Who is American cinema’s greatest hero?
Indiana Jones… who thwarted Nazis? Ellen Ripley… who exploded an alien queen? Or a lawyer from Maycomb County in rural Alabama… who didn’t even win his case?
I side with the American Film Institute in this debate: the top spot belongs to the attorney.
The character of Atticus Finch is noble and dogged. He strives to guide his neighbours towards justice. He almost succeeds.
Before Atticus was on the screen, played by Gregory Peck, he was in a book – a novel by Harper Lee.
As Lee worked on the story, she imagined its title to be Atticus. But it was eventually published as To Kill a Mockingbird. I celebrate that change.
Atticus would have been a fine title. It would focus the reader on that heroic individual. They’d peer through the pages and see an exceptional man teach his children to be fair and good.
But To Kill a Mockingbird doesn’t limit the reader in the same way. It broadens their field of vision.
Atticus first talks about mockingbirds when gifting air rifles to his children. They’re forbidden from shooting the small creatures, which only exist to give pleasure through their song. They are pure… blameless.
As the book continues, we meet characters who are compared to songbirds. It helps readers recognise their virtue — and their vulnerability.
That’s how a title can reframe a piece of writing.
Atticus would have been about the heroic struggle of one man against a prejudiced society.
To Kill a Mockingbird enlarges the story. It’s about all the ways that innocence is threatened – and the righteousness of those who shield its song from bullets.
Aidan Clifford writes for Pinstripe Poets – artists who love their day jobs. This post is part of a series called ‘Write like the Greats’. See the rest here.
