Remembering Harper Lee With the Reimagined Home of Scout Finch
This month we pay homage to one of the most important writers of the 20th century and her novel, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'
To Kill A Mockingbird was published in 1960 and was an instant bestseller and critical success. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and was later made into an Academy award-winning movie, starring Gregory Peck. Not only was it a beautiful story about growing up in the USA’s deep south, it was also a story of morality, ethics and compassion. It would grace the reading lists of schools and universities for generations to come, and helped to herald the civil rights era and the fight for racial equality.
The novel’s author, Harper Lee, passed away in her sleep on February 19th, 2016. The world will forever be indebted to her for giving birth to such exquisite characters as Atticus Finch, Jem, Dill, Scout, and Boo Radley, and for articulating the power of empathy. As Atticus said, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view … until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”
Fictional Character at a Glance
Who would live here: Scout Finch, when she’s all grown up
From which book: To Kill a Mockingbird
Author: Harper Lee
Why now: Homage to the author, who passed away last month
Home style: Rustic farmhouse
The novel’s author, Harper Lee, passed away in her sleep on February 19th, 2016. The world will forever be indebted to her for giving birth to such exquisite characters as Atticus Finch, Jem, Dill, Scout, and Boo Radley, and for articulating the power of empathy. As Atticus said, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view … until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”
Fictional Character at a Glance
Who would live here: Scout Finch, when she’s all grown up
From which book: To Kill a Mockingbird
Author: Harper Lee
Why now: Homage to the author, who passed away last month
Home style: Rustic farmhouse
Scout, like Lee, had no need for fussiness or frills. She was a true tomboy and didn’t like anything too prim or pretentious. No matter what her financial successes would have been in her future, Scout would live modestly, just as her father had. Ideals and morality would have been far more important than material concerns.
As Scout had a very intellectually stimulating childhood, surrounded by a loving family, she was a happy child. She enjoyed the space she had growing up. I think she would want something similar from her house as an adult and would, therefore, probably choose to live in a farmhouse.
As Scout had a very intellectually stimulating childhood, surrounded by a loving family, she was a happy child. She enjoyed the space she had growing up. I think she would want something similar from her house as an adult and would, therefore, probably choose to live in a farmhouse.
Even as a young girl, Scout possessed a keen curiosity and understanding of the world around her. She had a very expansive mind and an open nature. This would be mirrored in her choice of home design with big, open spaces.
These spaces would be decorated simply. Truth be told, I guess home design would probably not be much of an interest of Scout’s – it certainly wasn’t while she was a child. As such, she would probably decorate in a somewhat haphazard and eclectic manner.
These spaces would be decorated simply. Truth be told, I guess home design would probably not be much of an interest of Scout’s – it certainly wasn’t while she was a child. As such, she would probably decorate in a somewhat haphazard and eclectic manner.
Her home design would also be focused on utilitarian concerns. She would choose rooms and decor based on necessity rather than style. As a child, Scout loved to roam about outdoors and pursue adventure. It seems unlikely she would lose this love as she aged, and so it would be useful for her home to contain a mud room and laundry to store her coats and hats, as well as give her somewhere to take off dirty boots.
Scout was greatly influenced by her father and Atticus instilled in her a deep love of learning. She would have really grown into this and used her innate intelligence (she could read even before going to school) to pursue a career that relied on her intellect.
Without doubt, Scout would need and enjoy a library in her adult home. As Atticus said to his rambunctious daughter, “You just hold your head high and keep those fists down. No matter what anybody says to you, don’t let ’em get your goat. Try fighting with your head for a change.”
Without doubt, Scout would need and enjoy a library in her adult home. As Atticus said to his rambunctious daughter, “You just hold your head high and keep those fists down. No matter what anybody says to you, don’t let ’em get your goat. Try fighting with your head for a change.”
Scout Finch was very much like her creator, and may well have become a writer when she grew up. She would need a writing desk and even a room dedicated to pursuing this vocation. It would be a small, quiet place surrounded by books and with an absence of technology. In an open letter to Oprah in 2006, the reclusive Lee said, “In an abundant society where people have laptops, cellphones, iPods and minds like empty rooms, I still plod along with books.”
Scout Finch loved to read. As an adult, I think she’d love to have a little nook like this to lie in and devour a book, or just daydream, looking out the window. Lee said it beautifully when she wrote for Scout: “Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.”
Growing up in a household surrounded by beautiful words and such ethical principles, I think Scout would want to be surrounded by the messages of her youth in her adulthood. She may use words to decorate her home and fill her walls; they would bring back lovely memories of her father. She could put up some of his many wonderful quotes, such as: “Before I can live with other folks I’ve got to live with myself.”
Another one of Atticus’ beautiful sayings came as a reply to Scout when she said, “Atticus he was real nice”, about a character in a book she’d just read. Her father said in response: “Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them.” I like to think that with Scout’s quirky personality and sense of humour, she might have a room like this, filled with mirrors to remind her of her father’s wise words.
While Scout might live in a farmhouse or something similar, she wouldn’t want to live too far from neighbours and friends. She really enjoyed her interactions with her neighbours and would want similar relationships as she aged.
She said, “Neighbors bring food with death and flowers with sickness and little things in between. Boo was our neighbour. He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a pair of good luck pennies, and our lives.”
She said, “Neighbors bring food with death and flowers with sickness and little things in between. Boo was our neighbour. He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a pair of good luck pennies, and our lives.”
Scout had a beautiful relationship with her brother Jem and their friend Dill, who apparently was inspired by the author Truman Capote, who was Lee’s childhood friend and neighbour. She loved playing with them and spending time in their treehouse. I like to think she’d build a treehouse in her grown-up home to remind herself of all the adventures she had as a child.
Perhaps Dill and Jem could come and spend time as Scout’s houseguests in the treehouse, or Scout could use it to read and write in. I’m hoping this room isn’t too flowery for Scout. When asked if she’d like to grow up to be a lady, she replied, “Not particularly.”
One of the many lessons Scout was taught by her father was one of acceptance. His calm and wise nature might have instilled in Scout an interest in religion or alternate and new age philosophies. Because of his nature, Atticus could well have been an early adopter of mindfulness techniques. In such an instance, Scout may have grown to enjoy a similar practice of her own.
Scout definitely would have loved a screened porch for those hot, southern nights. She said: “Summer was our best season: it was sleeping on the back screened porch in cots, or trying to sleep in the treehouse; summer was everything good to eat, it was a thousand colours in a parched landscape; but most of all, summer was Dill.”
TELL US
Who was your favourite character when you were a child, and what do you think their home would be like if they were here today? Share your literary memories with us in the Comments section.
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TELL US
Who was your favourite character when you were a child, and what do you think their home would be like if they were here today? Share your literary memories with us in the Comments section.
MORE
The Reimagined Home of Star-Cross’d Lovers, Romeo and Juliet
The Reimagined Home of Ebenezer Scrooge: Past, Present and Future
Celebrating ‘Puberty Blues’ With Debbie and Sue’s Reimagined Retro Home
The children enjoy childhood adventures and scare themselves with stories of their reclusive neighbour Boo Radley. Their innocent summer games come to an end when their father Atticus Finch, the town attorney, defends a black man (Tom Robinson) in a rape case against a white woman.
It is through the trial that Scout learns important lessons in morality and ethics from her esteemed father. According to friends and colleagues of Lee, the novel was largely autobiographical. Lee’s own father was a small town Alabama lawyer and the story itself was inspired by the racism she witnessed growing up in Monroeville, Alabama.