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

as well (“Nelle Harper Lee” biography.com). They met at a Methodist church and went on to marry each other on June 22, 1910. A.C. was 30 and Frances 19 (Shields, 3). After the two married, they moved to Monroeville, Alabama. They had four children: Alice, born in 1911, Frances Louise in 1916, Edwin in 1920, and Nelle Harper in 1926 (Shields, 3). Nelle Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926 in Monroeville (Shields, 4-5). She was named after her grandmother Ellen Finch; they spelt Ellen backward to make Nelle. Shortly after her birth, they began to call her just Harper (Shields, 6). Although no one is for sure, a lot of people will say that she is related to the famous confederate army general Robert E. Lee (“Harper Lee” galegroup.com).
Throughout her youth, Harper Lee was a tomboy; she was rougher and tougher than most of the boys her age.

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

there to realize that a lawyer was not the thing for her (Shields, 76). She then moved to New York City, New York in 1949 at the age of 23 to pursue a writing career. She quoted, “Writing is the hardest thing in the world…but writing is the only thing that has made me completely happy” (“(Nelle) Harper Lee” galegroup.com). It was after she moved to New York that she actually reunited with Truman Capote (“Nelle Harper Lee” biography.com).
Later in 1949, Lee became friends with Broadway Composer and Lyricist Michael Brown and his wife Joy (“Nelle Harper Lee” biography.com). At this time, she worked as an Airlines Reservations Clerk. When she wasn’t working, she was writing (“Harper Lee” galegroup.com). In the early 1950’s, she took two essays and three short stories to a Literary Agent. After telling her to discard all of her short stories and an essay, he encouraged her to expand the other essay into a novel (“Harper Lee” galegroup.com). Lee struggled with devoting time to both her job and writing, but things would change in 1956 when the Browns gave her a Christmas present. They were going to support her fully while she strictly focused on writing. As a result, Lee quit her job. The Browns also helped her find an agent, Maurice Crain. He got the Publishing Firm interested in Lee’s writing (“Nelle Harper Lee” biography.com). Later in 1956, Lee assisted Capote in writing an article for The New Yorker that he would later use to write a novel. Lee served as his research assistant during this time. She traveled with him to perform interviews, and then helped him write the article afterward (“Nelle Harper Lee” biography.com). In 1957, she submitted a manuscript titled Go Set A Watchman to Lippincott. They encouraged her to rewrite it, claiming it was a bunch of short stories combined. She worked with her editor, Tay Hohoff, to rewrite it a second time. This time she called it Atticus (“Harper Lee” galegroup.com). When she was writing it in 1958, she got frustrated and actually threw her manuscript out the window of her apartment into the snow (“Nelle Harper Lee” biography.com). She frantically called her editor and he told her to retrieve the manuscript immediately. She listened to Hohoff and retrieved the manuscript and continued writing after a good night’s sleep. She finally finished writing it, which she now called To Kill A Mockingbird in late 1959, and it was eventually published in July of 1960 (“Harper Lee” galegroup.com).
When Harper was a child, a black man had been accused of raping a white woman, and that is where the idea of To Kill A Mockingbird came from.

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

the novel In Cold Blood. Although he dedicated the book to her, he failed to recognize her contributions to it. She felt very betrayed and hurt by this, but continued to remain friends with him until he died on August 25, 1984 (“Nelle Harper Lee” biography.com). In 1999, To Kill A Mockingbird won the award for Best Novel of the Century (“Harper Lee” famousauthors.org). Harper Lee currently resides in her hometown of Monroeville. She never married and has no children. She devotes some of her time to her church and helping out around her community. She also enjoys golf and music (“(Nelle Harper Lee” galegroup.com). She mostly avoids being in the spotlight and doesn’t talk much about her still famous to this day novel (“Harper Lee” famousauthors.org). Her friends and family say that she still writes in her free time; as to why she never published anything else still remains a mystery.
Only famous for her one and only novel, Harper Lee is a talented author who has inspired millions of readers across the world. As you can see, she lived an ordinary life, but became known to all by writing one extraordinary novel.