To Kill a Mockingbird Final Essay Freshman English Introduction The literary critic Wayne C. Booth contends that when we read literature we “stretch our own capacities for thinking about how life should be lived.” If this is so, then the study of a novel such as To Kill a Mockingbird ought to conclude with reflection about what we can learn by reading it and then put into practice in our own lives. During our studies of To Kill a Mockingbird, we have wrestled with profound moral and ethical questions;