To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird is a 1960 novel by Harper Lee, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1961. It was made into an Academy Award-winning motion picture starring Gregory Peck by director Robert Mulligan in 1962. A coming-of-age story, it is told from the point of view of Jean Louise "Scout" Finch, the young daughter of Atticus Finch, an educated lawyer in Maycomb, Alabama, a small town in the deep South of the United States. She is accompanied by her brother Jem and their mutual friend Dill.

Related Topics:
1960 - Harper Lee - Pulitzer Prize for Fiction - 1961 - Academy Award - Motion picture - Gregory Peck - Robert Mulligan - 1962 - Deep South - United States

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Truman Capote was a lifelong friend of childhood neighbor Lee, and allegedly was the inspiration for Dill's character in her best-seller. Capote frequently implied that he himself had written a considerable portion of her novel, and some have said he ghosted the entire novel. At least one person—Pearl Kazin Bell, an editor at Harper's— has gone on record as believing his assertions were true.

Related Topics:
Truman Capote - Harper's

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Scout and Jem watch as their father defends a black man, Tom Robinson, wrongly accused of raping a white girl in a racist community in the 1930's. The story explores prejudice in its various forms, as well as childhood and maturity. Since the story is told from the point of view of a child (Scout), the author is able to present situations without adding an explicit opinion—the reader is left to make sense of events and come to his own conclusion. Nonetheless, it is clear that the author believes strongly that the prejudiced actions of the characters are wrong, even if they are believed by the majority and by those in power.

Related Topics:
Racist - 1930's - Prejudice - Childhood

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The title of the book is taken from Atticus's advice to his children about firing their air rifles at birds: "Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird". The blue jay is a very common bird, and is often perceived as a bully and a pest, whereas mockingbirds do nothing but "sing their hearts out for us". Metaphorically, several of the book's characters can be seen as "mockingbirds", attacked despite doing nothing but good. The mockingbird represents innocence, and to kill one is to metaphorically kill innocence. Note that the protagonists are also named after birds: Tom Robinson and the Finch family. However, "Finch" was also Lee's mother's maiden name.

Related Topics:
Air rifle - Blue jay - Mockingbird - Metaphor - Maiden name

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Harper Lee stated, "To get the ideas for the book I used recent events in my time like the Scottsboro Trials." (Harper Lee, Book Review, 1964)

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