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Harper Lee Research Paper

832 Words4 Pages

Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is one of the most important works in
American literature. Its appeal, readability, and smooth-flowing narrative contribute to its success. The plots contrast the universal themes – “humor versus tragedy; innocence versus guilt; good versus evil; ignorance versus truth”
(“Timeless”). This style unique to Harper Lee comes from the experiences that have defined her life.
Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926, in Monroeville, Alabama. Her father, a descendent of Confederate Civil War General Robert E. Lee, was
Amasa Coleman Lee, a lawyer, and her mother was Frances Finch Lee. She had two older sisters, Alice Finch Lee and Louise Lee Connor, and one older brother, Edwin Coleman Lee. Harper Lee …show more content…

She is an intensely private woman, and, as a result, anecdotes and accounts recounted by friends tell her story.
Several former schoolmates have described her as a feisty child, known for her love to fight. George Thomas Jones called her the “Queen of the
Tomboys,” describing an incident where she “whipped [a bully] before he knew
- 1 - what hit him” (Fischer). Jones also recalled Lee’s protectiveness of Truman
Capote, always coming to his rescue when he got himself into various troubles.
Harper Lee’s higher education was encouraged by her father, a lawyer who practiced in Monroeville. Others in her family, including her sister Alice, became lawyers, and Lee’s father wanted her to become a lawyer in the law firm at which he worked. She studied law at Huntington College in Montgomery
(1944-45) and the University of Alabama (1945-1949). She transferred to Oxford
University as an international student during her last year. However, she had actually wanted to become an author, and, six months before finishing her studies, she began her writing career. She penned several short stories and submitted them to a literary agent. At his suggestion, she expanded one of …show more content…

Robinson’s trial may have been based on the notorious Scottsboro Trials. There are obvious parallels between James E. Horton, the judge of the one of the Scottsboro Trials, and Atticus Finch, Scout’s father and Robinson’s lawyer. Both the real and fictional trials convicted black men who were accused of rape by white women by a prejudiced all-white jury. In the case of the Scottsboro Trials, outrage at the blatant discrimination overturned some of the original convictions six years later.
When the Library of Congress conducted a survey in 1991, in which readers were asked to cite books that have made impacts on their lives, the
Bible was the only book ranked higher than To Kill a Mockingbird. It is evident that To Kill a Mockingbird is a true classic, as it is still and always will be relevant.
Everything that has happened in Harper Lee’s life – from the Scottsboro Trials to
- 3 - her friendship with Truman Capote – has affected To Kill a Mockingbird. These aspects of her life have manifested themselves either as her unique flair or as events in the book. Few other books rival Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird as a cornerstone in American

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To Kill a Mockingbird is widely accepted as a literary classic in the modern world of literature. Harper Lee’s creation of a story is told from an adult’s point of view, as the narrator, Scout, recalls the events that shaped her childhood. Scout tells the story as a young girl living in Maycomb, Alabama. Shifting between the Scout that is telling the story and the “young girl” can oftentimes foreshadow future events in the story. The foreshadowing is bluntly stated, so much so that the reader can almost forget it’s there.

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Outline Thesis: Much of the success of Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, is based upon Lee’s choice of an adult first person narrator Scout Finch, reflecting upon her childhood experiences during the Great Depression. I.Adds more detail to the situation. A.Scout explains the situation with more thorough detail.

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Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is an amazing novel that touches on many of the social issues during the time period in which it is written. Narrated by a six-year-old, readers “see” the faults and fallacies of the setting through the innocent, honest Scout. Sight plays an incredible role in the novel, as it is utilized to show what is morally acceptable to Harper Lee. Not only did Lee’s novel capture America’s attention at the time it was published, it brought to the surface all-to real social problems prevalent during the time period.

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Harper Lee is best known for her award winning novel “To Kill a Mockingbird”. This book became a best seller around the world and was also turned into an Academy Award winning movie. “In Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” racism affected many events in this novel by showing gender, social, and racial prejudice.

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Harper Lee’s novel teaches its readers about how Boo and Atticus do what’s good, not for themselves, but for others. To Kill a Mockingbird is a “simple love story” because of the

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She is the youngest of four children, and she does not have a feminist influence and this makes her grew up as a tomboy. Lee’s closest childhood friend was a writer-to-be, Truman Capote. On high school she always seems to like English Literature after graduating in 1944, she attended Huntingdon College, which was entirely female in Montgomery. She always

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Literature can be analyzed with many different critical lenses. While analyzing To Kill a Mockingbird, one may use a critical lens to recognize the different ideas throughout the novel. Harper Lee’s novel demonstrates her perspective on intolerance and discrimination within the early twentieth century. Firstly, intolerance of people who are different is very prevalent within the novel.

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Inspired by the 1931 Scottsboro trial, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee dives deep into justice and courage. The strength portrayed here vary in size and intensity so it shows one a wide range of application of the two concepts. From smaller battles expressing self control to saving two lives and the trial of a doomed innocent man, To Kill a Mockingbird gets readers to truly think about the applications of justice and courage in life. Harper Lee opened our minds to the idea of a deeper story behind the actions of an individual with Ms. Dubose. She constructed the character of the old woman using words tailored to make us dislike her.

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The outstanding novel of a childhood in a tranquil Southern town and the crisis of conscience that rocked it, To Kill A Mockingbird became both an instantaneously bestseller and a critical triumph for Harper Lee when it was first issued in 1960. It went on to win the Pulitzer prize in 1961 and was subsequently made into an Academy Award-winning motion picture, also a timeless classic. Sympathetic, phenomenal, and profoundly moving, To Kill A Mockingbird takes readers to the foundation of human behavior-to innocence, love and detestation, ludicrous and poignancy. To Kill A Mockingbird is considered to be one of the finest masterpieces of American literature. Lee's novel is a coming-of-age story that is dominated by a vital event in the community

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The way the people and the town influence Jem and Scout make the characters more realistic and the overall story much more interesting. To Kill a Mockingbird is an exceptional novel that conveys many positive messages throughout. In her novel, Lee creates honest and relatable characters that take the reader on a journey through life in the south during the Great Depression. Readers are impressed by Lee’s eloquent writing and amazing characters, all of which make To

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1022 Words | 5 Pages

In 1991, the Library of Congress conducted in survey in which they asked readers to cite books that have made impacts on their lives. The Bible was the only book ranked higher than To Kill a Mockingbird. It is easy to tell that To Kill a Mockingbird is a true classic, as it is still relevant to this very day. Everything that has happened in Harper Lee’s life – from the Scottsboro Trials to her friendship with Truman Capote – has affected her writing of To Kill a Mockingbird. These aspects of her life have shown up as events in her book or her unique writing style.

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1178 Words | 5 Pages

This book report was assigned for me and my 11th grade classmates by our Language Arts teacher, Mr. Samuel Jaja. The title of the book is To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee. The book has approximately 281 pages, and was published by the J. B. Lippincott & Co. in july 11, 1960.This book is translated into more than 40 languages, sold millions copies worldwide due for it realistic structures and content. Mainly, the book receive several recognitions; for example, this book is known for winning a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction after being on the bestseller list for more than 40 weeks, defining at the end this work as classic of modern American literature. The reason that I decided to read this book is because it talks about the problems that were faced and change every aspect of society until today in one place that was form and spreads around the world, equality among the people, that are still need to be prevented or controlled, so we can say this writing helps to educate the minds of young and older ones, something I admired and interest on to read every word it presents.

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874 Words | 4 Pages

In the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird”, there were many dramas and excitement that had happened in the story. It was an enthusiastic book that was published by the author Harper Lee and very popular too. It was most appealing how the town was blinded by racism which led to several incidents throughout the story. Most of the story was very intriguing where you could find a little girl named Scout that would act like a boy and would learn more about the town called Maycomb and her father Atticus, as well. This is a very fascinating book that builds a curiosity in yourself to leave you breathless about finding out what would happen next in the story.

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1591 Words | 7 Pages

During this time she made friends with a Broadway play director who later would support her while she pursued her interest in writing while also helping her find an agent. In July 1960, Lee finished and published her prize winning novel

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551 Words | 3 Pages

She worked odd jobs for a few years until one day she was reunited with her childhood friend Truman Capote, who was becoming increasingly will known for his own writing. Capote was able to find Lee an agent, and her new friend Michael Martin Brown, a famous Broadway composer, supported her financially for a full year while she worked full time on her current novel; what would become the famous To Kill a Mockingbird. When asked about To Kill a Mockingbird at a 1960s interview Lee said “Naturally, you don't sit down in white hot inspiration and write with a burning flame in front of you. But since I knew I could never be happy being anything but a writer, and Mockingbird put itself together for me so accommodatingly, I kept at it because I knew it had to be my first novel, for better or for worse.”

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