Mockalong: Team Calpurnia

I'm hosting the Mockalong this March because I've never read To Kill a Mockingbird. Despite not having read it, however, I felt like I knew so much about it. I had a sense of Scout, I knew Atticus is a lawyer (although I didn't know he is also Scout's dad), and I also knew of Boo Radley. I'm now more than half-way through To Kill a Mockingbird, and I'm perhaps most fascinated by how what I thought I knew about To Kill a Mockingbird matches up with my actual reading experience. If I were reading this without any knowledge, I don't think the character of Boo Radley would make an impression on me. His importance to the story hasn't been established yet (I presume yet, but I'm quite curious to see where his story ends up.)

Perhaps most surprisingly to me as a reader is Calpurnia. She's my favorite character in the novel (by far.) Last week I wrote about Atticus as the moral center of the novel. I don't dislike him, but he thus far lacks any flaws, which doesn't make him as interesting. As I've been reading this week, I keep wondering why no one else talks about Calpurnia. Why isn't she one of the characters who is well known in popular culture? I find her to be the most interesting and enjoyable, and I sometimes wish I were reading a novel narrated by Calpurnia, where the Finches are just one part of the story. The answers to why Calpurnia isn't a more famous character may well be in the book itself, which I hope to finish this week. Until then, my Mockalong tweets may bear a second hashtag: #TeamCalpurnia

Now tell me: whether you've read this book before or this is your first time--who is your favorite character?

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