TKAM: Novel vs. Film

Prompt: What do you think is the most important difference between the written and filmed version? Provide evidence with specific details.

In To Kill A Mockingbird, there were many differences between the novel and the film. One of the main differences was Calpurnia. In the novel by Harper Lee, I think she was mentioned more than in the movie. They completely took out the part where Calpurnia took Jem and Scout to her church. In the book it described how Calpurnia would talk less proper in her church than how she spoke at the Finches's household. Which in my opinion was an important part because Calpurnia tells Jem when he asks why she talks like that,"It's right hard to say,"she said."Suppose you and Scout talked colored-folks' talk at home it'd be out of place, wouldn't it? Now what if I talked white-folks' talk at church, and with my neighbors? They'd think I was puttin' on airs to beat Moses." To me this played a big part in the book, and it showed just how society was back then.

Another important difference there was between the written and filmed version of To Kill A Mockingbird, was the Christmas scene when Scout and Jem's cousin Francis tells them that Atticus is a "nigger-lover." That is a crucial scene, in my opinion, as it shows how children are being influenced by elder's racist views. Speaking of Francis, Aunt Alexandra wasn't even mentioned in the film at all. But in the novel she sort of played a big part, being Atticus's sister. Her and Scout would get into fights, and she would usually talk bad about Atticus time to time.

The last thing I think was missing from the movie that was crucial was the character Dolphus Raymond. He's always drinking from a paper bag; he sits with the African-Americans; and Jem tells Scout and Dill that he's had several children with an African-American woman, even though he's from an old, rich family. Later, Scout and Dill find out that Mr. Raymond does care about what other people think, but not in the way they expected. His paper bag turns out to be hiding not whisky but Coke, and his constant drunkenness is a put-on. There's a reason: "When I come to town, […] if I weave a little and drink out of this sack, folks can say Dolphus Raymond's in the clutches of whiskey—that's why he won't change his ways. He can't help himself, that's why he lives the way he does". Like Calpurnia speaking one language at home with the Finches and another at the African-American church, Mr. Raymond's double life shows Scout the compromises people have to make in order to live in communities where they don't quite fit in. This to me was a vital lesson that I think should've been in the film but wasn't. 

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