How Did Harper Lee's Influence On To Kill A Mockingbird

Harper Lee's childhood was troubled with many of society's racial issues especially a trial in Alabama referred to as the Scottsboro trial of 1931. Lee was only five years old when the trial occurred but she was deeply affected by the trial. Amasa Lee was a lawyer and so he became very interested in the trial like many other people in the community, which lead to Lee being interested. The trial in the book, Tom Robinson's rape case, is a reflection of

To Kill a Mockingbird is a story about injustice, racism and the co-existence of good

Maycomb was a slow poor town. Harper Lee made it seem like this was a town full of nothing, people move slow and just mumbled around everywhere. At this time everyone was struggling with the great depression and racism colored people were referred to as niggers because people didn't know better they thought it was weird that they weren't the same as everyone else and i think that scared them. Maycomb county had nothing to fear but itself (pg7). Kids didn't go to school back then they had to stay home and help their families survive the long summer days on the farm. Most kids went to school the first day so the sheriff wouldn't come to the front door of their homes. But that is the setting of Maycomb county. My name is Dawson Creasey and im currently reading To Kill A Mockingbird. I think it’s a wonderful adventure book and you can learn many things from

As children grow up, they open their eyes to the harsh truths in the world around them that they once did not understand or question. This is experienced by the main characters of Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird. The story is of a girl called Scout and her older brother, Jem, who go through the trials of growing up in the fictional small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930s. Racism is rampant in the mindset of the townspeople, shown when the children’s lawyer father, Atticus, takes the case of an obviously innocent African-American man and they convict him in their hearts before the trial even starts. Through this all, we can see the theme of loss of innocence in the children. Lee uses characterization to portray

When Harper Lee was writing about the trial of Tom Robinson in “To Kill a Mockingbird,” she had a very real case to look to for inspiration. The trial of the Scottsboro Boys was a world renowned case in the 1930’s in which nine black youths were accused of raping to white girls in Alabama. Lee’s novel took this case and created the fictional case of Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a lower class white girl in a small town in Alabama during the Depression-era. The Scottsboro trials were the main source of inspiration for Lee’s novel, and although the circumstances of the novel differed from the real-life scandal, the similarities between the two cases are quite abundant.

I think that Harper Lee was inspired by the events of the Scottsboro Boys to write To Kill a Mockingbird based of the following evidence. Several of the characters in To Kill a Mockingbird are very similar to people that were involved in the Scottsboro Boys trials. The setting in a small Alabama town are similar and that both of the accoused rapes are both under similar circumstances that a black man was accused by a white women. This essay will be comparing characters from the book to real people from the Scottsboro Boys trials. Including Haywood Patterson, Tom Robinson, Victoria Price, Mayella Ewell, Samuel Leibowitz, and Atticus Finch.

Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” is set in a small Southern United States community called Maycomb during the Great Depression era. The whole book primarily revolves around segregation and racism and how it relates to Maycomb’s history. It eventually leads to the trial of Tom Robinson where he is accused of beating up and raping Mayella Ewell. Even though it was clear that Tom Robinson did not do anything wrong he was convicted by an all white jury simply because he was black. The trial of Tom Robinson and its verdict shows an example of how segregation in the court system prevents fair trials from occurring.

To begin with, Harper Lee bases To Kill a Mockingbird on her own personal experiences of prejudice. “Set in a small Alabama town with characters drawn partly from her own experience, the story centered around the wrongful conviction of a black man for rape” (Funk, Wagnalls, 1). Basing a book on personal experience shows that even though a book is fictional, it can be based on everyday life. Lee shows the hardships that the Finch and Robinson families go through before and after the trial. The novel justifies what prejudice is like in everyday life not just in To Kill a Mockingbird.

Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, shows how life was for those in the southern part of the United States, during a time when racism ran rampant throughout the land. Many injustices were committed to those of “Negro” descent, and it was up to those behind the law to protect them as well as those who lived by the law. Atticus, attorney at law, defender of the people, and father to Scout and brother Jem is safeguarding Tom Robinson, accused of raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell. As the story continues though, Mayella’s accounts of the facts aren’t quite as how they actually happened. Together, Scout (Jean Louise Finch), Jem and Atticus show courage to stand up for what is right, defend the innocent until proven guilty, and how to remain

To Kill a MockingBird, created by Harper Lee, uses characters to explore the civil rights and racism in the segregated Southern United States of the 1930s. It is said that Harper Lee was inspired to create her story based on the American Tragedy, Scottsboro. The Scottsboro Boys was a group of 9 boys who were accused of raping 2 girls. 3 of them was named innocent because one of them was blind, one was 13, and another one had aids. Lee tried to compare the female victims, the male rapist and the white attorneys.

Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird was an influential study of race relations in America in the mid 20th century. The development of the main character, Scout, is closely tied to what she learns from Atticus, her father, and what she learns from watching the unjust treatment of Tom Robinson, who is a black gentleman accused of rape that Atticus decides to defend in a court case. As Scout grows up, she is forced to deal with prejudice that every person living in Maycomb, Alabama seems to demonstrate in their everyday life. When Atticus agreed to represent Tom Robinson, he likely knew that many town people would resent any attempt to prove Tom Robinson was innocent. In this novel, Scout learns that there are right and wrong times when one should

As the United States “progresses” in economic, educational and technological advancements we still are fighting for racial equality. With more than 50 years since the brown vs. board of education case there is still incidents like Ferguson, Baton Rouge, and Phiando Castile where many questions are still unanswered. However, Harper Lee dealt with these same problems in 1960 when she wrote To Kill a Mockingbird. Lee created an emotionally confronting story. Lee writes through the eyes of “Scout” a lawyer’s daughter in a small sleepy town of Maycomb in Alabama during the great depression. Throughout the book “Scout” learns coming of age lessons from Atticus and her own experiences. But when Atticus takes on a case defending a black man (Tom Robinson) convicted for rapping a white woman (Mayella Ewell) and is found guilty. “Scout” her brother Jem begin to understand the effects of the prejudices in society. Therefore, Lee applies the literary concepts of diction and tone to revel the truth that prejudices in society negatively affect the way people treat each other in To Kill a Mocking Bird.

All in all, the Jim Crow laws, mob mentality, and the Scottsboro Trials were three historical concepts Harper Lee used frequently in her story. In To Kill a Mockingbird, she uses these concept to influence, enrich, and ultimately determine the plot. Ultimately, it was with these critical connections that this American classic has been able to have the profound effect it has had on its readers over the years.

‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ immediately became a classic. It focused on many issues of the issues of the time and some that still exist today. In Harper Lee’s book ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ Scout Finch, the narrator, starts to grow up and see the world around her better. Scout and the audience see the inequality and brokenness of her world, through the eyes of a child. Apart of her journey is the trial of Tom Robinson, a black man accused of rape, in the 1930’s, by Mayella Ewell. Scout’s father, Atticus, defends Robinson against the town’s racism. The prosecution, with the help of Mr. Gilmer, the Ewell’s attorney, wins the case. Even though most of the facts went towards the defense. Through writing Scout’s life Lee is able

“Even among the poor whites, there were social divisions: at the bottom of the social rung, even below the poorest whites, were those who only two generations before would have been slaves. In To Kill a Mockingbird, this poor white bigotry was personified through Bob Ewell”(Mancini, Candice 9). Tom Robinson was known for being and honest man in the black community. He would go to church often and he was a family man. In contrast, Bob Ewell was the town drunk and was by no means a model citizen. Clearly the better man was Tom but due to his race, many people believed Bob and Mayella Ewell when they said that Tom had raped Mayella. In reality, Mayella kissed Tom, “she was white, and she tempted a Negro. She did something that in [their] society is unspeakable: she kissed a black man … a strong young Negro man”(Lee, Harper 204). At the time Lee was growing up, whites and blacks were still segregated and it was inconceivable that the two races consort.