LEE, Harper

Born Nelle Harper Lee, 28 April 1926, Monroeville, Alabama

Daughter of Amasa C. and Frances Finch Lee

Harper Lee's hometown, Monroeville, provided her with the setting for her only novel, To Kill a Mockingbird (1960). Like the novel's heroine, Scout Finch, Lee attended an eight-grade grammar school that served three counties and watched from the balcony of a local courthouse while her lawyer father defended cases. Lee herself later studied law (as did an older sister who practiced in town), and when she began writing the novel, she was working in an office for an overseas airline. Lee quit this job, however, when she had to concentrate full time on the extensive rewriting her editors at J. B. Lippincott required. Lee later stated the novel emerged from "a long and hopeless period of writing the book over and over again."

The events in To Kill a Mockingbird are seen through the eyes of six-year-old Scout Finch, but the voice is that of a mature narrator, reflecting in maturity upon events that occurred in childhood. Lee uses the purity of Scout's vision to pierce the complexity and the mystery of the South. The story tells of the gradual moral awakening of Scout and her brother Jem. From two uncomprehending and confused observers, they slowly become aware of the difference between truth and gossip, and learn that things are not always what they seem: the rumored violence of town recluse Boo Radley is only a gentle befuddlement. Puzzled by the adult world around them, they question the hypocrisies and paradoxes surrounding words such as "class" and "race," and their most disturbing discovery is that kind, easygoing neighbors can let their prejudices twist them into ruthless, glassy-eyed strangers.

The lesson is brought home to them by the trial of a black man, Tom Robinson. Atticus Finch, the children's father, defends Tom against a white woman's accusation of rape. Although the facts clearly point to Tom's innocence, his color just as clearly points to his conviction. Lee gives Atticus a godlike stature that is overbearing at times: he is the superior man of conscience, brave enough to voice his convictions in the face of hostile opposition. Yet Atticus defends Tom with a minimum of melodrama—the world that Lee portrays is tranquil and soft-spoken. When the trial ends, there are no visible ripples, and life settles back into its timeless patterns. Only the children have changed. The novel climaxes in a Halloween attempt on their lives, when they are saved by Boo Radley. Scout and Jem realize that to kill Tom or to hurt Boo Radley is as senseless as to kill a mockingbird who "don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy."

To Kill a Mockingbird was a bestseller and won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1961, as well as the Brotherhood Award from the National Conference of Christians and Jews. It was made into a popular movie starring Gregory Peck in 1962, and both the book and film became staples in junior high school educational programs. To Kill a Mockingbird has remained in print for decades, and has sold around 12 million copies since its publication. It stands solid as a poignant and unforgettable tale.

Other Works:

Romance and High Adventure (1993).

Bibliography:

Boye, A. P., "Harper Lee, I Suppose, Was a Child Once: A Monodrama; and Harper Lee and Me: Expectations, Realities, and Discoverings While Writing and Performing a One-Woman Show" (thesis, 1997). Going, W. T., Essays on Alabama Literature (1975). Handley, G., Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird (1985). Hardacre, K., Brodie's Notes on Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird (1992). Power, C. K., Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Mockingbird: A Collection of Critical Essays (dissertation, 1996). Whitlock, L. A., "Sense and Sensibilities: Southern Discourse and the Popularity of To Kill a Mockingbird " (thesis, 1998).

Reference works:

CA (1975). Oxford Companion to Women's Writing in the United States (1995). WA.

Other references:

Alabama Law Review (Winter 1994). Alabama Review (1973). Atlantic (Aug. 1960). Life (26 May 1961). Newsweek (9 Jan. 1961). NY (10 Sept. 1960). NYTBR (10 July 1960). Southern Living (May 1997). Studies in American Fiction (1991). Time (1 Aug. 1960).

—CHRISTIANE BIRD,

UPDATED BY NELSON RHODES