To Kill A Mockingbird

Background Information

About the Author

Early Life –

* Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926 in Monroeville, Alabama, a small town about sixty miles west of Montgomery. Her family was related to Robert E. Lee, the famous Confederate general. She was the youngest of three children. She enjoyed writing, but did not seek publication.

About the Author

Education –

Harper Lee attended local schools until she entered Huntington College in Montgomery, Alabama in 1944. Later as a Fulbright Scholar, she spent a year at Oxford. Then from 1945 – 1949 she studied law at the University of Alabama. In 1950, she left the university without completing all the work for her law degree.

About the AuthorLife after college - Harper Lee moved to New York City where she was

employed for a time in the reservations department of Eastern Air Lines and later for British Overseas Air Corporation. During her stay in New York she contacted a literary agent and showed him five of her manuscripts one of the a short story which became the novel To Kill A Mockingbird. Encouraged by her agent to expand on the short story, she gave up her reservations job and moved into a small, cold-water apartment and devoted her energies to writing. She submitted the lengthened version of the story to a publisher in 1957 but was told to rewrite it because it seemed like a series of short stories and not a novel. She spent the next two years writing and rewriting.

About the AuthorPublication and Honors –

In 1960, the book was finally published and was soon to be awarded the 1960 Pulitzer Prize for distinguished fiction by an American author. The book also received the Paperback of the Year Award and the National Conference of Christians and Jews Brotherhood Award. It was a favorite choice with four major book clubs and eventually remained on the bestseller list for more than 85 weeks! The book eventually became and Oscar-winning movie.

Setting

Southern Society in the 1930’s – • Jim Crow Laws – “Separate but Equal”

• Separate drinking fountains and restrooms• Separate schools• Designated portions of buses and restaurants

• Interracial dating was forbidden; Interracial marriages were illegal

• Judicial terms that did not apply to Black people• “Innocent until proven guilty”• “Equality under the law”• Jury Duty• Receiving Legal Representation

Setting

The Great Depression – • 1929 – 1930’s• 1933 – 25% unemployment vs. 1995 – 4.2%

unemployment• Black Thursday

• October 24, 1929• 13 million shares traded and prices dropped• $40 billion dollars were lost• Stock market crash was considered the start of the

Great Depression

Setting

American Presidents – • Herbert Hoover

• Republican served from 1929 – 1932• Increased tariffs on farm products causing economic pressure• Later urged the passage of laws to support businesses, but it

was “too little too late”• Franklin Delano Roosevelt

• Democrat• Created “New Deal” – programs and projects created to end the

Depression• Raised the National Debt immensely, but helped America return

to prosperity.

Characters

• Atticus Finch – a lawyer in a small southern town (Maycomb, Alabama) who defends a Negro

• Scout (Jean Louise) Finch – Atticus’ young daughter who functions as the narrator of the story

• Jem (Jeremy) Finch – Scout’s older brother• Cal (Calpurnia) – The Negro cook who has been

responsible for helping Atticus raise his children

Characters

Aunt Alexandria – Scout and Jem’s very proper aunt who comes to care for the children during the difficult time of the trial of Tom Robinson

Uncle Jack Finch – Scout and Jem’s unmarried uncle who comes and visits them every Christmas

Dill (Charles Baker Harris) – playmate of Scout and Jem who lives in Mississippi but comes every summer to Maycomb

Miss Rachael – Dill’s aunt who lives next door to the Finches

Characters

• Miss Maudie Atkinson – another neighbor who is very fair-minded (like Atticus) and serves to tell the children, and thereby the reader, of the humble Atticus’ accomplishments.

• Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose – an old lady who lives down the street and who screams insults at the children as they pass by their house

• Boo (Mr. Arthur Radley) – the mysterious neighbor whom the children have never seen

• Mr. Nathan Radley – the stern, distant brother of Boo who seldom speaks even though he is seen every day

Characters

• Heck Tate – the sheriff, who is also a good friend of the Finches

• Judge John Taylor – the presiding judge at the trial

• Mr. Gilmer – the prosecuting attorney at the trial

Characters

* Tom Robinson – a hard-working, kind-hearted young Negro man who is accused of a crime against Mayella Ewell

Characters

• Bob Ewell – the irresponsible and disgraceful father of a brood of children; receives welfare checks and spends them on alcohol rather than food for his children

• Mayella Ewell – Bob Ewell’s daughter who accuses Tom Robison of attacking her

Characters

• Mr. Walter Cunningham – an upright farmer who refuses to accept charity but does owe Atticus for legal services

• Reverend Sykes – a Negro minister who takes care of Scout and Jem during the trial

Characters

• Miss Stephanie Crawford – a gossipy neighbor who knows the family histories of the entire neighborhood

• Miss Caroline Fisher – one of Scout’s teachers• Miss Merriweather – a local lady who writes the

Halloween pagent• Dolphus Raymond – a white man who prefers to live with

the Negros• Mr. B.B. Underwood – owner of the town’s newspapers• Mr. Link Deas – Tom Robinson’s boss