Harper Lee's Inspiration for 'To Kill a Mockingbird

N ELLE HARPER LEE WAS BORN on April 28, 1926, in Monroeville, Alabama, a sleepy small town similar in many ways to Maycomb, the setting of To Kill a Mockingbird. Like Atticus Finch, the father of Scout, the narrator and protagonist of To Kill a Mockingbird, Lees father was a lawyer. Among Lees childhood friends was the future novelist and essayist Truman Capote, from whom she drew inspiration for the character Dill. Nelle-her first name is her grandmother's spelled backward-was born on April 28, 1926, in Monroeville, Alabama. Her mother, Frances Cunningham Finch Lee, was a homemaker. Her father, Amasa Coleman Lee, practiced law. Before A.C. Lee became a title lawyer, he once defended two black men accused of murdering a white storekeeper. Both clients, a father and son, were hanged.As a child, Harper Lee was an unruly tomboy. She fought on the playground. She talked back to teachers. She was bored with school and resisted any sort of conformity. In high school Lee was fortunate to have a gifted English teacher, Gladys Watson Burkett, who introduced her to challenging literature and the rigors of writing well. Lee loved ninteenthcentury British authors best, and once said that her ambition was to become "the Jane Austen of south Alabama." Unable to fit in with the sorority she joined at the University of Alabama, she found a second home on the campus newspaper. Eventually she became editor-in-chief of the Rammer Jammer, a quarterly humor magazine on campus. She entered the law school, but she "loathed" it. Despite her father's hopes that she would become a local attorney like her sister Alice, Lee went to New York to pursue her writing. She spent eight years working odd jobs before she finally showed a manuscript to Tay Hohoff, an editor at J.B. Lippincott. At this point, it still resembled a string of stories more than the novel that Lee had intended. Under Hohoff's guidance, two and a half years of rewriting followed. When the novel was finally ready for publication, the author opted for the name "Harper Lee" on the cover, because she didn't want to be misidentified as "Nellie."

These personal details notwithstanding, Lee maintains that To Kill a Mockingbird was intended to portray not her own childhood home but rather a nonspecific Southern town. People are people anywhere you put them, she declared in a 1961interview.Yet the books setting and characters are not the only aspects of the story shaped by events that occurred during Lees childhood. In 1931, when Lee was five, nine young black men were accused of raping two white women near Scottsboro, Alabama. After a series of lengthy, highly publicized, and often bitter trials, five of the nine men were sentenced to long prison terms. Many prominent lawyers and other American citizens saw the sentences as spurious and motivated only by racial prejudice. It was also suspected that the women who had accused the men were lying, and in appeal after appeal, their claims became more dubious. There can be little doubt that the Scottsboro Case, as the trials of the nine men came to be called, served as a seed for the trial that stands at the heart of Lees novel. Lee began To Kill a Mockingbird in the mid-1950s, after moving to New York to become a writer. She completed the novel in 1957 and published it, with revisions, in 1960, just before the peak of the American civil rights movement. Critical response to To Kill a Mockingbird was mixed: a number of critics found the narrative voice of a nine-year-old girl unconvincing and called the novel overly moralistic. Nevertheless, in the racially charged atmosphere of the early 1960s, the book became an enormous popular success, winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and selling over fifteen million copies. Two years after the books publication, an Academy Awardwinning film version of the novel, starring Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch, was produced. Meanwhile, the author herself had retreated from the public eye: she avoided interviews, declined to write the screenplay for the film version, and published only a few short pieces after 1961. To Kill a Mockingbird remains her sole published novel. Lee eventually returned to Monroeville and continues to live there. In 1993, Lee penned a brief foreword to her book. In it she asks that future editions of To Kill a Mockingbird be spared critical introductions. Mockingbird, she writes, still says what it has to say; it has managed to survive the years without preamble. The book remains a staple of high school and college reading lists, beloved by millions of readers worldwide for its appealing depiction of childhood innocence, its scathing moral condemnation of racial prejudice, and its affirmation that human goodness can withstand the assault of evil. Though fans of the book waited for a second novel, it never came. Lee later researched a book, similar to Capote's In Cold

Blood (1966), about a part-time minister in Alexander City, Alabama, accused of killing five people for their insurance money and later himself murdered by a victim's relative. However, she dropped the project in the 1990s. In the meantime, To Kill a Mockingbird has sold more than thirty million copies in eighteen languages. According to biographer Charles J. Shields, Lee was unprepared for the amount of personal attention associated with writing a bestseller. Ever since, she has led a quiet and guardedly private life. As Sheriff Tate says of Boo Radley, "draggin' him with his shy ways into the limelight-to me, that's a sin." So it would be with Harper Lee. From her, To Kill a Mockingbird is gift enough. To Kill a Mockingbird Summary To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in Alabama during the Depression, and is narrated by the main character, a little girl named Jean Louise "Scout" Finch. Her father, Atticus Finch, is a lawyer with high moral standards. Scout, her brother Jem, and their friend Dill are intrigued by the local rumors about a man named Boo Radley, who lives in their neighborhood but never leaves his house. Legend has it that he once stabbed his father in the leg with a pair of scissors, and he is made out to be a kind of monster. Dill is from Mississippi but spends his summer in Maycomb at a house near the Finch's. The children are curious to know more about Boo, and during one summer create a mini-drama they enact daily, which tells the events of his life as they know them. Slowly, the children begin moving closer to the Radley house, which is said to be haunted. They try leaving notes for Boo on his windowsill with a fishing pole, but are caught by Atticus, who firmly reprimands them for making fun of a sad man's life. Next, the children try sneaking over to the house at night and looking through its windows. Boo's brother, Nathan Radley, who lives in the house, thinks he hears a prowler and fires his gun. The children run away, but Jem loses his pants in a fence. When he returns in the middle of the night to get them back, they have been neatly folded and the tear from the fence roughly sewn up. Other mysterious things happen to the Finch children. A certain tree near the Radley house has a hole in which little presents are often left for them, such as pennies, chewing gum, and soap carved figures of a little boy and girl who bear a striking resemblance to Scout and Jem. The children don't know where these gifts are coming from, and when they go to leave a note for the

mystery giver, they find that Boo's brother has plugged up the hole with cement. The next winter brings unexpected cold and snow, and Miss Maudie's house catches on fire. While Jem and Scout, shivering, watch the blaze from near the Radley house, someone puts a blanket around Scout without her realizing it. Not until she returns home and Atticus asks her where the blanket came from does she realize that Boo Radley must have put it around her while she was entranced by watching Miss Maudie, her favorite neighbor, and her burning house. Atticus decides to take on a case involving a black man named Tom Robinson who has been accused of raping a very poor white girl named Mayella Ewell, a member of the notorious Ewell family, who belong to the layer of Maycomb society that people refer to as "trash." The Finch family faces harsh criticism in the heavily racist Maycomb because of Atticus's decision to defend Tom. But, Atticus insists on going through with the case because his conscience could not let him do otherwise. He knows Tom is innocent, and also that he has almost no chance at being acquitted, because the white jury will never believe a black man over a white woman. Despite this, Atticus wants to reveal the truth to his fellow townspeople, expose their bigotry, and encourage them to imagine the possibility of racial equality. Because Atticus is defending a black man, Scout and Jem find themselves whispered at and taunted, and have trouble keeping their tempers. At a family Christmas gathering, Scout beats up her cloying relative Francis when he accuses Atticus of ruining the family name by being a "nigger-lover". Jem cuts off the tops of an old neighbor's flower bushes after she derides Atticus, and as punishment, has to read out loud to her every day. Jem does not realize until after she dies that he is helping her break her morphine addiction. When revealing this to Jem and Scout, Atticus holds this old woman up as an example of true courage: the will to keep fighting even when you know you can't win. The time for the trial draws closer, and Atticus's sister Alexandra comes to stay with the family. She is proper and old-fashioned and wants to shape Scout into the model of the Southern feminine ideal, much to Scout's resentment. Dill runs away from his home, where his mother and new father don't seem interested in him, and stays in Maycomb for the summer of Tom's trial. The night before the trial, Tom is moved into the county jail, and Atticus, fearing a possible lynching, stands guard outside the jail door all night. Jem is concerned about him, and the three children sneak into town to find him. A group of men arrive ready to cause some violence to

Tom, and threaten Atticus in the process. At first Jem, Scout and Dill stand aside, but when she senses true danger, Scout runs out and begins to speak to one of the men, the father of one of her classmates in school. Her innocence brings the crowd out of their mob mentality, and they leave. The trial pits the evidence of the white Ewell family against Tom's evidence. According to the Ewells, Mayella asked Tom to do some work for her while her father was out, and Tom came into their house and forcibly beat and raped Mayella until her father appeared and scared him away. Tom's version is that Mayella invited him inside, then threw her arms around him and began to kiss him. Tom tried to push her away. When Bob Ewell arrived, he flew into a rage and beat her, while Tom ran away in fright. According to the sheriff's testimony, Mayella's bruises were on the right side of her face, which means she was most likely punched with a left hand. Tom Robinson's left arm is useless due to an old accident, whereas Mr. Ewell leads with his left. Given the evidence of reasonable doubt, Tom should go free, but after hours of deliberation, the jury pronounces him guilty. Scout, Jem and Dill sneak into the courthouse to see the trial and sit in the balcony with Maycomb's black population. They are stunned at the verdict because to them, the evidence was so clearly in Tom's favor. Though the verdict is unfortunate, Atticus feels some satisfaction that the jury took so long deciding. Usually, the decision would be made in minutes, because a black man's word would not be trusted. Atticus is hoping for an appeal, but unfortunately Tom tries to escape from his prison and is shot to death in the process. Jem has trouble handling the results of the trial, feeling that his trust in the goodness and rationality of humanity has been betrayed. Meanwhile, Mr. Ewell threatens Atticus and other people connected with the trial because he feels he was humiliated. He gets his revenge one night while Jem and Scout are walking home from the Halloween play at their school. He follows them home in the dark, then runs at them and attempts to kill them with a large kitchen knife. Jem breaks his arm, and Scout, who is wearing a confining ham shaped wire costume and cannot see what is going on, is helpless throughout the attack. The elusive Boo Radley stabs Mr. Ewell and saves the children. Finally, Scout has a chance to meet the shy and nervous Boo. At the end of this fateful night, the sheriff declares that Mr. Ewell fell on his own knife so Boo, the hero of the situation, won't have to be tried for murder. Scout walks Boo home and imagines how he has viewed the town and observed

her, Jem and Dill over the years from inside his home. Boo goes inside, closes the door, and she never sees him again.

Major Themes During the first half of Mockingbird Harper Lee constructs a sweet and affectionate portrait of growing up in the vanished world of small town Alabama.. Lee, however, proceeds to undermine her portrayal of small town gentility during the second half of the book. Lee dismantles the sweet facade to reveal a rotten, rural underside filled with social lies, prejudice, and ignorance. But no one in Mockingbird is completely good or evil. Every character is human, with human flaws and weaknesses. Lee even renders Atticus, the paragon of morality, symbolically weak by making him an old and widowed man as opposed to young and virile. It is how these flawed characters influence and are influenced by the major themes underpinning their society.

1)The Coexistence of Good and Evil

The most important theme of To Kill a Mockingbird is the books exploration of the moral nature of human beingsthat is, whether people are essentially good or essentially evil. The novel approaches this question by dramatizing Scout and Jems transition from a perspective of childhood innocence, in which they assume that people are good because they have never seen evil, to a more adult perspective, in which they have confronted evil and must incorporate it into their understanding of the world. As a result of this portrayal of the transition from innocence to experience, one of the books important subthemes involves the threat that hatred, prejudice, and ignorance pose to the innocent: people such as Tom Robinson and Boo Radley are not prepared for the evil that they encounter, and, as a result, they are destroyed. Even Jem is victimized to an extent by his discovery of the evil of racism during and after the trial. Whereas Scout is able to maintain her basic faith in human nature despite Toms conviction, Jems faith in justice and in humanity is badly damaged, and he retreats into a state of disillusionment.

The moral voice of To Kill a Mockingbird is embodied by Atticus Finch, who is virtually unique in the novel in that he has experienced and understood evil without losing his faith in the human capacity for goodness. Atticus understands that, rather than being simply creatures of good or creatures of evil, most people have both good and bad qualities. The important thing is to appreciate the good qualities and understand the bad qualities by treating others with sympathy and trying to see life from their perspective. He tries to teach this ultimate moral lesson to Jem and Scout to show them that it is possible to live with conscience without losing hope or becoming cynical. In this way, Atticus is able to admire Mrs. Duboses courage even while deploring her racism. Scouts progress as a character in the novel is defined by her gradual development toward understanding Atticuss lessons, culminating when, in the final chapters, Scout at last sees Boo Radley as a human being. Her newfound ability to view the world from his perspective ensures that she will not become jaded as she loses her innocence.. 2) Education Shortly after the novel begins, Scout starts her first year at school. The educational system in Maycomb leaves much to be desired. Scout is ahead of her classmates because Atticus has taught her to read and write, and Calpurnia has even taught her script. However, once her teacher discovers this, she punishes Scout and tells her not to learn anything else at home, because her father does not know how to teach her properly. This is the first clear conflict between institutionalized education and education in the home. Atticus clearly takes great pride in instilling a powerful sense of morality in his children. He truthfully answers whatever questions they ask, and encourages their inquisitive minds by treating them as adults and encouraging them to grow intellectually and morally as much as possible. On the other hand, Scout's teacher has a very specific understanding of what children should learn when, even if this schedule requires holding a child back. For example, when she asks Scout to write during class and Scout writes in script, she chides her and tells her that she should not be doing that for many years, because it isn't taught in school until much later. Scout feels frustrated that her teacher does not understand her and only wants to hold her back.

Scout comes to Atticus with concerns about her education and he helps her understand that she must get an education, even though she might find the process frustrating, and that he will continue to read with her and teach her at home. Clearly, Atticus understands the faults of the educational system, but also knows it is necessary for his children to pass through this system to be a part of society. However, his teaching at home, both morally and otherwise, is far more valuable to his children than anything they learn in the classroom. Scout notices this most obviously when learning about the Holocaust. Her teacher explains that such oppression of one group of people could never happen in the United States and Scout is astonished. She heard Miss Gates outside the court house during Tom Robinson's trial saying that, referring to black people, she thought it was, "time somebody taught them a lesson, they thought they was getting' way above themselves, an' the next thing they think they can do is marry us." Scout sees Miss Gates's statement about blacks in clear conflict with her statement about the equality in America. Scout receives the majority of her education in the home, and doesn't believe school will do much for her. At the end of the novel, she notes that she has learned probably all there is to learn, except maybe algebra. Clearly, Scout understands that life experiences are the true teachers, and that Atticus has taught her more than school ever will. Clearly, Lee is expressing a lack of belief in the institutionalized educational system, and in fact suggests it might do more harm than good. Perhaps a more valuable education can be found in the home. 3) Social Inequality Along with struggling with concepts of good and evil, Scout and Jem spend a great deal of time trying to understand what defines and creates social strata. Scout tends to believe that "folks are just folks", while Jem is convinced that social standing is related to how long people's relatives and ancestors have been able to write. Scout elucidates the town's social strata quite clearly on her first day at school when Walter Cunningham does not have lunch or lunch money. Her classmates ask her to explain to the teacher why Walter won't take a loaned quarter to buy lunch, and she lectures the teacher on the Cunningham's financial situation and how they trade goods for services. Scout and the other children have a very clear understanding of the social inequalities in their town, but see these inequalities as natural and permanent. The Finch family falls rather high up in the social hierarchy, while the Ewell family falls at the bottom. However, this hierarchy only includes

white people. Maycomb's black population fall beneath all white families in Maycomb, including the Ewells, whom Atticus labels as "trash". Scout understands this social structure, but doesn't understand why it is so. She believes that everyone should be treated the same, no matter what family they are from. For instance, when she wants to spend more time with Walter Cunningham, Aunt Alexandra objects saying no Finch girl should ever consort with a Cunningham. Scout is frustrated by this, as she wants to be able to choose her own friends based on her definition of what makes a good person: morality. 4) Perspective Throughout the novel, Atticus urges his children to try to step into other people's shoes to understand how they see the world. Whenever Scout doesn't understand Jem, Atticus encourages her to try to understand how he might be feeling. Usually, Scout finds this advice helpful, and her attempts to gain insight into other people's perspectives on life and the world broaden her moral education and social understanding. When Mrs. Dubose, the mean old woman who lives down the street from the Finch family yells insults at Jem and Scout on her way to town, Jem reacts by returning and cutting up all the flowers in her front yard. His punishment is to read to Mrs. Dubose for a specified time period every day. He complains to Atticus that she is an awful woman, but Atticus tells Jem and Scout to try to understand Mrs. Dubose's point of view. She is an old woman, very set her in ways, and she is entirely alone in the world. Jem and Scout agree to visit her. After Mrs. Dubose dies, Atticus reveals that by reading to her each day, the children were helping her break her morphine addiction. Atticus explains that Mrs. Dubose was fighting to regain sobriety, even as she stood on the brink of death. Because of this, to Atticus, she is the bravest person he has ever known. He explains this to the children to try to make them understand the terrible pain she was experiencing, and how their presence helped her through the process. Although she might have said some horrible things, Atticus encourages the children to try to see the world from her perspective and to understand how brave and strong she was. At the end of the book, Scout escorts Boo Radley back to his home. After Boo closes the door, she turns around and surveys the neighborhood from his perspective. She imagines how he has witnessed all the happenings of the recent years, including her and Jem running by the house on

their way to and from school, her childhood Boo Radley games, Miss Maudie's fire, the incident of the rabid dog, and finally, Bob Ewell's attack. As she steps into Boo's shoes, Scout gains a new respect for his life, and understands that his experience is just as valid as hers. With this understanding, she is humbled. 5) The Law Atticus is a lawyer, and the book is centered around his representation of Tom Robinson. Although Atticus loses the trial, he believes strongly that despite social inequalities, all men are equal in the courtroom. He includes this information in his closing statements to the jury, and during his later discussions with Jem and Scout regarding jury selection and the trial process, makes this statement again. Atticus believes that progress towards racial equality can and will be made in the courtroom. In addition, although he believes powerfully in upholding the law, Atticus understands that it must be bent in certain situations. For example, Bob Ewell is permitted to hunt even in the off season because the town authorities know that if he is prevented from hunting, his children might starve. In addition, at the end of the novel, the law would require Boo Radley to be placed on trial to determine whether he killed Bob Ewell is self defense or not. However, Atticus understands, as does Heck Tate and Scout, that Boo should not be forced to experience powerful public attention or criticism. Therefore, it is necessary to bend the law in this case to protect Boo.

6)Growing Up In the three years covered by To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout and Jem grow up. At the start of the book they are innocents, with an uncomplicated sense of whats good (Atticus, the people of Maycomb) and whats evil (Boo Radley). By the end of the book, the children have lost their innocence and gained a more complex understanding of the world, in which bad and good are present and visible in almost everyone. As the children grow into the adult world, though, they dont just accept what they see. They question what doesnt make sense to themprejudice, hatred, and violence. So while To Kill a Mockingbird shows three children as they lose their innocence, it also uses their innocence to look freshly at the world of Maycomb and criticize its flaws.

Like every kid growing up, Scout attends school for the first time. But rather than contribute to her education, Scouts school is depicted as rigid to the point of idiocy, with teachers who criticize students who got on early start on reading and hate the Nazis but cant see the racism present in their own town. To Kill a Mockingbird does not so much explore standardized school education as condemn it, showing how it emphasizes rote facts and policies designed to create conformist children rather than promote creative critical thinking, sympathy, and mutual understanding across racial and socioeconomic boundaries. 7)Courage Many people, including Jem and Scout when theyre young, mix up courage with strength. They think that courage is the ability and willingness to use strength to get your way. But Atticus defines courage as when you know youre licked before you begin but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what. Courage, in To Kill a Mockingbird, is not about winning or losing. Its about thinking long and hard about whats right instead of relying on personal prejudice or gut reaction, and then doing whats right whether you win or lose. To Kill a Mockingbird is filled with examples of courage, from Mrs. Duboses fight against her morphine addiction, to Atticuss determination to face down the racism of the town, to Mr. Underwoods willingness to face down his own racist feelings and support what he knows, in the end, is right. 8)Gender roles Just as Lee explores Jem's development in coming to grips with a racist and unjust society, Scout realizes what being female means, and several female characters influence her development. Scout's primary identification with her father and older brother allows her to describe the variety and depth of female characters in the novel both as one of them and as an outsider.[46] Scout's primary female models are Calpurnia and her neighbor Miss Maudie, both of whom are strong willed, independent, and protective. Mayella Ewell also has an influence; Scout watches her destroy an innocent man in order to hide her own desire for him. The female characters who comment the most on Scout's lack of willingness to adhere to a more feminine role are also those who promote the most racist and classist points of view.[63] For example, Mrs. Dubose chastises Scout for not wearing a dress and camisole, and indicates she is ruining the family name by not doing so, in addition to insulting Atticus' intentions to defend Tom Robinson. By balancing the masculine influences of Atticus and Jem with the feminine influences of Calpurnia and Miss

Maudie, one scholar writes, "Lee gradually demonstrates that Scout is becoming a feminist in the South, for with the use of first-person narration, she indicates that Scout/ Jean Louise still maintains the ambivalence about being a Southern lady she possessed as a child."[63] Absent mothers and abusive fathers are another theme in the novel. Scout and Jem's mother died before Scout could remember her, Mayella's mother is dead, and Mrs. Radley is silent about Boo's confinement to the house. Apart from Atticus, the fathers described are abusers.[70] Bob Ewell, it is hinted, molested his daughter,[71] and Mr. Radley imprisons his son in his house until Boo is remembered only as a phantom. Bob Ewell and Mr. Radley represent a form of masculinity that Atticus does not, and the novel suggests that such men as well as the traditionally feminine hypocrites at the Missionary Society can lead society astray. Atticus stands apart from other men as a unique model of masculinity; as one scholar explains: "It is the job of real men who embody the traditional masculine qualities of heroic individualism, bravery, and an unshrinking knowledge of and dedication to social justice and morality, to set the society straight

Motifs

1)Gothic Details The forces of good and evil in To Kill a Mockingbird seem larger than the small Southern town in which the story takes place. Lee adds drama and atmosphere to her story by including a number of Gothic details in the setting and the plot. In literature, the term Gothic refers to a style of fiction first popularized in eighteenth-century England, featuring supernatural occurrences, gloomy and haunted settings, full moons, and so on. Among the Gothic elements in To Kill a Mockingbird are the unnatural snowfall, the fire that destroys Miss Maudies house, the childrens superstitions about Boo Radley, the mad dog that Atticus shoots, and the ominous night of the Halloween party on which Bob Ewell attacks the children. These elements, out of place in the normally quiet, predictable Maycomb, create tension in the novel and serve to foreshadow the troublesome events of the trial and its aftermath.

2)Small-Town Life Counterbalancing the Gothic motif of the story is the motif of old-fashioned, small-town values, which manifest themselves throughout the novel. As if to contrast with all of the suspense and moral grandeur of the book, Lee emphasizes the slow-paced, good-natured feel of life in Maycomb. She often deliberately juxtaposes small-town values and Gothic images in order to examine more closely the forces of good and evil. The horror of the fire, for instance, is mitigated by the comforting scene of the people of Maycomb banding together to save Miss Maudies possessions. In contrast, Bob Ewells cowardly attack on the defenseless Scout, who is dressed like a giant ham for the school pageant, shows him to be unredeemably evil. Symbols 1)Mockingbirds

The title of To Kill a Mockingbird has very little literal connection to the plot, but it carries a great deal of symbolic weight in the book. In this story of innocents destroyed by evil, the mockingbird comes to represent the idea of innocence. Thus, to kill a mockingbird is to destroy innocence. Throughout the book, a number of characters (Jem, Tom Robinson, Dill, Boo Radley, Mr. Raymond) can be identified as mockingbirdsinnocents who have been injured or destroyed through contact with evil. This connection between the novels title and its main theme is made explicit several times in the novel: after Tom Robinson is shot, Mr. Underwood compares his death to the senseless slaughter of songbirds, and at the end of the book Scout thinks that hurting Boo Radley would be like shootin a mockingbird. Most important, Miss Maudie explains to Scout: Mockingbirds dont do one thing but . . . sing their hearts out for us. Thats why its a sin to kill a mockingbird. That Jem and Scouts last name is Finch (another type of small bird) indicates that they are particularly vulnerable in the racist world of Maycomb, which often treats the fragile innocence of childhood harshly.

2)Boo Radley As the novel progresses, the childrens changing attitude toward Boo Radley is an important measurement of their development from innocence toward a grown-up moral perspective. At the

beginning of the book, Boo is merely a source of childhood superstition. As he leaves Jem and Scout presents and mends Jems pants, he gradually becomes increasingly and intriguingly real to them. At the end of the novel, he becomes fully human to Scout, illustrating that she has developed into a sympathetic and understanding individual. Boo, an intelligent child ruined by a cruel father, is one of the books most important mockingbirds; he is also an important symbol of the good that exists within people. Despite the pain that Boo has suffered, the purity of his heart rules his interaction with the children. In saving Jem and Scout from Bob Ewell, Boo proves the ultimate symbol of good.

Racism portrayed in TO KILL A MOCKING BIRD "Scout," said Atticus, "nigger-lover is just one of those terms that don't mean anything like snot-nose. It's hard to explain ignorant, trashy people use it when they think somebody's favoring Negroes over and above themselves. It's slipped into usage with some people like ourselves, when they want a common, ugly term to label somebody."

"You aren't really a nigger-lover, then, are you?"

"I certainly am. I do my best to love everybody... I'm hard put, sometimes baby, it's never an insult to be called what somebody thinks is a bad name. It just shows you how poor that person is, it doesn't hurt you." (11.107-109)

The novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee is a simplistic view of life in the Deep South of America in the 1930s. An innocent but humorous stance in the story is through the eyes of Scout and Jem Finch. Scout is a young adolescent who is growing up with the controversy that surrounds her fathers lawsuit. Her father, Atticus Finch is a lawyer who is defending a black man, Tom Robinson, with the charge of raping a white girl. The lives of the characters are changed by racism and this is the force that develops during the course of the narrative.

The most apparent victim of racism in To Kill a Mockingbird is Tom Robinson, the black man who is accused of raping Mayella Ewell. Falsely accused of the crime by Mayella and her father Bob Ewell, Tom is brought before a prejudiced, white jury for trial. Atticus Finch knows the man is innocent and proves as much, but despite his best efforts, the racism in the minds of the jury wins. They deliver a verdict of guilty. Tom is sentenced to death. Although Atticus is sure they may have a chance if they try an appeal, Tom believes that he will once again be judged by the colour of his skin, and not by his innocence. Rather than take that chance, he decided to take his own and attempted to escape from jail. He was shot seventeen times. The Finch families are the only ones to show him any sympathy or understanding. Atticus says: I couldnt in truth say that we had more than a good chance. I guess Tom was tired of taking white mens chances and preferred to take his own. (TKAM, pg. 237). Whatever chance he chose, Tom faced an ill fate with racisms stamp on it. If he returned to court, the racist jury would convict him and he would be hung, and when he tried to escape, the racist prison guards not only killed him, but mutilated his body with unnecessary bullets. Tom Robinsons life was first ruined, then ended, by racism. Also victimized by racism and its repercussions, Helen Robinson, Toms wife, suffered in the aftermath of her husbands trial and death. Widowed, she must raise her children, maintain her household and work to make a living for herself. Because she is black, a woman, and the wife of a man accused of raping a white woman, Helen has a very difficult time finding work. This is because of the racism in the white community of Maycomb. The only person who will hire her is Mr. Link Deas, Toms former employer. He does not really need Helens services, but feels bad about what happened to Tom and he is one of the few decent people in Maycomb where coloured people are concerned. He doesnt really need her, but he said he felt right bad about the way things turned out. (TKAM, pg. 248-249). However, Helen does not escape the touch of racism. On her way to work one morning, Bob Ewell follows Helen, crooning foul words at her, for no reason other than she was Toms wife and he was racist. Although he does not attack her, Helen is terrified of him. Thoroughly frightened, she telephoned Mr. Link at his store, which was not too far from his house (TKAM, pg. 256). Mr. Link Deas makes Bob Ewell leave Helen alone, but she is still frightened of him. Her life has become very difficult due to the effects of racism. In a different way, Bob Ewell himself is destroyed by racism. The racism that sparked Tom

Robinsons trial leads Bob Ewell to harbour a grudge against Atticus and Judge Taylor, both of whom made him look foolish. [Mr. Ewell says] "I seen that black nigger yonder ruttin' on my Mayella!" As Judge Taylor banged his gavel, Mr. Ewell was sitting smugly in the witness chair, surveying his handiwork. With one phrase he had turned happy picknickers into a sulky, tense, murmuring crowd, being slowly hypnotized by gavel taps lessening in intensity until the only sound in the courtroom was a dim pink-pink-pink: the judge might have been rapping the bench with a pencil. (17.84, 95) He attempts, but fails to burgle John Taylors house. Later on, he attacks Atticuss children to exact his revenge on Atticus. A grudge born of racism, courage born of whiskey, and arrogant pride lead to his attack on Jem and Scout, but Arthur Radley comes to the childrens aid. In the struggle, Bob Ewell is killed. It was the grudge he held based on racist beliefs that cause his death. Some may call it justice, some may not, but the irony is undeniable. Of all the destructive powers humans possess, none ruin other lives and destroy our humanity quite like racism does. This is proven in To Kill a Mockingbird by the fates of Tom and Helen Robinson and their tormentor, Bob Ewell. It is unfair that prejudices based on a persons skin colour should wreak such havoc on in the book there are many incidences of bias and prejudice. Contained therein, is the subject of racial prejudice.

[Atticus says] "What was the evidence of her offense? Tom Robinson, a human being. She must put Tom Robinson away from her. Tom Robinson was her daily reminder of what she did. What did she do? She tempted a Negro.

"She was white, and she tempted a Negro. She did something that in our society is unspeakable: she kissed a black man. Not an old Uncle, but a strong young Negro man. No code mattered to her before she broke it, but it came crashing down on her afterwards." (20.44-45)

The Finches live in the Deep South of America which has always been considered a notoriously racist area. This message is conveyed throughout the book. Atticus tries to ignore the aspect of racial prejudice while also quietly condemning it. The black population tends to deal with the problem in the most profitable way which is without aggression. The book seldom refers to black

hate or remorse aimed at the white community. This is an interesting aspect and sums up the attitude or approach that blacks had to whites in America at that time.

Differences in social status are explored largely through the overcomplicated social hierarchy of Maycomb, the ins and outs of which constantly baffle the children. The relatively well-off Finches stand near the top of Maycombs social hierarchy, with most of the townspeople beneath them. Ignorant country farmers like the Cunninghams lie below the townspeople, and the white trash Ewells rest below the Cunninghams. But the black community in Maycomb, despite its abundance of admirable qualities, squats below even the Ewells, enabling Bob Ewell to make up for his own lack of importance by persecuting Tom Robinson. "Well how do you know we ain't Negroes?"

"Uncle Jack Finch says we really don't know. He says as far as he can trace back the Finches we ain't, but for all he knows we mighta come straight out of Ethiopia durin' the Old Testament."

"Well if we came out durin' the Old Testament it's too long ago to matter."

"That's what I thought," said Jem, "but around here once you have a drop of Negro blood, that makes you all black." (16.78-81)

These rigid social divisions that make up so much of the adult world are revealed in the book to be both irrational and destructive. For example, Scout cannot understand why Aunt Alexandra refuses to let her consort with young Walter Cunningham. Lee uses the childrens perplexity at the unpleasant layering of Maycomb society to critique the role of class status and, ultimately, prejudice in human interaction.

Writing a story in the Jim Crow South about a white lawyer who defended a black man against a charge of raping a white woman was an act of courage, make no mistake. And though Atticus Finch, the protagonist-lawyer, might seem bland by todays standards, it is unfair to label him a paternalistic defender of the status quo for To Kill a Mockingbird is a story a parable designed to move hearts and minds and not a manifesto for radical action.

In February 2012, we might be more comfortable with an Atticus Finch who was less compassionate toward his racist neighbors. In explaining people and events to his young daughter, Scout, Finch noted that these were not bad people (even though some did want to commit violence against blacks), just misguided.

[Atticus says] "As you grow older, you'll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don't you forget it whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash." Atticus was speaking so quietly his last word crashed on our ears. I looked up, and his face was vehement. "There's nothing more sickening to me than a low-grade white man who'll take advantage of a Negro's ignorance. Don't fool yourselves it's all adding up and one of these days we're going to pay the bill for it. I hope it's not in you children's time." (23.40)

Likewise, trying to kill a great book because a 50-year-old literary character doesnt measure up to modern critics' idea of heroism is a sin. All Harper Lee ever did, after all, was sing out her heart for us.

Reception for the novel

To Kill a Mockingbird is one of the best loved novels of the twentieth century. Author Harper Lee said it was a love story, but most people think of it as a great classic of Southern life. She never had another book published, yet this one, written early in life, won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1961--the highest honor for great literature. In 1999 a Library Journal poll chose To Kill A Mockingbird as the best novel of the century. In 2006, British librarians ranked the book ahead of the Bible as one "every adult should read before they die".[3] It was adapted into an Oscar-winning film in 1962 by director Robert Mulligan, with a screenplay by Horton Foote. Since 1990, a play based on the novel has been performed annually in Harper Lee's hometown of Monroeville, Alabama. In 2006, British librarians ranked the book ahead of the Bible as one "every adult should read before they die".[3] It was adapted into an Oscar-winning film in 1962

by director Robert Mulligan, with a screenplay by Horton Foote. Since 1990, a play based on the novel has been performed annually in Harper Lee's hometown of Monroeville, Alabama One year after being published, To Kill a Mockingbird had been translated into ten languages. In the years since, it has sold over 30 million copies and been translated into over 40 languages.[86] To Kill a Mockingbird has never been out of print in hardcover or paperback and has become part of the standard literature curriculum. A 2008 survey of secondary books read by students between grades 912 in the U.S. indicates the novel is the most widely read book in these grades.[87] A 1991 survey by the Book of the Month Club and the Library of Congress Center for the Book found that To Kill a Mockingbird was rated behind only the Bible in books that are "most often cited as making a difference". Parties were held across the United States for the 50th anniversary of publication in 2010. In honor of the 50th anniversary, famous authors and celebrities as well as people close to Harper Lee shared their experiences with To Kill a Mockingbird in the book Scout, Atticus, & Boo: A Celebration of Fifty Years of To Kill a Mockingbird. The book features interviews with Mary Badham, Tom Brokaw, Oprah Winfrey, Anna Quindlen, Richard Russo, as well as Harper Lee's sister, Alice Finch Lee. The 2010 documentary film "Hey, Boo: Harper Lee & To Kill a Mockingbird" focuses on the background of the book and the film as well as their impact on readers and viewers

The Backlash Against To Kill a Mockingbird That America's literary community is marking the book's publication with such events is evidence of Mockingbird's enduring popularity, but the novel isn't without detractors. While the book, which centers on the daughter of an Alabama lawyer who defends a black man wrongly accused of rape, is oft credited with opening America's eyes to racism, contemporary writers such as Malcolm Gladwell and James McBride have suggested that To Kill a Mockingbird didn't push the envelope far enough in its exploration of race. On the other hand, the book's defenders pose cogent arguments about why Mockingbird should be considered a masterpiece. "My own recollection of the book, which I first read as a child, was that it was full of hard and ugly truths," explained the Washington Post's Kathleen Parker. "The story, because it was revealed through the eyes of another child, caused me to understand injustice as no textbook or lecture ever could."

"The black characters in the book are the least developed, the most stereotypical, especially the defendant Tom Robinson," USA Today stated. The paper pointed to McBride, author of The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother, as one who posits that Lee failed to make her Robinson character as complex and three-dimensional as the white characters. McBride isn't completely critical of Lee, though. He applauds her for being the rare white American writer willing to tackle race with "honesty and integrity." Outliers author Gladwell, in contrast, is unrelenting in his criticism of Mockingbird's perspective on race. In a New Yorker essay published last year, Gladwell skewers the book's protagonist, Atticus Finch, for not squarely standing up against bigotry and bigots. "At one point, Scout asks him if it is O.K. to hate Hitler," Gladwell writes. "Finch answers, firmly, that it is not O.K. to hate anyone. Really? Not even Hitler?" In addition, Gladwell points out that when a man named Walter Cunningham leads a mob to the jail housing Tom Robinson, Finch intervenes. But later he explains to daughter Scout that Cunningham is "basically a good man," who "just has his blind spots along with the rest of us." Gladwell argues, however, that harboring a "homicidal hatred of black people" should be characterized as something far more serious than a "blind spot." "Finch will stand up to racists," writes Gladwell. "He'll use his moral authority to shame them into silence. ... What he will not do is look at the problem of racism outside the immediate context of Mr. Cunningham, Mr. Levy, and the island community of Maycomb, Alabama." In short, Gladwell says, Finch is an accommodationist not a reformist. As such, he should not be viewed as a race relations hero. His way of dealing with racism won't foster systemic change. The Post's Parker, for one, disagrees with Gladwell's assessment. She argues that Finch may have come across as soft on racism because he was explaining it to his child, not a peer. And children bred in the Bible Belt would best understand how to respond to racists by learning to "hate the sin, love the sinner," she says.

Is Parker right, or should the Finch character be taken to task for not opposing racism and racists with outrage and working to reform the system? Moreover, if Finch isn't as heroic as popular culture presents him as, should we reconsider holding up Mockingbird as a literary race relations pioneer?

CONCLUSION Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird is one of the most revered novels in modern history. It is a story which makes use of powerful language and plot devices, as well as its use of highly detailed character development, to convey a variety of themes to readers, with the most prevalent ones including racial and social injustice, social life, class, discrimination, human nature and personal morals and beliefs. The titular quote, "... it's a sin to kill a mockingbird", also presents a significant theme in the novel: innocence and morality. These themes were the embodiments of problems and errors in society during the period in which To Kill a Mockingbird was written and published, the 1960's, and this also applies to modern society, which makes the novel a valued piece of writing, even in modern times.

It is through the characters that the main themes are expressed. The characters of the novel are also a portrayal of certain characters that are commonly present in society, with examples including Mrs. Dubose, the 'cranky old lady across the street', Tom Robinson, the man who is abused by the rest of society for being of Negro descent, and Atticus Finch, who is commonly thought by readers and critics to be the ideal father figure and lawyer, as well as an ideal citizen in society. These characters, as well as the plot devices linked to them, bring up the main themes of the novel: Tom Robinson and racial discrimination; Mrs. Dubose and the idea of personal morals and beliefs; and Arthur "Boo" Radley and human nature. The way Lee develops the various characters of the novel focuses on building background stories of the characters, as well as presenting a point on morality for each minor plot in the novel. A notable example is Mrs. Dubose and her unwavering will to wean herself from her morphine addiction before she dies, which Atticus describes as someone who has "true courage", who instead of being "a man with a gun in his hand", is a person who is "licked before you begin but you begin anyway and see [your goals] through no matter what". In this example, the idea of the true meaning of courage is brought up, as well as personal morals and beliefs, in which Mrs. Dubose stuck to her beliefs which involved extreme racism and a completely one sided view of society.

Lee's use of symbolism also portrays many themes in the novel. The most prevalent example of this is Lee's use of the mockingbird, which is described as a bird that "[doesn't] do one thing but

make music for us to enjoy". In the novel, one of the most prevalent themes is racial and social injustice, which complements the previously stated idea of innocence and morality, which in turn is represented by the idea of the mockingbird. The two "mockingbirds" of the novel are Tom Robinson and Arthur "Boo" Radley, who each are victims of racial and social discrimination, respectively. Tom Robinson and the court case also represent the theme of racial injustice, when Tom was found guilty despite Atticus, his lawyer, effectively proving his innocence, which is essentially 'killing the mockingbird'. This part of the novel also puts forward a point about human nature, when Atticus states that all the injustices towards Tom in the court room were simply "facts of life", after Jem, Atticus' son, questions Maycomb's method of trial in the courtroom. It suggests that despite being immoral, the views of society generally have priority over morality, in this case, the racist view that a white man's word has greater precedence than a black man's word. In Arthur "Boo" Radley's case, the discrimination he experiences is not direct, and is based more around the acts of his family and rumors about him that resulted from these acts. Despite these rumors, most which describe Boo as a vicious, savage beast who "dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch", throughout the novel, it is suggested that he is in fact almost the complete opposite of how these rumors describe him. By the end of the novel, it is proven so, for it was he who killed Bob Ewell to protect Scout and Jem, who were the targets for Bob's murder attempt, as well as being the person who left the gifts in the hollowed tree for the children and the one who placed the blanket around Scout during the house fire in chapter 8. He is later spared from the publicity which generally follows someone's death by Heck Tate, who instead chooses to find another reason as to why Bob Ewell died, and so avoids 'killing the mockingbird', for it is suggested throughout the novel that Boo chose to live the way he did.

By using Scout, a young girl, to narrate the story, Lee expresses the purity and clarity of a child's point of view. Lee does this because throughout the novel, she suggests that children tend to see and react to the problems in society much easier than adults do, and therefore addresses these problems more effectively. In doing so, the themes and morals are conveyed in a manner that is not only easier to understand than if the story were told in an adult's voice, but the evident innocence of a child is also present in the way Scout tells the story, which is also presented in most of the novel. An example of children reacting to the problems in society is Dill during the court case, where he felt 'sick' due to the demeanor of Mr. Gilmer, the attorney for the alleged

'rape victim': "talking so hateful to him", calling him "boy", sneering at him, etc. It is explained that Dill cried due to "the simple hell people can give other people without even thinking. Cry about the hell white people give colored folks, without even stopping to think that they're people, too". This quote, coupled with Dill's reaction to Mr. Gilmer's attitude, suggest that children tend to react to the problems in society much more easily than adults do, as well as being able to understand and accept the reasons as to why people act and live the way they do, shown by the quote "Because you're children and you can understand it". This is further supported by Mr. Dolphus Raymond's way of living, which is described by society as 'sinful' and 'shameful', but is simply the way he wants to live. He explains to Scout, Jem and Dill that society will never understand that his way of living was his choice entirely, and that children are able to understand these reasons.

Many of the morals conveyed in the novel not only apply to the period in which it was written and published, the 1960's, but also to modern day society. The most prevalent example of this is racial discrimination. In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr., an American activist and leader of the African American civil right movement, delivered the "I Have a Dream" speech, one of the most well-known speeches in modern times. The speech focused on a demand for equal rights and an end to discrimination. The speech may have been a major inspiration for Lee to write the novel, and because the themes of the speech are similar to the themes of the novel, it can be said that the themes apply to the period in which the novel was written. Also, themes such as gender roles and class apply to the 1960's, when there was still a distinct difference between the working class and the middle class, and females had fewer rights than men did. These themes are present in the novel in the form of the absence of females in the jury during the court case and the evident difference in living habits between the Cunningham and the Finch families, respectively. Even in modern day society, some of these themes apply, such as individual morals and beliefs. There are many destructive forces in this world that may destroy our humanity, beat down our beliefs and wreak havoc on our morals. Greed, arrogance, anger, ignorance but none so powerful as racism. Racism is the worst kind of prejudice in society, and although less evident today than it once was, racism remains just as destructive and just as unnecessary.

Dave, R. A. "To Kill a Mockingbird: Harper Lee's Tragic Vision." In Indian Studies in American Fiction, edited by M. K. Naik, S. K. Desai, Punekar S. Mokashi, and M. Jayalakshammanni. Karnatak University Press, 1974, pp 311-23.

Harper Lee. To Kill A Mockingbird. New York: Herald Press, 1945. Clarence Norris. The Last of the Scottsboro Boys. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1979. W. J. Cash. The Mind of the South. New York: Vintage Books, 1969. "Interview with Harper Lee." 2006-06-02. <http://mockingbird.chebucto.org/roy.html >. Steven Lubet. "Reconstructing Atticus Finch." Michigan Law Review 97:6 (1999).

Rob Atkinson, Liberating Lawyers: Divergent Parallels in Intruder in the Dust and To Kill a Mockingbird, 49 Duke L.J. 601 (1999) Talmage Boston, Who Was Atticus Finch, 73 Tex. B. J. 484 (2010) Talbot D'Alemberte, Alexis De Tocqueville, Atticus Finch, and Legal Services for the Poor in the Nineties, 7 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 397 (1991) Michael Dayton, The Lessons of Atticus Finch and a Nine Year-Old Sailor, 4 (1) N.C. St. B.J. 26 (1999) Maria A. Failinger, Gentleman as Hero: Atticus Finch and the Lonely Path, 10 J. L. & Religion 303 (1993-1994) Cynthia L. Fountaine, In the Shadlow of Atticus Finch: Constructing a Heroic lawyer, 13 Widener L.J. 123 (2003) Rita B. Garman, Improving the Image of Lawyers: More Atticus Finch and Less Ally McBeal, 92 (2) Women's L.J. 22 (2007) Claudia Johnson, Without Tradition and Within Reason: Judge Horton and Atticus Finch in Court, 45 Ala. L. Rev. 483 (1994) Royal Furgeson, The Jury in To Kill a Mockingbird: What Went Wrong, 73 Texas B.J. 488 (2010) Iris Halpern, Rape, Incest, and Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird: ON Alabama's Legal Construction of Gender and Sexuality in the Context of Racial Subordination, 18 Clum. J. Gender & L. 743 (2009)

Edward T. Hinson, Jr., Searching for Atticus Finch in North Carolina, 4 (1) N.C. St. B.J. 8 (1999) Carla T. Main, Learning from Atticus Finch 43 Advocate (Idaho State Bar) 24 (2000) Mary Ellen Maatman, Justice Formation from Generation to Generation: Atticus Finch and the Stories Lawyers Tell Their Children, 14 Leg. Writing: J. Leg. Writing Inst. 207 (2008) Robert W. Mayhue, Jr., Crisis of Conscience: Lessons Learned from Legal Literature Through an Analysis of To Kill a Mockingbird and Intruder in the Dust, 46 S.D. L. Rev. 813 (2001) Edward J. Nevin, The Search for Atticus Finch, 34 Int. Soc'y Barristers Quart. 331 (1999) Note, Being Atticus Finch: The Professional Role of Empathy in To Kill a Mockingbird, 117 Harv. L. 1682 (2004) Robert W. Mayhue, Jr., Crisis of Consciences: Lessons Lerened from legal Literature through an Analysis of To Kill a Mockingbird and Intruder in the Dust, 46 S.D. L. Rev. 813 (2001) John Jay Osborn, Jr., Atticus Finch: The End of Honor: A Discussion of To Kill a Mockingbird, 30 U.S.F. L. Rev. 1139 (1996) Mike Papantonio, In Search of Atticus Finch: A Motivational Book for Lawyers (1995) Thomas L. Shaffer, The Moral Theology of Atticus Finch, 41 U. Pitts. L. Rev. 181 (1981) ______________, Growing Up Good in Maycomb, 45 Ala. L. Rev. 531 (1994) Randolph N. Stone, Atticus Finch, in Context, 97 Mich. L. Rev. 1378 Gregory J. Sullivan, Children Into Men: Lawyers and the Law in Three Novels, 37 Cath. Law. 29 (1996) Robert Westley, What Would Make Atticus Finch Flich, 1 Fla. A & M U.L. Rev. 91 (2006)

Robert Batey, Atticus Finch, Boris A. Max, and the Lawyer's Dilemma, 12 Tex. Wesleyan L. Rev. 389 (2005) Nancy L. Cook, A Call to Affirmative Action for Fiction's Heroes of Color, or How Hawkeye, Huck, and Atticus Foil the Work of Antiracism, 11 Cornell J.L. & Pub. Pol'y 603 (2002) Joseph Crespino, The Strange Career of Atticus Finch, 6 (2) Southern Cultures 9 (2000) [The Redemption of Atticus Finch (Letters to the Editor), 6 (4) Southern Cultures 1 (2000)] Tim Dare, Lawyers, Ethics, and To Kill a Mockingbird, 25 Phil. & Lit. 127 (2001) Monroe Freedman, Atticus Fich--Right and Wrong, 45 Ala. L. Rev. 473 (1994) [See also: Monroe Freedman, Argumentum Ad Hominem: Atticus Finch as Hero?, 130 (11) New Jersey L.J. 15 (March 16, 1992); Atticus Finch, Esq., R.I.P., 14 (40 Legal Times 20 (Feb 24, 1992); Atticus Finch, R.I.P., Conn. L. Tribute 17 (February 24, 1992)] Steven Lubet, Reconstructing Atticus Finch, 97 Mich. L. Rev. 1339 (1990) [Ann Althouse, Reconstructing Atticus Finch? A Response to Professor Lubet "Reconstructiing Atticus Finch," 97 Mich. L. Rev. 1363 (1999); William H. Simon,Moral Icons: A Comment on Steven Lubet's "Reconstruction Atticus Finch, 97 Mich. L. Rev. 1376Steven Lubet, Reply to Comments on "Reconstructing Atticus Finch, 97 Mich. L. Rev. 1382 (1999) Teresa Godwin Phelps, The Margins of Maycomb: A Rereading of To Kill a Mockingbird, 45 Al. L. Rev. 511 (1994) _________________, Propter Honoris Respectum: Atticus, Thomas, and the Meaning of Justice, 77 Notre Dame L. Rev. 925 (2002) Harold Bloom (ed.), Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird (Broomall, Pennsylvania: Chelsea House, 1996) Claudia Johnson, To Kill a Mockingbird: Threatening Boundaries (New York: Twayne, 1994)

Candice Mancini, Candice (ed.) Racism in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird (Farmington Hills, Michigan: Greenhaven, 2007) Alice Hall Petry, On Harper Lee: Essays and Reflections (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2007). Estelle Aycock, Electronic Media: Teaching Film as Literature: "Places in the Heart" and "To Kill a Mockingbird," 75 (4) English. J. 85 (1986) Diann L. Baecker, Telling It In Black and White: The Importance of the Africanist Presence inTo Kill a Mockingbird, 36 (3) Southern Quart. 124 (1998) Cramer R. Cauthen & Donald G. Alpin, The Gift Refused: The Southern lawyer in To Kill a Mockingbird, The Client, and Cape Fear, 19 (2) Stud. in Popular Culture 57 (1996) Laurie Champion, "When You Finally See Them": The Unconquered Eye in To Kill a Mockingbird, 37 (2) Southern Quart. 127 (1999) Charles M. Chappell, The Unity of To Kill a Mockingbird, 42 (1) Ala. Rev. 32 (1989) Patrick Chura, Proplepsis and Anachronism: Emmet Till and the Historicity of To Kill a Mockingbird, 32 (2) Southern Literary J. 1 (2000) Fred Erisman, The Romantic Regionalism of Harper Lee, 26 (2) Ala. Rev. 122 (1973) Laura Fine, Gender Conflicts and Their "Dark" Projectioins in Coming of Age White Female Soutern Novels, 36 (4) Southern Quart. 121 (1998){examines several novels including To Kill a Mockingbird) Horton Foote, "To Kill a Mockingbird: The Screenplay," in To Kill a Mockingbird: The ScreenPlay by Horton Foote and Related Readings (Evanston, Illinois: McDougal Littell, 1997) William T. Going, Truman Capote: Harper Lee's Fictional Portrait of the Artist as an Alabama Child, 42 (2) Ala. Rev. 136 (1989) Mark Holcomb, To Kill a Mockingbird, 55 (4) Film Quart. 34 (2002) Theodore R. Hovet & Grace-Ann Hovet, "Fine Fancy Gentlemen" and "Yappy Folk": Contending Voices in To Kill a Mockingbird, 40 (1) Southern Quart. 67 (2001)

Claudia Johnson, The Secret Courts of Men's Hearts: Code and Law in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, 19 (2) Stud. Am. Fiction 129 (1991) ____________, Without Tradition and Within Reason: Judge Horton and Atticus Finch in Court, 45 Ala. L. Rev. 483 (1994) Carolyn Jones, Atticus Finch and the Mad Dog: Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, 34 (4) Southern Quart. 53 (1996) Christopher Metress, The Rise and Fall of Atticus Finch, 24 (1) Chattahoochee Rev. 95 (2003) Mary McDonagh Murphy, Scout, Atticus & Boo: A Celebration of Fifty Years of To Kill a Mockingbird (New York: HarperCollins, 2010) Dean Shackleford, The Female Voice in To Kill a Mockingbird: Narrative Strategies in Film and Novel, 50 (1) Miss. Quart. 101 (1996/1997) Eric J. Sundquist, Strangers in the Land: Blacks, Jews, Post-Holocaust America (Cambridge: Belnap Press of Harvard University Press, 2005) ____________, "Blues for Atticus Finch: Scottsboro, Brown, and Harper Lee," in Larry J. Griffin & Don H. Doyle (eds.), The South as an American Problem 181-209 (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1995) Mitzi-Ann Stiltner, "Don't Put Your Shoes on the Bed: A Moral Analysis of To Kill a Mockingbird, masters thesis, Department of English, East Tennessee State University, 2002 Claudia Johnson, Understanding to Kill a Mockingbird: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historica Documents (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1994) Terry O'Neill (ed.), Readings on To Kill a Mockingbird (San Diego, California: Greenhaven, 2000) Teacher Study Guide: To Kill a Mockingbird: Then and Now. 86 (4) English J. 1 (1997) Charles J. Shields, Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee (New York: Holt, 2006)