Musings: Endings and To Kill a Mockingbird

 (Obviously there will be spoilers for To Kill a Mockingbird.)
I've always been that strange person who will love almost every ending. I think I just like the idea of an irrevocable closure. Debating over whether something fictional should have ended up that was simply does not interest me. I'd rather look at what's given instead of speculating.

As such, I haven't been more frustrated by the ending of a book in recent memory as I have been with To Kill a Mockingbird. This thoroughly surprised me. Not only is it a classic, but seemingly one that is easily beloved by a younger audience. And don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed parts of it, especially the courtroom scenes. Atticus is great. There are important points made about racism. But I was waiting for the punch-in-the-gut feeling that this was really good, that it was life-changing, and I never really got it. I thought I might when Tom was killed, when it seemed like Atticus was going to be hunted down...but then the ending just killed it.

Mostly what bugs me is this. Jem possibly killed someone. Sure, probably in self-defense, but he killed someone. Maybe. We never know. Does it matter? The book seems to imply that it doesn't. Atticus goes along with the Sheriff's story about Ewell falling on his own knife, even though it's unlikely. Jem may have gotten taller and moodier, but he's still a child and is protected by that, not even aloud to come to terms with what happened himself. He and Scout can forever be children, wise enough to understand the world around them already.

Aside from the lack of closure as to what happened, I just find this extremely ill-conceived. Jem probably is confused and guilty and scared, whatever the outcome may have been, but we are spared ever seeing any of this. Who said this was a coming-of-age story? Jem and Scout don't grow except physically. They aren't awakened to the harsh realities of the adult world. Sure, they witness some horrible things, but seem perfectly capable of handling it immediately or after a brief talk with their equally wise father. Never do they contemplate their role in society as white children or change their worldview; they seem to know who is good and bad immediately in a world that lacks complexities. Never are their eyes opened to the harsh realities of rape and abuse; they just simply take it in without further comment, only function as the eyes through which the meat of the story (the courtroom scenes) are told. They are forever shielded and rather detached as narrators.

So yes, I don't agree with what this says about growing up and childhood. But I've got another gaping problem with the ending. We are never shown any investigation, any angry family members looking for revenge, any attempt by Atticus to defend his son legally. But maybe he doesn't have to. Jem isn't just a child, but a white child. We've just spent most of the book seeing the injustice blacks had to endure, and are we really going to end with a white boy escaping any sort of guilt? Or perhaps it was a full-grown white man, as it could have been Boo as well. But no, the Sheriff thinks it's best that no trouble is taken, and unanimous good guy Atticus Finch agrees.

Maybe, just maybe, if Jem had privately confessed his guilt and horror to Scout and how he feels even worse that he (or Boo) is not subject to the same law that punishes innocent men, and the two realize how awful the world really is, we would have some sort of reasonable ending. Instead, we never know, there are inconsistencies, and Scout and Jem are forever idyllic children.

(Of course another option would be that the plan to assassinate Atticus succeeded, something I actually thought was going to happen, and I know I'm cruel for suggesting it, but it really would have made more thematic sense and awakened our characters and driven the point home. Though it doesn't do much for the black and white morality, though.)

I know many people aren't going to agree with this and I'm sure I'm not articulating this correctly, but I've hesitated much too long in saying something definite about it. Whether or not there are some uncomfortable racial issues underneath the whole thing (I personally am not sure I fleshed that out fully), I at least felt a vast hole in place of growth and complexities to Jem's character--or Scout, for that matter--that prevented the book for really peeling back the idyllic childhood glaze and driving its point home.

(Also I just firmly believe growing up is about realizing how horrible the world is.)