History YMMV / ToKillAMockingbird

* FairForItsDay: [[https://jezebel.com/atticus-was-always-a-racist-why-go-set-a-watchman-is-n-1718996096 Some reviewers]] have taken issue with Jem's comments that, for rape to occur, "you had to kick and holler, you had to be overpowered and stomped on, preferably knocked stone cold". However, Jem was simply stating, in layman's terms, what the law said about rape at the time of the book (and for a few decades afterward).

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** It is not uncommon to hear Dill's preference for hanging out with Jem interpreted as a childhood crush, and his ChildhoodMarriagePromise with Scout as his cover. Especially since Dill is said to be based on Harper Lee’s childhood friend Creator/TrumanCapote, who was openly gay.

* CatharsisFactor: With how much of a horrible person Bob Ewell is, it’s very satisfying when Boo finally kills him with his own knife.

** If Bob didn’t cross it by beating and possibly raping his own daughter and falsely accusing an innocent man of it, he definitely crossed it by [[spoiler: trying to murder two children just [[EvilIsPetty because their father made him look foolish in court]].]]
** The jury on Tom’s case, [[spoiler: sans Mr. Cunningham, the only dissenting voice who was eventually pressured into line with the rest, crosses it by finding Tom guilty, which results in Tom being given the death penalty. Even though they knew that it was impossible for Tom to be guilty, they still condemn him to die [[EvilIsPetty just because they refuse to admit that a black man’s word could ever triumph over a white man’s]].]]
* NightmareFuel:

** Tom Robinson. He's a nice quiet family man who minded his own business, and occasionally helped Mayella. Nonetheless, Bob Ewell decides to get him killed. What makes Tom's fate even more tragic is that [[spoiler: Atticus didn't screw up his case in the least. It's made very clear that Tom is innocent, yet he's voted guilty anyway.]]

* {{Woolseyism}}: The Italian title of the book and movie is 'Il Buio Oltre La Siepe', 'The Darkness Beyond The Hedge', which is a pretty poetic description of the main theme of both works; not just racism, but also fear of the unknown, whatever is in that darkness that is just beyond the hedge that borders the world we do know, [[spoiler: like Boo Radley]].

* AwardSnub: The critically acclaimed UsefulNotes/{{Broadway}} production was expectedly nominated for several Tonys, but was shockingly omitted from the Best Play lineup. Many have claimed the snub was due to the productions' controversies regarding a lawsuit from Harper Lee's estate over changes, and producer Scott Rudin taking legal action against community theaters that were performing or planning to perform the previous stage adaptation.

** At the time of the story, Negro was a polite way to address blacks, while Nigger was consistently treated as a negative term. Many today (even those aware of this fact) at best see the former as a slightly less insulting version of the latter, and at worse see very little distinction between those two words.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: A YoungAdult ComingOfAgeStory about a {{Tomboy}} growing up in a QuirkyTown in the DeepSouth during the Depression, and her heroic dad who braves communal scorn to [[MightyWhitey help the oppressed black man.]] Sounds like a ClicheStorm from TheNineties, but was groundbreaking when first published in 1960.

** Dolphus Raymond in the book.

** At the time of the story, Negro was a polite way to address blacks, while Nigger was consistently treated as a negative term. Today, many see little distinction between those words.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: The book is a funny case in that if you're a little kid, you probably won't get some of the more family-unfriendly lines, in a sort of twisted cousin of ParentalBonus. It's certainly one hell of a delayed realization, however, to understand the line, "She said she'd never kissed a man before, and she might as well kiss a nigger. She said what her pa do to her don't count."
** They have this one in the UK (or did at least) as a book study for kids at school somewhere around 12-16. As a powerful book about rape, incest, bigotry, racism, slavery, and human rights, it's one of those books people like to try to get banned because it has the word 'nigger' in it.

** Page 174[[labelnote:Explanation]]In most print copies, this is the first page in the book to contain an instance of the N-word. Because the book is commonly used in white-majority schools, the page is a frequent subject of CringeComedy jokes, highlighting both the awkwardness of white students and teachers having to say a racial slur out loud and the implications of someone reading the offending page without hesitation and/or in an overly-eager manner.[[/labelnote]]