To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is an amazing book with an abundant of surprises. Set back in the 1930’s in Maycomb, Alabama, when the Great Depression was happening and racism from the civil war still rages on in this southern city. All the quotes and themes in the novel can still be associated to life today. As the book was narrating in the past by Jean Louise Finch (Scout), there is one man that guides her and her brother, Jem Finch. It is their father, Atticus Finch.
Harper Lee is a very famous Author who wrote the book to kill a Mockingbird. The title of the book mean to kill innocence because a Mockingbird is a symbol of innocence. The book takes place during the Great Depression in Maycomb Alabama. In her novel to kill a Mockingbird lee uses Tom, Atticus, Boo Radley as the human embodiment of the Mockingbird.
On July 11, 1960 Harper Lee published her first novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. To date over 40 million copies of this chart topper have been sold to the public. The story is told from a child’s point of view and how she survives the challenges of racism and growing up. To Kill a Mockingbird also illustrates that challenging the opinions of others can aid in one’s moral improvement; Jem Finch experiences the most developmental progress through expanding his moral ideas and beliefs. Coming from a strong moral figure like Atticus, Jem is expected to become a respectable young adult.
Unfortunately, difficult childhood experiences still define adulthood even today. Harper Lee illustrates how childhoods are being shown as innocent, as well as how they can shape a person's future. In To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, she describes how difficult childhood experiences shape the future of kids; in America today, progress has not been made. Childhood is described as a time when children are young, innocent, and filled with a lack of knowledge when they are being put into these situations. In this novel, Jem and Scout, Jem’s sister, go through many troubles finding the truth about their surrounding racial community to being more mature and grown up after watching a trial about an African American being accused of raping a white woman.
“Doing all the little tricky things it takes to grow up, step by step, into an anxious and unsettling world (Sylvia Plath). The book To Kill Mockingbird by Harper Lee is an award winning book written in 1960 Maycomb Alabama. The book is narrated by a girl named Scout. She tells the story about how her brother Jem broke his arm and all the events leading up to it. It starts with a boy named Dill coming to visit for the summer and him and Jem started picking on the Radley house to try and see a boy named Boo Radley who had supposedly been locked in the house for years.
Society shaped Harper Lee to write To Kill a Mockingbird because she grew up in an extremely racist time period. To illustrate this, on biography.com¹, it reads “Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926, in Monroeville, Alabama.” In other words, Lee was born in the heart of the south in 1926, a time before equality was widespread. The evidence highlights that Lee grew up in a very racist period in the south, including segregation and the famous Scottsboro Trials. Another example is on page 331, Scout says “Well, coming out of the courthouse that night Miss Gates was - she was goin’ down the steps in front of us, you musta not seen her - she was talking to Miss Stephanie Crawford.
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.
Father, lawyer, and friend, the gentlemanly Atticus Finch hopes to shape the character of his children. The novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, is the story of the childhood of a young girl named Jean Louise “Scout” Finch. Throughout the book, Scout’s father, Atticus, tries his best to raise her and her brother, Jem, the right way as a single parent. To Kill a Mockingbird exemplifies the way the character of Atticus Finch either uses ritual or abandons it in order to develop certain character qualities within his children. He specifically focuses on the development of honesty, courage, and humility.
On the other hand, Lee’s mother, Frances Cunningham Finch, suffered from mental illness, rarely leaving the house (“Harper” 1). Lee was the youngest out of four children (“Early” 1). She also grew up as a tomboy and didn’t focus on much on boys, makeup, and other girly stuff (“Early” 1). She attended Monroe County High School in 1944. She also attended Huntingdon College in Montgomery
Harper Lee is a friendly and outgoing person. Harper Lee began writing To Kill A Mockingbird in 1960. This story took place in 1936 when harper lee was younger living out her childhood in Monroeville, Alabama. This book explains to us the roots and consequences of racism that occurred in the book and how good and evil can happen to a town or an individual. In her novel, To Kill A Mockingbird Harper Lee uses Tom Robinson, Atticus, and Jem to show that good and evil can happen in a person and a town.
Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird, wrote the book in 1960’s while the events in the book take place in the early 1930’s. During the 1930’s, the Great Depression just hit the United States, the unemployment rate grew and many families lived in poverty. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee describes the childhood of Scout, also known as Jean Louise Finch, and her older brother Jem which is short for Jeremy Atticus Finch. The Finches were fairly wealthy compared to the rest of the residents of Maycomb County, Alabama, which is due to Scout and Jem’s father, Atticus Finch, being a lawyer. Throughout the beginning of the novel, Harper Lee uses symbols to foreshadow the loss of innocence leading up to Atticus’ big trial with Tom Robinson and Mayella Ewell.
In The book To kill a Mockingbird I think Atticus is Scouts biggest influence. Atticus has the best beliefs in May comb in my opinion and Atticus tells his children Scout and Jem his beliefs about racial things with complete honesty. Atticus doesn't lie or sugar coat anything to neither of his children. A brief example of this is when Atticus tells Scout " That you can't judge someone until you crawl into their skin Atticus is Scout biggest role model but what makes him her role model is not him specifically trying he tries for everyone for instance taking the case he is trying to prove a point, but he also did it for himself. Chapter 9 pg 77-78 “If you should not be defending him, then why are you doing it?
Historical Influences on To Kill a Mockingbird The Great Depression affected thousands of people in many different ways. During The Great Depression “people lost their jobs, didn’t pay their rent, and had to give up their property” (McCabe 12). The Great Depression plays a big role in the novel. The Jim Crow laws, mob mentality, and Scottsboro trials are the historical influences in To Kill a Mockingbird.
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?
Racism was the very idea why Tom Robinson was killed for his actions. To Kill a MockingBird was an emotional book written by the great author Harper Lee. Author Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926; her mother suffered mental illnesses and her father was a lawyer in Alabama. Some of the characters in To Kill a Mockingbird is Scout, Jem, Atticus, Calpurnia, and Aunt Alexandra. The environment of this story is a small town south of Alabama called Maycomb.
