Author Background and Historical Context
Nelle Harper Lee, better known as Harper Lee, was born on April 28, 1926, in Monroeville, Alabama. She went on to further her education at Huntington College, University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, and Oxford University. (Harper). She was the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, that was published in 1960 about a family in Maycomb County in southern Alabama. She incorporated her mother and father into major points of the novel. She made the main family have part of her mother’s name, “Finch,” and one of the lesser families have another part of her mother’s name, “Cunningham” (NEA). Her father was a lawyer in southern Alabama, much like the father of the Finch family. Her father once defended two African American men that were accused of murdering a storekeeper and lost the case like Atticus Finch does in the novel.
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Throughout the novel race and societal standards plays a major role in the conflicts throughout. Lee was very active in the Civil Rights movement that progressed throughout the sixties. During the sixties, African Americans were constantly dealing with racism and poverty because of their skin color they were unable to find work and if they did it had little pay. Furthermore, the Civil Rights Act was being pushed through the government to prohibit discrimination in public places of African Americans (History). Race issues were apart of every day life during the time the book was written and represents one of the major reasons for writing the
The novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee has many parallels between the town in the book, maycomb, and the author’s, Harper Lee, life. First, scout is a tomboy and so was the author. Mrs. Lee, like scout wore pants in a town where all the girl were wearing skirts. Next, the town of maycomb was a small town, and so was the little town Harper Lee grew up in. Another parallel is,in the book, before Tom's trial there was a mob at the jail he was in. In Harper Leeś life there was a trail much like Toms, before the trial there was a mob at the jail the accused were held in. Next, both cases, Tom’s and the one in Mrs. Lee's life, you will see that a black male or males are being accused of rape with no evidence against them. In addition
Nelle Harper Lee is a very well-known author, who earned fame from her book, To Kill a Mockingbird. This book was so well-written that she won the Pulitzer Prize in 1961. To Kill a Mockingbird is admired by many people, so it is reasonable to think that the book was inspired by life experiences. To make a book of such strong emotion, Harper Lee must have experienced some of that emotion herself. Harper Lee’s early life must have inspired her to write To Kill a Mockingbird.
Throughout history, there has been an overarching theme that writers write about. Great authors write about what they know. They write about what they see. They write about what they hear. They write about personal experiences and incorporate details from their lives into their literature. Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is a classical work that reflects the Civil Rights and Women’s Movement of the 1950’s-1960’s through her depiction of the relationship between blacks and whites and her portrayal of female characters.
Harper was the youngest daughter, and was raised in a small town called Monroeville. Likewise, Scout, the main character of To Kill a Mockingbird, was raised in a small town called Maycomb. Scout was a tomboy in the novel, just like Ms. Lee, when she was a girl (“To Kill a Mockingbird”). Growing up Harper had a friend named Truman Capote. From her experiences with him she was able to create Dill Harris, a character from her novel. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout had a neighbor named Boo Radley, Ms. Lee got this idea from one of her own neighbors as a child (“To Kill a Mockingbird”). Amasa Coleman Lee, Harper’s father, practiced law and served on the Alabama State Legislature. Ms. Lee’s experiences with her father allowed her to use the law in her novel (“To Kill a Mockingbird”). Harper Lee’s childhood gave her great experiences with law, being a child, and having others in her life that she was curious
On April 28, 1926 in Monroeville, Alabama, Nelle Harper Lee was born to Amasa Coleman Lee and Frances Finch Lee. Along with her siblings, Alice, Louise, and Edwin, Harper was educated in Monroeville Public Schools before going on to attend Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Alabama. After a year at Huntingdon, Lee decided to follow in the footsteps of her father and began studying law at the University of Alabama in 1945 [2]. She left there to study abroad at Oxford University, Wellington Court in England [4]. After returning to the United States, she continued her education at the University of Alabama. However, in 1950, six months prior to completing her law degree, Lee moved to New York hoping to begin
Due to her hometown and her parents, she was able to find inspiration for her novels. Nelle Harper Lee was born April 28, 1926 in Monroeville Alabama (104). Harper Lee’s Father was Amasa Coleman and her mother was Frances Finch Lee. Lee’s father was a lawyer and like the child protagonist Scout of To Kill a Mockingbird, her father, Amasa Coleman Lee, once defended two black men, a father and son, who were accused of murdering a white store clerk (286). Harper Lee was young her neighbors had summer visits from Truman Capote, a future writer and a possible inspiration for a character in her book To Kill a Mockingbird. Truman Capote was a close friend may have been the inspiration for the character “Dill” in her first novel “To Kill a Mockingbird”(104). According to Marianne M. Moates “As a child, Harper Lee was ‘a rough ‘n’ tough tomboy…. She had short, cropped hair, wore coveralls, went barefoot, and could talk mean like a boy” (103). This tomboy like nature caused
Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926 and died February 19, 2016. She lived in Alabama for most of her life, then moved to New York to follow her dreams to become a writer. In July 1960, Harper Lee published her first novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. It was picked by the Book-of-the-Month-Club and Literary Guide. She also won a Pulitzer Prize and other Literary Works. The inspiration of the book was more coming of age story for her. She wanted it to show how unacceptable the racial prejudice in the south was. It is also said that the character Atticus Finch is based on her father. In conclusion, Harper Lee only wrote one novel, and her one novel went very
Through the growth of a young female protagonist, called Scout Finch, Lee offers insights into the prejudice, mainly racial, of the civil rights movement through the unique perspective of a young child. She judges the social intolerance as well as accuses the 1960’s America, admits of the Civil Rights Movement, because
Nelle Harper Lee was born on April 26, 1926 she grew up in a small town in Alabama. Young Nelle was a tomboy and the youngest of four children. Her father was a lawyer and apart of the Alabama State Legislature and owned part of a local newspaper. Her mother suffered from a mental illness, suspected to be bipolar disorder. Ms. Lee's love of writing and inspiration for her
“To Kill a Mockingbird “was one novel that I read in my literature class in junior high school .The novel “To Kill a Mockingbird was one novel that was written by a novelist named Nelle Harper Lee. Lee was from a small town called Monroeville, AL The novel was inspired by the racist attitudes observed as a child in Monroeville, AL ”To Kill a Mockingbird”
Society had a major impact on the creation of this book, inspiring Harper Lee to focus on the racism and judgment during the time period. Growing up in a time where trials such as the Scottsboro Boys were plentiful, Lee wrote of her experiences, and through her characters, showed how society played a role in their lives. Just as society influences her characters for better or for worse, we see in everyday life today how much society plays a role in our lives. Shaping us into one person, then changing us to another, society tells us what is right and what is wrong. It’s up to you to decide which is which.
Harper Lee includes many valuable lessons in To Kill a Mockingbird which relates to our lives. Lee's lessons incorporated in the story are also a part of the main themes of the book. Some lessons that stood out and influenced me were: how everyone is a person regardless of social standings or race and also how you need to view problems from another person's "shoes." These lessons portrayed in the book really made me change my perspective on different views.
Nelle Harper Lee, commonly known as Harper Lee, is the author of the famous 1960’s novel “To Kill a Mockingbird”. Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926 in Monroeville, Alabama, and died on February 19, 2016. Lee was known as a loner in her younger days and in college because she focused mostly on her writing and could care less about anything else. Focusing on her writing payed off because Lee’s first book (“To Kill a Mockingbird”) was published in 1960 and was a huge success. Despite her first book being such a hit she did not publish “Go Set a Watchman” (her second and final book) until 2015. Many myths were established about Harper Lee, but were never proven true. One myth was that Lee did not actually write “To Kill a Mockingbird”, but
Harper Lee was born in Monroeville, Alabama on April 28, 1926. She grew up as a tomboy and was the youngest of four children. Her father Amasa Coleman Lee was a lawyer and was part of the Alabama State Legislature. Her mother Frances Cunningham Finch barely left the house due to a mental illness which may have been bipolar disease. Truman Capote, also a writer, was one of Harper’s closest friends growing up. After Harper Lee’s graduation in 1949 she kept pursuing her career in writing once she moved to New York. At first she had a ruff start with her career and couldn’t seem to get on the right foot. It wasn’t until 1960 when she won the Pulitzer Prize winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird, and is best know for it. The novel To Kill a Mocking Bird loosely parallels author Harper lee’s life. (biography.com)
Harper Lee is an iconic American writer that almost every middle school child in America has heard of due her first book How to Kill a Mockingbird. For a very long time she has been compared to J.D. Salinger since the both of these writers have only one iconic piece of literature. Recently this comparison has changed when her lawyer, Tonja Carter, started to make more important decisions for Harper Lee after her sister passed away. Some people, including family and friends, believe that one of these decisions was to publish one of Harper Lee’s manuscripts that she has chosen not to publish over 58 years ago.