What Is Harper Lee's Influence On To Kill A Mockingbird

Olivia Kiely

Ms. Ritter

English 1 Advanced

19 March 2018

The Influence on To Kill a Mockingbird “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view” (Lee p.30). This quote expresses the theme of understanding perspectives. Harper Lee gives us insight throughout To Kill A Mockingbird, that describes the life she lived in a small southern town that was divided along racial lines. Harper Lee’s book, To Kill A Mockingbird, is a traditional novel that takes place in a small Alabama town during the Great Depression. The novel is narrated by a young girl whose father was a defense attorney for an African-American man who was wrongfully accused of raping a minor. Harper Lee was inspired by her childhood, race

In To Kill A Mockingbird, Scout’s father Atticus was a lawyer, much like Lee’s own father, Amasa. Scout’s mother dies in the book when she is roughly two years old. Lee’s mother endured a nerve disorder and passed away when Lee was 25, although this is different in the book Harper Lee’s mother could not function normally for her and all her siblings, it felt like they didn’t have a mother. Her family had a home cook, Haddy Clausell;Calpurnia, was modeled in the novel after Haddy (Newquist 2). Lee’s lifelong friend Truman Capote inspired the character Dill in her novel, they both in real life and in the novel would come every summer from Meridian, Mississippi to stay with his relatives. The Boleware were a family in Monroeville who lived across the street from the Lee’s.The Boleware’s had bad reputation around town for not only abusing their son, but also for putting alcohol into their iced tea, chew tobacco, and fight constantly with each other (Newquist 4). Just like the Radley’s in To Kill A Mockingbird, they had bad reputations in Maycomb and abused their son, Arthur “Boo” Radley. In the book, Scout, who portrays Lee, was prohibited from going anywhere near the Boleware’s . That also happened in real life with

Jim Crow Laws ruled the South in the 40s and 50s separating society by race. The KKK, a cult that strongly discriminated colored people, went house to house terrorizing African-Americans. The culture during that time was very aggressive towards African-Americans; there was discrimination in public places with the “white only” signs on public services (Bloom 2). The black and white communities in Monroeville helped create the image of Maycomb, Alabama (Bloom 8). Lee and her father’s view was far more progressive more than most views back then in 40s and 50s. It took some time for everyone to understand her view on race