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What Does Harper Lee Represent In To Kill A Mockingbird

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Nelle” Harper Lee is a pulitzer prize winning author. She has written the books Go Set A Watchman, and To Kill A Mockingbird. Her books were a part in the civil rights movement and still are considered a large piece of literature in the scene of racial equality. The books take place in the point of view of scout, a young tomboy girl that is assumed to be a reflection of Harper Lee herself. But why did she write her novels? What influenced her to do so? What do her characters represent? We first take a look to Harper Lee’s hometown of Monroeville Alabama, to see what her childhood was like, and how it was growing up in her area. As the article “Encyclopedia of Alabama : Monroeville” states, “Lee was born in Monroeville on April 28, 1926.” Around this time the town was small, primarily white, but with a near equal black population. The two demographics were heavily separated, but as you may find out in the story, just how it was in real life, there are a few people that blurred that line of separation. …show more content…

Amasa was a southern lawyer, that defended a black man that was falsely accused of murder, much similar to Atticus Finch. Atticus is presumed to be a storyline reflection of Amasa, such as Scout is presumed to be Lee herself. Lee has always said that the novel is not a fictionalized autobiography, but it seems quite obvious that she takes heavy influence from her hometown, family and friends. The novelist also took influence from her family names. This can be seen in the characters in the Cunningham family, Francis Finch, and the Finch last name as a whole. All of which take their names from Frances Cunningham Finch, Harper Lee’s

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Harper Lee’s classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird was set in the southern states of America during the interwar period, a place and period of time where racism and sexism were predominant. This story highlights the plight of those that acted out against the dominant ideology. Some brave people began to speak and act upon what they believed in no matter what society said. A few women began to speak up which was very uncommon. Miss Maudie Atkinson, Calpurnia, and Scout Finch showed very strong characteristics.

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524 Words | 3 Pages

(Lee, H. (1960). To kill a mockingbird. J. B. Lippincott &

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The time period of the 1930s included The Great Depression, Jim Crow laws, and the Civil Rights Coalition, leaving hardships and crime in their wake. Harper Lee’s famous novel To Kill a Mockingbird that was published on July 11, 1960, gives the readers an insight of what it was like for her growing up in a small southern town in the 1930s. The events she witnessed growing up as a lawyer’s daughter during this time had significant influence for the best-selling novel To Kill a Mockingbird that won a Pulitzer Prize in 1961, and became an Academy Award winning film in 1962. To Kill a Mockingbird has a strong theme of believing the good in everyone, no matter the circumstances. Harper Lee’s father, Amasa Coleman Lee, was a lawyer.

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350 Words | 2 Pages

The novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee follows the childhood of Scout Finch. Scout grew up living in Maycomb, Alabama along with her brother Jem and her father Atticus. In the midst of her childhood Atticus was called upon to represent Tom Robinson, a black man living in Maycomb who was accused of raping a girl named Mayella Ewell. During this time Scout and her family had many hardships due to the towns criticism while doing the right thing and helping an innocent man. In the novel, Harper Lees’ use of tone helped to develop the central idea, which is the importance of having a moral compass.

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447 Words | 2 Pages

Harper lee writes about herself portrayed as ,Scout, a girl who wants to be like her brother from the way she dresses to the way she acts. No doubt any girl who wears overalls in the 60’s is going to be mocked. when miss Dubouse, an older lady that lived by the Finches, said "What are you doing in those overalls? You should be in a dress and camisole, young lady! You’ll grow up waiting on tables if someone doesn’t change your ways!"

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Many events and characteristics in the novel are real memories experienced by Harper Lee. Scout Finch’s character

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In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses her own childhood experiences of growing up in Monroeville, Alabama during the Great Depression to show the coming of age of her character, Scout Finch. “ People” Lee explains, “ moved slowly then,” and such a pace gives the young room to invent games, run rampant on the town streets, and stay safe.” Scout Finch was always the “go-getter.” She was the little girl who fought for what she thought was right, usually with her fists. "You might hear some ugly talk about it at school, but do one thing for me if you will: you just hold your head high and keep those fists down.

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Harper Lee before To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee was a very famous author who wrote the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Harper had a calm childhood with events that may have helped her with the theme and ideas in her book. After the novel was published there weren’t any books published from her anymore. Lee became a multimillionaire, thanks to her novel. What was she like before her fame?

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592 Words | 3 Pages

To Kill a Mockingbird, a novel by Harper Lee, describes the events and trials surrounding a window of Jean-Louise “Scout” Finch’s childhood growing up in the small southern town of Maycomb. In doing so, Lee reveals young Scout’s internal conflict in relation to her views on topics such as racism, discrimination, and societal rank. Her impressionability as a child causes her to be bombarded with opinions wherever she turns, and must therefore sort through the confusion around her to discover her own personal set of morals. Lee accurately conveys this through characterization, the irony and even hypocrisy of the stances of others, and through a range of motifs.

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1131 Words | 5 Pages

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses characterization, symbolism, and irony to express the cloud in judgment prejudice causes when examining the morals of others. Scout is able to understand more about the town folk in Maycomb County through studying her teacher’s ironic and corrupted views of life around her. Lee uses Miss Gates, Scout’s teacher, to allow Scout a chance to understand the complexity of the adult world. While teaching the class about the Holocaust, Gates expresses the injustice being done to the Jews. She teaches the children that the town does not “believe in persecuting anybody” (Lee 329) because of the U.S. democratic government.

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714 Words | 3 Pages

Through To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee teaches us the righteousness of empathy. Harper Lee 's technique of writing and coinciding Christian beliefs weaved through emphasizes the importance of the story 's moral and themes. It is through Scout, the young dynamic and protagonist, that Lee opens the reader 's eyes to a realistic world of prejudice and inequality during the 1930s. Though introducing many characters throughout the novel, it is through Lee 's wise father character, Atticus Finch, that she further helps teach her readers life lessons, one being empathy. While narrating in first person, Lee further details her novel with the setting and use of style and diction.

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1367 Words | 6 Pages

Racism in America Racism can be defined as a major problem in United States history, and can be dated back to the 1400’s. Racism can be viewed and defined in many ways, but most accurately is seen as the state of characterizing an individual based on his race, and or believing that one race is superior to another (Shah) . Racism is as big of a problem in the USA as anyone can think, starting way back to when the country had just began to form, when Europeans started settling into the 13 original colonies (Shah). Ever since then, it seems that the problem has only been on the rise, rather than the opposite. Racism has always been a major issue, although hundreds of years have passed since the birth of racism, the problem just seems to never go away.

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218 Words | 1 Pages

In the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, there are many similarities between the narrator, Scout, and the author, Harper Lee. For instance, both grew up in the time of the great depression with little money to do extra things; therefore, they relied on their imaginations to entertain them for hours (Haggerty) . Comparatively, both were tomboys in their youths and grew up in small towns where girls were expected to wear dresses and act like a lady. Also, both Harper Lee and Scout both grew up with their fathers being lawyers for their town and would often hear of cases that they worked on (“Harper Lee”) . Similarly, when writing her book a “mad dog warning” was released, no doubt giving the idea for the episode of the mad dog Tim Robinson.

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HOW FAR WAS THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES TO BLAME FOR THE PROBLEMS OF THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC 1919-1923? Martina Occhetta Total Word Count: CONTENTS In what ways did the Treaty of Versailles punish Germany? pg. 3

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1128 Words | 5 Pages

Harper Lee’s purpose was to show that race doesn’t define anything. In the novel, Miss Maudie says, “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” (90).

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