, the book was set in the 30s—that’s the same decade as the Harlem Renaissance so there were plenty of Black authors with amazing books available to schools. And, as I said, there have been plenty of excellent books about Black life that could be taught alongside TKAM - books written by Black authors about the systemic racism within the judicial system. IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK by James Baldwin comes to mind. All that being said TKAM was not the only available book about race relations in the South that could be taught in schools. The Harlem Renaissance gave us plenty to choose from. Were you also assigned Zora Neale Hurston, maybe? Or Richard Wright? Or Ann Petry? COMING OF AGE IN MISSISSIPPI by Ann Moody would be a great one for teachers to assign alongside or in place of TKAM.
Also, the very point of my review was that books like FRIED GREEN TOMATOES & TKAM cannot meet all the needs (your word not mine) I mentioned. Neither meets a single need (again, that word need is yours not mine) that I mentioned because as you have just written, but I guess missed the point, it is another book written by a White author about White people, perpetuating a very limited, Euro White centric view of the world. Just because Black characters are in both books doesn’t mean they are about Black people. TKAM is book is about a White family- the Finches. It’s not about the Robinsons. It’s not Calpurnia, the Finches Black domestic, whom the author doesn’t even bother to give a surname. Likewise with FGT, it’s about Idgie and her family and the friendship of two White women decades later.
Both books are about how White people think Black people feel about race relations. In each book, the authors make it clear their opinion of Black people is the precedent. According to the White main characters in each book, Black people are happy receiving random acts of basic humanity from White people. White people just need to be nice to Black people and not be part of the Klan. That’s all.
If TKAM were more honest, the Black people in the courthouse would not have risen for Atticus, instead they would’ve risen in protest of the injustice done to Tom. That’s the real history that’s missing. Check out EJI’s online calendar of racial violence. It is filled with stories like Tom’s and historically what happened when a Black man was accused of rape, a White mob lynched every Black person in town. TKAM is high fantasy in my opinion. I like fantasy which is why I liked the book but I don’t hold it dear or above criticism.
Listen, I truly don’t want to debate you on this. But could you possibly have a blind spot in regards to this book? Could it be that your nostalgia for it clouds your perspective of it. I get it. I loved Scout and Dill and Jem. But I loved Tom and Calpurnia more. Alas, sadly, the author neglectfully left their stories out of the narrative.
My problem with the book is that Harper Lee, a White woman born and bred in the South during Jim Crow, wrote a book that uses the n-word 48 times but didn’t bother to fully develop her Black characters. She didn’t even give Calpurnia, the help, a last name. That’s a problem.
I never said the book shouldn’t be read. But I don’t think it deserves to be beloved or held up as an example of White awakening mostly because not a single White character in that book changed their opinions on race. As I said, the children’s opinions of their father and Boo Radley changed - but did their opinion of Black people? Not really, their pity of Black folks station in society only deepened a smidge. They lived in the Jim Crow south. They weren’t surprised to see a Black man on trial. If their father had not been assigned to defend Tom, it would’ve been a book about their summer with Dill and Boo Radley. And let’s not forget that Atticus was assigned by the judge to defend Tom. He didn’t choose to defend Tom. He was assigned the case because the judge thought he’d be the least racist and most fair. Least racist… most fair… Atticus was the best option. Not a great option. Read the sequel GO SET A WATCHMAN and it’s clear that Atticus was never meant to be inspire a race reckoning. Just cause he wasn’t verbally or physically violent towards Tom or Calpurnia doesn’t mean he saw them as his equal.
Millions of children have read TKAM in school. I was one of them and you were one of them. However it never lead White people to educate themselves or take better action or unlearn their prejudice. If it had, I promise you, you and I wouldn’t be having this conversation.
And with that, I’m done talking about it. Cause it’s not my job to convince you or teach you. I’m a Black writer who revisited and reviewed FRIED GREEN TOMATOES. It was a problematic read for me just as TKAM was - and I’ve read both more than once.
We can agree to disagree. I’m begging you to let a beat dog lie.
This one was a reckoning for me... I haven't read Fried Green Tomatoes in a long time, but I do remember loving the book and the movie at the time... and now I have read all the quotes you pulled from the book and realize I didn't really read it, not really, not with an ear open to the actual words, not with a heart open to the full humanity of all the characters in the story, not with my eyes open to the constructs of racism that surrounds us always, in every single aspect of our lives here. Today I know better, so tomorrow I can, and will, do better. So much learning- and unlearning- to do! Thanks for shining a light in this space.
I felt the same way. How did I miss all that when I first read it? But it’s like Maya Angelou said When you know better you do better. I didn’t know better then but I do now 🖤
I *somehow* avoided the pitfalls of many of the most popular white savior narratives presented during my youth, but growing up in the south, they were still the prevailing narrative to understanding race. I have always been suspicious of things I am "supposed" to like, and it's probably the only reason I didn't fall all over myself to love these things, not because I was aware enough to know better. I do think it helped me be more open to the facts of the matter once I got to college and actually took an African American literature class where I was faced with the realization that being nice did not equal not being racist. I never once questioned the realization once it was presented to me, even though it was terribly uncomfortable. Thank you for sharing your always astute observations and giving a lot of us a chance to sit with uncomfortable realizations. I wish more people saw the value in these types of moments rather than immediately seeking the comfortable novocaine of lies we have learned to expect.
You just proved how important those classes are and how they do help our society
I am also worried.
🖤🖤🖤
Thank you for this. I dreaded reading it because I knew I was going to be shocked at my own deafness and blindness and I was. Many books/movies hit so differently after reexamination. It didn't age well. May we and our country age better and not try to return to these good old days. I'm sorry you had to visit them in the pages of this book.
To Kill a Mockingbird was required reading at my high school, and was the first book I’d ever read that discussed the lives and culture of African Americans. It was a milestone, and I’d guess the same is true for many white folks. At a glance it may seem awkward that a novel featuring a Black experience is written by a white author, but Harper Lee addresses her own ignorance of the nuances and history of Black culture by telling it from the perspective of a female child, who is trying to understand the world around her. The symbolism of Scout as our own white ignorance is very powerful, and reassures the reader that it’s okay to feel confused and surprised by the depth of a racial system we’ve been conditioned not to notice.
Unlike the Help or Hairspray, To Kill a Mockingbird never read to me as a white savior narrative. The white protagonists are aware that despite Atticus’s white privilege and status, he cannot save a good man from the horrific system that their parents, grandparents and even themselves have inflicted upon the Black community. It’s a tale of reckoning, as they come to terms with the fact that the monster they created is beyond their control. It forces white people to reflect on systemic racism and their own white privilege (particularly how white poverty still yields greater privilege than being a Black person of any wealth status in America). It’s a story of remorse and of awakening; it sends the reader on their own journey of racial reckoning. I believe that’s why people checked out the book.
Thanks for your take. I just have a few questions:
What novel by a Black author about the lives and the culture of Black people was also required reading for you in high school and was as routinely assigned as TKAM in high schools across the country?
You said that for you the book is about white ignorance and that Lee uses a child to show this ignorance. Okay, but besides lessons on White ignorance what does the book have to say about Blackness outside of whiteness? What does it teach readers about Black pride, Black love, Black freedom, or Black childhood even?
Of course, the book centers around Scout because it’s loosely based on Harper Lee’s own childhood. So I get that. I think Lee told a story that only she could tell. And that’s fair. Nothing wrong with that. But why would a book based on White ignorance be a story about racial reckoning when in 2020 White people have far more access to books about the interior lives of Blackness - and not only books but also music, tv shows, plays, movies, and even social media? I guess what I’m really asking is do really need white ignorance to teach us that racism is bad? Can’t we do better? Haven’t we done better? It’s 2024, after all.
Also, you mentioned that the story was about remorse and awakening. What was awakened? Who was awakened? Who was remorseful? What was the racial reckoning? Could there be a racial reckoning when absolutely nothing changed racially for anyone in the town? It seems that the only true remorse and redemption that is shown in the book is towards Boo Radley. Tom is thrown in prison—which the book pretty much tells us is inevitable from the jump because he is Black and poor. The only people surprised by the verdict are the children. But are they surprised that a Black man went to prison for the rape of a White woman or are they surprised that their father who they look to as a hero and savior has fallen when he loses a case? I think they’re more shocked seeing their father lose. The whole town is against him when the whole town used to revere his goodness and wisdom—but not this time. I think that’s what shook Jem so. How could his father not win! Oddly however, the Black characters aren’t allowed to be disappointed in Atticus. Only his children are allowed that.
Lastly, do you think the words of a fictional story set in the homes and around the lives of main characters who are White - written by a White woman is a sufficient catalyst for a White reader’s racial reckoning? Shouldn’t the stories of Black people written by Black people (or Asian or LatinX or Mexican or Pan Asian or Indigenous etc…) be a reader’s racial reckoning? I think so. And at the time this book was published a lot of those stories were happening in real time. They were plentiful but not believed and not as well-read or applauded. At the time this book was published, Dr. King was not a beloved hero to most Americans but Atticus Finch was. I find that problematic. We read this book over and over again as a country and yet— how are we doing racially?
The fact that this was the first intro to the black experience is 100% a problem, and i thought my comment made that clear, but as it did not, I will say it: all of the other books that year were by white authors, about white people, which perpetuates a very limited, Euro white centric view of the world. In terms of TKAM: sometimes people need a bridge to help them get from what they know, to what they need to know, like an English-Spanish dictionary. I think to kill a mockingbird provides that bridge for a lot of white people, and if that is what is needed to help them begin or continue their journey of racial reckoning, then that is a good thing. It’s not fair to expect one book to meet all the needs you’ve mentioned; after reading it, it’s up to white people to take more actions to educate themselves, to unlearn their prejudice and take action to make the country a better place.
Did you read TKAM in 1960? Even if you did, the book was set in the 30s—that’s the same decade as the Harlem Renaissance so there were plenty of Black authors with amazing books available to schools. And, as I said, there have been plenty of excellent books about Black life that could be taught alongside TKAM - books written by Black authors about the systemic racism within the judicial system. IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK by James Baldwin comes to mind. All that being said TKAM was not the only available book about race relations in the South that could be taught in schools. The Harlem Renaissance gave us plenty to choose from. Were you also assigned Zora Neale Hurston, maybe? Or Richard Wright? Or Ann Petry? COMING OF AGE IN MISSISSIPPI by Ann Moody would be a great one for teachers to assign alongside or in place of TKAM.
Also, the very point of my review was that books like FRIED GREEN TOMATOES & TKAM cannot meet all the needs (your word not mine) I mentioned. Neither meets a single need (again, that word need is yours not mine) that I mentioned because as you have just written, but I guess missed the point, it is another book written by a White author about White people, perpetuating a very limited, Euro White centric view of the world. Just because Black characters are in both books doesn’t mean they are about Black people. TKAM is book is about a White family- the Finches. It’s not about the Robinsons. It’s not Calpurnia, the Finches Black domestic, whom the author doesn’t even bother to give a surname. Likewise with FGT, it’s about Idgie and her family and the friendship of two White women decades later.
Both books are about how White people think Black people feel about race relations. In each book, the authors make it clear their opinion of Black people is the precedent. According to the White main characters in each book, Black people are happy receiving random acts of basic humanity from White people. White people just need to be nice to Black people and not be part of the Klan. That’s all.
If TKAM were more honest, the Black people in the courthouse would not have risen for Atticus, instead they would’ve risen in protest of the injustice done to Tom. That’s the real history that’s missing. Check out EJI’s online calendar of racial violence. It is filled with stories like Tom’s and historically what happened when a Black man was accused of rape, a White mob lynched every Black person in town. TKAM is high fantasy in my opinion. I like fantasy which is why I liked the book but I don’t hold it dear or above criticism.
Listen, I truly don’t want to debate you on this. But could you possibly have a blind spot in regards to this book? Could it be that your nostalgia for it clouds your perspective of it. I get it. I loved Scout and Dill and Jem. But I loved Tom and Calpurnia more. Alas, sadly, the author neglectfully left their stories out of the narrative.
My problem with the book is that Harper Lee, a White woman born and bred in the South during Jim Crow, wrote a book that uses the n-word 48 times but didn’t bother to fully develop her Black characters. She didn’t even give Calpurnia, the help, a last name. That’s a problem.
I never said the book shouldn’t be read. But I don’t think it deserves to be beloved or held up as an example of White awakening mostly because not a single White character in that book changed their opinions on race. As I said, the children’s opinions of their father and Boo Radley changed - but did their opinion of Black people? Not really, their pity of Black folks station in society only deepened a smidge. They lived in the Jim Crow south. They weren’t surprised to see a Black man on trial. If their father had not been assigned to defend Tom, it would’ve been a book about their summer with Dill and Boo Radley. And let’s not forget that Atticus was assigned by the judge to defend Tom. He didn’t choose to defend Tom. He was assigned the case because the judge thought he’d be the least racist and most fair. Least racist… most fair… Atticus was the best option. Not a great option. Read the sequel GO SET A WATCHMAN and it’s clear that Atticus was never meant to be inspire a race reckoning. Just cause he wasn’t verbally or physically violent towards Tom or Calpurnia doesn’t mean he saw them as his equal.
Millions of children have read TKAM in school. I was one of them and you were one of them. However it never lead White people to educate themselves or take better action or unlearn their prejudice. If it had, I promise you, you and I wouldn’t be having this conversation.
And with that, I’m done talking about it. Cause it’s not my job to convince you or teach you. I’m a Black writer who revisited and reviewed FRIED GREEN TOMATOES. It was a problematic read for me just as TKAM was - and I’ve read both more than once.
We can agree to disagree. I’m begging you to let a beat dog lie.