����ý

Harper Lee

Harper Lee, the author of To Kill a Mockingbird, was born in Monroeville, Alabama on 28 April 1926. There are several similarities between Harper Lee and Scout Finch, the character through which the story is told. Both Harper Lee and Scout Finch were tomboys, both had fathers who were lawyers and both had childhood friends who were largely abandoned by their parents when they were young. Scout’s friend was Dill and Harper Lee’s friend was Truman Capote or Truman Persons as he was called in his youth. Truman Capote also became a writer and went on to publish the novella Breakfast At Tiffany’s, which was later turned into a very famous film.

When Harper Lee grew older she was just like Scout in that she was not interested in makeup or clothes. She was much more interested in reading and in developing her skills as a writer. Although Harper Lee initially began studying for a degree in law, she soon decided that this was not the career for her. She left university and moved to New York City where she began to work on the story which later became the novel To Kill a Mockingbird.

To Kill a Mockingbird was published in 1960 and in 1961 it won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. It has been translated into many languages and over a million copies of the novel are sold every single year.

In 1962 the novel was adapted into a film which was also extremely popular. It starred an actor called Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch and he won an Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, for his portrayal of the peace-loving lawyer.

Life in 1930s America

Although Harper Lee wrote To Kill a Mockingbird in 1960 she actually set her novel in the mid-1930s. This was a time when many white people, particularly in the southern states of America were racist towards black people. Slavery had been abolished in 1890 but that did little to change the way many white people felt about black people.

Slavery

Slavery was when black people were owned by white people and forced to work for them. In the southern states of America this often meant working on the large cotton plantations or farms that populated the area. The enslaved black people did not have any freedom whatsoever. They were unable to leave the property on which they worked without permission. They were not free to make any decisions of their own and stayed with their white ‘owners’ until they died. They were often branded with their owner’s name or a number to show to whom they belonged. Sometimes the brand was put on the forehead as a constant visual reminder of their status as an enslaved person.

Life as an enslaved person was extremely tough, especially for the many who were born into slavery as they never had the chance to enjoy a taste of freedom. Beatings were a regular occurrence and any attempt to escape could result in being lynched. Slavery was abolished in 1890 but this led to segregation in the early and mid-twentieth century.