Did Harper Lee Need a Sensitivity Reader?

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The Activist for Activists. Author of Make a Difference with Mental Health Activism and The Happy Activist: Journey the 5-Step Activism Path to Focus Your Passion and Change the World. Teacher, Psychologist, Environmental Activist, Animal Lover.

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What is the Purpose of a Sensitivity Reader?

Sensitivity readers ensure that authors are faithful in their portrayal of characters with marginalized identities. In particular, author sensitivity is important if the character is outside your identity. For example, if you are white and writing about a black person. Or straight and writing about a queer person. Sensitivity readers assist authors in crafting more nuanced characters and avoiding bias and stereotypes.

I settled in to think about great characters whose authors’ identities didn’t match the characters’ identities. I turned to a treasured classic: Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird.

Did Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird Need a Sensitivity Reader?

To Kill a Mockingbird. Sensitivity Reader. — To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is set in 1936 and the story highlights racial tensions in a small Alabama town.

Many passages from this wonderful book stick with me. One of my favorite sections is when Scout attends church with Calpurnia. She describes the cemetery:

A few graves in the cemetery were marked with crumbling tombstones; newer ones were outlined with brightly colored glass and broken Coca-Cola bottles. Lightning rods guarding some graves denoted dead who rested uneasily; stumps of burned-out candles stood at the heads of infant graves. It was a happy cemetery.

To illustrate the idea of sensitivity, I focus on Lee’s main and supporting characters. Harper Lee was a white, cisgender, Christian, southern woman. Her main character was Scout Finch, a white, southern, Christian, female child. Lee’s identity matches Scout’s.

On the other hand, Atticus Finch, Scout’s father, is a white, cisgender, Christian, southern man. Lee modeled Atticus after her father, A.C. Lee, a newspaper editor and lawyer who defended black people. Atticus’s identity as a white, educated, Christian, male was not marginalized. Lee was likely on solid ground with Atticus.

Then I thought about the array of characters she also writes:

Boo Radley, a man cruelly abused by his family, is afraid to come out of the house.
Tom Robinson, a black, poor, southern, disabled man.
Mayella Ewell, an abused young woman who falsely accuses Tom of rape.
Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose, an elder, racist woman with a morphine addiction.

And many more richly imagined characters. Did Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird need a sensitivity reader?

How do Sensitivity Readers Help?

Sensitivity readers review manuscripts from their perspective and background. For example, if they had existed when Lee wrote this book in 1960, they could have given feedback on:

Ageism, substance abuse, and death attitudes for the character of Henry Lafayette Dubose.
Bullying, emotional abuse, and mental illness for the character of Boo Radley.
Race, socioeconomic class, and physical disability issues for the character of Tom Robinson.

Did Harper Lee need a sensitivity reader for Mockingbird? Considering that this gifted writer based her characters on family and neighbors in the town of Monroeville, Alabama, probably not. For example, Boo Radley was based on a neighbor who left presents in the knot of a tree. To Kill a Mockingbird won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature and remains a best seller. However, I’m going to reread it with a different lens; I suspect I will love it just as much.

On the other hand, in another post, I discuss a popular book that could have benefited from the services of a sensitivity reader.

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