The first part of this book looks at the literary and historical context of the novel in three chapters: (1) Racial Climate in the Deep South focuses on both racial tension during the Depression, which is both the setting of the novel and the time of the trials of the Scottsboro case as well as in the mid-century, when Lee was writing the novel and the Civil Rights movement was gaining momentum; (2) The Importance of “To Kill a Mockingbird” talks about not only the way the novel has resonated with readers but the attempts to censor it in school libraries and the controversy in the legal community over Atticus Finch’s defense of Tom Robinson; and (3) The Critical and Popular Reception of “To Kill a Mockingbird” looks at both the newspaper and magazine reviews as well as the published legal criticism. These entire section provides an excellent background to Lee’s novel, not only for better understanding its social origins but its place in American culture.

What makes this book a different approach to the novel from most literary criticism is that the idea of “boundaries” translates in five different “readings” of the text: (1) a discussion of the technical boundaries Lee establishes to advance her narrative in terms of plot, point of view, setting, and metaphor; (2) a look at the novel’s use of the Gothic tradition, explored as a fictional construct of a castle’s walls; (3) in a similar vein, a consideration of the walls of difference separating the various characters; (4) a treatment of the boundaries of law and code; and (5) an exploration of the relationship of art and expression in terms of the other boundaries discussed. Consequently, Johnson presents a series of readings, looking at the novel from various perspectives without being overly concerned with how everything fits together.

This is advanced literary criticism, useful more for college classes than secondary schools, although certainly teachers could take some of Johnson’s arguments and make them palatable for their students. I think the idea that real life lawyers would argue about whether Atticus Finch did the right thing would be fascinating to younger readers, who usually consider him to be one of the noblest characters in American Literature. My final piece of advice is not to read this book at one setting, especially the five readings in the second part. TEach one reflects a serious change in perspective and you really need to clear the decks of your mind before you move from one reading to the next.
Rating: 5 / 5