Okay, so the details are hazy, and I haven’t read the book in a minute, but this crept into my mind last night and the possibility blew me away:
Isn’t Atticus the one who tells Scout very sternly that it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird?
And later, when he has to kill the dog, isn’t it a surprise to Scout that Atticus has any skill with a gun at all? And doesn’t Atticus seem pretty sheepish and ashamed at showing that part of himself?
So I ask—as a child, did Atticus Finch kill a mockingbird?
That would be the one evil thing he ever did.
