Harper Lee Biography Essay

Harper Lee Biography
Harper Lee wrote a book call ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ which was a number one best seller for a couple years after it came out. Harper Lee’s book is still very famous today in high schools for teaching kids.(Wilder, Mike) One of the most interesting things that Harper Lee used real life events in her book. She also used people in her life as characters in her book.
Harper Lee, her real name was Nelle Harper Lee, was born on April 28, 1926, in Monroeville, Alabama. Harper’s father, Amasa Coleman Lee, was a lawyer, a member of the Alabama State Legislature and he also owned part of the local newspaper. Harper’s mother was a manic depressive, which means that she was there physically just not mentally. (Biography.com Editors) Since her mother, Frances Finch Lee, had a mental illness and she would rarely leave the house, she would have to do the normal things a mother would do. Lee had two older sisters, Alice Finch Lee and
Louise Lee Conner, she also had an older brother, Edwin Coleman Lee. Harper Lee died on February 19, 2016, she was 89 years old. Her nephew, Hank Connor, said the author died in her sleep at and assisted living facility in Monroeville.
Harper Lee as a person was independent, she didn’t really like working with other people. The only person she would work with was her childhood friend, Truman Capote, another famous author that grew up in Monroeville.(Earnest, MK) Lee’s higher education was encouraged by her father, who wanted her to become a lawyer like others in her families including her sister Alice. However Lee actually wanted to become an author, and six months before finishing her studies, she began her writing career. Lee was very focused on school on her studies and writing, she also was a member of the literary honor society and glee club. She studied law at Huntington College at Montgomery and the University of Alabama. She then transferred to Oxford University as an international student during her last year. Lee was a very thoughtful person, she would often use the money she made off of her success just to make anonymous donations to charities. She also didn’t like fame, which was hard for a lot of people to understand since she wrote a bestseller. Sometimes she would disappear just so she could get some time alone to write her book.
Harper Lee used real life events in her book, like the great depression. She also used people in her life as characters in her book. Throughout the book people could tell that she was referring characters from her book back to the people in her life for example scout finch is her, Atticus is her father, and Dill is her childhood friend Truman Capote. Throughout the book, young Scout Finch, with the help of her father Atticus, learns how to walk around in other people’s shoes and see life from their perspective. That’s what a lot of people during the great depression thought was the best way to move on. The great depression was a time where many people didn’t have a lot of stuff to live on, and that’s a part of Harper Lee’s book.
The book was published and released at the beginning of the civil right movement, the book puts a personal spin on tense, racial issues in the South by placing a story that relates into the hands of American students. In the book it uses the civil rights movement as a perspective for the characters in the book. During this time a lot of people wanted equality and Harper Lee’s book is a great example of what it was like during that time. In Lee’s novel Scout Finch works to come to terms with the fact of her society, including social inequality, racial inequality, and the expectation that she act as a “proper Southern lady” which all refers back to the civil rights movement. The book soared miles above such criticisms.The story has an extended role in American culture for decades.
The book To Kill a Mockingbird was published in July 1960, (gradesaver.com) and it was picked up by the Book-of-the-Month Club and the Literary Guild.
The book was more than a coming-of-age-story, the book is still a well known story that is used all of the United States . Lee has won numerous awards for the book including the Pulitzer Prize and many other literary awards. She also got the Presidential Medal of Freedom that President George W. Bush presented her with for her “outstanding Contribution to America’s literary tradition” at a ceremony at the White House in November 2007. The book itself had sold 10 million copies in the 1970’s(Biography.com Editors) and is has been translated into more than 40 languages with more than a million copies sold each year.(Wilder, Mike) In 1988 the National Council of Teachers of English reported that the book was being taught in 74 percent of the nation’s secondary schools.(Biography.com Editors) A decade later Library Journal said that that book was the best novel of the 20th
century.
Harper Lee was a fantastic, talented author and person. She knew had to draw attention to readers with her book, which was a complete success even if it was only a one hit wonder, not to mention all the metals she received for her glorious novel. Lee did a fantastic job at tying everything that was going on during the time the book was coming together, like the great depression and the civil rights movement. She also did a good job at tying the people in her life and characters in her book. Lee wrote a book that everyone thinks is a good example of how people should live life, and it teaches good skills and that’s one of the reasons school still teach it in their english classes.(Earnest, MK) Harper Lee has inspired many other individuals besides all the children that read her book on a daily basis. Harper Lee is an inspiration to many and her book made had a big impact on how people see the world after reading her book.