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How to Kill the Mockingbird 九年级必修精读 “杀死一只知更鸟” 与续集“设立守望者”的读后感
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英文的这篇和中文的内容其实是不一样的。本来看完了想要发泄一下是写了中文的，后来老师要求学校的刊物上发一篇关于守望者的读后感，于是有了英文的这一篇。杀死一只知更鸟充分证明了：其实学校布置的精读小说也不一定无聊。
我的风格一直是文采一般，错别字很多...请大家原谅
Go Set a Watchman : How to Kill the Mockingbird
At the start of July many news headlines were flooded with the arrival of a new book. Not just any book, but the single most anticipated book after the publishing of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” in 2007. Why? Because this is a novel by Harper Lee, and is a sequel (in fictional chronology) to one of the best loved novels in modern history: To Kill a Mockingbird.
For many Go Set a Watchman was a nostalgic trip down memory lane, but it was also a disappointment. This was evident from the flying accusations ranging from simply “disappointing”, to the more intense “should have been left to rot in the dark”. The reason behind this is “the toppling of idols”, well put by Sam Sacks reviewing for The Wall Street Journal. This idol, obviously, is Atticus Finch.
To Kill a Mockingbird brings us a man who was a moral god in the eyes of his little daughter Scout. Without a mother, she learned everything from her father, she believed that everything he said was right. With Scout we learn not to harm harmless beings , to consider things from the perspective of others and that everybody deserves justice in front of the law. For modern readers educated to believe in human rights, freedom and equality, we think Atticus Finch is a beam of light in the otherwise dark social setting, someone we can connect to in a world so different from our own. Younger readers often identified Atticus as a father figure, he provides moral guidance to not only Scout, but to us as well.
With the love for Atticus, many were shattered by the rumours of him becoming racist in Go Set a Watchman. These feelings of discontent were strengthened as they see that this was to some extent true in the novel. The story is set twenty years after the events of To Kill a Mockingbird, when Jean Louise Finch returns from her life in New York for her annual visit. In the beginning we see the old Atticus, though crippled by disease and old age he still holds himself proudly as that ‘gentleman’. However, as the story progresses we discover that times have changed and open segregationists were infiltrating the peaceful Maycomb. We go on a roller-coaster ride with Scout as she finds out about her father’s participation in events she thought were against his morals. Scout accuses her father for being a ‘liar’ and we can certainly connect with her feelings of being cheated. In her mind, her father defended people regardless of their skin colour, he conducted himself both in public and in private domains. In essence: he did not ignore those who spoke ill about coloured folks, he would have stood and fought for the rights of all folks. We ask the question: Where is that Atticus who told us ‘It’s a sin to kill a mockingbird’? Was he doing it himself?
No, at least for me. I am a reader who connected with Scout throughout Mockingbird and who’s heart was broken with hers in Watchman. However, as I turned the last page I realised a simple fact: Atticus Finch was a human being.
The truth is that both Scout and I had tied our conscience to him and thought what he believed was always right for us. When there were discrepancies between our morals and his, we feel cheated. Then I reminded myself that every human being is entitled to their own opinion, and as a person of his generation, his opinions are bound to be different to ours. Atticus Finch held himself true to his morals, he taught his children by letting them experience the world by themselves and forming their own. He was not a parent who imposed their values onto their offspring, rare in both his time and in ours. Maybe he did not believe in freedom, democracy and equality as we do, but he brought up a daughter who developed those beliefs. As Scout emancipate herself from her father’s conscience, she becomes an individual who is able to create change in her world.
Go Set a Watchman is not so much about the fragments of drama in Maycomb, it is a novel focussed on the growing young woman. It addresses the painful but inevitable step of life: leaving the safety of the home and exploring the world. Just like Scout, sometimes we hold onto our memories and find it hard to let go. Nonetheless we all have to grow, we all have to break the rose tinted glass and see that the world is not perfect. Maybe this is the ‘toppling of idols’, and Atticus has stepped down from his position as a god. So now it is time for us to be our own gods, our own watchmen, and we will set out on the journey guided by the morals true to ourselves.
哈珀•李 “设立守望者” : 被杀死的知更鸟？
中国传统文化中有 ’人之初，性本善’ 的说法，西方的主流观点重视自由与美好，世上所有的宗教信仰都鼓励人们一心向善。人类对于真善美的追求生根在所有文化之中，在世界各地随处可见。我们的文学作品里往往会小人，但永远会有一个英雄。这样当我们看见正义战胜邪恶时会无比激动，看见恶霸恃强凌弱时会感到愤慨。虽说如此，黑白分明，大起大落有时会让人审美疲劳，现代的读者更喜欢贴近生活却又比生活多了些戏剧性的故事。经典小说往往被叫做“被时间遗忘的经典”，称赞它们经受了时间的考验。因为无论社会的变化多么的大，它的故事，情感和人物都能让读者产生共鸣。每一个层沉浸在哈珀•李描写的那个乡村小镇里的人，都必须承认 “杀死一只知更鸟” 就是这样一部名副其实的经典。而当这样的读者们翻开那本崭新的硬皮书，开始读“设立守望者”的时候，许多人发现那个记忆中的世界变得面目全非。著名的书评家们将李五十年后出版的这本小说描述为“偶像走下神坛”，“令人失望”，甚至希望原稿“在阁楼里继续腐烂”。可当我第一次读完知更鸟后的第二天，也是守望者出版的第二天读完这本小说的时候，我才真正领略到这整个故事的无穷魅力。
人们都希望人生中会有那个骑着骏马的王子，穿着铠甲的勇士来拯救自己。知更鸟中的主角，年龄尚小的斯科特人生中的王子就是她的父亲艾迪克斯。在小斯科特的眼里父亲虽然是个十足的老弱学究，没办法陪他们撒丫子疯玩，可父亲是她的一切。从小没有母亲的她把艾迪克斯当做了自己的父母，也当做了自己的神，她将自己的良知和信仰紧紧的与父亲绑在了一起。在知更鸟中艾迪克斯对孩子们言传身教，传达着在他的时代相当超前的世界观。他是闻名遐迩的神射手，却二十年不碰枪支，他称赞与敬佩和他意见相左的杜波斯老夫人，他为了一个黑人的清白全力以赴，耗尽精神。这一切让斯科特与杰姆从小就具有与众不同的世界观，他们像是来自未来，唱着自由平等的赞歌生活在那个充满歧视的世界里。
知更鸟里的小女孩通过一起黑人被指控强奸白女的案子，与父亲和哥哥共度患难。在这三年的时间里她成长了，学会了替他人着想，看清了社会不公的现状。这一切的一切都让更佩服她的父亲，从某种程度上她把父亲看做是一朵莲花，出淤泥而不染，濯清涟而不妖。这种崇拜在当她看到父亲坐在种族歧视者演讲的会议中无动于衷的时候破的灰飞烟灭。这时候她对她的世界产生了疑问，难道过去的二十年都是假的？从纽约回到麦肯的斯科特，在人生过了近三十年的时候发现原来自己一直都误会了一些事，这也让她她得到了灵魂上的重生。
像大部分读者一样，我刚开始读这本书的时候也无法接受那个像神一样的艾迪克斯变成一个身心都又老又残的男人。从故事的一开始我的心情一直和斯科特无比相似。在知更鸟中艾迪克斯无数次打动我，让我觉得这才是一个好人，好父亲，在守望者中我也和斯科特一起对现状满怀着疑惑与不甘。我不愿意相信艾迪克斯用一整本知更鸟来传达的那些道理是假的。他说过要了解一个人就必须穿上人家的鞋子去走上一段，说过真正的勇敢并不是拿着枪支的男人，说过无论如何都不能拿枪对准无辜的知更鸟。可他自己在守望者中推翻了这一切，甚至告诉斯科特他不希望黑人进入他们的世界。那个为了一个黑的清白可以不惜一切的正直律师去哪儿了？那个教育儿女要时刻怀着怜悯之心的父亲去哪了？是不是童年的一切终究都是谎言，而长大就意味着我们必须拿枪对准那只无辜的知更鸟呢？
不，当我微笑着流泪，翻过守望者的最后一页时我心里有了答案。这个答案就是：伟大的芬奇律师，也是一个人。我们从一开始就和斯科特一样把他看做了一个神，把他所说的一切奉若圣旨，觉得他的世界观永远与我们的一模一样。当他的言行背离了我们认为正确的道路，失望是必然的。可看完守望者之后我们发觉事实并不是那样的，将他的言行当做真理实在是一厢情愿。也许艾迪克斯并不是那个代表着平等与自由的战士，可这并不代表他就不是一个值得敬佩的人。在他的年代，他相信法律之前没有种族之分，他一生无愧于己，最关键的是他视儿女为平等的人，并让他们去找到自己的世界观。直到斯科特发现自己的世界观并非绑在父亲身上的，艾迪克斯的教育才算圆满完成。长大，就是找到自己的世界观，并懂得尊重他人的世界观，哪怕会有些许不同。长大，就是让自己的良知成为自己的守望者，一生无愧于心。
是啊，“设立守望者”让艾迪克斯走下了神坛，作为读者的我无法再对他顶礼膜拜。可他走下神坛的那一刻我看到了一名绅士，父亲，一个活生生的人。现在，如果我能遇见这位老绅士，我会看着他的眼睛说：“艾迪克斯•芬奇，我敬爱你。”
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