Harper Lee Journey

The Amazing Journeys of Harper Lee

Have you ever heard of the story, To Kill a Mockingbird? The amazing author behind this classic American novel is Harper Lee. She is famous for her one and only published novel. Other than the one novel, Lee chose to live a relatively normal life mostly in the small town of Monroeville, Alabama. Her birth, her youth, her short writing career, and her present day lifestyle can summarize her life.

Before Harper Lee could become a famous author, she had to be brought into this world. Lee’s father, Amasa Coleman Lee, who called himself A.C., was a successful lawyer (Shields, 3). Lee’s mother, Frances Cunningham Finch, was mentally ill and rarely left her house. It was believed that she might have had bipolar disorder

She could care less about fashion, make-up, and boys (Shields, 2). Lee grew up beside her next-door neighbor, Truman Persons. He was often picked on for being a sissy and for wearing “fancy” clothes. Harper would intervene in the situation and beat up the boys who were making fun of him (“Nelle Harper Lee” biography.com). The two’s personalities complemented each other very well, which was a good thing because the two would later go on to write with each other. Harper first showed interest in writing at the age of seven (“Harper Lee”, galegroup.com). Harper attended Elementary through High School in Monroeville (Harper Lee, famousauthors.org). After High School, Lee attended Huntington All-girls College in Montgomery, Alabama until 1945. She was a member of the Literary Honor Society there (“(Nelle) Harper Lee.” galegroup.com). She then transferred to the University of Alabama and went there until 1949. During her time at the University, she was the editor of the school’s humor magazine, the Rammer Jammer (“Nelle Harper Lee” biography.com). Also during this time, Truman Persons, now called Truman Capote, published a novel titled Other Voices, Other Rooms, which has a rough ‘n’ tough character named Isabel who is based off of Harper Lee. After that, she attended Oxford University in England as an exchange student to pursue a career in law. It only took Lee one semester

The themes of guilt, innocence, prejudice, and tolerance are closely related throughout the novel. The mockingbird is understood to stand for joy and innocence (“Harper Lee” galegroup.com). Lee’s famous novel has been transferred into over 40 languages. It has been confirmed that she worked on a second novel as well; it remains unknown as to why that novel never appeared (Shields, 175). At one time during the writing of the second novel, Lee quoted, “All I want to be is the Jane Austen of South Alabama” (Shields, 178). In 1961, Harper Lee became the only author to win the Pulitzer Prize with her first novel. She also won many other awards that year including the Brotherhood Award of the National Conference of Christians and Jews and the Alabama Library Association Award (“Harper Lee” famousauthors.org). Horton Foote wrote a screenplay based off of Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird novel in 1962. The film went on to win eight Academy Award nominations; it also won four awards including Best Actor played by Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch (“Nelle Harper Lee” biography.com). In 1962, her book won the Bestsellers Paperback of the Year award (“Harper Lee” famousauthors.org). Capote asked Lee to work with him in the continuation of the article that they had previously published in The New Yorker because he wanted to turn it into a novel. He named