How Did Harper Lee Impact Society

Nelle Harper Lee, youngest of four, was born in Monroeville, Alabama, on April 28, 1926, to mother, Amasa Coleman Lee, and father, Francis Cunningham Finch Lee. It was said that Lee’s mother Amasa suffered from bipolar disorder throughout life (“Harper Lee”). Although her parents wanted her to act like a proper lady, Lee wore too small of overalls and often would be harsh on other kids for not standing up for themselves. Many of the kids would call her a bully, though she recognized it as a compliment. Nelle was not a complete boy like she was on the playground, her behavior was actually quite normal. She was polite and respectful to adults and remembered to use her manners by saying “sir” or “ma’am” when spoken to (Shields, 38). In grade school,

One myth is about how she only wrote one book, which is true though throughout her live she has written magazine articles and earlier works from her college years. Another is about how Harper Lee hadn’t written To Kill A Mockingbird, but her friend, Truman Capote, had wrote the world renowned classic. Many of these myths stem from Harper Lee being a very remote person, because it causes much speculation to who she is as a writer and a person. Some myths also speculate that Harper Lee was dead, which is true now but at the time of this myth it was false. Finally, there’s a myth about Harper Lee lacking in creativity, which is believed by many to be untrue. The reason why many believe this myth to be untrue, is because she took her life and connected many things in her book to these experiences. So, it seems that Harper Lee has many myths revolving around her and more were created the longer she stayed in her remote

Harper Lee is well known for her great contributions towards modern society through her astounding book, To Kill a Mockingbird. The novel is read world-wide, in high schools and colleges because of its in-depth look at the social classes in the south during the 1930's. The book was influenced by society, in particular the social order of the south during her childhood. Lee grew up during this time of controversy which is why she writes so passionately about the topic. Lee wrote the novel to make a point about race while basing much of the plot off a trial from her young age, her own father, and the society she grew up in.

Harper Lee conveys a message of tolerance and acceptance to people of Alabama at a time of racism. If Scout changes, grows and perceives the world with more maturity, this is because Harper Lee also had the same experience. When Harper Lee was only five, nine African Americans were accused of raping two white woman near Scottsboro, Alabama. After the court trial, five of the nine men were sentenced to long prison terms.

‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ written by Harper Lee in 1960 is a novel set in the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama. The story follows Scout Finch, the daughter of Atticus Finch, a well-respected lawyer who is defending an African American man against the charges of rape. The characters in this novel are constructed in such a way that through their actions, appearances and attitudes the issue of racism in the 1930s arises quite clearly. Harper Lee has used the contrast between characters in certain events to inform and shape the readers view of just how bad racial issues were in society during the 1930s.

Harper Lee is a famous author who wrote the award winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird. She grew up in the heart of Alabama and tied in many aspects of her southern childhood into the novel. There are historical and biological influences in the book To Kill a Mockingbird that reflect Lee’s life and the society around her during the 1930s.

Society was cruel to Harper Lee in her early years and throughout her life. Because of her schools and communities she always felt like an outcast, which was easily seen in her own characterization of the title’s main protagonist, Scout. She saw the injustice of the world and was inspired to write the classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird. “He likened Tom’s death to the senseless slaughter of songbirds by hunters and children” (chapter 25). She had seen injustice to blacks in her communities and wanted to shed light on the wrongdoing of the subject. “Yes, suh. I felt right sorry for her, she seemed to try more’n the rest of em-” (Chapter 19). Tom, as well as countless other men, was subject to prejudice and possibly death. Although

Harper Lee was born in Alabama around 1930, her father was a lawyer, To Kill A Mocking Bird was developed my Harper Lee’s experience and made into a fiction book. The book was published in 1957 around the time of Civil rights movement and Martin Luther King. While Harper Lee was writing the novel, things like Rosa Parks not giving up the seat to a white man happened; this boosted the perspective, that Harper Lee wanted the people to see that’s why she used the innocence of a child to narrate her perspective. Scout is a perfect character for this, she is very intelligent you can see that when Mrs Caroline disapproves her ability to read better than other kids.

Lee grew up in the south in the early nineteen-hundreds. The people around her felt blacks were beneath whites and gave them many difficulties to put up with. This injustice was especially prominent in court cases, like the one Lee depicts in her novel. Though Harper Lee accepts that there is racism in the community, she reminds us all her own thoughts by giving advice to Scout that all the readers can take something away from: “‘As you grow older, you’ll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don’t you forget it— whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash’”(Lee 224). Clearly, dealing with the injustices of trials at home inspired Lee to write her book and point out the problems we are turning a blind eye to in our own country. Using her personal background in the oppression of the south, Harper Lee shed light on the issue by depicting the issue in her remarkably well-written

To Kill a Mockingbird was written and published in 1960, “in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement” (Carolyn Jones). This time was just a few years after events like the murder of Emmett Till, a fourteen year old boy accused of whistling at a white woman, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and the ruling in Alabama that segregation on buses is unconstitutional happened (PBS African American World). This goes to show that the time period had some effect on Harper Lee at the time.

Lee’s literary masterpiece To Kill a Mockingbird deals with a great deal more than three themes. In fact, the whole novel itself is a social commentary. Published during the beginning of the civil rights movement in the 60’s, Lee couldn’t have released this novel at a better time. When racism was once again a major problem, To Kill a Mockingbird came along and smacked the U.S. right on the forehead. Reminding us of our dark history and encouraging us to not repeat the past. It did so using tools like racism, liberty, and

Harper Lee grew up during the Great Depression and lived through the time where racism was especially big. The main influence of her novel was the Scottsboro Boys Trials, as she incorporated a similar case with Tom Robinson. Both were wrongly accused of rape and both were found guilty. The way she describes racism throughout the novel was also influenced by society, as she must have seen and heard the racism first-hand growing up. To Kill a Mockingbird was Lee's way of telling her story, though it doesn’t say in the novel that Lee is Scout, she writes of her life experiences and feelings through her.

To Kill A Mockingbird has many intricate concepts, especially for a six-year-old, like Scout, to understand. Harper Lee certainly did not shy away for tough or complicated situations in her book that often occurred during the 1930’s. Some of her main themes relate to the racism common than. Through the very curious character of Jem Finch, Lee developed the theme of the harsh reality of social inequality of those days.

Lee wanted to address issues like racism and prejudice etc. in society at that time moreover the only way she could’ve talked about it was in a book through events the characters faced. At that time, society was going through the hardest time like experiencing the great depression, the dust bowl and racism and all of that was told through the eyes of a little girl named Scout. In To Kill a Mockingbird, the issues that Harper Lee wanted to address were told by themes that were unfolded through a series of

When the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, was written by Harper Lee, the Southern United States was still clinging tightly to traditional values. Southern societies pressured men to behave as gentlemen, and women were expected to be polite and wear dresses. These stringent gender roles were adhered to in small southern towns because they were isolated from the more progressive attitudes in other areas of the United States. Harper Lee documents the life of one young girl growing up in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama. Jean Louise Finch, also known as "Scout," is a young girl searching for her identity. Scout, a young tomboy, is pressured by adults who insist she should conform to the