TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD BACKGROUND NOTES

I. HARPER LEE BASICS Full name: Nelle Harper Lee Born: April 28, 1926 in Monroeville, Alabama Still Alive! She will turn 86 this month.

Dad: Amasa Lee –Worked as a lawyer and a legislator –The pattern for Atticus Finch, the attorney whose quiet heroism and integrity are central to the novel. Mom: Frances Finch Cunningham Lee –Died in 1951 when Harper Lee was in her 20’s –Scout’s mother in the novel has also died

Harper Lee grew up in the Great Depression of the 1930’s. This is the same time period as To Kill a Mockingbird.

II. LEE’S EDUCATION Attended Huntingdon College from Studied law at the University of Alabama from , but didn’t finish Spent a year as an exchange student at Oxford University in Great Britain

III. LEE’S WORK EXPERIENCE Worked as airline reservation clerk in New York City Spent most of her free time writing Eventually she gave up the job to focus solely on writing

IV. LEE’S WRITING EXPERIENCE Lee first submitted To Kill a Mockingbird to publishers in –But it was REJECTED! –They said it sounded too much like a bunch of short stories and not a unified novel She spent the next 30 months (2 ½ years) revising the novel

Finally, To Kill a Mockingbird was published in The novel was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in This was Lee’s only book ever published – kind of a “one-hit wonder.” While she continued to write smaller pieces like short stories and articles, she has never published another novel.

V. TKAM BACKGROUND To Kill a Mockingbird is largely autobiographical even though it is a work of fiction. Much of the novel is based on Lee’s own experiences growing up. The novel is set in Maycomb, Alabama –A fictionalization of Monroeville

The novel begins the Summer of 1933 and ends Halloween night of 1935 The country is in the middle of the Great Depression, and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) has created the New Deal Programs to help those in need Southern rural areas are very poor.

Segregation and the Jim Crow laws are prevalent legally allowing whites to limit the rights of African American citizens. –Example from North Carolina: "Books shall not be interchangeable between the white and colored schools, but shall continue to be used by the race first using them.” The events of the Scottsboro Trial, where a group of black men were accused of raping two white women, influence the novel. –The men were unjustly judged and sentenced.

Since it is partially autobiographical, characters take on a greater significance Scout (Jean Louise) Finch = Harper Lee; a seeker; scouting out new experiences Atticus Finch = Lee’s Father; he is thoughtful like an ancient philosopher (Attica is in Greece) Dill = childhood friend and fellow author Truman Capote

To Kill a Mockingbird is a Bildungsroman, a novel of development, which chronicles the main characters’ growth or “coming of age” The novel’s point of view is Scout’s first person narration as she gives her account of coming to terms with racism and intolerance in a Southern town (or in some cases, her remembrance of it).

To Kill a Mockingbird is a Southern Gothic, a novel that includes supernatural elements, the grotesque, and disturbed, damaged and delusional personalities.

Themes Differing Points of View—Atticus advises Scout to walk around “in someone else’s skin” Man’s inhumanity to Man—Novel explores the idea of racial, social and gender prejudice End of innocence—Scout, Jem and Dill experience issues beyond childhood boundaries Courage—Novel explores the idea of what is courage and what it means to be face fear and adversity

VI. TKAM FILM In 1962, To Kill a Mockingbird was made into a film – just two years after being published It won 3 Academy Awards, including Best Actor for Gregory Peck, who played Atticus Finch Peck’s portrayal of Atticus Finch has earned the AFI’s label of “the greatest movie hero”