Thursday, July 1, 2010

Scout or Scarlett?


Anyone who has read both To Kill a Mockingbird and Gone With the Wind might find this short essay interesting.

I don't think I'll ever forget these words:

"I was born in 1959. Mockingbird was published in 1960. I read it for the first time not long after reading Gone with the Wind. I have long divided the world into Scouts and Scarletts—and I have always wanted to be Scout.

"And for every year of my life but the first, Mockingbird’s very existence, reader by reader, thirty million strong, has made the world a better place for me and for mine, just as before I was born and for every single year of my life Gone with the Wind has made the world more difficult for people like me."

2 comments:

JGH said...

I just read something about the Most Influential American Novel. I assummed it would be this one, but it was Uncle Tom's Cabin. This has always been one of my all-time favorites, though.

cyradaria said...

I just saw a documentary about this last week. Featured the actress who played Scout and the town that still functions as the site of the film -- they do readings in the courthouse and tours.