Life_&_Times_of_Harper_Lee

The Real Harper Lee Many people do not know about the real true Harper Lee. The majority of people think that Harper Lee is a man. The truth to be told, Harper Lee is really a woman. Harper Lee was born Nelle Harper Lee on April 28,1926, in Monroeville, Alabama. The youngest of four children born to Robert E. Lee ,a lawyer, and Frances Cunningham Finch Lee, a founding member of Finchburg, Alabama. As a young child, Harper was a tomboy who talked to back to teachers and fought during recess..One summer she became childhood friends with Truman Capote(Baxter, page2). At first Lee to be a lawyer like her father, so she attended Huntington College in Alabama pursing a law degree(Hounion,page 2). During her college years, she wrote reviews for a humor magazine and editorials. Right before graduation, she moved to New York to become a writer(Baxter, page 2). In New York, Harper showed her essays and short stories to an agent. The agent encouraged Lee to write a novel. “To Kill a Mockingbird” is the novel that Lee decided to write. While writing to “To Kill a Mockingbird”, many of Harper’s friends loaned her money to continue to write(Baxter, page 2). “To Kill a Mockingbird” was the based on the Scottsboro trail. The Scottsboro trial happened in the 1930s when nine African American men were accused of raping two white women. Harper was five years old when the men were brought to trial (Baxter, page 2). The main characters of the story are Scout, who is based on Lee’s personality as a child, and Dill, who is based on Lee’s best friend Truman Capote(Baxter, page 2). Many of the characters were based on people in Harper’s life. Atticus os a lawyer like her father. Scout, Dill, and Atticus are joined by Miss Maudie, Miss Stephanie, Jem, and Calpurnia(Bloom, page 2). The setting takes place in Maycomb, Alabama. Maycomb is a “tired old town,” that is for know for never having locked doors and everybody is in everybody’s business(Bloom, page 2). In 1960, “To Kill a Mockingbird” was published by Nelle Harper Lee under the allies Harper Lee(Hounion, page 1). When the book was first published, many critics complained that Scout sounded “too adult”. Scout said many things outspoken like: “Atticus had said that it was polite to talk to people about what they were interested in, not about what you were interested in”(Bloom, page 5). When the book was first published, it was banned in the South. It was one of the first of many books banned ever(Hounion, page 2). On the other hand, the Literary community praised the book’s pleas for racial justice, just in time as the civil rights movement was growing(Baxter, page 2). “To Kill a Mockingbird” is a classic of American literature spending a total of eighty-eighty weeks on the best seller list. Every year it is read by thousands high school students(Baxter, page 1). Two years after it was published, “To Kill a Mockingbird” was turned into a movie. It was nominated for eight Academy Awards, but only won four(Hounion, page 2). After the publishing of her first and only book, Harper became reclusive.( Hounion, page 2). In 1961, “To Kill a Mockingbird” won the Pulitez Prize for Fiction. President Lydon Johnson appointed Lee to National Council on the Arts in 1966. In 1990, when the University of Alabama honored her with a honorary doctorate, she accepted the award but did not speak.. In June 2005, she was awarded a literary award from the Los Angles Public Library and accepted it with the words, “ Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”(Baxter, page 2). Many people do not know a lot Harper Lee because she almost never gave interviews. In 1964, she granted her first and only interview(Baxter, page 1). Even though Nelle Harper Lee only wrote one book, gave one interview, and spoke a short, simple sentence, she is a part of American and International literature. “To Kill a Mockingbird” told a story of American history. It is still an American classic since it published forty-eight years ago. Baxter, Roberta. “Harper Lee: Background and Early Life.” Magnolia. January 9,2006. Harper Lee: Background and Early Life. Baxter, Roberta. “Harper Lee: To Kill a Mockingbird.” Magnolia. January 9,2006. Harper Lee: “To Kill a Mockingbird” Bloom, Harold. “Summary and Analyisis.” Magnolia. March 14,2005. Summary and Analysis Hounion, Morris. “Mockingbird: A portrait of Harper Lee.” Magnolia. June 2006. Mockingbird: A portrait of Harper Lee. Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company 1960