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Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926. She was the youngest of 3 children born to Alaska and Francis Finch Lee. She was born in Monroeville, Alabama. She attended local schools until 1944, at which time, she entered Huntington College in Montgomery, Alabama.
She became a Fulbright Scholar and spent a year at Oxford University. She also attended University of Alabama for four years studying law. In 1950, she quit the school and moved to New York City where she worked for Eastern Airlines and British Overseas Air Corporation. She began writing at a young age, but she was never successful at getting any of her literary works published, until her successful novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. She came into contact with a literary agent, whom she showed some of her manuscripts. One of these manuscripts was a short story, which her agent encouraged her to expand on.
She then quit her job with the airlines to turn all of her energy to her writing. This short story expanded into perhaps one of the most popular novels, and screenplays, in the world. The surprise is, she submitted the work for publication in 1957, and it was rejected. She spent the next 2 years in the rewriting and revising the book, which was eventually published in July, 1960. Later that year, the book that was originally rejected for publication, it was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished fiction by an American author.
This marked the first time in nearly twenty years that a female author recieved the award. The book also recieved the Paperback of the Year Award and the National Conference of Christians and Jews Brotherhood award. The screenplay adaptation of the book recieved an Oscar. Lee based the book on some of the experiences of her life.
She based the character Scout on herself. The time of the book would have been during the time when Lee would have been the same age as Scout. Maycomb, Alabama, was modeled after her hometown, Monroeville. The Reply Place was modeled after an old abandoned house which the children believed to be haunted and used for a clubhouse. Other characters in the novel are based on people and stereotypes which she saw during her youth. The book was written in the dialect of a small southern town, like Monroeville, which was what she was accustomed to throughout her childhood
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Research essay sample on Short Story Book Alabama
