Harper Lee Research Paper Essay Example

“… climb into his skin and walk around in it.” Atticus teaches Scout and important life lesson. The novel To Kill and Mockingbird describes Lee’s childhood growing up in a small country town called Maycomb. She grew up in a small family consisting of her dad, Atticus and her older brother, Jem. The novel describes her childhood adventures and journeys as she grows and matures. Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird discusses biographical and historical events by using characterization and setting. “Harper Lee was born in Monroevill, Alabama in 1926” (Hacht). “Lee was born to Frances Finch, who died when Lee was young, and was the daughter of a lawyer in Maycomb County, Amasa Coleman”(Moss, Wilson 390), who they referred to as “Atticus”. Lee was a “Tom-boy” growing up because she was the only girl in the family. “Truman Capote, famous writer, was a close childhood friend of Lee and is thought to have served as the model for Dill in the novel” (Hacht). “After graduating from the public schools of Monroeville, Lee attended a small college in nearby Montgomery before attending the University of Alabama” (Telgan 285), and one year at Oxford University in England (Stabler 663). “She studied law after graduating, but withdrew one semester before completing her law degree” (Hacht). She withdrew for her law degree to pursue her writing career (Hacht). “She helped author Truman Capote research information for the book, In Cold Blood” (Stabler 663). “She wrote essays and short stories in her spare time.” Her agent called to tell her about the one of her short stories being extended into a novel (Telgan 287). The book was To Kill and Mockingbird which was her only book, was immediately popular and critical success, winning a Pulitzer Prize in 1961 (Hacht). The practice of slavery made whites prejudice against blacks, and the whites did not get along well with the blacks, which was a cause for a major change. Even though slavery ended they where still treated unfairly.