Harper Lee

1
To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee
2
Table of Contents

• Harper Lees early years
• The 1930s Deep South
• Harper Lees adult years
• Civil Rights movement
• Writing To Kill A Mockingbird

3
Harper Lees Early Years

• Born Nelle Harper Lee, spring 1926
• Grew up in Monroeville, Alabama
• Youngest of four children

4
Monroeville, Alabama Map
5
Parents

• Father Amasa Coleman Lee
• Mother Frances Finch Lee
• Father practiced law in Monroeville
• Father editor of The Monroe Journal

6
Childhood

• Personality
• Childhood friend

7
Harper Lees Family

• Position in the community
• Responsibility for the community
• Alice Lee

8
Alice Lee
Alice Lee has been a Rock of Gibraltar for this
commission,'' said Armistead Harper, a 21-year
member of the commission. "She has guided this
board with her wisdom, fairness and intelligence.
When we needed proper guidance for Monroeville,
we got it from Alice Lee, Harper said. Because
of her knowledge of the historic background of
Monroeville and her legal background, she could
recognize problems we would face and find a fair
solution.
9
Father and Daughter

• It was my plan for her to become a member of
  our law firm but it just wasnt meant to be.
  She went to New York to be a writer.
  Amasa Lee, 1961

Single click speaker to hear audio clip gtgtgtgt
10
Harper Lees Adult Years

• Attended Huntingdon College
• Attended the University of Alabama to study law

11
University Years

• Worked for student publications
• Editor of Rammer- Jammer
• Attended Oxford University

12
1950-1957

• Worked for Eastern Airlines in NYC
• Pursued writing career full time in NYC
• Wrote and submitted To Kill a Mockingbird

13
1957-1959

• To Kill A Mockingbird manuscript rejected
• Research assistant for Truman Capotes In Cold
  Blood

14
The Writer Emerges!

• Published To Kill A Mockingbird
• Received Pulitzer Prize for novel

15
Novel Goes to the Movies

• Did not initially attract producers
• Gregory Peck starred as Atticus Finch

Single click speaker to hear audio clip gtgtgtgt
16
Additional Writing

• Wrote essay LoveIn Other Words for Vogue
• Wrote essay Christmas To Me for McCalls
• Wrote essay When Children Discover America for
  McCalls

17
National Council of Arts

• Named to the National Council on the Arts in
  1966

18
Honorary Doctorates

• University of Alabama
• Spring Hill College
• Sewanee The University of the South
• University of Notre Dame

19
1930s Statistics

• Facts about the 1930s
• Population 123,188,000 in 48 states
• Life Expectancy Male, 581 Female, 616
• Average annual salary 1,368
• Unemployment rises to 25
• Car Sales 2,787,400
• Food Prices Milk, 14 cents a qt. Bread, 9
  cents a loaf
• Round Steak, 42 cents a pound
• Lynchings 21

20
Social Order

• Wealthy and educated
• Working-class whites
• Nonworking-class whites
• African Americans

21
Jim Crow Laws

• Racial caste system
• Perpetuated racism

22
The Deep South

• Social order
• Jim Crow laws
• Southern towns

23
The Deep South Map
24
African American Row Houses
25
Affluent Whites Homes
26
Monroeville Demographics 1930
Owner families 1,925 Native
white 1,242 Native parentage 1,241 Foreign or
mixed parentage 1 Foreign-born
white 3 Negro 677 Tenant families 3,927 N
ative white 1,609 Native parentage 1,604 Forei
gn or mixed parentage 5 Foreign-born
white 3 Negro 2,311 Tenure
unknown 459 Farm families 4,426 Non-farm
families 1,885
27
Monroeville Demographics 1930
Median value (Dollars)
All owners 2,359
Native white owners 2,833
Negro owners 0
Rented non-farm homes 1,278
Rental under 15 1,052
15 to 29 90
30 to 49 21
50 to 99 2
100 and over 2
Not reported 111
28
Scottsboro Trial

• On March 25, 1931, a freight train was stopped in
  Paint Rock, Alabama
• Nine young African American men arrested
• Two white women accused men of raping them on the
  train

29
The Scottsboro Trial v. Tom Robinsons Trial

• Scottsboro
• 1930s event
• Northern Alabama
• The poor white status of accusers was important

• Robinson
• 1930s event
• Southern Alabama
• The poor white status of Mayella was important

30
The Scottsboro Trial v. Tom Robinsons Trial

• Scottsboro
• James E. Horton, judge, over-turned the guilty
  jury verdict
• All-white jury
• The jury ignored evidence that the
  women suffered no injuries, for example

• Robinson
• Atticus, lawyer, defends the African-American man
  
• All poor, white jury
• The jury ignores evidence that Tom has a useless
  left arm, for example

Atticus and Tom
31
Civil Rights Movement

• Influenced Harper Lee

32
Influence on Harper Lee
Autherine Lucy tries to attend graduate
school Univ. of Alabama

• The Law and Jim Crow
• Civil Rights Movement
• Events in Alabama

Martin Luther Kings rise to leadership
Bus boycott Montgomery, AL
33
Timeline of Events

• 1954 Brown v. Topeka, Kansas Board of Education
  case
• 1955 Young African American brutally murdered by
  whites
• 1955 Rosa Parks and the Montgomery bus boycott

34
Brown v. Board Video
Single click screen to view video
35
Timeline of Events

• 1956 Autherine Lucy first African American
  admitted to University of Alabama
• 1956 Autherine Lucy forced to flee University
  of Alabama campus
• Universitys Board of Trustees barred her
  from campus
• 1957 Federal troops sent to Little Rock,
  Arkansas to protect nine African American
  students enter first integrated school

36
Letter from a Birmingham Jail

• An unjust law is a code that a majority
  inflicts on a minority that is not binding on
  itself. This is difference made legal. On the
  other hand, a just law is a code that a majority
  compels a minority to follow that it is willing
  to follow itself. This is sameness made legal.
  Martin Luther King, 1963

Single click speaker to hear audio clip gtgtgtgt
37
Writing To Kill A Mockingbird

• Themes
• Viewpoint
• Characters
• Major Conflicts

38
Themes

• Moral nature of man
• Innocence to experience
• How children learn morality
• Social inequality
• Vulnerability of innocent

39
Boo Video
Single click screen to view video
40
Point of View

• First person narrative through Scout
• When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got
  his arm badly broken at the elbow. When it
  healed, and Jems fears of never being able to
  play football were assuaged, he was seldom
  self-conscious about his injury.

Single click speaker to hear audio clip gtgtgtgt
41
Town Intro Video
Single click screen to view video
42
Characters
Middle-Class Whites The Finches
Working-Class Whites Cunningham Family
Non-Working Whites The Ewell Family
African Americans Tom Robinson, Calpurnia and
Others
43
Major Characters
Jean Louise Scout Finch--The narrator and
protagonist of the story
Atticus Finch--Scout and Jems father, a lawyer
in Maycomb
Jeremy Atticus Jem Finch--Scouts brother and
constant playmate
Arthur Boo Radley-- A recluse who never sets
foot outside his house
Bob Ewell--A drunken, mostly unemployed man
Charles Baker Dill Harris--Jem and Scouts
summer neighbor and friend
Calpurnia--The Finches black cook, Calpurnia is
a stern disciplinarian
Tom Robinson--The black field hand accused of
rape
Aunt Alexandra-- Atticus sister, a strong-willed
woman with a fierce devotion to her family.
Alexandra is the perfect Southern lady
Mayella Ewell--Bob Ewells abused, lonely,
unhappy daughter
44
Minor Characters
Mr. Dolphus Raymond--A wealthy white man who
lives with his black mistress and mulatto
children
Link Deas--Tom Robinsons employer
Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose--An elderly,
ill-tempered, racist woman who lives near the
Finches
Mr. Underwood--The publisher of Maycombs
newspaper
Walter Cunningham--Son of Mr. Walter Cunningham
and classmate of Scout
Miss Maudie Atkinson--The Finches neighbor, a
sharp-tongued widow, and an old friend of the
family
Mr. Walter Cunningham--A poor farmer
45
Harper Lee v. Scout Finch

• She grew up in the 1930s in a rural Southern
  Alabama town.
• Her father, Amasa Lee, is an attorney who served
  in the state legislature in Alabama.
• Her older brother and young neighbor (Truman
  Capote) are playmates.
• Harper Lee is an avid reader as a child.
• She is six years old when the Scottsboro trials
  are widely covered in national, state and local
  newspapers.

• She grew up in the 1930s in a rural Southern
  Alabama town.
• Her father, Atticus Finch, is an attorney who
  served in the state legislature in Alabama.
• Her older brother (Jem) and young neighbor (Dill)
  are playmates.
• Scout reads before she enters school and reads
  the Mobile Register newspaper in first grade.
• She is eight years old when the trial of Tom
  Robinson takes place.

46
Conflicts

• Person versus society
• Person versus person
• Person versus self

What did your father see in the window, the
crime of rape or the best defense to it? Why
dont you tell the truth, child, didnt Bob Ewell
beat you up? Atticus Finch
questioning Mayella on the witness stand
47
Mayella Video
Single click screen to view video
48
Harper Lees Style

• Allusions
• Idioms
• Colloquial Language
• Autobiographical
• Symbolism

49
Allusions
nothing to fear but fear itself
Battle of Hastings
Dracula
John Wesley
Let the cup pass from you
Rosetta stone
Indian-head penny
Willam Jennings Bryan
Ivanhoe
Andrew Jackson
Stonewall Jackson
50
Idioms
get Miss Maudies goat
walked on eggs
set my teeth permanently on edge
break camp
when the chips are down
he had seen the light
looked daggers
blue in the face
into the limelight
51
Symbolism
The Mockingbird
Tom Robinson
Boo Radley
52
Mockingbird Video
Single click screen to view video
53
Colloquial Language

• Hush your mouth! Dont matter who they
  are, anybody sets foot in this houses yo
  compny, and dont you let me catch you remarkin
  on their ways like you was so high and mighty!
  Calpurnia
• I scurried to my room and went to bed.
  Uncle Jack was a prince of a fellow not to let me
  down. But I never figured out how Atticus knew I
  was listening, and it was not until many years
  later that I realized he wanted me to hear every
  word he said. Scout
• It aint honest but its mighty helpful to
  folks. Secretly, Miss Finch, Im not much of a
  drinker, but you see they could never, never
  understand that I live like I do because thats
  the way I want to live.
  Mr. Raymond

54
35th Anniversary of Novel

• Please spare Mockingbird an Introduction.
  As a reader I loathe Introductions. To novels I
  associate Introductions with long-gone authors
  and works that are brought back into print after
  decades of Interment Mockingbird has never
  been out of print and I am still alive It still
  says what it has to say it has managed to
  survive the years without preamble.
  Harper Lee

Single click speaker to hear audio clip gtgtgtgt
55
Harper Lee An Enigma
But I think we can learn a lot about her by
reading To Kill A Mockingbird. To think it is
more autobiographical than we realize I suspect
that she is Scout, that Atticus Finch is her
father, and that her dear friend Truman Capote is
Dill. That is probably all she wants us to know,
and all we need to know. Judith Handschuh
56
In Conclusion Harper Lees Legacy

• To Kill a Mockingbird
• Gives us new appreciation for our childhood
  experiences
• Shows us how ones sense of right and wrong
  is learned
• Allows us to experience destructiveness of
  hatred in society

57
Click Here for Interactive Whiteboards You Can
Afford