[Review book] To kill a mockingbird

udul: To kill a mockingbird
Penulis: Harper Lee

"Kau tidak akan pernah bisa memahami seseorang hingga kau melihat segala sesuatu dari sudut pandangnya... hingga kau menyusup ke balik kulitnya dan menjalani hidup dengan caranya."

"You'll never understand a person until you see everything from his perspective ... until you slip under his skin and live his life the way he does."

Semua berawal saat ayahnya, Atticus Finch memutuskan menjadi pengacara pembela seorang berkulit hitam--Tom Robinson--yang dituduh memerkosa anak gadis keluarga Ewell--seorang kulit putih. Perlahan Scout dan Jem merasakan ada hal yang berbeda. Kota kecil mereka, Maycoumb County ternyata tak seperti yang mereka kira selama ini. Ketenangan yang biasa mereka dapatkan perlahan berkurang. Banyak kecaman hingga ancaman mewarnai mereka. Sebab stigma negatif di kita kecil seperti Alabama pada tahun 60an masih begitu kuat, bahwa bila ada orang berkulit hitam melawan orang berkulit putih, maka ia pasti kalah.

It all started when his father Atticus Finch decided to become a black defender's defense lawyer - Tom Robinson - accused of raping Ewell's family girl - a white man. Slowly Scout and Jem feel something different. Their little town, Maycoumb County was not what they thought they were. The quietness they usually get is slowly reduced. Lots of criticisms up to the threat of coloring them. Because the negative stigma in us as small as Alabama in the 60s is still so strong, that if there are black people against white people, then he must be defeated.

Dengan sudut pandang seorang gadis kecil berusia delapan tahun, penulis mengemas dengan apik isu politik apartheid (perbedaan warna kulit), keadilan, dan prasangka manusia. Melalui tokoh sang ayah, Atticus, meskipun single parent, berusaha membesarkan kedua anaknya dengan cinta kasih, serta menanamkan hati nurani dan moral tentang keadilan dari perilaku kesehariannya yang tidak membedakan seseorang dari latar belakangnya. Pengacara yang berusaha untuk menegakkan keadilan, sejak dalam pikiran hingga perbuatan. Juga ada twist lain yang disiapkan penulis dan tak pernah disangka, mengenai tetangga pemalu mereka dalam suatu insiden, yang membuat Scout belajar bahwa hidup tidaklah melulu sesuai prasangka kita, hitam dan putih.

From the point of view of an eight-year-old girl, the authors carefully packed apartheid's political issues (color differences), justice, and human prejudice. Through his father's character Atticus, despite his single parent, attempts to raise his two children with love, and instills a conscience and morals about the justice of his daily behavior that does not distinguish someone from his background. Lawyers who seek to uphold justice, from the mind to the action. There was another twist prepared by the author and unexpectedly, about their shy neighbors in an incident, which made Scout learn that life is not merely our prejudice, black and white.

Mengenai judul yang sempat membuat saya bertanya-tanya, akhirnya saya temukan dalam halaman 179. Pengingkaran sepihak terhadap Tom si kulit negro, diibaratkan bagai membunuh seekir burung mockingjay--sejenis murai bersuara merdu--yang tak mengganggu hidup manusia. Dan itu dosa.

As to the title that once made me wonder, I finally found it on page 179. Unilateral denial of Tom the Negro skin, likened to killing a mockingjay bird-a sweet-sounding sword-that does not interfere with human life. And that's a sin.

Akhirnya saya mengerti, mengapa novel klasik ini begitu kuat dan tak lekang oleh zaman. Sebab isinya selalu relevan dan begitu jujur, tanpa diksi yang berlibet. Ringan, bermakna dalam, dengan penggambaran karakter yang kuat, serta setting yang tegas, seakan semua sifat manusia diwakilkan dalam kota kecil tersebut. Sayangnya, sang penulis yang berhasil memenangkan pulitzer karena novel ini, hanya melahirkan satu novel ini saja sepanjang hidupnya. Sungguh masterpiece!

Finally I understand, why this classic novel is so strong and timeless by the times. Because the contents are always relevant and so honest, without diction that berlibet. Lightweight, meaningful in, with strong character depictions, as well as strict settings, as if all human traits are represented in the small town. Unfortunately, the writer who succeeded in winning the pulitzer for this novel, gave birth to only one novel throughout his life. What a masterpiece!