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Symbolism And Meaning In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

2105 Words9 Pages

Catherine Comrie
Mrs. Riordan
Honors English
22 November 2022
The Song of Freedom: Symbolism and Meaning in To Kill a Mockingbird Many attempts have been made throughout the years to turn successful novels into successful films. This was also the case with the novel To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee. It is fascinating to look at how the story transitioned from the award-winning novel that Harper Lee wrote to the award-winning film that people still love and respect today. To Kill a Mockingbird takes place during the Great Depression, in Maycomb, a small town in Alabama. A lawyer by the name of Atticus Finch is defending a black man, falsely accused of raping a white woman. Many types of prejudice take place in Maycomb, and the author …show more content…

In writing the novel “she framed an Alabama melodrama that etched its issues in black and white,” (Rothman, p.3) in doing this she was “highlighting numerous flaws in the justice system as well as societal attitudes of the time” (Wheeler, p.3). Lee also took inspiration from her own life. The character named Dill was based on a friend from Lee’s childhood, author Truman Capote (Pfeiffer, p.2). Lee's most significant inspiration comes from the fact that she grew up in a small town in Alabama very similar to Maycomb. Like Maycomb, Lee’s childhood town, Monroeville, was charming and small. However, it was not without its problems. During Harper Lee’s childhood, Jim Crow laws certainly impacted Monroeville. Lily Rothman from TIME, observes that “Harper Lee found quite as much to fear as to love in Maycomb county,”(p.3). Despite their quaint charm both Monroeville and Maycomb had issues and challenges just below the surface. Lastly, Harper Lee’s inspiration for Atticus is largely believed to come from her father, who was also a lawyer by the name of Amasa Coleman Lee. As Zaineb Al Hassani states “Forming the backbone of the book the court case and subsequent tragic outcome mirrors similar events that took place in Lee’s early life…during her childhood years Lee’s father tried and failed to defend two black men accused of murder in 1919. Their execution marked the last time Asama would ever handle a criminal

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