Harper Lee Biography

“Nelle” Harper Lee was born

on April 28, 1926, the
youngest of four children of
Amasa Coleman Lee and
Frances Cunningham Finch
Lee. She grew up in
Monroeville, a small town in
southwest Alabama. Her
father was a lawyer who also
served in the state legislature
After she attended public
school in Monroeville she
attended Huntingdon
College, a private school for
women in Montgomery for a
year and then transferred
to the University of
Alabama. After graduation,
Lee studied at Oxford
University. She returned to
She moved to New York in 1949
and worked as a reservations
clerk for Eastern Air Lines and
British Overseas Airways. While
in New York, she wrote several
essays and short stories, but
none were published. Her agent
encouraged her to develop one
short story into a novel. In order
to complete it, Lee quit working
and was supported by friends
who believed in her work.
 In 1957, she
submitted the
manuscript to J. B.
Lippincott
Company.
Although editors
To Kill a Mockingbird became an
instant popular success. A year
after the novel was published,
500,000 copies had been sold
and it had been translated into
10 languages. Critical reviews of
the novel were mixed. It was
only after the success of the
film adaptation in 1962 that
many critics reconsidered To Kill
a Mockingbird.
Harper Lee’s Childhood
1. She grew up in the 1930s in a rural southern Alabama town.
2. Her father, Amasa Lee, is an attorney who served in the state legislature in
Alabama.
3. Her older brother and young neighbor (Truman Capote) are playmates.
4. Harper Lee is an avid reader as a child.
5. She is six (6) years old when the Scottsboro trials are widely covered in
national, state and local newspapers.
 Scout Finch’s Childhood
1. She grew up in the 1930s in a rural
southern Alabama town.
2. Her father, Atticus Finch, is an
attorney who served in the state
legislature in Alabama.
3. Her older brother (Jem) and young
neighbor (Dill) are playmates.
4. Scout reads before she enters
school and reads the Mobile
Register newspaper in first grade.
5. She is six (6) years old when the
trial of Tom Robinson takes place.
The Background Study of To Kill a
Mockingbird by Harper Lee
To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel by
the American author. It was published in
July 1960 and became instantly
successful. In the United States, it is
widely read in high schools and middle
schools. To Kill a Mockingbird has become
a classic of modern a year after its
release, it won the Pulitzer Prize. The
plot and characters are loosely based on
Lee's observations of her family, her
neighbors and an event that occurred
near her hometown of Monroeville,
Alabama, in 1936, when she was ten.
THE SUMMARY OF TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee

Scout lives with her

brother and their widowed
father, Atticus Finch, in the
sleepy Alabama town of
Maycomb. Maycomb is
suffering through the Great
Depression, but Atticus is a
prominent lawyer and the
Finch family is reasonably
 One summer, Jem and Scout
befriend a boy named Dill, who
has come to live in their
neighborhood for the summer,
and the trio acts out stories
together. Eventually, Dill
becomes fascinated with the
spooky house on their street
called the Radley Place. The
house is owned by Mr. Nathan
Radley, whose
brother, Radley (nicknamed
 Scout goes to school for the
first time that fall and detests
it. She and Jem find gifts
apparently left for them in a
knothole of a tree on the Radley
property. Dill returns the
following summer, and he,
Scout, and Jem begin to act out
the story of Boo Radley
Atticus puts a stop to their
antics, urging the children to try
to see life from another person’s
perspective before making
judgments. But, on Dill’s last
night in Maycomb for the
summer, the three sneak onto
the Radley property, where
Nathan Radley shoots at them.
 Jem loses his pants in the ensuing escape.
When he returns for them, he finds them
mended and hung over the fence.
The next winter, Jem and Scout find more
presents in the tree, presumably left by
the mysterious Boo. Nathan Radley
eventually plugs the knothole with cement.
Shortly thereafter, a fire breaks out in
another neighbor’s house, and during the
fire someone slips a blanket on Scout’s
shoulders as she watches the blaze.
 To the consternation of
Maycomb’s racist white
community, Atticus agrees to
defend a Black man named Tom
Robinson, who has been accused
of raping a white woman.
Because of Atticus’s decision,
Jem and Scout are subjected to
abuse from other children,
 even when they celebrate
Christmas at the family
compound on Finch’s
Landing, the Finches’
Black cook, takes them to
the local Black church,
where the warm and close-
knit community largely
embraces the children.
 Atticus’s sister, Alexandra,
comes to live with the Finches
the next summer. Dill, who is
supposed to live with his “new
father” in another town, runs
away and comes to Maycomb.
Tom Robinson’s trial begins, and
when the accused man is placed
in the local jail, a mob gathers to
lynch him. Atticus faces the mob
down the night before the trial.
 Jem and Scout, who
have sneaked out of the
house, soon join him. Scout
recognizes one of the men,
and her polite questioning
about his son shames him
into dispersing the mob.
 At the trial itself, the children sit in the
“colored balcony” with the town’s Black
citizens. Atticus provides clear evidence
that the accusers, Mayella Ewell and her
father, Bob, are lying: in fact, Mayella
propositioned Tom Robinson, was caught
by her father, and then accused Tom of
rape to cover her shame and guilt. Atticus
provides impressive evidence that the
marks on Mayella’s face are from wounds
that her father inflicted;
 upon discovering her with Tom, he
called her a whore and beat her. Yet,
despite the significant evidence
pointing to Tom’s innocence, the all-
white jury convicts him. The
innocent Tom later tries to escape
from prison and is shot to death. In
the aftermath of the trial, Jem’s faith
in justice is badly shaken, and he
lapses into despondency and doubt.
 upon discovering her with Tom, he
called her a whore and beat her. Yet,
despite the significant evidence
pointing to Tom’s innocence, the all-
white jury convicts him. The
innocent Tom later tries to escape
from prison and is shot to death. In
the aftermath of the trial, Jem’s faith
in justice is badly shaken, and he
lapses into despondency and doubt.
 Despite the verdict, Bob Ewell feels
that Atticus and the judge have made a
fool out of him, and he vows revenge.
He menaces Tom Robinson’s widow,
tries to break into the judge’s house,
and finally attacks Jem and Scout as
they walk home from a Halloween
party. Boo Radley intervenes, however,
saving the children and stabbing Ewell
fatally during the struggle.