Happy 100th birthday to the American novelist, short story writer and essayist. Harper Lee, who won the 1961 Pulitzer Prize for her novel To Kill a Mockingbird.
The main character, Scout Finch, narrates this story of her childhood in a rural Alabama town during the early 1930s. Scout’s widowed father, Atticus, is a lawyer, and her constant companions are her older brother Jem and her neighbor’s nephew Dill Harris.
The Finch family has a mysterious neighbor by the name of Boo Radley, whom the neighborhood children sensationalize as the local ghoul. Jem, Scout, and Dill stealthily witness a court case where Atticus is defending an African American man named Tom Robinson, who is unjustly accused of raping a white woman named Mayella Ewell. Will Atticus be able to exonerate Tom Robinson. Will the jury overcome their racial prejudices? How will Boo Radley surprise the Finch family?
This story is not necessarily Harper Lee’s autobiography, but she shaped the setting, characters, and court case from people and historical events in her own life. Many African Americans were tried, convicted, and executed for various crimes they did not commit during the early twentieth century in the South, so Harper Lee based the novel's court case on local and famous court cases during this time. Lee's life and her novel bear many similarities. Take this quiz to test your knowledge or learn more about this outstanding author and book.
Harper Lee and To Kill a Mockingbird Quiz
To Kill a Mockingbird is Harper Lee’s most famous work, but she also has two other works to her credit. I will list her other works which include a sequel of To Kill A Mockingbird and a collection of Short Stories and essays.
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