A Research Into Harper Lee's Attitudes To The Racial Problems

Harper Lee,an American novelist,was born in a small town of Alabama in America in 1926.She published her first novel To Kill a Mockingbird in 1960,and was famous for it rapidly.In the same year,she won the Pulitzer Prize.After the problem of racial discrimination was written into the Constitution,this novel described the different attitudes toward the racial problems of the folks in Maycomb through the eyes of a 6-year-old girl.The author of this thesis tries to explore Lee's attitudes to the racial problems through interpreting some racial conflicts and problems which Lee described in this novel.Meanwhile,the author analyzes that Lee tried to create Finch's into the White Messiah in order to appeal to people for being just and equal like Finch's.However in this process,the author finds it is difficult for Lee a white writer to face the racial problems without prejudice.Therefore,it is also difficult for her to describe some scenes without racial discrimination.The widely anticipated novel Go Set a Watchman which is Harper Lee's new work was published in America in 2015.It is regarded as a sequel of To Kill a Mockingbird,and became one of the best-selling books on Amazon's list.In fact,Harper Lee has finished this novel in 1950s.According to its creation background--south American with political unrest,and its main creation line--the conflicts between Scout and the folks in Maycomb,the author of this thesis explores Lee's attitudes to the racial problems that was expressed in this novel.Through summarizing the main characters' firmness for the doubt,sympathy for the weak,fairness for the facts,disappointment for the reality and surroundings in To Kill a Mockingbird,the author of this thesis analyzes that Lee has tried to establish the White Messiah and had strong desire for reconciliation when she faced the racial problems.At the same time,the author also finds Lee's contradictions on racial problems and her helplessness when she recognized racial discrimination still exited and could be removed for the moment,through comparing the behavioral,ideological and environmental changes of the main characters.In conclusion,it seems that Harper Lee expressed two different kinds of attitudes toward the racial problems in her only two novels.On one hand,she calls on to eliminate the racial discrimination and desires for racial reconciliation.On the other hand,Lee considers the racial discrimination as a habitual attitude,she has no strength and intention to change it.