Author Biography
Harper Lee was born Nelle Harper Lee in 1926 in Monroeville, Alabama, a small town about halfway between Montgomery and Mobile. She was the youngest of four. Her father was a newspaper editor-turned-lawyer. As a child, Lee was intelligent and adventurous, not unlike Scout, the protagonist of her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird.
After several short stints in college, Lee moved to New York City and worked as a reservation clerk for an airline. As she became more interested in writing, she left her job and moved into a cold-water apartment (in the 1950's, many artists and writers lived in New York in such apartments, which were very inexpensive). One year, her close friends in New York gave her money as a Christmas present so that she could take time off from her job and concentrate on her writing.
Lee submitted the manuscript of To Kill a Mockingbird to a publisher, J. B. Lippincott Company, in 1957. It caught the attention of editor Tay Hohoff, who told her that the novel felt more like a series of short stories than a complete novel. Over the next two years, Hohoff worked with Lee on revisions, and the novel was published in 1960. Though it received mixed critical reviews, it won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize. It remains her only published book.
(A Navigational Novel Guide, To Kill a Mockingbird, Amy Kathryn Craven)
After several short stints in college, Lee moved to New York City and worked as a reservation clerk for an airline. As she became more interested in writing, she left her job and moved into a cold-water apartment (in the 1950's, many artists and writers lived in New York in such apartments, which were very inexpensive). One year, her close friends in New York gave her money as a Christmas present so that she could take time off from her job and concentrate on her writing.
Lee submitted the manuscript of To Kill a Mockingbird to a publisher, J. B. Lippincott Company, in 1957. It caught the attention of editor Tay Hohoff, who told her that the novel felt more like a series of short stories than a complete novel. Over the next two years, Hohoff worked with Lee on revisions, and the novel was published in 1960. Though it received mixed critical reviews, it won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize. It remains her only published book.
(A Navigational Novel Guide, To Kill a Mockingbird, Amy Kathryn Craven)
Background of the Novel
Published in 1960, Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird is a classic coming-of-age story that follows the Finch children, Scout and Jem, through normal growing pains exacerbated by their necessary involvement in the turbulence of a racially charged courtroom drama. The first-person narration, combined with a memoir-type retelling of events, brings the reader into the fictional 1930's town of Maycomb, Alabama, along with young Scout. The children's summertime activities set the stage for presenting lessons on justice, equality, morality, and compassion. Written in the 1950's, the novel criticizes the hypocrisy and racism that burdened the South while upholding certain models of behavior and belief. The use of allusion, foreshadowing, and symbolism makes the novel a complex piece of literature rather than simply a child's adventure tale.
(A Navigational Novel Guide, To Kill a Mockingbird, Amy Kathryn Craven)
(A Navigational Novel Guide, To Kill a Mockingbird, Amy Kathryn Craven)
Setting of the Novel
To Kill a Mockingbird is set in the fictional small town of Maycomb, Alabama, in the years 1933-1935. An understanding of the American South in the Depression/pre-World War II era provides helpful context clues for students as they process the story. For example, a common misconception among students is that Boo Radley is black. This mistake probably arises because he is ostracized by the townspeople. When students learn that strict racial divisions prevented black people from living in the town proper, they then know that Boo must be white.
(A Navigational Novel Guide, To Kill a Mockingbird, Amy Kathryn Craven)
(A Navigational Novel Guide, To Kill a Mockingbird, Amy Kathryn Craven)