Truman Capote And His Relationship With Harper Lee

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Taylor D. Webb

Mrs. Ingles

English 11

14 March 2017

Truman Capote and His Relationship with Harper Lee

Truman Capote and Harper Lee used to be neighbors and very close friends. Harper Lee and Truman Capote were very different and had very hard home lives. Harper Lee joined forces with Truman Capote to assist him with an article. Harper Lee and Truman eventually became literary figures to many young writers. The purpose of this paper is to explain the similarities and challenges of Truman Capote, and Harper Lee.

HARPER LEE’S CHILDHOOD

Harper Lee who was born on April 28th, 1926 in a small town in Alabama called Monroeville, Lee was also the youngest of four children. Harper Lee was always known for being a tomboy. Lee’s father

Capote’s parents were never around much, he spent much of his young life in care of others. Capote became friends with an author named Harper Lee. Even when the two were complete opposites, Capote felt safe and found Lee to be delightful. Capote was usually bullied in school because he was a sensitive boy. Capote mostly struggled with his nightmare of a family. Capote never got to see his mother or father so Capote felt like he had been abandoned. The only time that Capote would ever see his mom and dad was during the divorce when, they were fighting over custody. Capote’s mother eventually won custody over him, and he moved to New York with his mother and step-father Joe Capote. His mother was quite different when he was around her on a regular basis, she could be kind and cruel to Capote, but he never knew which one. Capote’s step-father finally legally adopted him in 1935, which changed his name to Truman Garcia Capote. His mother wanted him to act masculine, so she sent him to military school, and in 1936-1937 it showed to be a disaster. When Capote went to high school his teacher’s saw him as a promising writer. Capote eventually became a New Orleans

They both became friends way before their writing fame. Their literary friendship was legendary. Both Lee and Capote had challenges later in life which put their friendship to the test. The two friends lost connection to each other and their friendship ended into their adulthood.

THE SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES OF THE AUTHORS

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Both Harper and Truman came from challenging childhoods. Truman Capote was an only child, while Harper Lee was the youngest of four siblings. Truman writing was based in New Orleans, and Harper’s writing was based in Alabama. Harper Lee wrote from a personal reference, while

Truman Capote wrote more criminal fiction. Both writers are now known has historical literary figures. Even when the two writers came from tough lives they both still managed to follow their dreams of becoming writers. Harper and Truman were very similar, but had challenges in their life that tore them apart. Harper was more of a tomboy while Truman was a shy person which didn’t stop the two from having a friendship that lasted into adulthood. The challenges that were happening in each of the author’s life was very different. I would like to get to know more about Truman Capote and Harper Lee and how they