What Is Harper Lee's Life

Harper Lee is a famous author who wrote the award winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird. She grew up in the heart of Alabama and tied in many aspects of her southern childhood into the novel. There are historical and biological influences in the book To Kill a Mockingbird that reflect Lee’s life and the society around her during the 1930s.

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.

Her first effort, Go Set a Watchman, which followed the lives of the characters from To Kill a Mockingbird was submitted to a publisher in 1957. When the book wasn't accepted, her editor asked her to revise the story and make her main character Scout a child. Lee worked on the story for two more years before eventually creating To Kill a Mockingbird. Lee's Go Set a Watchman was thought to be gone until it was discovered by her lawyer, T. Carter, in a safe deposit box. In February 2015, it was announced that Harper would publish the manuscript on July 14, 2015. With reports of 88-year-old Lee's faltering health, questions arose about whether the publication was the author's decision or not. Lee issued a statement through Carter: "I’m alive and kicking and happy as can be with the reactions to

Maycomb county is a small town in Alabama. It’s a place where everybody knows everybody. The author Harper Lee got this story and setting from a small town she lived in when she was young. All the characters are based on childhood friends she had personal experience with. Harper was not a writer who wrote for other people she was a writer who wrote for herself. She was persuaded to publish the childhood novel of her and her friends and all of the adventures they have been through. Maycomb, some twenty miles east of Finch’s landing (pg5). Maycomb county was an old town, but it was an old town when i first knew it (pg6). The rainy roads turn to red slop; grass grew on the sidewalks, the courthouse sagged in the square. somehow it was hotter than a black dog suffered on a summer day (pg6).

At the age of 89, on February 19, 2016, Harper Lee passed away. President Obama and the First Lady said in a statement that Lee "changed America for the better. When Harper Lee sat down to write To Kill a Mockingbird, she wasn’t seeking awards or fame. She was a country girl who just wanted to tell an honest story about life as she saw it," their statement said. “But what that one story did, more powerfully than one hundred speeches possibly could, was change the way we saw each other, and then the way we saw ourselves,” the statement added. “Through the uncorrupted eyes of a child, she showed us the beautiful complexity of our common humanity, and the importance of striving for justice in our own lives, our communities, and our country.” “Ms. Lee changed America for the better,” the President and First Lady said. “And there is no higher tribute we can offer her than to keep telling this timeless American story – to our students, to our neighbors, and to our children – and to constantly try, in our own lives, to finally see each other.” (Shapiro,

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.

To Kill a Mockingbird was written and published in 1960, “in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement” (Carolyn Jones). This time was just a few years after events like the murder of Emmett Till, a fourteen year old boy accused of whistling at a white woman, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and the ruling in Alabama that segregation on buses is unconstitutional happened (PBS African American World). This goes to show that the time period had some effect on Harper Lee at the time.

“I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what” (149). Many people do not do the right things sometimes because they’re not brave enough to do so. To kill a Mockingbird was published July 11th, 1960 by Harper Lee in New York City. This novel was about racial tensions and also involved a court case of rape between an African American man and a white woman. This novel is known all around the world, it has become a classic Modern American Literature and has also won the Pulitzer Prize. In the novel To kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses the story's conflicts and mood of

Scout was raised in a time with racial prejudices going on around her. This instilled in her the admirable qualities of courage and maturity. Her father, Atticus Finch, was fighting for the freedom of the opposing side, the one everybody despised. This caused her to be put in many dangerous and hate filled situations in public which included school and the

Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926 and died February 19, 2016. She lived in Alabama for most of her life, then moved to New York to follow her dreams to become a writer. In July 1960, Harper Lee published her first novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. It was picked by the Book-of-the-Month-Club and Literary Guide. She also won a Pulitzer Prize and other Literary Works. The inspiration of the book was more coming of age story for her. She wanted it to show how unacceptable the racial prejudice in the south was. It is also said that the character Atticus Finch is based on her father. In conclusion, Harper Lee only wrote one novel, and her one novel went very

In the year 1959, she wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning book To Kill a Mockingbird(Lee,1). On July 11, 1960, the book was published and it changed Lee’s life forever (Leerhsen,1). The book sold over thirty million copies. In Lee’s hometown Monroeville after Lee’s novel was published, there was a restaurant named “Mockingbird grill.” The courthouse in Monroeville has also been turned into a museum. The courthouse has also been turned into a gift shop and that is where Lee watched her father practice law. Lee refused to be a part of all of this merchandise of her book. In November of 2007, President George W. Bush presented Lee with the Presidential Medal of Freedom (Lee,1).Harper Lee died at the age of eighty-nine on February 19, 2016, peacefully in her sleep (Harper,1).

Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird is set in Maycomb, a fictional town in Alabama, in the 1930’s. Through its strong themes of racism and discrimination, the novel could portray a depressing view on life, but it’s outcome is the opposite. The novel shows great optimism and hope for the future through many reason, but largely centering with the perspective of the novel through a young child, Jean Louise ‘Scout’ Finch. Through her juvenility, she shows pure honesty and shows optimism through Jem and herself, their father Atticus and the well-known conviction of Tom Robinson.

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.

Harper Lee published her famous book, To Kill a Mockingbird, more than fifty years ago, but it is still one of the most read books of this age. Before her death, Harper Lee earned $9,249 a day, giving her a net worth of thirty-five million dollars. This money is well earned, however, as Lee used her words to impact and shape the way people thought to improve the world we live in. Former first lady Laura Bush called the book "a novel that has enshrined for generations an ideal of American decency” (al.com). Clearly, one can already see that the book is well known and influential enough to impress people all over the world. To Kill a Mockingbird is about a young girl by the name of Scout who grows up in a racist town. The story tells the reader

Harper Lee's career as a writer has been limited since the publication of her critically acclaimed novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. In 1961, she published two essays: "Love-In Other Words" and "Christmas to Me." Four years later, "When Children Discover America" was published [3]. Another essay, "Romance and High Adventure," was presented by Harper Lee in 1983 at the Alabama History and Heritage Festival in Eufala, Alabama [2].