Paul Simon, the musician, once said, "If you can get humor and seriousness at the same time, [you've] created a little special thing, and [which is] what I am looking for, because if you become pompous, you lose everything” (Simon 1). In the 1930s and into the 1960s, racism was a very serious problem. As noted, the authors took this issue seriously and made great works of literature out of it. Many of them truly demonstrated the severity of racism in society. Even if, as always, the criticism continues. Some critics have argued that Scout, in To Kill A Mockingbird, is an unreliable narrator. This is simply because Scout is a child. They suspect her of being too innocent, naive and having an impartial view. However, Scout as a narrator is a reliable choice because she allows the reader to focus more on the outside of situations, she allows the reader to form her own opinion, and she gives the reader pointers on how to cover the events and certain actions in the novel. Scout, as the child narrator, helps the reader “read between the lines.” First, Scout allows the reader to focus more on the outside of situations. Children tend to experience things differently from others. Events that occur in society may be of great importance to adults and mean nothing to children. Important things differ between children and adults. However, sometimes a child's perspective can be the best way to see things. In To Kill A Mockingbird, the whole town was talking about Tom Robinson's trial, especially since he was African-American and Atticus, a white man, was to be his lawyer. According to critic Edwin Bruell in Racism in Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird, "[To Kill A] Mockingbird, he tells us, is about the townspeople, not the middle of paper......For Kill a Bird mocking. New York: Warner Books, 1982. Mancini, Candice. Racism in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. Farmington Hills: Christine Nasso, 2008. Social Issues in Literature. Print. Murray, Jennifer. “More than one way to (mis)read a mockingbird.” The Southern Literary Journal 43.1 (2010): 75+. Gale biography in context. Internet. December 19, 2013. Simon, Paul. Smart quote. Xplore, 2013. Web. December 17, 2013. Joyce Moss and George Wilson. “To kill a mockingbird.” Literature and its times: profiles of 300 notable literary works and the historical events that influenced them. Flight. 3: Growth of empires until the Great Depression (1890-1930). Detroit: Gale, 1997. 390-396. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Internet. December 19, 2013. Wilson, Charles E., Jr. Race and Racism in Literature. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005. Exploring social issues through literature. Print.