Harper Lee Ignominies Throughout The Early 1900's

Nelle Harper Lee, born April 28, 1926 was named after her grandmother, Ellen. Her mother was Francis Cunningham Finch, born August 14, 1888, and her father was Amass Coleman Lee, born in 1880. Mr. Lee grew up as a farmer in Florida before moving to Alabama and settling down with Francis. They had three children before Nelle. The oldest was Alice Finch Lee (1911) and she was fifteen when Nelle was born. The second oldest was Louise Lee Finch (1916) who was ten years Nelle’s senior. The second youngest child, and only son of the Lee family, was Edwin Lee (1920). Because of the mere six year age difference Edwin and Nelle were very close growing up.

Harper Lee’s coming-of-age story reminds readers how far society has come. In the time period in which the novel is set, society faced many issues involving racism and discrimination. Now in the 2000’s the world doesn't focus on the colour of one’s skin but the person it carries. Harper Lee effectively represents African-American history in her novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Throughout the novel Lee shows how racism negatively affected Maycomb County’s population by utilizing major themes including racial discrimination and the right to a fair trial. Lee’s novel has a similar story to multiple cases in the early 1900’s as well as showing links to the troubles the town faced with the Great Depression and social standings.

Harper Lee is well known for her great contributions towards modern society through her astounding book, To Kill a Mockingbird. The novel is read world-wide, in high schools and colleges because of its in-depth look at the social classes in the south during the 1930's. The book was influenced by society, in particular the social order of the south during her childhood. Lee grew up during this time of controversy which is why she writes so passionately about the topic. Lee wrote the novel to make a point about race while basing much of the plot off a trial from her young age, her own father, and the society she grew up in.

A writer, who’s famous for an award winning book that created a reaction throughout the nation. Harper Lee is famous for writing the book ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’, which is now renowned for being a classic of modern American literature. Lee had grown up in Alabama to Frances Finch and Amasa Lee, along with her siblings Edwin, Alice, and Louise. As Lee grew up, she had been introduced at a young age to racial injustice through her father, who as a Southern lawyer, would have to either defend or oppose African Americans in different cases. Due to this, she tried to make social and political statements throughout her book, such as how whites were prejudice and bias towards African Americans and how anyone who either defends or likes a black is hated. Harper Lee tried to build connections between her childhood and her novel, while also connecting important events that were connected to The Civil Rights Movement.

The 1920’s and 30’s were some troublesome times for many blacks living in the United States. Even though they were free men, a lot of blacks were still treated like slaves. They were subject to unfair trials, beatings, lynchings, the presumption of guilty before trial, and were also least in priority to whites. Harper Lee also shows these same acts of prejudice in her book To Kill A Mockingbird.

The first influence on Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is the Jim Crow laws. The Jim Crow laws perpetuated segregation. The Jim Crow laws were appalling. It was a racial system that had many terrible anti-Black laws (“Jim Crow laws”). These laws were huge in the south and border states. People treated and acted horrible towards the Blacks. Some examples of these laws were how Blacks and Whites could not eat together and how African Americans had to sit in the back of a White person's car(“Jim Crow laws”). These laws were basically cutting off almost all communication and action with any Black. Jim Crow had separate bathrooms, schools, churches, cemeteries and public accommodations for each race(Pilgrim). There were many reasons for the laws. For example, a black male could not offer or shake hands with a white woman because he would be accused of rape(“Jim Crow laws”) A Black could also never offer to light a white females' cigarette or show public affection toward another in public because it showed intimacy and offended Whites(“Jim Crow laws”). Boating implied social equality(“Jim Crow laws”). These examples just showed how disrespected African Americans were treated. Pilgrim points out that the Jim Crow laws were trying to keep Blacks and Whites separated. With these laws and reasons came punishments. Punishments were done if a Black broke a law and used as intimidation(“Jim Crow laws”). When a group of black males tried sitting in the White section of a bus they were arrested(“Jim Crow laws”). Blacks could get physically beat by a White if they drank out of the Whites water fountain or tried to vote(“Jim Crow laws”). The most extreme punishments were lynchings and occurred for demanding civil rights riots and violating laws(“Jim Crow laws”). Lynchings were public and most

In “To Kill a Mockingbird”, heavy influences of opinions towards racism, religion, and worldly views in the 1930’s are very prominent through the writing of Harper Lee. Specifically through chapter 24, Lee uses various types of diction and narrative techniques to portray her opinion on racial and religious views. Lee fills this chapter with various dialogue and diction. The scene starts as the women of the church converse lightly about various topics, “fighting the good fight all over the house”. (Lee 228).

Imagine having your life on the line because someone thinks you have committed a crime you did not commit. During the 1930s colored people were put down and were inferior to whites. Everyone was trying to find a place in society but it was made especially hard for the African Americans in this time. They were pushed to the bottom of everything and treated like nothing. In Harper Lee's very impactful book To Kill a Mockingbird, she illustrates what it was like for one black man to be pushed aside like he was nothing mainly because he was black. In her book she uses examples from real life examples from those times like: the Jim Crow laws, the effects of racism and the Scottsboro Trials.

Throughout the novel Harper Lee has utilised the characters and events to help the reader interpret the dominant, alternative and oppositional readings within the novel. Although this text invites the reader to interpret the dominant reading which focuses on racial prejudice, there is a number of other

When Harper Lee wrote To Kill A Mockingbird during the 1930’s her novel Harper Lee proves the way racism had a major effect during the 1930’s. Harper Lee’s novel explained how much of an effect on the United States and the African Americans with the downfalls leading to majority of the African Americans deaths all because of them being different race and having to act different.

In the riveting coming-of-age novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, the author Harper Lee projects the idea of acceptance of all people, through the eyes of a child. Harper Lee combats the prejudice of social standing when she proves that some of the poorest people have the best of character traits. While racism of African Americans is first and foremost in this novel, the acceptance of white people into the African American community shows racism can be beaten from both point of views. Finally, the disabilities that Arthur Radley portrays, is forgotten, when his actions help him soar above the bigotry of the people of Maycomb County. The most obvious topic is the overt racism based on a person's skin color, however, Harper Lee takes us beneath the skin to show that discrimination occurs in other ways.

Throughout history, there has been an overarching theme that writers write about. Great authors write about what they know. They write about what they see. They write about what they hear. They write about personal experiences and incorporate details from their lives into their literature. Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is a classical work that reflects the Civil Rights and Women’s Movement of the 1950’s-1960’s through her depiction of the relationship between blacks and whites and her portrayal of female characters.

Lee grew up in the south in the early nineteen-hundreds. The people around her felt blacks were beneath whites and gave them many difficulties to put up with. This injustice was especially prominent in court cases, like the one Lee depicts in her novel. Though Harper Lee accepts that there is racism in the community, she reminds us all her own thoughts by giving advice to Scout that all the readers can take something away from: “‘As you grow older, you’ll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don’t you forget it— whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash’”(Lee 224). Clearly, dealing with the injustices of trials at home inspired Lee to write her book and point out the problems we are turning a blind eye to in our own country. Using her personal background in the oppression of the south, Harper Lee shed light on the issue by depicting the issue in her remarkably well-written

Civil rights—one of the most significant social issues in the history of the United States— initiated controversy from the beginning of the nation to its contemporary state. Issues regarding individuals of different races, genders, and sexual orientations have been debated upon for decades until a temporary decision was made. Subsequent to the abolition of slavery in the 1860s, the issue of civil rights for African Americans surfaced in the late eighteenth century until the initiation of the Civil Rights Movement in 1954. Although this issue has been controversial for decades, there was little progression in the issue between the years of 1930 and 1960. Harper Lee’s 1960 novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, operates as a social commentary to discuss

During the 1930’s depression, there was a great divide between black and white America. There were many communities and groups who had been exposed to the same treatment and persecution as the Negroes in To Kill a Mockingbird. Harper Lee has used a small town setting, such as that in To Kill a Mockingbird, to illustrate America’s views on white supremacy and the inferiority of the black race. The author has illustrated view that are expressed world-wide through her characters in Maycomb county.