Harper Lee was born in Monroeville, Alabama, on April 28, 1926. She grew up in a small town, and was the youngest of four children. Her siblings were Alice, Louise, and Edwin Lee from …show more content…
To Kill a Mockingbird focuses on attorney, Atticus Finch, and his children, Jem and Scout. The setting of this town is in Maycomb, Alabama, and the town is made up of "white trash", the white folk, and the blacks. Although they seem like they cope with one another, they have a lot of racial tension, unfriendliness, and malevolence toward one another. To Kill a Mockingbird has two main plots. The first, is the trial of Tom Robinson is accused of violating a white woman, in which Atticus Finch defends him in court as his attorney. The second plot, is the relationship between Boo Radley, a man marked as a lunatic in Maycomb, and his relationship with the children, Scout and Jem. To Kill a Mockingbird was written to expose the racial prejudices at the time, not labeling one person as the antagonist, but society as a whole ("TheBestNotes on To Kill a Mockingbird"). The novel was published in 1960. It has sold millions of copies. The novel helped Harper Lee establish her reputation as a southern influential writer (“Harper Lee.” Bio). A screenplay was written based on the book in 1962, and the same title was used. A Pulitzer Prize was given to Harper Lee because of To Kill a Mockingbird. The book received 8 Academy Award nominations, and won 4 of them ("Harper Lee." Encyclopedia). It has now been translated into forty different languages, and sold all around the world. To Kill a Mockingbird not only changed Harper Lee's Life, but it changed society (“Harper Lee.”