#wwhld

What would Harper Lee do?

This is the question that plagued me late into the night for the majority of last week. Why, you ask? It’s simple: Wikipedia. 

First things first - that place is competitive. Within one day of making my first edit to this page my delicate words were ripped from their rightful place, replaced by the same shoddy workmanship that preceded them. 

Not that I’m bitter.

Regardless, I’m grateful for the time I spent on Wikipedia. I touched on this in my last post, but deciding what to edit was actually the hardest part of my journey. The articles that desperately needed help mostly lay outside my realm of expertise - Azerbaijan articles need attention? You really want me to take a whack at those? - and I actually became kind of dispirited as I floated through pages upon pages of content I had no connection with. 

Anyway, I eventually decided to edit some of the character sections of the “List of To Kill a Mockingbird Characters” page, and after reading through it quickly for the first time I knew my changes were going to be mostly superficial. This thesis remained consistent throughout my experience; it wasn’t the content that needed editing, it was the construction. 

So I set off into the unknown, fingers at the ready. I deftly wove words from my keys, constantly asking myself what would Harper Lee do? Dammit, what would she do? (I’m guessing she wouldn’t create a Wikipedia page full of spoilers, but that’s another matter). 

The easiest part of my experience: the actual writing. I enjoy editing, and I enjoy this book, so writing on each of the character’s proved to be an enjoyable act. 

The hardest part of my experience: swallowing my pride. When I saw my Atticus Finch section had been changed to this nonsense, I was appalled. Why was my notable quote removed for this section, but not for Scout’s? Why were my sentences decimated? Why, why, why? 

(You may compare my version to their version and make the choice for yourself).