Harper Lee Research Paper

“… climb into his skin and walk around in it. ” Atticus teaches Scout and important life lesson. The novel To Kill and Mockingbird describes Lee’s childhood growing up in a small country town called Maycomb. She grew up in a small family consisting of her dad, Atticus and her older brother, Jem. The novel describes her childhood adventures and journeys as she grows and matures. Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird discusses biographical and historical events by using characterization and setting. “Harper Lee was born in Monroevill, Alabama in 1926” (Hacht). Lee was born to Frances Finch, who died when Lee was young, and was the daughter of a lawyer in Maycomb County, Amasa Coleman”(Moss, Wilson 390), who they referred to as “Atticus”. Lee was a “Tom-boy” growing up because she was the only girl in the family. “Truman Capote, famous writer, was a close childhood friend of Lee and is thought to have served as the model for Dill in the novel” (Hacht). “After graduating from the public schools of Monroeville, Lee attended a small college in nearby Montgomery before attending the University of Alabama” (Telgan 285), and one year at Oxford University in England (Stabler 663) essay writer premium 3d. She studied law after graduating essay writer program, but withdrew one semester before completing her law degree” (Hacht). She withdrew for her law degree to pursue her writing career (Hacht). “She helped author Truman Capote research information for the book, In Cold Blood” (Stabler 663). “She wrote essays and short stories in her spare time. ” Her agent called to tell her about the one of her short stories being extended into a novel (Telgan 287). The book was To Kill and Mockingbird which was her only book, was immediately popular and critical success, winning a Pulitzer Prize in 1961 (Hacht).

The practice of slavery made whites prejudice against blacks, and the whites did not get along well with the blacks, which was a cause for a major change. Even though slavery ended they where still treated unfairly. “Although Lee sets her novel in the south of the 1930s, conditions were little improved by the early 1960s in America” (Telgan 295). Despite the end of slavery African Americans were still denied many of their basic rights. Blacks were demeaned by society. They segregated the public rest rooms and drinking fountains and forced blacks to the back of buses. Injustice was challenged was challenged by a woman named Rosa Parks.

She refused to give up her seat to a white man. Being lead by Martin Luther King Jr. , civil right leaders lead a boycott against the bus system in Montgomery, Alabama on December 5, 1995 (Telgan 295-296). “Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop, grass grew on the sidewalk, and the courthouse sagged in the square” (Lee 5) Lee describes the setting o Maycomb for the reader to visualize the setting of the story. “… Mrs. Dubose was the meanest old lady who ever lived” (Lee 35). Harper Lee uses characterization to describe the meanness in Mrs.

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Dubose, and why Jem and Scout hate to walk by her house. Harper Lee teaches life lessons in To Kill a Mockingbird by describing her childhood. She discusses biographical and historical events by using characterization and setting to help the readers see what she wrote.

References

1. Hacht, Anne M. “To Kill an Mockingbird. ” Literary Themes for Students: Race and Predjudice. Vol. 2 Detroit: Gale, 2006. 470-483.
2. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale. Hardin Valley Academy. 23Oct. 2009 http://go. galegroup. com/ps/start. do? p=GVRL&u=tel_k_hardinhs
3. Moss, Joyce & Wilson, George “To Kill a Mockingbird. ” Literature and Its Times. Profiles of 300 Notable Literary Works and the Historical Events That Influenced Them. Vol. 3: Growth of Empires to the Great Depression (1890-1930s) Detroit: Gale, 1997. 390-396.
4. Gale Virtual Reference Liberary. Gale. HARDIN VALLEY ACADEMY. 26 Oct. 2009 http://go. galegroup. com/ps/start. do? p=GVRL&u=tel _K_hardinhs Stabler, Scott “To Kill a Mockingbird. ” St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture Ed. Sara Pendergast and Tom Pendergast. Vol. 4. Detroit: St. James Press, 2000. 663-664.
5. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale HARDIN VALLEY ACADEMY. 26 Oct. 2009 http://go. galegroup. com/ps/start. do? p=GVRL&u

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