A TRIBUTE TO HARPER LEE

A series of essays.....

NELLE HARPER LEE: THEN AND NOW

.....as seen through my eyes!




By: Jacqueline E. Hughes


This is my personal tribute to "Little Nelle," Harper Lee, author of the timeless novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, as well as her recently published prequel, Go Set a Watchman. This story was originally published a little over a year ago on February 12, 2015. Sadly, this acclaimed author, Pulitzer Prize winner who pushed her way into a 'Man's World' and won, passed away today, February 19, 2016, at the age of eighty-nine.



February 12, 2015
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Little insights and stories that have caught my attention over the past week.  Sharing some of them with you during this Valentine's week of celebration.....with Love.   JEH

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What an amazing name Harper is.  I read once that her first name is Nelle.  Nelle Harper Lee.  Always wondered why she published under her middle name of Harper.  Not really such a surprise given the fact that Nelle is such a feminine, nostalgic and 'girlie' name.  I surmise that to sell this book back in 1960, a book filled with such poignant prejudice and striking inequities, Harper was dealing with some prejudices of her own. 

A female and first time author, Nelle probably did pretty much what she had been told to do by her editor even if it included changing her main character, Scout, from a woman returning home after many years into a young girl coming-of-age in the South. 

Nelle listened, but at what price?  And, I'm not too sure, having read her biography and taken-in some of her references towards naïveté and being an outcast as a child due to an extremely 'Tomboyish' personality, that these factors didn't project her as a hardworking young female pushing the parameters of a 'Man's World.' 

Did it break her?  Had she had enough with the publication of her one book?  No matter how many accolades they bestowed upon her, including a Pulitzer Prize and making her novel into a movie in 1962, soon to become a classic in its own right, did she say the sacrifice really wasn't worth it anymore and moved-on with her life? 

I will be lining-up to buy and read her prequel, as I refer to it instead, Go Set a Watchman, because it had been written before her editor intervened!  Of course, it will be expected and natural even to contrast and compare it with To Kill a Mockingbird.  I hope Nelle is braced and ready for the bumpy ride!


Copyright © 2016 by Jacqueline E. Hughes
All rights reserved