faggot

May 3rd, 2013
3rd period
Harper Lee Harper Lee is the author of the book “To Kill a Mocking Bird.” She was born on April 28th, 1926 in Monroeville, Alabama. As she was growing up her father worked as a lawyer and her mother suffered from mental illness so she never left the house. Growing up, Harper had a very close childhood friend that would help a big part in her life. His name was Truman Capote. In high school Harper was very interested in English Literature. After she graduated she went to an all-female college in Montgomery. she mainly focused on her studies and writing and didn’t have much of a social life. She transferred to the university of Alabama and this is where she tried to have a better social life, so she joined a sorority. She also became the editor of Rammer Jammer, in the schools paper. In her junior year she was accepted into law school. Her law studies made her have to leave her post as the editor if Rammer Jammer. A year after she was in her law studies program she told her family that her passion was writing. During the summer she went to Oxford University in England, as an exchange student. The next fall she dropped out of her law studies program and moved to New York to follow her dreams of becoming a writer. Harper worked as a ticket agent for Eastern Airlines and for the British Overseas Air Corp. She struggled for several years until she was reunited with her childhood friend Truman. She also become friends with a man named Michael Brown and his wife Joy. In1956 the browns family gave Harper something that she would never forget. The supported her for a year so that she could quit her jobs and work full time on her writing. They introduced her to Maurice Crain, and he became her agent. He was able to get the publishing firm interested in some of her novels. In 1959 she finally was able to get her novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” published. Later that year, she teamed up with Truman to assist him with an article for “The New Yorker.” He was writing an article about the murder of four members of the Clutter family and the effect it had on their small town in Kansas. They traveled to Kansas to interview friends and family of the victims. Soon Lee was engrossed in her literary success story. In July 1960,To Kill a Mockingbird was published and picked up by the Book-of-the-Month Club and the Literary Guild. A condensed version of the story appeared in Reader’s Digest magazine. The work’s central character, a young girl nicknamed Scout, was not unlike Lee in her youth. In one of the book’s major plotlines, Scout and her brother Jem and their friend Dill explore their fascination with a mysterious and somewhat infamous neighborhood character named Boo Radley. But the work was more than a coming-of-age story, however. Another part of the novel reflected racial prejudices in the South. Their attorney father, Atticus Finch, tries to help a black man who has been charged with raping a white woman to get a fair trial and to prevent him from being lynched by angry whites in a small town. The following year, To Kill a Mockingbird won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize and several other literary awards. Horton Foote wrote a screenplay based on the book and used the same title for the 1962 film adaptation. Lee visited the set during filming and did a lot of interviews to support the film. Earning eight Academy Award nominations, the movie version of To Kill a Mockingbird won four awards, including Best Actor for Gregory Peck’s portrayal of Atticus Finch. The character of Atticus is said to have been based on Lee’s father. By the mid-1960s, Lee was reportedly working on a second novel, but it was never published. Continuing to help Capote, Lee worked with him on and off on In Cold Blood. She had been invited by Smith and Hickock to witness their execution in 1965, but she declined. When Capote’s book was finally published in 1966, a rift developed between the two friends and collaborators. Capote dedicated the book to Lee and to his longtime lover Jack Dunphy, but he failed to acknowledge her contributions to the work. While Lee was very angry and hurt by this betrayal, she remained friends with Truman for the rest of his life. That same year, Lee had an operation on her hand to repair damage done by a bad burn. She also accepted a post on the National Council of the Arts at the request of President Lyndon B. Johnson. During the 1970s and 1980s, Lee largely retreated from public life. She spent some of her time on a nonfiction book project about an Alabama serial killer, which had the working title The Reverend. But the work was never published. Many reviews have been given about Harpers book “To kill a Mockingbird.” Time Magazine , “Novelist Lee’s prose has an edge that cuts through cant, and she teaches the reader an astonishing number of useful truths about little girls and about Southern life.” The review goes on to call Scout Finch, …”fiction’s most appealing child since Carson McCuller’s Frankie got left behind at the wedding.”While some critics chose to focus on the novel’s point of view and Scout’s use of language they felt was too sophisticated for a six year old, others took issue with the book’s racial themes. Scout’s father, lawyer Atticus Finch, agrees to defend Tom Robinson, a black man, from the charge that he raped a white woman, a decision that polarizes Maycomb. Apparently this plotline polarized the critics as well.” Time magazine‘s review gives the book the credit it deserves. It tells about the truths about little girls in the south and how it was so hard for her to understand why an innocent man was being charged with such an awful crime all because of the color of his skin. Kayla Hendrickson wrote a review about the book that is just simple and straight to the point, and I absolutely agree with her review. She said “To Kill a Mockingbird is a literature mosaic. There is not a beginning, middle, or end to this story but rather a snapshot of life. Early in the book the picture of a small Alabama town in 1935 is painted for the reader. It’s a reminder that the world was once a simple place as it eases the reader into the mind of an 8-year-old girl. They make friends with her big brother, Jem and find comfort in the arms of her father, Atticus. They’re haunted by her fears and teased by her curiosities of the Radley’s house. But soon the silky, calm pond of childhood is shattered by the impact of racism and the ripples of lessons learned courses through the water. Internal battles occupy their minds as they watch the external battles play out in there once-so-peaceful town. Overall, this book deserves a perfect, 5 star rating. This is a must-read classic. To Kill a Mockingbird is timeless and captivating from the first word to the last.” Harper Lee did a fantastic job with writing “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Out of all the stories and novels that I have read throughout high school, this one is the one that stood out the most and kept my attention. This book is an inspiring story that makes people see how the stupidity of racism can affect everyone not just minorities. Harper Lee was an amazing Author.