The Great Depression
and
To Kill a Mockingbird
What was the Great Depression?
• Wall Street investors panicked and dumped
16,410,030 shares of stock on “Black
Tuesday.”
• Stock market crashed on October 29,
1929.
• Seven million laborers were unemployed
by the end of 1930.
• End of 1931, the figure doubled.
• Banks collapsed; people lost their savings.
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected
President of the United States in the 1932
election. He based his campaign on his
“New Deal” for America.
• Families across the nation were suffering
from hunger, unemployment, unending
drought, and forced migration.
• Radio, music, movies, and sports=escape
Nelle Harper Lee
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Born in Monroeville, Alabama, 1926
Youngest of four children, started writing at age 7
Family was related to Robert E. Lee
Parents: Amassa Coleman Lee, father -- lawyer, Alabama
state senator
• Frances Fincher Lee, mother -- brilliant but unstable, tried
twice to drown Harper in bathtub (Harper was rescued by
older sisters.)
• Tomboy, befriended Truman Capote (who was sent to
live with cousins when his parents divorced) Both
children were lonely and rejected by at least one parent.
• Lee accompanied and worked with Truman as he worked
on In Cold Blood. Truman appears as Dill in To Kill a
Mockingbird.
• Studied law at the University of Alabama and Oxford
University in England
• In 1950, Lee left for New York City, worked as airline
reservation clerk. Family, friends, and agent supported her
while she wrote To Kill a Mockingbird.
• In 1960, To Kill a Mockingbird was published. She won
the Pulitzer Prize in 1961.
• In 1962, the film adaptation by Horton Foote was
produced; Gregory Peck as Atticus
Criticisms of the novel:
•Language
•Possible racism
•Melodrama
•Violence
•“Impossible” narration
Accolades:
•1991 survey by Book-of-the-Month
Club and Library of Congress found
TKaM “most often cited as making a
difference in people’s lives, second only
to the Bible.”
•One of Oprah Winfrey’s three favorite
books
•Five-star average customer review,
Amazon.com: “This book is my all-time
favorite,” “I love this book,” “The very
best,” “Required reading isn’t always
bad.”
•April, 2012—President Obama declares
the book “one of my family’s favorites.”