Since 1990, a play based on the novel has been performed annually in Harper Lee's hometown. It was adapted into an Academy Award-winning film in 1962 by director Robert Mulligan, with a screenplay by Horton Foote. Author Mary McDonough Murphy, who collected individual impressions of To Kill a Mockingbird by several authors and public figures, calls the book "an astonishing phenomenon". Despite the number of copies sold and its widespread use in education, literary analysis of it is sparse. Reaction to the novel varied widely upon publication. In 2006, British librarians ranked the book ahead of the Bible as one "every adult should read before they die". Despite its themes, To Kill a Mockingbird has been subject to campaigns for removal from public classrooms, often challenged for its use of racial epithets. Lessons from the book emphasize tolerance and decry prejudice. Scholars have noted that Lee also addresses issues of class, courage, compassion, and gender roles in the Deep South. The historian Joseph Crespino explains, "In the twentieth century, To Kill a Mockingbird is probably the most widely read book dealing with race in America, and its main character, Atticus Finch, the most enduring fictional image of racial heroism." As a Southern Gothic novel and Bildungsroman, the primary themes of To Kill a Mockingbird involve racial injustice and the destruction of innocence. Atticus Finch, the narrator's father, has served as a moral hero for many readers and as a model of integrity for lawyers. The plot and characters are loosely based on Lee's observations of her family, her neighbors and an event that occurred near her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama, in 1936, when she was ten.ĭespite dealing with the serious issues of rape and racial inequality, the novel is renowned for its warmth and humor. To Kill a Mockingbird has become a classic of modern American literature, winning the Pulitzer Prize. In the United States, it is widely read in high schools and middle schools. It was published in 1960 and was instantly successful. The Monroe County Heritage Museum and Courthouse, 31 North Alabama Avenue, contains exhibits about Harper Lee and her childhood friend Capote and also the famous courtroom, restored as it was in the 1930s.To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel by the American author Harper Lee. The real Monroeville is in southwest Alabama on Highway 84 – the historically important El Camino East/West Corridor, linking the state with Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Georgia.Īpart from Harper Lee, the city has also produced writers Truman Capote, journalist Cynthia Tucker and Mark Childress (author of Crazy In Alabama), earning it the title Literary Capital of Alabama. So well, in fact, that many people believe the film was made on location (Art Director Henry Bumstead won an Oscar, too). But the town had undergone too many changes and in the end, was recreated on the Universal Studios Hollywood backlot in Hollywood. Harper Lee, author of the original novel, based the fictitious setting of ‘Maycomb’ on hometown of Monroeville in Alabama, which seemed the obvious place to film. Gregory Peck takes home Best Actor Oscar as Deep South lawyer Atticus Finch, who has his work cut out defending Tom Robinson ( Brock Peters), a black man accused of rape. To Kill A Mockingbird: Monroe County Heritage Museum and Courthouse, Monroeville, Alabama | Photograph: Monroe County Heritage Museum
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