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About Harper Lee
Harper Lee grew up in the south. In fact, she grew up in a small Alabama town, Monroeville, which was very much like Maycomb, the town that the novel is set in. Her father was a lawyer, as was Atticus Finch. When she was five years old, Harper Lee was exposed to a trial in nearby Scottsboro, in which a group of black men was accused of raping two white women. Even though medical evidence showed that the women had not been raped, the men were found guilty. The trial was unfair to and prejudiced against the group of defendants. After they were convicted, a six year series of court battles repealed the death sentences of all but one of the defendants. This case seems to be the basis for the legal case in To Kill A Mockingbird.
As a child, Harper Lee was a tomboy who loved to read, having learned to do so before attending kindergarten. She ran around the neighborhood with a neighbor, Truman Capote, who seems to be the model for the novel’s character, Dill.
To Kill A Mockingbird is Harper Lee’s one and only novel. She also helped Truman Capote do research for his non-fiction best seller, In Cold Blood. Published in 1960, just before the height of the Civil Rights movement in America, the novel became a bestseller and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1961. It was made into a movie, starring Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch, in 1962. In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson named Harper Lee to the National Council On the Arts. In 2007, President George W. Bush awarded Lee the Presidential Medal of Freedom which is the highest civilian award. It honors individuals who have made “an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.”
Harper Lee lives in an apartment in New York and spends a lot of time at her sister’s home in Monroeville. She makes few appearances and receives few visitors, preferring a quiet and private life.
The setting
As discussed above, the novel is set in fictitious Maycomb, Alabama which bears a striking similarity to Harper Lee’s home town, Monroeville. In the novel, we read of the Finch home, the streets of Maycomb where the children played and learned about life, the courthouse, the schoolyard, and the outlying area where Tom Robinson lives and the one where Bob Ewell lives.
The time period is set during the Depression of the 1930’s. This adds to the prejudice toward blacks and the disparity between the economics of the various groups in this novel.
Characters
Themes
Innocence
Loss of innocence
Racial prejudice
Economic depression
Truth
Right v. wrong
Family
Trivia
This is one of my all time favorite books. There are so many facets to it. When I was young I didn’t read anything so deep, but it called to me. I read it again now and then and always receive something new I missed before. I recently found another “How to Kill a Mockingbird” type book. It’s called A Place To Belong. It’s by first-time author Paul Miller. It is really well written and puts you in a very deep place. I hope you and your readers have a chance to read it. I think it will be considered a classic.
Thank you for the posts.
Happy Reading!
i have a question 4 mary which book did u like best to kill a mocking bird or a place to belong