StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Biography of Harper Lee - Admission/Application Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
She was the youngest child in the family of a newspaper editor and a housewife. She was only five years old when nine black men were accused of rape. The so-called offenders, which…
Download free paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER93% of users find it useful
Biography of Harper Lee
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Biography of Harper Lee"

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Nelle Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926 in a small town Monroeville in thestate of Alabama. She was the youngest child in the family of a newspaper editor and a housewife. She was only five years old when nine black men were accused of rape. The so-called offenders, which had been cruelly humiliated until the trial started, were provided with a barrister only when the trial began. In spite of the conclusion made by medical examination, which stated that women were not raped, the jury recognized the blacks guilty.

It is essential to mention that the jury consisted only of the white race representatives. All the men were sentenced to death except for the youngest one who was only thirteen. During the next six years this accusation was cancelled and almost all the accused blacks were released. Young Harper Lee was greatly impressed by the trial. Many years later she used it as a foundation for her work To Kill a Mockingbird. The book is considered to be autobiographical as the girl depicted looks like young Harper Lee.

However, Lee denies the fact of writing autobiography, notwithstanding that there are many similarities between the life of the main hero and young Harper. Thus she pursued other goals by writing her book (The Big Read: To Kill a Mockingbird (About the Author).).This book is about many essential things: kindness, humanity, racial prejudices. This is the story about history in a global sense, which represents the most important characteristics of the Great Depression time. To kill a Mockingbird is the novel about people’s tricks.

In it Harper Lee showed the events, which happened in 1930s in Alabama State, where she was born. Actually the novel is an eyewitness testimony, and this is the reasons why it was included in school’s program. In 1862 the slavery was officially abolished in the USA. However, from the book we can learn that it was not the end of it. During one hundred years after the abolishment nobody treated it seriously. In the North there were satisfactory conditions for blacks, while in the South they were still repressed.

They could be clever, intelligent famous, outstanding, but still were considered to be second-grade. Undoubtedly, there are some people in the USA, who can be called “racists” but there are many common racists. They always feel a black presenting nearby and always emphasize that there is a black among there friends. This is a common racism. It is not criticized in the society, but people still consider themselves to be different. People will always be different, but only the color of skin is the most injudicious for the recognition of the difference.

The color of skin should not mean anything in the USA, where the ancestors of slaves are the children of European immigrants. They are the people with the same temperament and traditions. Lee emphasizes that the formation of the attitude towards each other happens in childhood.The central event in the book is the trial over the black man depicted by the eyewitness Harper Lee. She described this event very thoroughly emphasizing the lack of prospects. The defender knows from the very beginning that he will fail the case no matter how zealously the author may try to convince the reader in the nobility of a humiliated person.

The jury is considered to be the supreme achievement of democracy and simply can’t be wrong. It is not very easy to prove that “black” is “white”. Actually, Harper Lee did not try to prove this - she gave this mission to Atticus who was the lawyer of the black man. But the way she composed her story, the childish perception of that world, that time and that America make readers respect and like her. She depicted the unvarnished truth of the adult world polluted with the mass of traditional and racial prejudices as she saw it in her childhood.

Her novel provided the opportunity to look at the adults’ perception through the prism of the pure and free of prejudices child’s perception. Prejudices are killing humanity. The child’s perception successfully exposes the pretense and foolishness (The Big Read: To Kill a Mockingbird (About the Author)). “To Kill a Mocking Bird” is the book that should be read by every person. It informs about the fact that despite the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution, racial prejudices did not vanish, on the contrary they were strengthened.

Moreover, they still represent a serious and unresolved problem for the state.Works CitedNational Endowment of the Arts. "The Big Read: To Kill a Mockingbird (About the Author)." National Endowment of the Arts, 2006.

Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(Biography of Harper Lee Admission/Application Essay, n.d.)
Biography of Harper Lee Admission/Application Essay. https://studentshare.org/literature/1815569-biography-of-harper-lee
(Biography of Harper Lee Admission/Application Essay)
Biography of Harper Lee Admission/Application Essay. https://studentshare.org/literature/1815569-biography-of-harper-lee.
“Biography of Harper Lee Admission/Application Essay”. https://studentshare.org/literature/1815569-biography-of-harper-lee.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Biography of Harper Lee

The films Rush Hour and Rush Hour 2

In this essay, the scenes that will be explicated will be the scene in Rush Hour when Carter and lee meet for the first time.... In Rush Hour 2, the scene will be the scene in the massage parlor, right before Carter and lee get into a fight with the Chinese men in the parlor.... Rush Hour – The Scene When Carter and lee Meet for the First Time The first scene that will be examined will be the scene in Rush Hour, where Jackie Chan's character, Chief Inspector lee, is getting off the plane to meet Carter, played by Chris Tucker, for the very first time....
10 Pages (2500 words) Essay

Exploring Christopher Columbus Bibliography

The article remarks; “Biographies are usually about famous, or infamous people, but a biography of an ordinary person can tell us a lot about a particular time and place.... Each piece of biography leads to a world of new information and helps the reader to understand the vital aspects, events in social and political life and the major contribution of a famous person.... biography.... brief biography about Christopher Columbus:Christopher Columbus has caught the attention of the historians as a man who introduced America to the world....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

Leadership: Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela: A biography.... It is apparent that Mandela was a universal symbol of freedom and reconciliation.... Also, he was an iconic representing the triumph of the human spirit.... He was born on 18th July 1918 in South Africa.... He matriculated… Mandela pursued his higher education at the University of Fort Hare which was the first university college for the Black Africans (Limb, 2008)....
1 Pages (250 words) Assignment

STATELESS NATION

New York: harper One: 2008.... In this book the Dalai Lama discusses as to how his nation was invaded by the Chinese and as to how he managed to infuse a new life in Tibetan Buddhism,… This is one of the latest sources on the history of Tibet, touching both the ancient history of Tibet when this nation was led and guided by Dalai Lama, to the current times when this state of the Geography of the Teacher 23 February less Nation- Tibetans Annotated Bibliography Lama, Dalai....
1 Pages (250 words) Essay

The Story of Coco Chanel

xel Madsen, Coco Chanel: A biography, Bloomsbury, 2009.... This was after he mothers death whereby her father put her in an orphanage since he was a peddler.... During her stay at the orphanage, the nuns there… Chanel earned herself the name Coco from her other career as a singer (Madsen 23). Exactly at the age of twenty, Chanel took her fashion to the next level....
1 Pages (250 words) Essay

Claus Von Stauffenberg

This paper briefly explains the biography of Claus Von Stauffenberg and his accomplishments.... Stauffenberg is famous because of the attempt he made to kill German dictator Adolf Hitler and remove the Nazi Party from power.... He has made this failed attempt during World War II....
4 Pages (1000 words) Research Paper

Biography of Winthrop Rockefeller

This project narrates the story of Winthrop Rockefeller, the first Republican Governor of Arkansas,  great politician and philanthropist.... This project studies Rockefeller's political legacy and attempts to plot his career and accomplishments, successes and failures.... hellip; Winthrop studied at Lincoln School in New York, and that at Loomis School in Windsor....
7 Pages (1750 words) Research Paper

Frank Reich Daughter, Wife, Family, Biography, Other Facts

biography of Frank Reich 1981 saw Frank joining the University of Maryland.... Check this "Frank Reich Daughter, Wife, Family, biography, Other Facts".... nbsp;Frank Reich coaches the National Football League (NFL).... hellip; Reich started his journey as the NFL coach back in 2018....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us