Search results
lasvegasweekly.com
- To Kill a Mockingbird, novel by Harper Lee, published in 1960. Enormously popular, it was translated into some 40 languages and sold over 40 million copies worldwide. In 1961 it won a Pulitzer Prize. The novel was praised for its sensitive treatment of a child’s awakening to racism and prejudice in the American South.
www.britannica.com › topic › To-Kill-a-Mockingbird
People also ask
Who was Harper Lee?
Why did Harper Lee write to kill a Mockingbird?
Why is Harper Lee important?
How much money did Harper Lee make from 'to kill a Mockingbird'?
Jul 2, 2015 · Curious about the mysterious author of 'To Kill a Mockingbird' and 'Go Set a Watchman?' Here, fascinating details about Harper Lee.
- Daryl Chen
- Overview
- Plot summary
To Kill a Mockingbird is set in the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the Great Depression (1929–39). The story centres on Jean Louise (“Scout”) Finch, an unusually intelligent girl who ages from six to nine years old during the novel. She and her brother, Jeremy Atticus (“Jem”), are raised by their widowed father, Atticus Finch. Atticus is a well-known and respected lawyer. He teaches his children to be empathetic and just, always leading by example.
When Tom Robinson, one of the town’s Black residents, is falsely accused of raping Mayella Ewell, a young white woman, Atticus agrees to defend him despite threats from the community. Although Atticus presents a defense that gives a more plausible interpretation of the evidence—that Mayella was attacked by her father, Bob Ewell—Tom is convicted. He is later killed while trying to escape custody. The children, meanwhile, play out their own miniaturized drama. Scout and Jem become especially interested in the town recluse, Arthur (“Boo”) Radley, who interacts with them by leaving them small gifts in a tree. On Halloween, when Bob Ewell tries to attack Scout and Jem, Boo intervenes and saves them. Boo ultimately kills Ewell. The sheriff, however, decides to tell the community that Ewell’s death was an accident.
What inspired Harper Lee to write To Kill a Mockingbird?
It is widely believed that Harper Lee based the character of Atticus Finch on her father, Amasa Coleman Lee, a compassionate and dedicated lawyer. The plot of To Kill a Mockingbird was reportedly inspired in part by his unsuccessful defense of two African American men—a father and a son—accused of murdering a white storekeeper. The fictional character of Charles Baker (“Dill”) Harris also has a real-life counterpart. Dill is based on the author Truman Capote, Lee’s childhood friend and next-door neighbour in Monroeville, Alabama. (After the spectacular success of To Kill a Mockingbird, some speculated that Capote was the actual author of Lee’s work. This rumour was not put to rest until 2006.) There is some anecdotal evidence that the town recluse, Arthur (“Boo”) Radley, was based on Lee and Capote’s childhood neighbour, Son Boulware. According to Capote, Boo “was a real man, and he lived just down the road from us.…Everything [Lee] wrote about it is absolutely true.”
How did people respond to To Kill a Mockingbird?
Harper Lee began writing To Kill a Mockingbird in the mid-1950s. It was published in 1960, just before the peak of the American civil rights movement. Initial critical responses to the novel were mixed. Many critics praised Lee for her sensitive treatment of a child’s awakening to racism and prejudice. Others, however, criticized the novel’s tendency to sermonize. Some reviewers argued that the narrative voice was unconvincing. The novel was nonetheless enormously popular with contemporary audiences. To Kill a Mockingbird flourished in the racially charged environment of the United States in the early 1960s. In its first year it sold about 500,000 copies. A year after the publication of the novel, Lee was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the Great Depression. The protagonist is Jean Louise (“Scout”) Finch, an intelligent though unconventional girl who ages from six to nine years old during the course of the novel. She is raised with her brother, Jeremy Atticus (“Jem”), by their widowed father, Atticus Finch. He is a prominent lawyer who encourages his children to be empathetic and just. He notably tells them that it is “a sin to kill a mockingbird,” alluding to the fact that the birds are innocent and harmless.
When Tom Robinson, one of the town’s Black residents, is falsely accused of raping Mayella Ewell, a white woman, Atticus agrees to defend him despite threats from the community. At one point he faces a mob intent on lynching his client but refuses to abandon him. Scout unwittingly diffuses the situation. Although Atticus presents a defense that gives a more plausible interpretation of the evidence—that Mayella was attacked by her father, Bob Ewell—Tom is convicted, and he is later killed while trying to escape custody. A character compares his death to “the senseless slaughter of songbirds,” paralleling Atticus’s saying about the mockingbird.
The children, meanwhile, play out their own miniaturized drama of prejudice and superstition as they become interested in Arthur (“Boo”) Radley, a reclusive neighbour who is a local legend. They have their own ideas about him and cannot resist the allure of trespassing on the Radley property. Their speculations thrive on the dehumanization perpetuated by their elders. Atticus, however, reprimands them and tries to encourage a more sensitive attitude. Boo makes his presence felt indirectly through a series of benevolent acts, finally intervening when Bob Ewell attacks Jem and Scout. Boo kills Ewell, but Heck Tate, the sheriff, believes it is better to say that Ewell’s death occurred when he fell on his own knife, sparing the shy Boo from unwanted attention. Scout agrees, noting that to do otherwise would be “sort of like shootin’ a mockingbird.”
Britannica Quiz
- To Kill a Mockingbird drew on Harper Lee’s childhood in Alabama. While To Kill a Mockingbird is not autobiographical, there are similarities between the novel and Lee’s life.
- Harper Lee based To Kill a Mockingbird’s Dill on Truman Capote. Lee modeled the neighbor boy Dill after Capote. As a child, Capote—the author of In Cold Blood and Breakfast At Tiffany’s—lived next door to Lee.
- Harper Lee grew up in the courtroom. Like the character Atticus, Lee’s father, AC Lee, was a lawyer. Soft-spoken and dignified, he defended two Black men accused of murder and lost the case.
- Harper Lee may have modeled To Kill a Mockingbird’s Boo Radley after a childhood neighbor. In the book, Boo Radley is a recluse who leaves presents for the children in a tree.
- Truman Capote and Harper Lee were childhood friends. Author of Breakfast at Tiffany’s and In Cold Blood, Truman Capote grew up with Lee in the depression era South.
- She worked on a true crime novel. Like her friend Capote, Lee also had a proclivity for true crime. Rev. Willie Maxwell, a preacher in Alexander City, Alabama, allegedly murdered five family members and in a strange twist of events, was himself murdered publicly at the funeral of one of the family members.
- She won the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 2007, President George W. Bush awarded Harper Lee the Medal of Freedom for the social contributions she made by writing To Kill a Mockingbird.
- She is one of many authors with a banned book. To Kill a Mockingbird was first banned in 1966 by a school board in Hanover County, Virginia, because of claims that it was “immoral literature.”
A list of important facts about Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, including setting, climax, protagonists, and antagonists.
Jul 21, 2023 · American novelist Harper Lee became a literary icon with the success of her Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece To Kill A Mockingbird. This timeless work has had a lasting impact on literature, addressing themes of racial injustice, moral growth, and empathy.
To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel by the American author Harper Lee. It was published in June 1960 and became instantly successful. In the United States, it is widely read in high schools and middle schools. To Kill a Mockingbird has become a classic of modern American literature; a year after its release, it won the Pulitzer Prize.
