【0. 前言】

两个月前，我开始在网易蜗牛读书阅读《杀死一只知更鸟 To Kill a Mockingbird》的中文译本。

花了一个月时间读完中文版之后，我深深地被这个故事打动了。

读这本书期间，我哭过笑过，更深思过。

以孩子的视角，以父母的视角，以成人的视角，以女性的视角。

中文版读毕，我又看了根据原著改编的电影，对故事中的人物以及作者想要表达的东西有了更深刻的理解。

也许是觉得看过中文版+电影还不够，我又开始阅读英文原著，以及在喜马拉雅听完了这本书的英文有声书。

这本经典的书，我读了足足四遍（中文+英文+有声书+电影）。

为什么？因为我实在太喜欢它了。

这本书，看似关于教育和律师，实则关乎人性。

书中的不少细节，值得每一个成人深思，同时，它也带给了我很多关于育儿的思考和感触。

这篇读书笔记，从三周之前开始酝酿，写了很多次，废了很多次。

曾经想过把这一篇也写成英文博客，但是内心又很希望把这些想法传递给英文基础没有那么好的中文读者。

曾经想要在这篇文章中涵盖书中每一个触动我的细节，但是我发现这样的细节太多太多，而我的文章又一贯很长（基本都超过5000字），如果真的要写的很全面，可能1w字都不够了。

纠结了很久，还是决定以【中文主体+引用英文原著】的方式来写这篇读书笔记。

写完发现是12000多字，不过很多都是英文原著的引用，实际应该没有那么多。

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【1. 一点背景】

【1. 作者——Harper Lee】

Figure 1: Harper Lee

这本书的名字我想很多人都听说过，而我选择读它的原因也很简单，它太有名了，我想知道它到底写的是什么。

读之前，我没有看过任何关于作者的介绍（我一直觉得读书最好不要有先入为主的印象）。

读完之后，出于深深的敬意与强烈的好奇心，我花了不少时间去查作者的身世背景，这本书是否与她的童年有关，以及她还写过什么书。

她的名字叫Harper Lee，美国作家，这本书确实带有强烈的自传色彩。

在Harper Lee出生之前，家里已经有三个孩子（2个姐姐1个哥哥），她是最小的那个。

1926年，她出生于亚拉巴马州门罗维尔（Monroeville, Alabama），她的父亲也是从那年开始担任亚拉巴马州议会的律师（1926-1938）。她的父亲曾经为两个被指控谋杀一个白人店主的黑人做辩护，这两个黑人的关系是父子，而他们两个最终都被绞死。

她的家庭、生活以及这个案件，其实就是To Kill a Mockingbird的原型。

【2. 书】

Harper Lee一生只写过两本书，To Kill a Mockingbird，以及Go Set a Watchman（被称为To Kill a Mockingbird续作）。第一本书出版于1960年（那年她34岁），第二本书出版于2015年（那年她89岁）。

有趣的是，To Kill a Mockingbird 并非第一本书的原名。1957年，31岁的Harper Lee给出版商们看手稿时，书名为 Go Set a Watchman（也就是她第二本书的名字）。当时的编辑 （Tay Hohoff）觉得这本书很棒，但是还不足以达到出版要求，于是在她的建议下，Harper Lee继续完善了这本书，最终定名To Kill a Mockingbird.

一本传世经典小说的身世其实也并非想象中一帆风顺，好事多磨，在作者和编辑的共同努力下，我们终于看到了这本书。

我觉得 Harper Lee 对 Go Set a Watchman 这个title颇有执念，第一本没法用这个书名，第二本还是用了。

作者如她，一辈子只能写一本书，就是自己。

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【2. 故事梗概】

我画了一张人物关系图，因为我自己读书的时候经常记不住人名= =，尤其是国外小说。

大家可以参考着看。

Figure 2: Characters relationship chart

这本小说是以一个大约10岁的女孩子（Scout Finch）的视角来叙述的，Scout有一个亲哥哥（Jem Finch），她的父亲（Atticus Finch）是一名律师，她的母亲在她两岁的时候去世了，家里雇佣了一位黑人（Calpurnia）来照顾孩子。

Figure 3: Atticus and kids

Finch家族算是Maycomb小镇一个历史悠久，有文化有声望的家族；与之对应的是穷得靠救济金生活、臭名昭著的Ewell家族。

Ewell家族有很多孩子，Bob Ewell是这个家族的家长（老婆去世了），家里有8个孩子，最大的一个女儿叫做Mayella。

Mayella芳龄19，没读过什么书，经常在家里干粗活重活，如果亲爹喝醉了酒还经常会揍她一顿；她没有朋友，天天跟另外的7个孩子待在一起（想象一下这样的生活状态，也是蛮惨的）。

Figure 4: 左 Mayella, 右 Bob

Maycomb小镇由了"两种人"组成：白人和黑人。

黑人地位低下，赚钱养活自己的途径就是去服务白人，比如干家务，做农活等。

而Tom Robinson，就是一位黑人父亲。他已经结婚成家，有几个孩子；他为人正直热心，对Ewell家族以及Mayella的情况也有所了解（毕竟这是个小地方）。

有一天，Tom路过Mayella家门口的时候，Mayella叫他帮忙干点活，他帮了，并且没有收钱。

之后，Mayella经常会叫Tom帮她做这个做那个，而好心的Tom也全部做了。

一个黑人对白人的善意害了他，Mayella喜欢上了Tom，而这在自诩高人一等的白人群体中是完全不可能被接受的。

她知道，但她如此孤独。

终于有一天，她把身边的孩子们全部支开，然后叫Tom进来帮忙，Tom来了，她抱了他、吻了他。

Tom说：求求你放开我吧。

她不听，直到她的父亲出现，看到了这一切。

暴怒之下，父亲把她打了一顿，并且控诉Tom强奸Mayella。

Tom被捕了，而在法官Taylor的授意下，Atticus成为了他的辩护律师。

Figure 5: Atticus and Tom

这就是整本书围绕的案件，这个案件的真相所有人心知肚明。

但是最终，审判当天，陪审团宣布Tom有罪。

心灰意冷的Tom没有等到Atticus为他上诉的那天，因为他越狱了，然后被枪射死了。

他最终没有逃离一个黑人的命运。

在那个年代，白人女性爱上黑人男性并且主动投怀送抱，是冒天下之大不韪；伦理上，白人无法接受，因为他们认定黑人是低贱的。

尊贵的白人怎么可以去主动亲吻一个黑人，一个黑人怎么可能如此善良、不求回报地去帮助一个白人姑娘？

不可能，一定是黑人觊觎她很久，强行占有了她。

一定是这样的。

即使，10岁的孩子都能看得清真相。

而10岁孩子眼中的世界，也许和成人，真的不一样。

我们需要孩子，需要孩子们清澈的眼睛和纯朴的内心，需要读懂孩子的想法，以此唤醒我们沉睡的童年记忆。

我们10岁的时候，也许也相信，这世界上只有一种人，那就是——人。

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【3. 家族：Radley】

【1. 人物：怪人 Boo Radley】

Figure 6: Boo Radley (Arthur Radley)

你能想象一个人足足过了15年不见天日的生活吗？他活着，他在家里，但他不被允许在白天出门。

更让人难以想象的是，这种荒谬之极且惨无人道的事情，是他的至亲所为。

这是对Boo Radley（Arthur Radley）的惩罚。

他做错了什么呢？

他在青春期的时候，交了两个Cunninghams家族的“狐朋狗友”。

有一天，他们拒绝了Maycomb一个小公务员Mr. Conner 的逮捕（这个人不是警官），并且把他锁在了法院大楼的外围建筑里。

Mr. Conner很愤怒，把三个孩子告上了法庭，法官决定把他们送到state industrial school去上学，这个学校这并不是专门为不良青少年设置的学校，普通孩子也会去那里上学。

但是Arthur Radley的父亲，Nathan Radley并不这么认为，他觉得Boo如果去了那所学校就是给Radley家族蒙羞。于是他让法官放掉Arthur，他可以保证这个孩子不再惹是生非。

法官同意了。

而Arthur Radley，从那天起就被“囚禁”在了自己家里，他确实没有再惹任何麻烦，因为他的父亲用极端的方式把他“杀死”了。

这十五年，他失去了朋友，失去了上学的机会，失去了最宝贵的自由；而另外两个孩子毕业之后找到了不错的工作。

只因为他的父亲对家族荣誉感的执念、对state industrial school的误会，以及最重要的，对孩子天性的误解。

在Nathan Radley的世界里，孩子是不被允许犯错的，如果孩子要给别人惹麻烦，那就干脆关起来。

一个从来不麻烦成人的孩子，只存在于想象中吧。

According to neighborhood legend, when the younger Radley boy was in his teens he became acquainted with some of the Cunninghams from Old Sarum, an enormous and confusing tribe domiciled in the northern part of the county, and they formed the nearest thing to a gang ever seen in Maycomb. They did little, but enough to be discussed by the town and publicly warned from three pulpits: they hung around the barbershop; they rode the bus to Abbottsville on Sundays and went to the picture show; they attended dances at the county’s riverside gambling hell, the Dew-Drop Inn & Fishing Camp; they experimented with stumphole whiskey. Nobody in Maycomb had nerve enough to tell Mr. Radley that his boy was in with the wrong crowd.

One night, in an excessive spurt of high spirits, the boys backed around the square in a borrowed flivver, resisted arrest by Maycomb’s ancient beadle, Mr. Conner, and locked him in the courthouse outhouse. The town decided something had to be done; Mr. Conner said he knew who each and every one of them was, and he was bound and determined they wouldn’t get away with it, so the boys came before the probate judge on charges of disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace, assault and battery, and using abusive and profane language in the presence and hearing of a female. The judge asked Mr. Conner why he included the last charge; Mr. Conner said they cussed so loud he was sure every lady in Maycomb heard them. The judge decided to send the boys to the state industrial school, where boys were sometimes sent for no other reason than to provide them with food and decent shelter: it was no prison and it was no disgrace. Mr. Radley thought it was. If the judge released Arthur, Mr. Radley would see to it that Arthur gave no further trouble. Knowing that Mr. Radley’s word was his bond, the judge was glad to do so.

The other boys attended the industrial school and received the best secondary education to be had in the state; one of them eventually worked his way through engineering school at Auburn. The doors of the Radley house were closed on weekdays as well as Sundays, and Mr. Radley’s boy was not seen again for fifteen years.

事实上，Arthur是怎样的一个孩子呢？

Miss Maudie还记得他小的时候，总是很有礼貌地跟她说话。

……she said, “that is a sad house. I remember Arthur Radley when he was a boy. He always spoke nicely to me, no matter what folks said he did. Spoke as nicely as he knew how.”

“You reckon he’s crazy?”

Miss Maudie shook her head. “If he’s not he should be by now. The things that happen to people we never really know. What happens in houses behind closed doors, what secrets—”

他也是个很聪明的孩子，曾经赢得了Maycomb的拼写比赛奖牌。

The following week the knot-hole yielded a tarnished medal. Jem showed it to Atticus, who said it was a spelling medal, that before we were born the Maycomb County schools had spelling contests and awarded medals to the winners.

而他的父母看不到他所有的优点，只因为他年少时犯下的一件错事，毁了他的一生。

我认为，这就是一种变相谋杀。

【2. 人物：Nathan Radley】

Figure 7: Nathan Radley

Arthur的父亲是怎样一个人呢？

他对孩子毫无兴趣。听到Scout和Jem和他说早上好的时候，他的反应是咳嗽。

除了被关在家里的Arthur之外，Nathan还有个大儿子，这个儿子和他特别像，唯一的区别就是年龄。

Nathan的所作所为，连一贯不对白人做评论的Calpurnia都看不下去，说他是“the meanest man ever”。

My memory came alive to see Mrs. Radley occasionally open the front door, walk to the edge of the porch, and pour water on her cannas. But every day Jem and I would see Mr. Radley walking to and from town. He was a thin leathery man with colorless eyes, so colorless they did not reflect light. His cheekbones were sharp and his mouth was wide, with a thin upper lip and a full lower lip. Miss Stephanie Crawford said he was so upright he took the word of God as his only law, and we believed her, because Mr. Radley’s posture was ramrod straight.

He never spoke to us. When he passed we would look at the ground and say, “Good morning, sir,” and he would cough in reply. Mr. Radley’s elder son lived in Pensacola; he came home at Christmas, and he was one of the few persons we ever saw enter or leave the place. From the day Mr. Radley took Arthur home, people said the house died.

……

“There goes the meanest man ever God blew breath into,” murmured Calpurnia, and she spat meditatively into the yard. We looked at her in surprise, for Calpurnia rarely commented on the ways of white people.

【3. 原文分析：枪声和裤子】

Scout、Jem和Dill三个孩子对Radley的房子以及Arthur这个人充满了好奇，他们想尽办法接近那座房子，并且想方设法地要把Arthur引出来看个究竟。

有一天，他们爬到Radley的院子里，想要从窗口偷偷看一眼Arthur。他们看到了Arthur的影子，在跑回去的途中，Nathan开了枪。

Then I saw the shadow. It was the shadow of a man with a hat on. At first I thought it was a tree, but there was no wind blowing, and tree-trunks never walked. The back porch was bathed in moonlight, and the shadow, crisp as toast, moved across the porch toward Jem.

Dill saw it next. He put his hands to his face.

When it crossed Jem, Jem saw it. He put his arms over his head and went rigid.

The shadow stopped about a foot beyond Jem. Its arm came out from its side, dropped, and was still. Then it turned and moved back across Jem, walked along the porch and off the side of the house, returning as it had come.

Jem leaped off the porch and galloped toward us. He flung open the gate, danced Dill and me through, and shooed us between two rows of swishing collards. Halfway through the collards I tripped; as I tripped the roar of a shotgun shattered the neighborhood.

Dill and Jem dived beside me. Jem’s breath came in sobs: “Fence by the schoolyard!—hurry, Scout!”

Jem的裤子被卡在了Radley院子的铁丝网上，而Atticus也注意到了这一点，但Jem没有告诉Atticus实话。

“What happened?” asked Jem.

“Mr. Radley shot at a Negro in his collard patch.”

“Oh. Did he hit him?”

“No,” said Miss Stephanie. “Shot in the air. Scared him pale, though. Says if anybody sees a white nigger around, that’s the one. Says he’s got the other barrel waitin‘ for the next sound he hears in that patch, an’ next time he won’t aim high, be it dog, nigger, or—Jem Finch!” “Ma’am?” asked Jem.

Atticus spoke. “Where’re your pants, son?”

“Pants, sir?”

“Pants.”

It was no use. In his shorts before God and everybody. I sighed.

为了圆谎，他必须铤而走险，再次去Radley家把裤子拿回来，虽然这么做意味着他可能会被Nathan先生一枪射死，他还是想要维护自己在父亲心中的形象。

I tried to reason with him. “Mr. Nathan’s gonna find ‘em in the morning, Jem. He knows you lost ’em. When he shows ‘em to Atticus it’ll be pretty bad, that’s all there is to it. Go’n back to bed.”

“That’s what I know,” said Jem. “That’s why I’m goin‘ after ’em.”

I began to feel sick. Going back to that place by himself—I remembered Miss Stephanie: Mr. Nathan had the other barrel waiting for the next sound he heard, be it nigger, dog… Jem knew that better than I.

I was desperate: “Look, it ain’t worth it, Jem. A lickin‘ hurts but it doesn’t last. You’ll get your head shot off, Jem. Please…”

He blew out his breath patiently. “I—it’s like this, Scout,” he muttered. “Atticus ain’t ever whipped me since I can remember. I wanta keep it that way.”

This was a thought. It seemed that Atticus threatened us every other day. “You mean he’s never caught you at anything.”

“Maybe so, but—I just wanta keep it that way, Scout. We shouldn’a done that tonight, Scout.”

而他没有被一枪射死的原因是，当他回去拿裤子的时候，Arthur已经帮他准备好了一切——他的裤子整整齐齐地放在围墙外面，等着他来取。

甚至，连被篱笆勾坏掉的部分，Arthur这个三十多岁的大男人都帮他缝好了，很暖的细节。

暖心之余，我愈加同情Arthur的遭遇；这个男人明明有能力有爱心、善待孩子和身边的人，却一辈子见不得阳光，真的太可怜了。

……he said, “When I went back for my breeches—they were all in a tangle when I was gettin‘ out of ’em, I couldn’t get ‘em loose. When I went back—” Jem took a deep breath. “When I went back, they were folded across the fence… like they were expectin’ me.”

“Across—”

“And something else—” Jem’s voice was flat. “Show you when we get home. They’d been sewed up. Not like a lady sewed ‘em, like somethin’ I’d try to do. All crooked. It’s almost like—”

“—somebody knew you were comin‘ back for ’em.”

Jem shuddered. “Like somebody was readin‘ my mind… like somebody could tell what I was gonna do. Can’t anybody tell what I’m gonna do lest they know me, can they, Scout?”

Jem’s question was an appeal. I reassured him: “Can’t anybody tell what you’re gonna do lest they live in the house with you, and even I can’t tell sometimes.”

……

【4. 原文分析：树洞被填】

Figure 8: tree-knot

Finch家和Radley家之间有一棵树，在裤子事件发生之后，这棵树的树洞里面开始陆续出现了各种各样的小东西，包括之前提到的拼写大赛冠军奖牌、以及一块怀表、一把铝刀、两个手工雕刻的娃娃等等。

这两个小娃娃是Arthur雕刻的，男孩子是Jem，女孩子是Scout，所有的细节栩栩如生。

I pulled out two small images carved in soap. One was the figure of a boy, the other wore a crude dress. Before I remembered that there was no such thing as hoo-dooing, I shrieked and threw them down.

Jem snatched them up. “What’s the matter with you?” he yelled. He rubbed the figures free of red dust. “These are good,” he said. “I’ve never seen any these good.”

He held them down to me. They were almost perfect miniatures of two children. The boy had on shorts, and a shock of soapy hair fell to his eyebrows. I looked up at Jem. A point of straight brown hair kicked downwards from his part. I had never noticed it before. Jem looked from the girl-doll to me. The girl-doll wore bangs. So did I.

“These are us,” he said.

两个孩子和Arthur之间的互动，就依托于这个可爱的树洞。

可以想象，孩子们每天路过树洞，都会怀着期待的心情看看里面有没有新的东西出现。

而那个放东西的人，也会因为看到孩子们欣喜的表情而开心。

然而Arthur的父亲是不会允许他有任何乐趣的，他用水泥封上了这个树洞，而两个孩子只能眼睁睁地看着这个传递快乐的树洞被谋杀掉。

他给出的理由是：这棵树病了，快死了。

Jem问Atticus，这棵树到底是不是病了？

Atticus说，它看起来很健康，像你一样。

然而Nathan先生如果认为它病了，那它就是病了，毕竟是他们家的树。

隐喻便是：即便所有人都认为Arthur没病，只有Nathan先生认为他病了，也只能由他“杀了”Arthur；别人的家务事是无法插手的。

那个晚上，Jem无声地抽泣了很久。

“Mr. Radley, ah—did you put cement in that hole in that tree down yonder?”

“Yes,” he said. “I filled it up.”

“Why’d you do it, sir?”

“Tree’s dying. You plug ‘em with cement when they’re sick. You ought to know that, Jem.”

Jem said nothing more about it until late afternoon. When we passed our tree he gave it a meditative pat on its cement, and remained deep in thought. He seemed to be working himself into a bad humor, so I kept my distance.

As usual, we met Atticus coming home from work that evening. When we were at our steps Jem said, “Atticus, look down yonder at that tree, please sir.”

“What tree, son?” “The one on the corner of the Radley lot comin‘ from school.”

“Yes?”

“Is that tree dyin‘?”

“Why no, son, I don’t think so. Look at the leaves, they’re all green and full, no brown patches anywhere—”

“It ain’t even sick?”

“That tree’s as healthy as you are, Jem. Why?”

“Mr. Nathan Radley said it was dyin‘.”

“Well maybe it is. I’m sure Mr. Radley knows more about his trees than we do.”

Atticus left us on the porch. Jem leaned on a pillar, rubbing his shoulders against it.

“Do you itch, Jem?” I asked as politely as I could. He did not answer. “Come on in, Jem,” I said.

“After while.”

He stood there until nightfall, and I waited for him. When we went in the house I saw he had been crying; his face was dirty in the right places, but I thought it odd that I had not heard him.

【5. 原文分析：着火事件】

Figure 9: Miss Maudie

在一个下着雪的寒冷冬夜，Maudie小姐的家着火了，Jem和Scout站在Radley家门口看着大人忙来忙去。

I knew when there was trouble in our street. Soft taffeta-like sounds and muffled scurrying sounds filled me with helpless dread.

“Whose is it?”

“Miss Maudie’s, hon,” said Atticus gently.

At the front door, we saw fire spewing from Miss Maudie’s diningroom windows. As if to confirm what we saw, the town fire siren wailed up the scale to a treble pitch and remained there, screaming.

“It’s gone, ain’t it?” moaned Jem.

“I expect so,” said Atticus. “Now listen, both of you. Go down and stand in front of the Radley Place. Keep out of the way, do you hear?

而暖男Arthur，悄悄地给Scout披上了一条毛毯。

“Then whose blanket is that?”

“Blanket?”

“Yes ma’am, blanket. It isn’t ours.”

I looked down and found myself clutching a brown woolen blanket I was wearing around my shoulders, squaw-fashion.

“Atticus, I don’t know, sir… I—”

I turned to Jem for an answer, but Jem was even more bewildered than I. He said he didn’t know how it got there, we did exactly as Atticus had told us, we stood down by the Radley gate away from everybody, we didn’t move an inch—Jem stopped.

“Mr. Nathan was at the fire,” he babbled, “I saw him, I saw him, he was tuggin‘ that mattress—Atticus, I swear…”

“That’s all right, son.” Atticus grinned slowly. “Looks like all of Maycomb was out tonight, in one way or another. Jem, there’s some wrapping paper in the pantry, I think. Go get it and we’ll—”

Jem终于把所有的线索都串联了起来，推断出其实是Arthur帮他缝了裤子、在树洞里放礼物，给Scout披毛毯，他把一切都告诉了父亲。

Atticus太了解Nathan先生了，他选择让孩子们把这件事藏在心里，因为如果公开去感谢Arthur，反而会给他惹来麻烦。

“Atticus, no sir!”

Jem seemed to have lost his mind. He began pouring out our secrets right and left in total disregard for my safety if not for his own, omitting nothing, knothole, pants and all.

“…Mr. Nathan put cement in that tree, Atticus, an‘ he did it to stop us findin’ things—he’s crazy, I reckon, like they say, but Atticus, I swear to God he ain’t ever harmed us, he ain’t ever hurt us, he coulda cut my throat from ear to ear that night but he tried to mend my pants instead… he ain’t ever hurt us, Atticus—”

Atticus said, “Whoa, son,” so gently that I was greatly heartened. It was obvious that he had not followed a word Jem said, for all Atticus said was, “You’re right. We’d better keep this and the blanket to ourselves. Someday, maybe, Scout can thank him for covering her up.”

在着火事件中，Maudie小姐的反应也令人惊叹，她没有哀叹自己运气不好，反而是乐观地说：我早就想一把火把这个老房子烧了，多种点花花草草。

而Maudie小姐，也是Maycomb镇子上为数不多的明理人之一（她支持Tom无罪）。

Miss Maudie’s sunhat was suspended in a thin layer of ice, like a fly in amber, and we had to dig under the dirt for her hedge-clippers. We found her in her back yard, gazing at her frozen charred azaleas. “We’re bringing back your things, Miss Maudie,” said Jem. “We’re awful sorry.”

Miss Maudie looked around, and the shadow of her old grin crossed her face. “Always wanted a smaller house, Jem Finch. Gives me more yard. Just think, I’ll have more room for my azaleas now!”

“You ain’t grievin‘, Miss Maudie?” I asked, surprised. Atticus said her house was nearly all she had.

“Grieving, child? Why, I hated that old cow barn. Thought of settin‘ fire to it a hundred times myself, except they’d lock me up.”

“But—”

“Don’t you worry about me, Jean Louise Finch. There are ways of doing things you don’t know about. Why, I’ll build me a little house and take me a couple of roomers and—gracious, I’ll have the finest yard in Alabama. Those Bellingraths’ll look plain puny when I get started!”

---

【4. 人物：Atticus】

Figure 10: Atticus

慈父、严父，表里如一的正派人。

【1. 原文分析：为什么选择为Tom辩护】

当Atticus为黑人辩护的事情成为孩子们取笑Scout的话题后，Scout跟父亲讨论了这件事。

她问，你是否为黑鬼辩护？

父亲说，当然了，不要说黑鬼这个词。

她说，学校里每个人都这么说啊。

父亲说，从现在开始，是除了你之外的每个人。

“Do you defend niggers, Atticus?” I asked him that evening.

“Of course I do. Don’t say nigger, Scout. That’s common.”

“‘s what everybody at school says.”

“From now on it’ll be everybody less one—”

Scout依旧没有解除心中的疑惑，她继续追问：所有的律师都会给黑人辩护吗？

父亲说，当然了。

她说，那为什么Cecil（她的同学）说你给黑鬼辩护？听起来就好像你在做一件不光彩的事情。

父亲叹了口气，说，我只是在给一个黑人辩护而已，他的名字叫Tom Robinson。他住在我们镇子附近，他也去Calpurnia去的那个黑人教堂，Calpurnia和他的家人很熟，她说他们生活的很清白。Scout，你还太小，不能理解一些事情，但是这个小镇有些言论说我不应该为这个男人辩护。这是一个异常的案件，要到夏天才会审判。法官John很好心地给了我们一个延期。

她说，如果你不应该给他辩护，那你为什么要去做这件事？

父亲说，有几个理由，最重要的一个是，如果我不这么做的话，我就无法在这个镇子上抬起头，我无法代表这个国家的法律，我甚至无法告诉你和Jem不要去做某些事情。

But I was worrying another bone. “Do all lawyers defend n-Negroes, Atticus?”

“Of course they do, Scout.”

“Then why did Cecil say you defended niggers? He made it sound like you were runnin‘ a still.”

Atticus sighed. “I’m simply defending a Negro—his name’s Tom Robinson. He lives in that little settlement beyond the town dump. He’s a member of Calpurnia’s church, and Cal knows his family well. She says they’re clean-living folks. Scout, you aren’t old enough to understand some things yet, but there’s been some high talk around town to the effect that I shouldn’t do much about defending this man. It’s a peculiar case—it won’t come to trial until summer session. John Taylor was kind enough to give us a postponement…”

“If you shouldn’t be defendin‘ him, then why are you doin’ it?”

“For a number of reasons,” said Atticus. “The main one is, if I didn’t I couldn’t hold up my head in town, I couldn’t represent this county in the legislature, I couldn’t even tell you or Jem not to do something again.”

关于为什么要给Tom辩护的话题，在Atticus的家中出现了很多次，Scout无法理解父亲是正常的，尤其是整个镇子的舆论都在抨击Atticus时。

而Atticus坚持践行着自己的价值观，并且跟孩子如实交流他的想法，比如下面这段：

Scout说：Atticus，你一定是错了……

Attcus：为什么这么说呢？

Scout：看起来大多数的人都认为他们是对的，而你是错的。

Atticus：他们当然有权利这么去想，而且他们的想法也有权得到完全的尊重，但是在我能够和其他人共处之前，我必须先能和自己共处。人的良心是唯一一件不遵循少数服从多数原则的事。

关于这一点，我特别认同；很多时候，我判断一件事能不能做、该不该做的标准，就是“我做这样的事会不会良心不安”。如果会，那么我不做，如果自己的行为违背良心，我会看不起自己，更别提如何教育孩子。

“Atticus, you must be wrong…”

“How’s that?”

“Well, most folks seem to think they’re right and you’re wrong…”

“They’re certainly entitled to think that, and they’re entitled to full respect for their opinions,” said Atticus, “but before I can live with other folks I’ve got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience.”

【2. 原文分析：吐口水事件】

而Atticus面对非议时，没有去责备镇上的人，多次教育孩子不要因为别人的言论或行为而失去理智，永远保持内心的平静。下面的例子更加能说明他的处世哲学。

在那场黑白颠倒的审判结束之后，明明胜诉的一方（Bob 和 Mayella）并没有享受胜利的快感，因为他们知道，经过Atticus的精彩庭审辩护之后，镇子上所有人对案子的真相都心知肚明。Tom无罪，Mayella主动投怀送抱，Bob殴打自己的女儿之后反咬一口。

陪审团裁决Tom有罪，不是根据事实，而是根据“他是黑人，白人告黑人，黑人必定有罪“的神逻辑来做决定的。

即便这个白人口碑极差，靠救济金生活，是社会的渣滓，但他只要是白人，就可以告赢那个真正、善良、辛勤劳动的黑人。

在我们看来何其荒谬！在当时的社会却是颠扑不灭的真理。

Bob赢了案子，却恼羞成怒，无时不刻想要报复，报复揭露真相的Atticus一家。

一天早上，他在邮局门口拦下了Atticus，朝他的脸上吐了一口口水。

而Atticus的反应是什么？

眼睛都没眨一下，拿出手帕擦干净脸上的口水，然后站着让Bob骂。

这是懦夫的行为吗？我认为恰恰是他完全不在乎Bob的表现。

我不在乎你，所以随便你怎么骂我，怎么吐口水，我都无所谓。你爱咋地咋地，我根本不会因为你的言语和行为而困扰。

Bob也看懂了，丢下一句一句“你这个喜欢黑鬼的杂种，太骄傲了，连打都不想跟我打是吧？”。

Atticus回：“不，我是太老了。”，语毕，把手放在口袋里，继续走。

他是打不过Bob吗？不，他是镇子里的神枪手，他只是不屑与人渣纠缠。

孩子们担心他的安危，要求他随身带枪；他说，手里拿枪就等于邀请别人射你。

At that moment Aunt Alexandra came to the door and called us, but she was too late. It was Miss Stephanie’s pleasure to tell us: this morning Mr. Bob Ewell stopped Atticus on the post office corner, spat in his face, and told him he’d get him if it took the rest of his life.

“I wish Bob Ewell wouldn’t chew tobacco,” was all Atticus said about it.

According to Miss Stephanie Crawford, however, Atticus was leaving the post office when Mr. Ewell approached him, cursed him, spat on him, and threatened to kill him. Miss Stephanie (who, by the time she had told it twice was there and had seen it all—passing by from the Jitney Jungle, she was)Miss Stephanie said Atticus didn’t bat an eye, just took out his handkerchief and wiped his face and stood there and let Mr. Ewell call him names wild horses could not bring her to repeat. Mr. Ewell was a veteran of an obscure war; that plus Atticus’s peaceful reaction probably prompted him to inquire, “Too proud to fight, you nigger-lovin‘ bastard?” Miss Stephanie said Atticus said, “No, too old,” put his hands in his pockets and strolled on. Miss Stephanie said you had to hand it to Atticus Finch, he could be right dry sometimes.

Jem and I didn’t think it entertaining.

“After all, though,” I said, “he was the deadest shot in the county one time. He could—”

“You know he wouldn’t carry a gun, Scout. He ain’t even got one—” said Jem. “You know he didn’t even have one down at the jail that night. He told me havin‘ a gun around’s an invitation to somebody to shoot you.”

在跟孩子们讨论这件事情的时候，他说Bob的愤怒是可以理解的，而如果朝他吐口水能够让Mayella免于被暴打一顿的话，他也很愿意这么做。他宁愿自己受辱，也不想让Bob的孩子们受苦。

他教育孩子的方式永远是从人性的角度来客观分析每件事，而非简单地去定性一件事、给别人下结论。

【3. 原文分析：案件讨论】

Scout和Jem都经历了那场庭审，Jem坚信Tom可以赢，这是他眼中的正义和法律。

而听到败诉判决后，他的世界似乎崩塌了，他所坚信的东西似乎被毁灭了。他问Atticus，为什么？为什么判决会是Tom有罪？

Atticus说，如果陪审团是12个像你一样的男孩子，Tom就可以恢复自由了。

而平时看上去正常的大人，在一场黑人与白人的审判中，也会丧失理智，无法保持公正。

白人永远会赢，黑人永远会输，事实很丑陋，但这就是现实。

Jem继续说，并不意味着是对的，你不可以凭借这样的证据来裁决一个人。

Atticus说，你不可以，但是他们可以并且他们这么做了。你长得越大，就会看到越多这样的事情。无论一个人的肤色如何，他在法庭中都是应该得到公正的审判的，但人们却把偏见代入到了法庭中。有一件事你必须记住，无论何时，如果一个白人对黑人做了这样的事情，那么不论他是谁，不论他多么有钱，不论他来自多么高贵的家族，这个白人就是垃圾。

最让我觉得恶心的事情就是，低级白人利用黑人的无知。不要自欺欺人，我们总有一天要为此付出代价的，我希望不是在你们这一代发生。

“If you had been on that jury, son, and eleven other boys like you, Tom would be a free man,” said Atticus. “So far nothing in your life has interfered with your reasoning process. Those are twelve reasonable men in everyday life, Tom’s jury, but you saw something come between them and reason. You saw the same thing that night in front of the jail. When that crew went away, they didn’t go as reasonable men, they went because we were there. There’s something in our world that makes men lose their heads—they couldn’t be fair if they tried. In our courts, when it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins. They’re ugly, but those are the facts of life.”

“Doesn’t make it right,” said Jem stolidly. He beat his fist softly on his knee. “You just can’t convict a man on evidence like that—you can’t.”

“You couldn’t, but they could and did. The older you grow the more of it you’ll see. The one place where a man ought to get a square deal is in a courtroom, be he any color of the rainbow, but people have a way of carrying their resentments right into a jury box. As you grow older, you’ll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don’t you forget it—whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash.”

Atticus was speaking so quietly his last word crashed on our ears. I looked up, and his face was vehement. “There’s nothing more sickening to me than a low-grade white man who’ll take advantage of a Negro’s ignorance. Don’t fool yourselves—it’s all adding up and one of these days we’re going to pay the bill for it. I hope it’s not in you children’s time.”

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【5. 结语】

Atticus这段话，放在今天依旧适用。我们中国人是黄种人，而在白人的世界中，谁能说没有偏见和歧视呢？也许很多白人还秉持“中国人素质低下、不守规矩、没有人权”的偏见，但是13亿中国人，并非人人如此。

我见过坑蒙拐骗的丑陋中国人，我也见过正直勇敢勤劳努力的中国人；我见过值得尊敬的白人，我也见过不少White Trash。

地域攻击、人种攻击都是以偏概全，真正有理智的人不会简单地因为一个人的肤色和国籍而匆匆下定论，更不会把这样的偏见传递给自己的孩子。

没有谁是高人一等的。我们看待白人时，不要先入为主地认为白人就是好人，一定要通过他的言行来真正了解他，不要轻易上当受骗；与之对应，我们看待黑人或者其他人种时，也不要先入为主地认为他们就一定有这样那样的缺点。

正所谓：己所不欲，勿施于人。

书中还有太多值得品味的人物和细节，比如临死前要戒掉吗啡的老太太Dubose，比如因为Tom受到不公正待遇而痛哭的Dill，比如颠覆世俗、跟黑人结婚生孩子的Raymond先生，比如同情犹太人却看不起黑人的老师Caroline Gates……

最后，所有的细节，所有的人物，所有的片段，在我脑海中汇成这样一段话，反复敲打着我的内心：

白人不全是诚实的。

黑人不全是骗人的。

大人不全是正确的。

孩子不全是错误的。

这世界上只有一种人，就是【人】。

I think there’s just one kind of folks. Folks. —— Scout Finch

我看完这本书后问了一些身边的朋友是否有看过，好几个都回答我：“Of course, this is classic.”

真心推荐所有人都看一遍这本书，如果觉得英文难啃，可以像我一样先看中文的，如果觉得人物关系太复杂，可以对照我画的人物关系图来看。

希望你看了之后也有所收获~