Harper Lee "To Kill a Mockingbird" history of creation
Although the book deals with serious topics, it will be of interest to readers of all ages. Publishers classify the novel for the age category of 12 years and older. In most schools in the United States of America, To Kill a Mockingbird is included in the school curriculum.
Nell Harper Lee English Nelle Harper Lee (1926-2016)
The book, which made the author famous, was the fruit of painstaking work. Nell Harper Lee, born in a small provincial town in Alabama, always felt like a writer. But various circumstances prevented her from seriously engaging in literary activity for a long time. She wrote short stories and essays in her free time from office work.
A Christmas gift from friends in the form of a year's vacation helped Harper Lee focus on her creativity and create a series of short stories, later developed into a novel.
The book “To kill a mockingbird” appeared on sale in the 60th year of the 20th century. The number of pages in the novel is about 400. The book is read in one breath and instantly wins the hearts of readers.
A 2008 online poll by Play.com voted To Kill a Mockingbird the "best book of all time."
The title of the work is symbolic, and part of the meaning of the title is revealed in the book itself. Atticus Finch, in a conversation with his son, calls killing a little mockingbird a sinful act. The bird is compared to innocent people, the heroes of the work.
Author's story
Like many others, the author of this work is recognized as a “genius of one book.” The thing is that the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” remained Harper’s only work, but for this book, which eventually received a full translation into almost all languages of the world, the writer was awarded the most honorable Pulitzer Prize.
Subsequently, Library Journal recognized this work as the best novel written in America throughout the twentieth century, and over time, the author was also awarded the Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States.
The author herself has repeatedly spoken out about the success of her work. If we talk about the content of the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird,” then this is a description of the main problems of society of that time, as well as their vision from the child’s side, and Harper did not even expect any success of this work. Even more: the author believed that in the hands of critics the novel was doomed to a quick “death.” But at the same time, she thought that someone might still like the book, and in the future she continued to write anyway. In other words, when she wrote To Kill a Mockingbird, she hoped for very little, but ended up with much more.
Main characters
Main characters with brief descriptions:
- Jean Louise Finch is the main character of the novel, nicknamed Little Eye. The story is told on behalf of this girl. At the beginning of the novel, she is six years old, she is a very impressionable and spontaneous child who observes and learns about the world around her.
- Jim is Little Eye's older brother.
- Atticus Finch is a lawyer in a small southern American town, the father of Jim and Jean. This is a hero, endowed with all the features of an ideal father, he serves as a role model and the center of the world for his children.
- Calpurnia is the black cook of the Finch family, raising children.
- Dill Harris is the Finch children's best friend, who comes to Maycomb to visit his aunt.
Screen adaptation
Quotes from the work “To Kill a Mockingbird” are so embedded in the mind and carry such a deep meaning that already in 1962, director Robert Mulligan decided to film the novel in his new film. Gregory Peck was given the main role in the film, and the film ultimately turned out to be incredibly successful, as a result of which it was nominated for an Oscar in eight different categories. The film won in three categories:
- Best Actor;
- the best scenery;
- Best Adapted Screenplay.
Thanks to this, quotes from To Kill a Mockingbird began to spread throughout the world, and the film to this day regularly tops various ratings of the best films released in the history of American cinema. Often, even in other countries, this picture is recognized as one of the greatest works in the history of cinema around the world.
It is for this reason that the film adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird is recommended for viewing, as is reading the novel.
Minor characters
The book has many bright characters, typical representatives of their circle.
These are members of the large Finch family, and neighbors, and other residents of the town and its environs:
- Caroline Fisher is a young teacher at Jean Louise's school who favors modern teaching methods but has little to teach the children.
- representatives of the Radley family are neighbors of the Finches, isolated from the residents of Maycomb,
- members of the Cunningham family are poor farmers, hardworking and proud,
- representatives of the Ewell family, belonging to the lower strata, are a "disgrace to Maycomb" and do not want to change their position,
- Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose is a grumpy, lonely old woman who lives two doors down from the Finches,
- Maudie Atkinson is an independent woman who lives on the same street as Jean and Jim. She is distinguished by sobriety of views and strength of character,
- Alexandra Finch is Atticus’s sister, a representative of conservative American society, trying to make Eyeball a real lady,
- Tom Robinson, a black man, wrongly accused of a serious crime and sentenced to prison,
- Huck Tate is a kind and honest town sheriff who tries to follow the law and the voice of his heart.
Second coming
It is quite possible that she continued to write all these years - she simply did not want to publish her works. To date, only one is destined to see the light of day - the novel "Go Set a Watchman", which is the original version of the book "To Kill a Mockingbird". The novel tells about the same heroine Jean Louise Finch, only now an adult. In the story, Gene Finch returns from New York to his hometown of Maycomb to visit his father Atticus. She must face personal and political problems while trying to understand her father and her own feelings.
Article on the topic
Against soap. Why Colleen McCullough didn't like the Thorn Birds series The book was written before Mockingbird, but the editor liked the scenes with memories of Jean's childhood so much that he advised Harper Lee to focus on this period of the heroine's life and completely change the plot. “My editor, who liked most of the book the flashbacks of the adult Scout to her childhood, convinced me to rewrite the book from the point of view of young Jean. And since I was an inexperienced writer, I did just that,” Lee admitted.
Today, 88-year-old Harper Lee lives in a nursing home in her hometown of Monroeville. She sees and hears almost nothing - her sister used to support her, but she died in 2011. Now the writer’s interests are protected by her friend and lawyer Tonya Carter - it was she who discovered the manuscript, which Harper Lee herself considered lost. “After much doubt, I gave it to the right people for review and was very pleased to hear from them that it was worth publishing,” The Guardian newspaper quotes Lee.
The news about the release of the writer's second novel came as an unexpected surprise to all fans of her work. Harper Collins has a planned circulation of two million copies. The title of the 304-page book, due out in July 2015, is a quote from the Bible. It is still unknown when Harper Lee's book will appear in Russia.
To kill a mockingbird chapter by chapter summary
The novel To kill a mockingbird consists of 31 chapters, a brief summary of which is given below.
1.
Introduction to the main characters of the work and a description of the town of Maycomb. The events of the early 1930s are told in the form of memoirs by Jean Louise Finch.
The girl lives with her father, who practices law, her brother Jim, who is four years older than her sister, and Calpurnia.
The children's mother died when Jean Louise was two years old. Since then, the boy and girl have been raised by their father, whom they consider polite and fair.
In the summer, six-year-old Jean and nine-year-old Jim meet Dill, with whom they spend carefree time together. Children play various games. But most of all they are attracted to the Radley house and its inhabitants.
According to rumors, Scarecrow Radley, the youngest son of Nathan Radley, who got involved with bad company in his youth and was punished by his father, is imprisoned inside.
2.
September came, the children said goodbye to Dill, and school life began. Little Eye is bored at school, where she cannot express herself, and where a young teacher teaches children in a new way.
3.
The Finch children invite Farmer Cunningham's son to breakfast. Walter Cunningham has a reasonable, adult conversation with Atticus, and Little Eye once again shows his spontaneity, for which he receives a scolding from Calpurnia. A remarkable incident occurs at school with Barris Ewell, who came to class on the first day at the request of the inspector. He makes young Miss Caroline cry and leaves the class.
4.
Things are still not going smoothly for Little Eye at school. One day, on her way home, she discovers bags of chewing gum in the trunk of an oak tree on the border of Radley's land. She tells her brother about the discovery, and later they find many interesting little things in the hollow.
5.
The children, guessing that the Scarecrow Radley had made a hiding place in the oak tree, wrote him a note. For this they receive a scolding from Atticus, who forbids teasing people and acting out the story of their lives in front of their neighbors.
6.
The boys get the idea to climb into Radley's garden, where, running away from the owner of the house, Jim loses his pants. And in the morning, carefully sewn trousers are found on the fence.
7.
Jean Louise moves into 2nd grade, where she likes it no more than 1st. In the hiding place, the children discover two soap dolls, and two weeks later - chewing gum, then a medal. But someone covers the hollow with cement, and the children get very upset.
Short description
This is a fair and kind book, which is often looked at, but not always decided to purchase and read. It takes the reader back to childhood and shows exactly how the foundation of each person’s life is laid, because children look at the world around them through the eyes of adults and draw their own conclusions, identifying the slightest lie and instantly noticing the discrepancy between actions and words. That is why it is impossible to deceive a child, and it is very important to remain yourself in front of him.
Many people may be put off by the title of this book, because with such a title and the children drawn on the cover, many people have not the most pleasant associations, although for some such a twist is even a little intriguing. Fortunately, the work is often included in various collections, so many more and more often come across it and try to read it.
It is worth noting that some people who have studied the contents of the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” are even a little jealous of those who have not read it yet, but after studying the entire plot they still re-read the book several times, trying to focus their attention on some subtleties, moments, which you have to look for between the lines.
Analysis of the work “To Kill a Mockingbird”
Criticism classifies the book “To Kill a Mockingbird” as a novel about morals, as evidenced by the annotation for the publication. The work is intended to educate teenagers, instill in them a sense of justice and mutual assistance.
The narrative contains a large number of dialogues, which is a distinctive feature of children's and youth literature.
Dialogues are interrupted by explanations coming from the mouths of the main child characters. All this brings the text to life and captivates the reader.
The title of the novel carries a certain intrigue, causes misunderstanding, and makes you think about the meaning of what is written. And only the passage in which Atticus talks about the mockingbird explains the title of the book, revealing the main truth that one should not offend the weak and defenseless.
When analyzing a work, no less attention should be paid to the names of the characters in the book. In a sense, they can be called common nouns, serving as a characteristic of the people wearing them.
Thus, the surname of Jean and Jim's father, Atticus Finch, is translated from English as “finch.” His daughter’s nickname, translated into Russian as Eyeball, in the original – Scout, literally scout or tracker.
Awards and prizes
According to the BBC in 2003, this novel took sixth position in the ranking of the world's 200 best books, and at the beginning of 2021 its total circulation had already reached 30 million copies. The Russian translation of this work was carried out by Raisa Oblonskaya and Nora Gal, which may be of interest to those who were positively influenced by this novel and left positive reviews about it. To Kill a Mockingbird is one of those books that every person must read. Officially, this opinion is supported only by the US government.
The author created characters based on real personalities, this is a well-known fact. Thus, the prototype of Dill, the friend of the main characters, is an American writer named Truman Capote, with whom the writer was friends in her childhood, since he lived next door.
It's also worth mentioning the fact that Finch isn't a random last name, it's Harper's father's nickname.
