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To Kill a Mockingbird
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For the film based on the novel, see To Kill a Mockingbird (film).
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To Kill a Mockingbird
Cover of the book showing title in white letters against a black background in a banner above a painting of a portion of a tree against a red background
First edition cover – late printing

Author
Harper Lee
Country
United States
Language
English
Published
July 11, 1960 (J. B. Lippincott & Co.)
Media type
Print (hardback and paperback)
Pages
296 (first edition, hardback)
To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel by Harper Lee published in 1960. It was immediately successful, winning the Pulitzer Prize, and has become a classic of modern American literature. The plot and characters are loosely based on the author's observations of her family and neighbors, as well as on an event that occurred near her hometown in 1936, when she was 10 years old.
The novel is renowned for its warmth and humor, despite dealing with the serious issues of rape and racial inequality. The narrator's father, Atticus Finch, has served as a moral hero for many readers and as a model of integrity for lawyers. One critic explains the novel's impact by writing, "In the twentieth century, To Kill a Mockingbird is probably the most widely read book dealing with race in America, and its protagonist, Atticus Finch, the most enduring fictional image of racial heroism."[1]
As a Southern Gothic novel and a Bildungsroman, the primary themes of To Kill a Mockingbird involve racial injustice and the destruction of innocence. Scholars have noted that Lee also addresses issues of class, courage, compassion, and gender roles in the American Deep South. The book is widely taught in schools in the United States with lessons that emphasize tolerance and decry prejudice. 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.
Reaction to the novel varied widely upon publication. Literary analysis of it is sparse, considering the number of copies sold and its widespread use in education. Author Mary McDonough Murphy, who collected individual impressions of the book by several authors and public figures, calls To Kill a Mockingbird "an astonishing phenomenon".[2] In 2006, British librarians ranked the book ahead of the Bible as one "every adult should read before they die".[3] It was adapted into an Oscar-winning film in 1962 by director Robert Mulligan, with a screenplay by Horton Foote. Since 1990, a play based on the novel has been performed annually in Harper Lee's hometown of Monroeville, Alabama. To date, it is Lee's only published novel, and although she continues to respond to the book's impact, she has refused any personal publicity for herself or the novel since 1964.


Contents  [hide]
1 Biographical background and publication
2 Plot summary
3 Autobiographical elements
4 Style
5 Structure 5.1 Genres
6 Themes 6.1 Southern life and racial injustice
6.2 Class
6.3 Courage and compassion
6.4 Gender roles
6.5 Laws, written and unwritten
6.6 Loss of innocence
7 Reception 7.1 Atticus Finch and the legal profession
7.2 Social commentary and challenges
7.3 Inaccurate rumor regarding potential Capote authorship
7.4 Honors
8 Adaptations 8.1 1962 film
8.2 Play
9 See also
10 Notes
11 References
12 Bibliography
13 External links

Biographical background and publication
Born in 1926, Harper Lee grew up in the Southern town of Monroeville, Alabama, where she became close friends with soon-to-be famous writer Truman Capote. She attended Huntingdon College in Montgomery (1944–45), and then studied law at the University of Alabama (1945–49). While attending college, she wrote for campus literary magazines: Huntress at Huntingdon and the humor magazine Rammer Jammer at the University of Alabama. At both colleges, she wrote short stories and other works about racial injustice, a rarely mentioned topic on such campuses at the time.[4] In 1950, Lee moved to New York City, where she worked as a reservation clerk for British Overseas Airways Corporation; there, she began writing a collection of essays and short stories about people in Monroeville. Hoping to be published, Lee presented her writing in 1957 to a literary agent recommended by Capote. An editor at J. B. Lippincott advised her to quit the airline and concentrate on writing. Donations from friends, including Michael and Joy Brown and Alice Lee Finch,[5] allowed her to write uninterrupted for a year.[6]
Ultimately, Lee spent two and a half years writing To Kill a Mockingbird. A description of the book's creation by the National Endowment for the Arts relates an episode when Lee became so frustrated that she tossed the manuscript out the window into the snow. Her agent made her retrieve it.[7] The book was published on July 11, 1960, initially titled Atticus. Lee renamed it to reflect a story that went beyond a character portrait.[8] The editorial team at Lippincott warned Lee that she would probably sell only several thousand copies.[9] In 1964, Lee recalled her hopes for the book when she said, "I never expected any sort of success with 'Mockingbird.' ... I was hoping for a quick and merciful death at the hands of the reviewers but, at the same time, I sort of hoped someone would like it enough to give me encouragement. Public encouragement. I hoped for a little, as I said, but I got rather a whole lot, and in some ways this was just about as frightening as the quick, merciful death I'd expected."[10] Instead of a "quick and merciful death", Reader's Digest Condensed Books chose the book for reprinting in part, which gave it a wide readership immediately.[11] Since the original publication, the book has never been out of print.
Plot summary
See also: List of To Kill a Mockingbird characters
The book opens with the Finch family's ancestor, Simon Finch, a Cornish Methodist fleeing religious intolerance in England, settling in Alabama, becoming wealthy and, contrary to his religious beliefs, buying several slaves.
The main story takes place during three years of the Great Depression in the fictional "tired old town" of Maycomb, Alabama. It focuses on six-year-old Scout Finch, who lives with her older brother Jem and their widowed father Atticus, a middle-aged lawyer. Jem and Scout befriend a boy named Dill who visits Maycomb to stay with his aunt each summer. The three children are terrified of, and fascinated by, their neighbor, the reclusive "Boo" Radley. The adults of Maycomb are hesitant to talk about Boo and, for many years, few have seen him. The children feed each other's imagination with rumors about his appearance and reasons for remaining hidden, and they fantasize about how to get him out of his house. Following two summers of friendship with Dill, Scout and Jem find that someone is leaving them small gifts in a tree outside the Radley place. Several times, the mysterious Boo makes gestures of affection to the children, but, to their disappointment, never appears in person.
Atticus is appointed by the court to defend Tom Robinson, a black man who has been accused of raping a young white woman, Mayella Ewell. Although many of Maycomb's citizens disapprove, Atticus agrees to defend Tom. Other children taunt Jem and Scout for Atticus' actions, calling him a "nigger-lover". Scout is tempted to stand up for her father's honor by fighting, even though he has told her not to. For his part, Atticus faces a group of men intent on lynching Tom. This danger is averted when Scout, Jem, and Dill shame the mob into dispersing by forcing them to view the situation from Atticus' and Tom's points of view.
Because Atticus does not want them to be present at Tom Robinson's trial, Scout, Jem and Dill watch in secret from the colored balcony. Atticus establishes that the accusers—Mayella and her father, Bob Ewell, the town drunk—are lying. It also becomes clear that the friendless Mayella was making sexual advances towards Tom and her father caught her and beat her. Despite significant evidence of Tom's innocence, the jury convicts him. Jem's faith in justice is badly shaken, as is Atticus', when a hapless Tom is shot and killed while trying to escape from prison.
Despite winning the case, Bob Ewell's reputation is further ruined and he vows revenge. He spits in Atticus' face on the street, tries to break into the presiding judge's house and menaces Tom Robinson's widow. Finally, he attacks the defenseless Jem and Scout as they walk home on a dark night from the school Halloween pageant. Jem's arm is broken in the struggle, but amid the confusion, someone comes to the children's rescue. The mysterious man carries Jem home, where Scout realizes that he is Boo Radley.
Maycomb's sheriff arrives and discovers that Bob Ewell has been killed in the struggle. The sheriff argues with Atticus about the prudence and ethics of holding Jem or Boo responsible. Atticus eventually accepts the sheriff's story that Ewell simply fell on his own knife. Boo asks Scout to walk him home, and after she says goodbye to him at his front door, he disappears again. While standing on the Radley porch, Scout imagines life from Boo's perspective and regrets that they never repaid him for the gifts he had given them.
Autobiographical elements
Lee has said that To Kill a Mockingbird is not an autobiography, but rather an example of how an author "should write about what he knows and write truthfully".[12] Nevertheless, several people and events from Lee's childhood parallel those of the fictional Scout. Lee's father, Amasa Coleman Lee, was an attorney, similar to Atticus Finch, and in 1919, he defended two black men accused of murder. After they were convicted, hanged and mutilated,[13] he never tried another criminal case. Lee's father was also the editor and publisher of the Monroeville newspaper. Although more of a proponent of racial segregation than Atticus, he gradually became more liberal in his later years.[14] Though Scout's mother died when she was a baby, Lee was 25 when her mother, Frances Cunningham Finch, died. Lee's mother was prone to a nervous condition that rendered her mentally and emotionally absent.[15] Lee had a brother named Edwin, who — like the fictional Jem — was four years older than his sister. As in the novel, a black housekeeper came daily to care for the Lee house and family.
Lee modeled the character of Dill on her childhood friend, Truman Capote, known then as Truman Persons.[16][17] Just as Dill lived next door to Scout during the summer, Capote lived next door to Lee with his aunts while his mother visited New York City.[18] Like Dill, Capote had an impressive imagination and a gift for fascinating stories. Both Lee and Capote were atypical children: both loved to read. Lee was a scrappy tomboy who was quick to fight, but Capote was ridiculed for his advanced vocabulary and lisp. She and Capote made up and acted out stories they wrote on an old Underwood typewriter Lee's father gave them. They became good friends when both felt alienated from their peers; Capote called the two of them "apart people".[19] In 1960, Capote and Lee traveled to Kansas together to investigate the multiple murders that were the basis for Capote's nonfiction novel In Cold Blood.
Down the street from the Lees lived a family whose house was always boarded up; they served as the models for the fictional Radleys. The son of the family got into some legal trouble and the father kept him at home for 24 years out of shame. He was hidden until virtually forgotten; he died in 1952.[20]
The origin of Tom Robinson is less clear, although many have speculated that his character was inspired by several models. When Lee was 10 years old, a white woman near Monroeville accused a black man named Walter Lett of raping her. The story and the trial were covered by her father's newspaper which reported that Lett was convicted and sentenced to death. After a series of letters appeared claiming Lett had been falsely accused, his sentence was commuted to life in prison. He died there of tuberculosis in 1937.[21] Scholars believe that Robinson's difficulties reflect the notorious case of the Scottsboro Boys,[22][23] in which nine black men were convicted of raping two white women on negligible evidence. However, in 2005, Lee stated that she had in mind something less sensational, although the Scottsboro case served "the same purpose" to display Southern prejudices.[24] Emmett Till, a black teenager who was murdered for flirting with a white woman in Mississippi in 1955, and whose death is credited as a catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement, is also considered a model for Tom Robinson.[25]
Style



The narrative is very tough, because [Lee] has to both be a kid on the street and aware of the mad dogs and the spooky houses, and have this beautiful vision of how justice works and all the creaking mechanisms of the courthouse. Part of the beauty is that she... trusts the visual to lead her, and the sensory.
—Allan Gurganus[26]
The strongest element of style noted by critics and reviewers is Lee's talent for narration, which in an early review in Time was called "tactile brilliance".[27] Writing a decade later, another scholar noted, "Harper Lee has a remarkable gift of story-telling. Her art is visual, and with cinematographic fluidity and subtlety we see a scene melting into another scene without jolts of transition."[28] Lee combines the narrator's voice of a child observing her surroundings with a grown woman's reflecting on her childhood, using the ambiguity of this voice combined with the narrative technique of flashback to play intricately with perspectives.[29] This narrative method allows Lee to tell a "delightfully deceptive" story that mixes the simplicity of childhood observation with adult situations complicated by hidden motivations and unquestioned tradition.[30] However, at times the blending causes reviewers to question Scout's preternatural vocabulary and depth of understanding.[31] Both Harding LeMay and the novelist and literary critic Granville Hicks expressed doubt that children as sheltered as Scout and Jem could understand the complexities and horrors involved in the trial for Tom Robinson's life.[32][33]
Writing about Lee's style and use of humor in a tragic story, scholar Jacqueline Tavernier-Courbin states: "Laughter ... [exposes] the gangrene under the beautiful surface but also by demeaning it; one can hardly ... be controlled by what one is able to laugh at."[34] Scout's precocious observations about her neighbors and behavior inspire National Endowment of the Arts director David Kipen to call her "hysterically funny".[35] To address complex issues, however, Tavernier-Courbin notes that Lee uses parody, satire, and irony effectively by using a child's perspective. After Dill promises to marry her, then spends too much time with Jem, Scout reasons the best way to get him to pay attention to her is to beat him up, which she does several times.[36] Scout's first day in school is a satirical treatment of education; her teacher says she must undo the damage Atticus has wrought in teaching her to read and write, and forbids Atticus from teaching her further.[37] Lee treats the most unfunny situations with irony, however, as Jem and Scout try to understand how Maycomb embraces racism and still tries sincerely to remain a decent society. Satire and irony are used to such an extent that Tavernier-Courbin suggests one interpretation for the book's title: Lee is doing the mocking—of education, the justice system, and her own society by using them as subjects of her humorous disapproval.[34]
Critics also note the entertaining methods used to drive the plot.[38] When Atticus is out of town, Jem locks a Sunday school classmate in the church basement with the furnace during a game of Shadrach. This prompts their black housekeeper Calpurnia to escort Scout and Jem to her church, which allows the children a glimpse into her personal life, as well as Tom Robinson's.[39] Scout falls asleep during the Halloween pageant and makes a tardy entrance onstage, causing the audience to laugh uproariously. She is so distracted and embarrassed that she prefers to go home in her ham costume, which saves her life.[40]
Structure
A remarkable feature of the book is its repetitive theme. The theme: people aren’t always what they seem to be; they may be better or worse or different or may have redeeming characteristics that offset negative aspects of their personalities. The theme appears on several plot levels. At the highest level is the overarching story of Boo Radley, Scout’s reclusive, psychologically disturbed neighbor. When the story begins, he is the object of fear and misunderstanding, a sort of ogre. Gradually his good qualities come to light. And at the end of the book he emerges as a hero, saving the lives of Scout and Jem when Bob Ewell tries to kill them.
An intermediate plot level covering many chapters features the townspeople, epitomized by the twelve jurors who convict Tom Robinson. Tom is an innocent black man accused of rape. The evidence clearly establishes that the young white woman who accuses him is lying. Outwardly, the jurors are upstanding citizens, good churchgoing Christians. But they aren’t what they seem to be. They are racists, and they willingly condemn a clearly innocent black man to death.
At the chapter level are incidents that reveal individual characters as being something other–usually better–than what they seemed to be. An incomplete list of examples follows:
Scout views her father, Atticus Finch, as an ordinary man. He doesn’t hunt like other men or “do anything that could possibly arouse the admiration of anyone.” Then one day a rabid dog threatens the town. Handed a rifle by the sheriff, who understands Atticus better than Scout does, Atticus reveals himself as a crack shot with a rifle. He kills the dog on his first shot, fired from long range.
Mr. Underwood, editor of the local newspaper is a racist. According to Atticus, “he despises Negroes.” But after Atticus, with Scout’s help, manages to disperse a mob that has arrived at the jail to lynch Tom Robinson, the bright side of Underwood’s character is revealed. He has been at the upstairs window of the building next door with a shotgun aimed at the mob, ready to defend Atticus and Tom if necessary.
Scout has a teacher, Miss Gates, who seemingly is a model for tolerance. She inveighs against the persecution of Jews by Hitler. Then Scout discovers that Miss Gates is disdainful of the idea of blacks marrying whites.
The Finches have a colored cook, Calpurnia. She is highly refined in her speech and manners. One Sunday, with permission, she takes Scout to her “niggertown” church. There Scout learns that, in Calpurnia’s home environment, she can speak a second language–coarse black English that she uses to put down an unrepresentative, disrespectful woman. When the woman tries to block their path to the church, Calpurnia threatens, “Stop right there, nigger.”
Mrs. Dubose is a drooling, outwardly nasty neighbor who calls Atticus a “nigger lover.” But unknown to Scout, Dubose is dying. She is addicted to the painkiller morphine, and is painfully spending her final days weaning herself off morphine so that, upon her death, everything–including her conscience–will be in perfect order. She displays the virtue courage. “Real courage,” says Atticus, is when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but . . . Mrs. Dubose won.” (Whereas Atticus lost when he likewise displayed courage by taking on the hopeless task of defending Tom Robinson.)
The Boo Radley storyline is really a parable of sorts. Though white in the story, Boo symbolizes blacks. The initial irrational fear of Boo displayed by Scout and Jem represents white (particularly southern white) prejudice toward blacks. And the repeated people-aren’t-what-they-seem-to-be theme is Harper Lee’s subtle way of saying that white prejudice toward blacks is irrational.
Genres
Scholars have characterized To Kill a Mockingbird as both a Southern Gothic and coming-of-age or Bildungsroman novel. The grotesque and near-supernatural qualities of Boo Radley and his house, and the element of racial injustice involving Tom Robinson contribute to the aura of the Gothic in the novel.[41][42] Lee used the term "Gothic" to describe the architecture of Maycomb's courthouse and in regard to Dill's exaggeratedly morbid performances as Boo Radley.[43] Outsiders are also an important element of Southern Gothic texts and Scout and Jem's questions about the hierarchy in the town cause scholars to compare the novel to Catcher in the Rye and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.[44] Despite challenging the town's systems, Scout reveres Atticus as an authority above all others, because he believes that following one's conscience is the highest priority, even when the result is social ostracism.[45] However, scholars debate about the Southern Gothic classification, noting that Boo Radley is in fact human, protective, and benevolent. Furthermore, in addressing themes such as alcoholism, incest, rape, and racial violence, Lee wrote about her small town realistically rather than melodramatically. She portrays the problems of individual characters as universal underlying issues in every society.[42]
As children coming of age, Scout and Jem face hard realities and learn from them. Lee seems to examine Jem's sense of loss about how his neighbors have disappointed him more than Scout's. Jem says to their neighbor Miss Maudie the day after the trial, "It's like bein' a caterpillar wrapped in a cocoon ... I always thought Maycomb folks were the best folks in the world, least that's what they seemed like".[46] This leads him to struggle with understanding the separations of race and class. Just as the novel is an illustration of the changes Jem faces, it is also an exploration of the realities Scout must face as an atypical girl on the verge of womanhood. As one scholar writes, "To Kill a Mockingbird can be read as a feminist Bildungsroman, for Scout emerges from her childhood experiences with a clear sense of her place in her community and an awareness of her potential power as the woman she will one day be."[47]
Themes



In the 33 years since its publication, [To Kill a Mockingbird] has never been the focus of a dissertation, and it has been the subject of only six literary studies, several of them no more than a couple of pages long.
—Claudia Johnson in To Kill a Mockingbird: Threatening Boundaries, 1994[48]
Despite the novel's immense popularity upon publication, it has not received the close critical attention paid to other modern American classics. Don Noble, editor of a book of essays about the novel, estimates that the ratio of sales to analytical essays may be a million to one. Christopher Metress writes that the book is "an icon whose emotive sway remains strangely powerful because it also remains unexamined".[49] Noble suggests it does not receive academic attention because of its consistent status as a best-seller ("If that many people like it, it can't be any good.") and that general readers seem to feel they do not require analytical interpretation.[50]
Harper Lee has remained famously detached from interpreting the novel since the mid-1960s. However, she gave some insight into her themes when, in a rare letter to the editor, she wrote in response to the passionate reaction her book caused: "Surely it is plain to the simplest intelligence that To Kill a Mockingbird spells out in words of seldom more than two syllables a code of honor and conduct, Christian in its ethic, that is the heritage of all Southerners."[51]
Southern life and racial injustice
When the book was released, reviewers noted that it was divided into two parts, and opinion was mixed about Lee's ability to connect them.[52] The first part of the novel concerns the children's fascination with Boo Radley and their feelings of safety and comfort in the neighborhood. Reviewers were generally charmed by Scout and Jem's observations of their quirky neighbors. One writer was so impressed by Lee's detailed explanations of the people of Maycomb that he categorized the book as Southern romantic regionalism.[53] This sentimentalism can be seen in Lee's representation of the Southern caste system to explain almost every character's behavior in the novel. Scout's Aunt Alexandra attributes Maycomb's inhabitants' faults and advantages to genealogy (families that have gambling streaks and drinking streaks),[54] and the narrator sets the action and characters amid a finely detailed background of the Finch family history and the history of Maycomb. This regionalist theme is further reflected in Mayella Ewell's apparent powerlessness to admit her advances toward Tom Robinson, and Scout's definition of "fine folks" being people with good sense who do the best they can with what they have. The South itself, with its traditions and taboos, seems to drive the plot more than the characters.[53]
The second part of the novel deals with what book reviewer Harding LeMay termed "the spirit-corroding shame of the civilized white Southerner in the treatment of the Negro".[32] In the years following its release, many reviewers considered To Kill a Mockingbird a novel primarily concerned with race relations.[55] Claudia Durst Johnson considers it "reasonable to believe" that the novel was shaped by two events involving racial issues in Alabama: Rosa Parks' refusal to yield her seat on a city bus to a white person, which sparked the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott, and the 1956 riots at the University of Alabama after Autherine Lucy and Polly Myers were admitted (Myers eventually withdrew her application and Lucy was expelled, but reinstated in 1980).[56] In writing about the historical context of the novel's construction, two other literary scholars remark: "To Kill a Mockingbird was written and published amidst the most significant and conflict-ridden social change in the South since the Civil War and Reconstruction. Inevitably, despite its mid-1930s setting, the story told from the perspective of the 1950s voices the conflicts, tensions, and fears induced by this transition."[57]
Scholar Patrick Chura, who suggests Emmett Till was a model for Tom Robinson, enumerates the injustices endured by the fictional Tom that Till also faced. Chura notes the icon of the black rapist causing harm to the representation of the "mythologized vulnerable and sacred Southern womanhood".[25] Any transgressions by black males that merely hinted at sexual contact with white females during the time the novel was set often resulted in a punishment of death for the accused. Tom Robinson's trial was juried by poor white farmers who convicted him despite overwhelming evidence of his innocence, as more educated and moderate white townspeople supported the jury's decision. Furthermore, the victim of racial injustice in To Kill a Mockingbird was physically impaired, which made him unable to commit the act he was accused of, but also crippled him in other ways.[25] Roslyn Siegel includes Tom Robinson as an example of the recurring motif among white Southern writers of the black man as "stupid, pathetic, defenseless, and dependent upon the fair dealing of the whites, rather than his own intelligence to save him".[58] Although Tom is spared from being lynched, he is killed with excessive violence during an attempted escape from prison, when he is shot seventeen times.
The theme of racial injustice appears symbolically in the novel as well. For example, Atticus must shoot a rabid dog, even though it is not his job to do so.[59] Carolyn Jones argues that the dog represents prejudice within the town of Maycomb, and Atticus, who waits on a deserted street to shoot the dog,[60] must fight against the town's racism without help from other white citizens. He is also alone when he faces a group intending to lynch Tom Robinson and once more in the courthouse during Tom's trial. Lee even uses dreamlike imagery from the mad dog incident to describe some of the courtroom scenes. Jones writes, "[t]he real mad dog in Maycomb is the racism that denies the humanity of Tom Robinson.... When Atticus makes his summation to the jury, he literally bares himself to the jury's and the town's anger."[60]
Class



One of the amazing things about the writing in To Kill a Mockingbird is the economy with which Harper Lee delineates not only race—white and black within a small community—but class. I mean different kinds of black people and white people both, from poor white trash to the upper crust—the whole social fabric.
—Lee Smith[61]
In a 1964 interview, Lee remarked that her aspiration was "to be ... the Jane Austen of South Alabama."[42] Both Austen and Lee challenged the social status quo and valued individual worth over social standing. When Scout embarrasses her poorer classmate, Walter Cunningham, at the Finch home one day, Calpurnia, their black cook, chastises and punishes her for doing so.[62] Atticus respects Calpurnia's judgment, and later in the book even stands up to his sister, the formidable Aunt Alexandra, when she strongly suggests they fire Calpurnia.[63] One writer notes that Scout, "in Austenian fashion", satirizes women with whom she does not wish to identify.[64] Literary critic Jean Blackall lists the priorities shared by the two authors: "affirmation of order in society, obedience, courtesy, and respect for the individual without regard for status".[42]
Scholars argue that Lee's approach to class and race was more complex "than ascribing racial prejudice primarily to 'poor white trash' ... Lee demonstrates how issues of gender and class intensify prejudice, silence the voices that might challenge the existing order, and greatly complicate many Americans' conception of the causes of racism and segregation."[57] Lee's use of the middle-class narrative voice is a literary device that allows an intimacy with the reader, regardless of class or cultural background, and fosters a sense of nostalgia. Sharing Scout and Jem's perspective, the reader is allowed to engage in relationships with the conservative antebellum Mrs. Dubose; the lower-class Ewells, and the Cunninghams who are equally poor but behave in vastly different ways; the wealthy but ostracized Mr. Dolphus Raymond; and Calpurnia and other members of the black community. The children internalize Atticus' admonition not to judge someone until they have walked around in that person's skin, gaining a greater understanding of people's motives and behavior.[57]
Courage and compassion
The novel has been noted for its poignant exploration of different forms of courage.[65][66] Scout's impulsive inclination to fight students who insult Atticus reflects her attempt to stand up for him and defend him. Atticus is the moral center of the novel, however, and he teaches Jem one of the most significant lessons of courage.[67] In a statement that foreshadows Atticus' motivation for defending Tom Robinson and describes Mrs. Dubose, who is determined to break herself of a morphine addiction, Atticus tells Jem that courage is "when you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what".[68]
Charles Shields, who has written the only book-length biography of Harper Lee to date, offers the reason for the novel's enduring popularity and impact is that "its lessons of human dignity and respect for others remain fundamental and universal".[69] Atticus' lesson to Scout that "you never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view — until you climb around in his skin and walk around in it" exemplifies his compassion.[66][70] She ponders the comment when listening to Mayella Ewell's testimony. When Mayella reacts with confusion to Atticus' question if she has any friends, Scout offers that she must be lonelier than Boo Radley. Having walked Boo home after he saves their lives, Scout stands on the Radley porch and considers the events of the previous three years from Boo's perspective. One writer remarks, "... [w]hile the novel concerns tragedy and injustice, heartache and loss, it also carries with it a strong sense [of] courage, compassion, and an awareness of history to be better human beings."[66]
Gender roles
Just as Lee explores Jem's development in coming to grips with a racist and unjust society, Scout realizes what being female means, and several female characters influence her development. Scout's primary identification with her father and older brother allows her to describe the variety and depth of female characters in the novel both as one of them and as an outsider.[47] Scout's primary female models are Calpurnia and her neighbor Miss Maudie, both of whom are strong willed, independent, and protective. Mayella Ewell also has an influence; Scout watches her destroy an innocent man in order to hide her own desire for him. The female characters who comment the most on Scout's lack of willingness to adhere to a more feminine role are also those who promote the most racist and classist points of view.[64] For example, Mrs. Dubose chastises Scout for not wearing a dress and camisole, and indicates she is ruining the family name by not doing so, in addition to insulting Atticus' intentions to defend Tom Robinson. By balancing the masculine influences of Atticus and Jem with the feminine influences of Calpurnia and Miss Maudie, one scholar writes, "Lee gradually demonstrates that Scout is becoming a feminist in the South, for with the use of first-person narration, she indicates that Scout/ Jean Louise still maintains the ambivalence about being a Southern lady she possessed as a child."[64]
Absent mothers and abusive fathers are another theme in the novel. Scout and Jem's mother died before Scout could remember her, Mayella's mother is dead, and Mrs. Radley is silent about Boo's confinement to the house. Apart from Atticus, the fathers described are abusers.[71] Bob Ewell, it is hinted, molested his daughter,[72] and Mr. Radley imprisons his son in his house until Boo is remembered only as a phantom. Bob Ewell and Mr. Radley represent a form of masculinity that Atticus does not, and the novel suggests that such men as well as the traditionally feminine hypocrites at the Missionary Society can lead society astray. Atticus stands apart from other men as a unique model of masculinity; as one scholar explains: "It is the job of real men who embody the traditional masculine qualities of heroic individualism, bravery, and an unshrinking knowledge of and dedication to social justice and morality, to set the society straight."[71]
Laws, written and unwritten
Allusions to legal issues in To Kill a Mockingbird, particularly in scenes outside of the courtroom, has drawn the attention from legal scholars. Claudia Durst Johnson writes that "a greater volume of critical readings has been amassed by two legal scholars in law journals than by all the literary scholars in literary journals".[73] The opening quote by the 19th-century essayist Charles Lamb reads: "Lawyers, I suppose, were children once." Johnson notes that even in Scout and Jem's childhood world, compromises and treaties are struck with each other by spitting on one's palm and laws are discussed by Atticus and his children: is it right that Bob Ewell hunts and traps out of season? Many social codes are broken by people in symbolic courtrooms: Mr. Dolphus Raymond has been exiled by society for taking a black woman as his common-law wife and having interracial children; Mayella Ewell is beaten by her father in punishment for kissing Tom Robinson; by being turned into a non-person, Boo Radley receives a punishment far greater than any court could have given him.[56] Scout repeatedly breaks codes and laws and reacts to her punishment for them. For example, she refuses to wear frilly clothes, saying that Aunt Alexandra's "fanatical" attempts to place her in them made her feel "a pink cotton penitentiary closing in on [her]".[74] Johnson states, "[t]he novel is a study of how Jem and Scout begin to perceive the complexity of social codes and how the configuration of relationships dictated by or set off by those codes fails or nurtures the inhabitants of (their) small worlds."[56]
Loss of innocence

A color photograph of a northern mockingbird

 Lee used the mockingbird to symbolize innocence in the novel.
Songbirds and their associated symbolism appear throughout the novel. The family's last name of Finch also shares Lee's mother's maiden name. The titular mockingbird is a key motif of this theme, which first appears when Atticus, having given his children air-rifles for Christmas, allows their Uncle Jack to teach them to shoot. Atticus warns them that, although they can "shoot all the bluejays they want", they must remember that "it's a sin to kill a mockingbird".[75] Confused, Scout approaches her neighbor Miss Maudie, who explains that mockingbirds never harm other living creatures. She points out that mockingbirds simply provide pleasure with their songs, saying, "They don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us."[75] Writer Edwin Bruell summarized the symbolism when he wrote in 1964, "'To kill a mockingbird' is to kill that which is innocent and harmless—like Tom Robinson."[54] Scholars have noted that Lee often returns to the mockingbird theme when trying to make a moral point.[28][76][77]
Tom Robinson is the chief example among several innocents destroyed carelessly or deliberately throughout the novel. However, scholar Christopher Metress connects the mockingbird to Boo Radley: "Instead of wanting to exploit Boo for her own fun (as she does in the beginning of the novel by putting on gothic plays about his history), Scout comes to see him as a 'mockingbird'—that is, as someone with an inner goodness that must be cherished."[78] The last pages of the book illustrate this as Scout relates the moral of a story Atticus has been reading to her, and in allusions to both Boo Radley and Tom Robinson[25] states about a character who was misunderstood, "when they finally saw him, why he hadn't done any of those things ... Atticus, he was real nice," to which he responds, "Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them."[79]
The novel exposes the loss of innocence so frequently that reviewer R. A. Dave claims that because every character has to face, or even suffer defeat, the book takes on elements of a classical tragedy.[28] In exploring how each character deals with his or her own personal defeat, Lee builds a framework to judge whether the characters are heroes or fools. She guides the reader in such judgments, alternating between unabashed adoration and biting irony. Scout's experience with the Missionary Society is an ironic juxtaposition of women who mock her, gossip, and "reflect a smug, colonialist attitude toward other races" while giving the "appearance of gentility, piety, and morality".[64] Conversely, when Atticus loses Tom's case, he is last to leave the courtroom, except for his children and the black spectators in the colored balcony, who rise silently as he walks underneath them, to honor his efforts.[80]
Reception
Despite her editors' warnings that the book might not sell well, it quickly became a sensation, bringing acclaim to Lee in literary circles, in her hometown of Monroeville, and throughout Alabama.[81] The book went through numerous subsequent printings and became widely available through its inclusion in the Book of the Month Club and editions released by Reader's Digest Condensed Books.[82]
Initial reactions to the novel were varied. The New Yorker declared it "skilled, unpretentious, and totally ingenious",[83] and The Atlantic Monthly's reviewer rated it as "pleasant, undemanding reading", but found the narrative voice—"a six-year-old girl with the prose style of a well-educated adult"—to be implausible.[31] Time magazine's 1960 review of the book states that it "teaches the reader an astonishing number of useful truths about little girls and about Southern life" and calls Scout Finch "the most appealing child since Carson McCullers' Frankie got left behind at the wedding".[27] The Chicago Sunday Tribune noted the even-handed approach to the narration of the novel's events, writing: "This is in no way a sociological novel. It underlines no cause... To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel of strong contemporary national significance."[84]
Not all comments were enthusiastic, however. Some reviews lamented the use of poor white Southerners, and one-dimensional black victims,[85] and Granville Hicks labeled the book "melodramatic and contrived".[33] When the book was first released, Southern writer Flannery O'Connor commented, "I think for a child's book it does all right. It's interesting that all the folks that are buying it don't know they're reading a child's book. Somebody ought to say what it is."[49] Carson McCullers apparently agreed with the Time magazine review, writing to a cousin: "Well, honey, one thing we know is that she's been poaching on my literary preserves."[86]
One year after being published, To Kill a Mockingbird had been translated into ten languages. In the years since, it has sold over 30 million copies and been translated into over 40 languages.[87] To Kill a Mockingbird has never been out of print in hardcover or paperback and has become part of the standard literature curriculum. A 2008 survey of secondary books read by students between grades 9–12 in the U.S. indicates the novel is the most widely read book in these grades.[88] A 1991 survey by the Book of the Month Club and the Library of Congress Center for the Book found that To Kill a Mockingbird was rated behind only the Bible in books that are "most often cited as making a difference".[89][note 1]
The 50th anniversary of the novel's release was met with celebrations and reflections on its impact.[90] Eric Zorn of the Chicago Tribune praises Lee's "rich use of language" but writes that the central lesson is that "courage isn't always flashy, isn't always enough, but is always in style".[91] Jane Sullivan in the Sydney Morning Herald agrees, stating that the book "still rouses fresh and horrified indignation" as it examines morality, a topic that has recently become unfashionable.[92] Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie writing in The Guardian states that Lee, rare among American novelists, writes with "a fiercely progressive ink, in which there is nothing inevitable about racism and its very foundation is open to question", comparing her to William Faulkner, who wrote about racism as an inevitability.[93] Literary critic Rosemary Goring in Scotland's The Herald notes the connections between Lee and Jane Austen, stating the book's central theme, that "one’s moral convictions are worth fighting for, even at the risk of being reviled" is eloquently discussed.[94]
Native Alabamian Allen Barra sharply criticized Lee and the novel in The Wall Street Journal calling Atticus a "repository of cracker-barrel epigrams" and the novel represents a "sugar-coated myth" of Alabama history. Barra writes, "It's time to stop pretending that To Kill a Mockingbird is some kind of timeless classic that ranks with the great works of American literature. Its bloodless liberal humanism is sadly dated..."[95] Thomas Mallon in the New Yorker criticizes Atticus' stiff and self-righteous demeanor, and calls Scout "a kind of highly constructed doll" whose speech and actions are improbable. Although acknowledging that the novel works, Mallon blasts Lee's "wildly unstable" narrative voice for developing a story about a content neighborhood until it begins to impart morals in the courtroom drama, following with his observation that "the book has begun to cherish its own goodness" by the time the case is over.[96][note 2] Defending the book, Akin Ajayi writes that justice "is often complicated, but must always be founded upon the notion of equality and fairness for all." Ajayi states that the book forces readers to question issues about race, class, and society, but that it was not written to resolve them.[97]
Many writers compare their perceptions of To Kill a Mockingbird as adults with when they first read it as children. Mary McDonagh Murphy interviewed celebrities including Oprah Winfrey, Rosanne Cash, Tom Brokaw, and Harper's sister Alice Lee, who read the novel and compiled their impressions of it as children and adults into a book titled Scout, Atticus, and Boo.[98]
Atticus Finch and the legal profession
Main article: Atticus Finch



I promised myself that when I grew up and I was a man, I would try to do things just as good and noble as what Atticus had done for Tom Robinson.
—Scott Turow[99]
One of the most significant impacts To Kill a Mockingbird has had is Atticus Finch's model of integrity for the legal profession. As scholar Alice Petry explains, "Atticus has become something of a folk hero in legal circles and is treated almost as if he were an actual person."[100] Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty Law Center cites Atticus Finch as the reason he became a lawyer, and Richard Matsch, the federal judge who presided over the Timothy McVeigh trial, counts Atticus as a major judicial influence.[101] One law professor at the University of Notre Dame stated that the most influential textbook he taught from was To Kill a Mockingbird, and an article in the Michigan Law Review claims, "No real-life lawyer has done more for the self-image or public perception of the legal profession," before questioning whether, "Atticus Finch is a paragon of honor or an especially slick hired gun".[102]
In 1992, an Alabama editorial called for the death of Atticus, saying that as liberal as Atticus was, he still worked within a system of institutionalized racism and sexism and should not be revered. The editorial sparked a flurry of responses from attorneys who entered the profession because of him and esteemed him as a hero.[103] Critics of Atticus maintain he is morally ambiguous and does not use his legal skills to challenge the racist status quo in Maycomb.[49] However, in 1997, the Alabama State Bar erected a monument to Atticus in Monroeville, marking his existence as the "first commemorative milestone in the state's judicial history".[104] In 2008, Lee herself received an honorary special membership to the Alabama State Bar for creating Atticus who "has become the personification of the exemplary lawyer in serving the legal needs of the poor".[105]
Social commentary and challenges
To Kill a Mockingbird has been a source of significant controversy since its being the subject of classroom study as early as 1963. The book's racial slurs, profanity, and frank discussion of rape have led people to challenge its appropriateness in libraries and classrooms across the United States. The American Library Association reported that To Kill a Mockingbird was number 21 of the 100 most frequently challenged books of 2000–2009.[106]
One of the first incidents of the book being challenged was in Hanover, Virginia, in 1966: a parent protested that the use of rape as a plot device was immoral. Johnson cites examples of letters to local newspapers, which ranged from amusement to fury; those letters expressing the most outrage, however, complained about Mayella Ewell's attraction to Tom Robinson over the depictions of rape.[107] Upon learning the school administrators were holding hearings to decide the book's appropriateness for the classroom, Harper Lee sent $10 to The Richmond News Leader suggesting it to be used toward the enrollment of "the Hanover County School Board in any first grade of its choice".[51] The National Education Association in 1968 placed the novel second on a list of books receiving the most complaints from private organizations—after Little Black Sambo.[108]
With a shift of attitudes about race in the 1970s, To Kill a Mockingbird faced challenges of a different sort: the treatment of racism in Maycomb was not condemned harshly enough. This has led to disparate perceptions that the novel has a generally positive impact on race relations for white readers, but a more ambiguous reception by black readers. In one high-profile case outside the U.S., school districts in the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia attempted to have the book removed from standard teaching curricula in the 1990s,[note 3] stating:

The terminology in this novel subjects students to humiliating experiences that rob them of their self-respect and the respect of their peers. The word 'Nigger' is used 48 times [in] the novel... We believe that the English Language Arts curriculum in Nova Scotia must enable all students to feel comfortable with ideas, feelings and experiences presented without fear of humiliation... To Kill a Mockingbird is clearly a book that no longer meets these goals and therefore must no longer be used for classroom instruction.[109]
Furthermore, despite the novel's thematic focus on racial injustice, its black characters are not fully examined.[72] In its use of racial epithets, stereotyped depictions of superstitious blacks, and Calpurnia, who to some critics is an updated version of the "contented slave" motif and to others simply unexplored, the book is viewed as marginalizing black characters.[110][111] One writer asserts that the use of Scout's narration serves as a convenient mechanism for readers to be innocent and detached from the racial conflict. Scout's voice "functions as the not-me which allows the rest of us—black and white, male and female—to find our relative position in society".[72] A teaching guide for the novel published by The English Journal cautions, "what seems wonderful or powerful to one group of students may seem degrading to another".[112] A Canadian language arts consultant found that the novel resonated well with white students, but that black students found it "demoralizing".[113]
However, the novel is cited as a major reason for the success of civil rights in the 1960s, that it "arrived at the right moment to help the South and the nation grapple with the racial tensions (of) the accelerating civil rights movement".[114] Its publication is so closely associated with the Civil Rights Movement that many studies of the book and biographies of Harper Lee include descriptions of important moments in the movement, despite the fact that she had no direct involvement in any of them.[115][116][117] Civil Rights leader Andrew Young comments that part of the book's effectiveness is that it "inspires hope in the midst of chaos and confusion" and by using racial epithets portrays the reality of the times in which it was set. Young views the novel as "an act of humanity" in showing the possibility of people rising above their prejudices.[118] Alabama author Mark Childress compares it to the impact of Uncle Tom's Cabin, a book that is popularly implicated in starting the U.S. Civil War. Childress states the novel "gives white Southerners a way to understand the racism that they've been brought up with and to find another way. And most white people in the South were good people. Most white people in the South were not throwing bombs and causing havoc... I think the book really helped them come to understand what was wrong with the system in the way that any number of treatises could never do, because it was popular art, because it was told from a child's point of view." [119]
Diane McWhorter, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian of the Birmingham civil rights campaign, asserts that To Kill a Mockingbird condemns racism instead of racists, and states that every child in the South has moments of racial cognitive dissonance when they are faced with the harsh reality of inequality. This feeling causes them to question the beliefs with which they have been raised, which for many children is what the novel does. McWhorter writes of Lee, "...for a white person from the South to write a book like this in the late 1950s is really unusual—by its very existence an act of protest."[120][note 4] Author James McBride calls Lee brilliant but stops short of calling her brave: "I think by calling Harper Lee brave you kind of absolve yourself of your own racism... She certainly set the standards in terms of how these issues need to be discussed, but in many ways I feel ... the moral bar's been lowered. And that's really distressing. We need a thousand Atticus Finches." McBride, however, defends the book's sentimentality, and the way Lee approaches the story with "honesty and integrity".[121]
Inaccurate rumor regarding potential Capote authorship
Lee's childhood friend, author Truman Capote, wrote on the dust jacket of the first edition, "Someone rare has written this very fine first novel: a writer with the liveliest sense of life, and the warmest, most authentic sense of humor. A touching book; and so funny, so likeable."[122] This comment has been construed to suggest that Capote wrote the book or edited it heavily.[7] The only supporting evidence for this rumor is the 2003 report of a Tuscaloosa newspaper, which quoted Capote's biological father, Archulus Persons, as claiming that Capote had written "almost all" of the book.[123] The rumors were put to rest in 2006 when a Capote letter was donated to Monroeville's literary heritage museum. Writing to a neighbor in Monroeville in 1959, Capote mentioned that Lee was writing a book that was to be published soon. Extensive notes between Lee and her editor at Lippincott also refute the rumor of Capote's authorship.[124] Lee's older sister Alice has responded to the rumor, saying: "That's the biggest lie ever told."[21]
Honors

A color photograph of Harper Lee smiling and speaking to President George W. Bush while other seated Medal of Freedom recipients look on

Harper Lee and President George W. Bush at the November 5, 2007, ceremony awarding Lee the Presidential Medal of Freedom for To Kill a Mockingbird
During the years immediately following the novel's publication, Harper Lee enjoyed the attention its popularity garnered her, granting interviews, visiting schools, and attending events honoring the book. In 1961, when To Kill a Mockingbird was in its 41st week on the bestseller list, it was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, stunning Lee.[125] It also won the Brotherhood Award of the National Conference of Christians and Jews in the same year, and the Paperback of the Year award from Bestsellers magazine in 1962.[82][126] Starting in 1964, Lee began to turn down interviews, complaining that the questions were monotonous, and grew concerned that attention she received bordered on the kind of publicity celebrities sought.[127] She has declined ever since to talk with reporters about the book. She has also steadfastly refused to provide an introduction, writing in 1995: "Introductions inhibit pleasure, they kill the joy of anticipation, they frustrate curiosity. The only good thing about Introductions is that in some cases they delay the dose to come. Mockingbird still says what it has to say; it has managed to survive the years without preamble."[128]
In 2001, Lee was inducted into the Alabama Academy of Honor.[129] In the same year, Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley initiated a reading program throughout the city's libraries, and chose his favorite book, To Kill a Mockingbird, as the first title of the One City, One Book program. Lee declared that "there is no greater honor the novel could receive".[130] By 2004, the novel had been chosen by 25 communities for variations of the citywide reading program, more than any other novel.[131] David Kipen of the National Endowment of the Arts, who supervised The Big Read, states "...people just seem to connect with it. It dredges up things in their own lives, their interactions across racial lines, legal encounters, and childhood. It's just this skeleton key to so many different parts of people's lives, and they cherish it."[132]
In 2006, Lee was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Notre Dame. During the ceremony, the students and audience gave Lee a standing ovation, and the entire graduating class held up copies of To Kill a Mockingbird to honor her.[133][note 5] Lee was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom on November 5, 2007 by President George W. Bush. In his remarks, Bush stated, "One reason To Kill a Mockingbird succeeded is the wise and kind heart of the author, which comes through on every page... To Kill a Mockingbird has influenced the character of our country for the better. It's been a gift to the entire world. As a model of good writing and humane sensibility, this book will be read and studied forever."[134]
Adaptations
1962 film
Main article: To Kill a Mockingbird (film)
The book was made into the well-received 1962 film with the same title, starring Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch. The film's producer, Alan J. Pakula, remembered Universal Pictures executives questioning him about a potential script: "They said, 'What story do you plan to tell for the film?' I said, 'Have you read the book?' They said, 'Yes.' I said, 'That's the story.'"[135] The movie was a hit at the box office, quickly grossing more than $20 million from a $2 million budget. It won three Oscars: Best Actor for Gregory Peck, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White, and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium for Horton Foote. It was nominated for five more Oscars including Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Mary Badham, the actress who played Scout.[136]

A black and white photograph of Alan J. Pakula seated next to Harper Lee in director's chairs watching the filming of To Kill a Mockingbird

 Film producer Alan J. Pakula with Lee; Lee spent three weeks watching the filming, then "took off when she realized everything would be fine without her".[129]
Harper Lee was pleased with the movie, saying: "In that film the man and the part met... I've had many, many offers to turn it into musicals, into TV or stage plays, but I've always refused. That film was a work of art."[137] Peck met Lee's father, the model for Atticus, before the filming. Lee's father died before the film's release, and Lee was so impressed with Peck's performance that she gave him her father's pocketwatch, which he had with him the evening he was awarded the Oscar for best actor.[138] Years later, he was reluctant to tell Lee that the watch was stolen out of his luggage in London Heathrow Airport. When Peck eventually did tell Lee, he said she responded, "'Well, it's only a watch.' Harper—she feels deeply, but she's not a sentimental person about things."[139] Lee and Peck shared a friendship long after the movie was made. Peck's grandson was named "Harper" in her honor.[140]
In May 2005, Lee made an uncharacteristic appearance at the Los Angeles Public Library at the request of Peck's widow Veronique, who said of Lee: "She's like a national treasure. She's someone who has made a difference...with this book. The book is still as strong as it ever was, and so is the film. All the kids in the United States read this book and see the film in the seventh and eighth grades and write papers and essays. My husband used to get thousands and thousands of letters from teachers who would send them to him."[10]
Play
The book has also been adapted as a play by Christopher Sergel. It debuted in 1990 in Monroeville, a town that labels itself "The Literary Capital of Alabama". The play runs every May on the county courthouse grounds and townspeople make up the cast. White male audience members are chosen at the intermission to make up the jury. During the courtroom scene the production moves into the Monroe County Courthouse and the audience is racially segregated.[141] Author Albert Murray said of the relationship of the town to the novel (and the annual performance): "It becomes part of the town ritual, like the religious underpinning of Mardi Gras. With the whole town crowded around the actual courthouse, it's part of a central, civic education—what Monroeville aspires to be."[142]
The play adapted by Christopher Sergel also opened the 2013 season at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre in London where it played to full houses and starred Robert Sean Leonard as Atticus Finch, his first London appearance in 22 years. The production is returning to the venue to close the 2014 season, prior to a UK Tour.
According to a National Geographic article, the novel is so revered in Monroeville that people quote lines from it like Scripture; yet Harper Lee herself has refused to attend any performances, because "she abhors anything that trades on the book's fame".[143] To underscore this sentiment, Lee demanded that a book of recipes named Calpurnia's Cookbook not be published and sold out of the Monroe County Heritage Museum.[144] David Lister in The Independent states that Lee's refusal to speak to reporters makes them desire to interview her all the more, and her silence "makes Bob Dylan look like a media tart".[145] Despite her discouragement, a rising number of tourists have come to Monroeville, hoping to see Lee's inspiration for the book, or Lee herself. Local residents call them "Mockingbird groupies", and although Lee is not reclusive, she refuses publicity and interviews with an emphatic "Hell, no!"[146]
See also
Southern literature
Timeline of the African American Civil Rights Movement
To Kill a Mockingbird in popular culture
Notes
1.Jump up ^ It has appeared on numerous other lists that describe its impact. In 1999, it was voted the "Best Novel of the 20th century" by readers of the Library Journal. It is listed as number five on the Modern Library's Reader's List of the 100 Best Novels in the English language since 1900 and number four on the rival Radcliffe Publishing Course's Radcliffe Publishing Course's 100 Best Board Picks for Novels and Nonfiction. To Kill a Mockingbird appeared first on a list developed by librarians in 2006 who answered the question, "Which book should every adult read before they die?" followed by the Bible and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The British public voted in the BBC's Big Read broadcast to rank it 6th of all time in 2003. BBC - The Big Read. Two thousand readers at Play.com voted it the 'Greatest novel of all time' in 2008. (Urmee Khan, June 6, 2008. To Kill a Mockingbird voted Greatest Novel Of All Time, The Daily Telegraph).
2.Jump up ^ Mallon received hate mail for his commentary, and declined to answer challenges about his observations from professional writers, saying he did not want to be the "skunk at the garden party". (Murphy, p. 18.)
3.Jump up ^ In August 2009, St. Edmund Campion Secondary School in Toronto removed To Kill a Mockingbird from the grade 10 curriculum because of a complaint regarding the language in the book. (Noor, Javed [August 12, 2009]. "Complaint prompts school to kill 'Mockingbird' ", The Star (Toronto). Retrieved on August 19, 2009.)
4.Jump up ^ McWhorter went to school with Mary Badham, the actor who portrayed Scout in the film adaptation. (Murphy, p. 141)
5.Jump up ^ Lee has also been awarded honorary degrees from Mount Holyoke College (1962) and the University of Alabama (1990). (Noble, p. 8.)
References
1.Jump up ^ Crespino, Joseph (Summer 2000). "The Strange Career of Atticus Finch", in Southern Cultures 6 (2), pp. 9–29.
2.Jump up ^ Zipp, Yvonne (July 7, 2010). Scout, Atticus & Boo, The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved on July 10, 2010.
3.Jump up ^ Pauli, Michelle (March 2, 2006). Harper Lee tops librarians' must-read list, Guardian Unlimited. Retrieved on February 13, 2008.
4.Jump up ^ Shields, p. 79–99.
5.Jump up ^ Oxoby, Marc C. (2012). "Hey, Boo: Harper Lee & To Kill a Mockingbird (2011)". Communications and Mass Media Collection 42 (2): 127. Retrieved 26 February 2013.
6.Jump up ^ Nelle Harper Lee Alabama Academy of Honor: Alabama Department of Archives and History (2001). Retrieved on November 13, 2007.
7.^ Jump up to: a b National Endowment of the Arts. "The Big Read: To Kill a Mockingbird (About the Author)." National Endowment of the Arts. Retrieved on November 14, 2007.
8.Jump up ^ Shields, p. 129.
9.Jump up ^ Shields, p. 14.
10.^ Jump up to: a b Lacher, Irene (May 21, 2005). "Harper Lee raises her low profile for a friend; The author of 'To Kill a Mockingbird' shuns fanfare. But for the kin of Gregory Peck", Los Angeles Times, p. E.1
11.Jump up ^ Shields, p. 242.
12.Jump up ^ "Harper Lee," in American Decades. Gale Research, 1998.
13.Jump up ^ Shields, p. 120–121.
14.Jump up ^ Shields, p. 122–125.
15.Jump up ^ Shields, p. 40–41.
16.Jump up ^ Krebs, Albin. "Truman Capote Is Dead at 59; Novelist of Style and Clarity", The New York Times, August 26, 1984, p. 1.
17.Jump up ^ Truman Capote, UXL Encyclopedia of World Biography (2003). Retrieved on November 13, 2007.
18.Jump up ^ Fleming, Anne Taylor (July 9, 1976). "The Private World of Truman Capote", The New York Times Magazine. p. SM6.
19.Jump up ^ Steinem, Gloria (November 1967). "Go Right Ahead and Ask Me Anything (And So She Did): An Interview with Truman Capote", McCall's, p. 76.
20.Jump up ^ Hile, Kevin S. "Harper Lee" in Authors and Artists for Young Adults, Gale Research 13 (August 1994) ISBN 978-0-8103-8566-5
21.^ Jump up to: a b Bigg, Matthew (July 23, 2007). "Novel Still Stirs Pride, Debate; 'Mockingbird' Draws Tourists to Town Coming to Grips With Its Past, The Washington Post, p. A3
22.Jump up ^ Johnson, Boundaries p. 7–11.
23.Jump up ^ Noble, p. 13.
24.Jump up ^ Shields, p. 118.
25.^ Jump up to: a b c d Chura, Patrick (Spring 2000). "Prolepsis and Anachronism: Emmet Till and the Historicity of To Kill a Mockingbird", Southern Literary Journal 32 (2), p. 1
26.Jump up ^ Murphy, p. 97.
27.^ Jump up to: a b About Life & Little Girls Time (August 1, 1980). Retrieved on February 15, 2008.
28.^ Jump up to: a b c Dave, R.A. (1974). "Harper Lee's Tragic Vision" Indian Studies in American Fiction MacMillan Company of India, Ltd. pp. 311–323. ISBN 978-0-333-90034-5
29.Jump up ^ Graeme Dunphy, "Meena's Mockingbird: From Harper Lee to Meera Syal", Neophilologus, 88 (2004) 637-660. PDF online
30.Jump up ^ Ward, L. "To Kill a Mockingbird (book review)." Commonwealth: December 9, 1960.
31.^ Jump up to: a b Adams, Phoebe (August 1960). To Kill a Mockingbird The Atlantic Monthly. Retrieved on November 13, 2007.
32.^ Jump up to: a b LeMay, Harding (July 10, 1960). "Children Play; Adults Betray", New York Herald Tribune.
33.^ Jump up to: a b Hicks, Granville (July 23, 1970). "Three at the Outset", Saturday Review, 30.
34.^ Jump up to: a b Tavernier-Courbin, Jacqueline "Humor and Humanity in To Kill a Mockingbird" in On Harper Lee: Essays and Reflections Alice Petry (ed.), University of Tennessee Press (2007). ISBN 978-1-57233-578-3.
35.Jump up ^ Murphy, p. 105.
36.Jump up ^ Lee, p. 46.
37.Jump up ^ Lee, p. 19.
38.Jump up ^ Boerman-Cornell, William "The Five Humors", The English Journal (1999), 88 (4), p. 66. doi=10.2307/822422
39.Jump up ^ Lee, p. 133.
40.Jump up ^ Lee, p. 297.
41.Jump up ^ Johnson, Boundaries p. 40–41.
42.^ Jump up to: a b c d Blackall, Jean "Valorizing the Commonplace: Harper Lee's Response to Jane Austen" in On Harper Lee: Essays and Reflections Alice Petry (ed.). University of Tennessee Press (2007). ISBN 978-1-57233-578-3
43.Jump up ^ Johnson, Boundaries p. 39–45.
44.Jump up ^ Murphy, pp. x, 96, 149.
45.Jump up ^ Fine, Laura "Structuring the Narrator's Rebellion in To Kill a Mockingbird" in On Harper Lee: Essays and Reflections Alice Petry (ed.), University of Tennessee Press (2007). ISBN 978-1-57233-578-3
46.Jump up ^ Lee, p. 246.
47.^ Jump up to: a b Ware, Michele "'Just a Lady': Gender and Power in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird" in Women in Literature: Reading Through the Lens of Gender Jerilyn Fisher and Ellen S. Silber (eds.), Greenwood Press (2003). ISBN 978-0-313-31346-2.
48.Jump up ^ Johnson, Boundaries p. 20.
49.^ Jump up to: a b c Metress, Christopher (September 2003). "The Rise and Fall of Atticus Finch", The Chattahoochee Review, 24 (1).
50.Jump up ^ Noble, pp. vii–viii.
51.^ Jump up to: a b "Harper Lee Twits School Board In Virginia for Ban on Her Novel", The New York Times (January 6, 1966), p. 82.
52.Jump up ^ Johnson, Boundaries p. 20–24
53.^ Jump up to: a b Erisman, Fred (April 1973). "The Romantic Regionalism of Harper Lee", The Alabama Review, 27 (2).
54.^ Jump up to: a b Bruell, Edwin (December 1964). "Keen Scalpel on Racial Ills", The English Journal 51 (9) pp. 658–661.
55.Jump up ^ Henderson, R. (May 15, 1960). "To Kill a Mockingbird", Library Journal.
56.^ Jump up to: a b c Johnson, Claudia (Autumn 1991). "The Secret Courts of Men's Hearts", Studies in American Fiction 19 (2).
57.^ Jump up to: a b c Hovet, Theodore and Grace-Ann (Fall 2001). "'Fine Fancy Gentlemen' and 'Yappy Folk': Contending Voices in To Kill a Mockingbird", Southern Quarterly: A Journal of the Arts in the South, 40 pp. 67–78.
58.Jump up ^ Siegel, Roslyn "The Black Man and the Macabre in American Literature", Black American Literature Forum (1976), 10 (4), p. 133. doi 10.2307/3041614
59.Jump up ^ Lee, p. 107–113.
60.^ Jump up to: a b Jones, Carolyn (Summer 1996). "Atticus Finch and the Mad Dog" Southern Quarterly: A Journal of the Arts in the South, 34 (4), pp. 53–63.
61.Jump up ^ Murphy, p. 178.
62.Jump up ^ Lee, p. 27.
63.Jump up ^ Lee, p. 155.
64.^ Jump up to: a b c d Shackleford, Dean (Winter 1996–1997). "The Female Voice in To Kill a Mockingbird: Narrative Strategies in Film and Novel", Mississippi Quarterly: The Journal of Southern Cultures, 50 (1), pp. 101–13.
65.Jump up ^ "Nelle Harper Lee." Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2007.
66.^ Jump up to: a b c Jolley, Susan "Integrating Poetry and 'To Kill a Mockingbird", The English Journal (2002), 92 (2), p. 34. doi=10.2307/822224
67.Jump up ^ Mancini, p. 19.
68.Jump up ^ Lee, p. 128.
69.Jump up ^ Shields, p. 1.
70.Jump up ^ Lee, p. 33.
71.^ Jump up to: a b Fine, Laura (Summer 1998). "Gender Conflicts and Their 'Dark' Projections in Coming of Age White Female Southern Novels", Southern Quarterly: A Journal of the Arts in the South 36 (4), pp. 121–29
72.^ Jump up to: a b c Baecker, Diane (Spring 1998). "Telling It In Black and White: The Importance of the Africanist Presence in To Kill a Mockingbird", Southern Quarterly: A Journal of the Arts in the South, 36 (3), pp. 124–32.
73.Jump up ^ Johnson, Boundaries p.25–27.
74.Jump up ^ Lee, p. 146.
75.^ Jump up to: a b Lee, p. 103.
76.Jump up ^ Schuster, Edgar "Discovering Theme and Structure in the Novel" The English Journal (1963), 52 (7) p. 506. doi=10.2307/810774
77.Jump up ^ Johnson, Casebook p. 207.
78.Jump up ^ Metress, Christopher. "Lee, Harper." Contemporary Southern Writers. St. James Press, 1999.
79.Jump up ^ Lee, p. 322–323.
80.Jump up ^ Lee, p. 241.
81.Jump up ^ Shields, p. 185–188.
82.^ Jump up to: a b Bain, Robert "Harper Lee" in Southern Writers: A Biographical Dictionary Louisiana State University Press (1980), pp. 276–277. ISBN 0-8071-0390-X
83.Jump up ^ "To Kill a Mockingbird", The New Yorker (September 1960).
84.Jump up ^ Sullivan, Richard (July 17, 1960). "To Kill a Mockingbird", Chicago Sunday Times.
85.Jump up ^ Johnson , Boundaries p.21, 24.
86.Jump up ^ Kiernan, F., "Carson McCullers" (Book Review). Atlantic Monthly (1993) v. 287 no. 4 (April 2001) pp. 100–2.
87.Jump up ^ Book description: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee HarperCollins (2008). Retrieved on July 20, 2008.
88.Jump up ^ "What Kids Are Reading: The Book Reading Habits of Students in American Schools", Renaissance Learning, Inc., 2008. Retrieved on July 11, 2008. See also "What Kids Are Reading: The Book Reading Habits of Students in American Schools, Renaissance Learning, Inc. 2010. Retrieved on May 1, 2011. where To Kill a Mockingbird appears at number 2.
89.Jump up ^ Johnson, Boundaries p. 14.
90.Jump up ^ "To Kill a Mockingbird" Turns 50: Fans Descend on Alabama Town to Celebrate Scout, Atticus and Boo Radley CBS News (July 11, 2010). Retrieved on July 12, 2010.
91.Jump up ^ Zorn, Eric (July 9, 2010), ‘Mockingbird' still sings after 50 years, The Chicago Tribune. Retrieved on July 10, 2010.
92.Jump up ^ Sullivan, Jane (July 9, 2010). To celebrate a Mockingbird, The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved on July 10, 2010.
93.Jump up ^ Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi (July 10, 2010). Rereading: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, The Guardian. Retrieved on July 10, 2010.
94.Jump up ^ Loxton, Rachel (July 10, 2010). America’s favourite novel still vital after 50 years, The Herald (Glasgow). Retrieved on July 10, 2010.
95.Jump up ^ Barra, Allen (June 24, 2010). What 'To Kill a Mockingbird' Isn't, The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved on July 10, 2010.
96.Jump up ^ Mallon, Thomas (May 29, 2006). "Big Bird: A biography of the novelist Harper Lee", The New Yorker, 82 (15), p. 79.
97.Jump up ^ Ajayi, Akin (July 9, 2010) To Kill a Mockingbird: the case for the defence, The Guardian. Retrieved on July 10, 2010.
98.Jump up ^ Scout, Atticus, and Boo: A Celebration of Fifty Years of To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Collins Publishers (2010). Retrieved on July 10, 2010.
99.Jump up ^ Murphy, p. 196–197.
100.Jump up ^ Petry, p. xxiii.
101.Jump up ^ Petry, p. xxiv.
102.Jump up ^ Lubet, Steven (May 1999). "Reconstructing Atticus Finch", Michigan Law Review 97 (6)pp. 1339–62. doi=10.2307/1290205
103.Jump up ^ Petry, p. xxv–xxvii.
104.Jump up ^ "'Mockingbird' Hero Honored in Monroeville", The Birmingham News (Alabama) (May 3, 1997), p. 7A.
105.Jump up ^ "Harper Lee Can Take a Place at the Bar", The Birmingham News (March 17, 2008).
106.Jump up ^ Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books: 2000-2009 American Library Association. Retrieved July 2010.
107.Jump up ^ Johnson, Casebook p. 208–213.
108.Jump up ^ Mancini, p. 56.
109.Jump up ^ Saney, Isaac (July–September 2003). "The Case Against To Kill a Mockingbird" Race & Class 45 (1), pp. 99–110. doi=10.1177/0306396803045001005
110.Jump up ^ Beryle, Banfield "Commitment to Change: The Council on Interracial Books for Children and the World of Children's Books", African American Review (1998) 32 (17), pp. 17–22. .doi=10.2307/3042264
111.Jump up ^ Murphy, pp. 133–134
112.Jump up ^ Suhor, Charles, Bell, Larry "Preparing to Teach To Kill a Mockingbird, The English Journal(1997) 86 (4), pp. 1–16. doi = 10.2307/820996
113.Jump up ^ Martelle, Scott (June 28, 2006). "A Different Read on 'Mockingbird'; Long a classroom starting point for lessons about intolerance, the Harper Lee classic is being reexamined by some who find its perspective limited", The Los Angeles Times, p. 6.
114.Jump up ^ Flora, Joseph "Harper Lee" in Southern Writers: A New Biographical Dictionary Louisiana State University Press (2006).
115.Jump up ^ Johnson, Boundaries p. xi–xiv
116.Jump up ^ Bloom, Harold "Modern Critical Interpretations: To Kill a Mockingbird" Chelsea House Publishers (1999)
117.Jump up ^ Shields, p. 219–220, 223, 233–235
118.Jump up ^ Murphy, pp. 206–209.
119.Jump up ^ Murphy, p. 30.
120.Jump up ^ Murphy, pp. 141–146.
121.Jump up ^ Murphy, pp. 132–139.
122.Jump up ^ First Edition Points to identify To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Pulitzer Prize First Edition Guide. Retrieved on (November 14, 2007).
123.Jump up ^ Windham, Ben (August 24, 2003). "An Encounter with Harper Lee", The Tuscaloosa News.
124.Jump up ^ Noble, p. 32.
125.Jump up ^ Shields, p.199–200.
126.Jump up ^ Mancini, p. 15.
127.Jump up ^ Murphy, p. 128.
128.Jump up ^ Tabor, May (August 23, 1998). "A 'new foreword' that isn't", The New York Times, p. C11.
129.^ Jump up to: a b Bellafante, Ginia (January 20, 2006). Harper Lee, Gregarious for a Day, The New York Times. Retrieved on November 13, 2007.
130.Jump up ^ "Chicago Launches City-wide Book Group", Library Journal (August 13, 2001).
131.Jump up ^ "To Read a Mockingbird" Library Journal (September 1, 2004) 129 (14), p. 13.
132.Jump up ^ Murphy, p. 106.
133.Jump up ^ Commencement 2006 Notre Dame Magazine (July 2006). Retrieved on November 9, 2007.
134.Jump up ^ President Bush Honors Medal of Freedom Recipients, White House press release (November 5, 2007). Retrieved on November 9, 2007.
135.Jump up ^ Nichols, Peter (February 27, 1998). "Time Can't Kill 'Mockingbird' [Review]", The New York Times, p. E.1
136.Jump up ^ To Kill a Mockingbird (film) Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved on March 29, 2008.
137.Jump up ^ Jones, Carolyn "Harper Lee", in The History of Southern Women's Literature, Carolyn Perry (ed.): Louisiana State University Press (2002). ISBN 978-0-8071-2753-7
138.Jump up ^ Bobbin, Jay (December 21, 1997). "Gregory Peck is Atticus Finch in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird", The Birmingham News (Alabama), p. 1.F
139.Jump up ^ King, Susan (December 22, 1997). "How the Finch Stole Christmas; Q & A With Gregory Peck" , Los Angeles Times, p. 1
140.Jump up ^ King, Susan(October 18, 1999). "Q&A; Film Honors Peck, 'Perfectly Happy' in a Busy Retirement", Los Angeles Times, p. 4
141.Jump up ^ Noble, p. 4–5.
142.Jump up ^ Hoffman, Roy (August 9, 1998). "Long Lives the Mockingbird", The New York Times Book Review, p. 31.
143.Jump up ^ Newman, Cathy (January 2006). To Catch a Mockingbird, National Geographic. Retrieved on November 11, 2007.
144.Jump up ^ Robinson, David.The One and Only, The Scotsman. Retrieved on March 29, 2008.
145.Jump up ^ Lister, David (July 10, 2010). David Lister: Those reclusive authors really know how to live, The Independent. Retrieved on July 10, 2010.
146.Jump up ^ Pressley, Sue (June 10, 1996). "Quiet Author, Home Town Attract 'Groupies,' Press; To Live With 'Mockingbird'", The Washington Post p. A3
Bibliography
Johnson, Claudia. To Kill a Mockingbird: Threatening Boundaries. Twayne Publishers: 1994. ISBN 0-8057-8068-8
Johnson, Claudia. Understanding To Kill a Mockingbird: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historic Documents. Greenwood Press: 1994. ISBN 0-313-29193-4
Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. HarperCollins: 1960 (Perennial Classics edition: 2002). ISBN 0-06-093546-4
Mancini, Candice, (ed.) (2008). Racism in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, The Gale Group. ISBN 0-7377-3904-5
Murphy, Mary M. (ed.) Scout, Atticus, and Boo: A Celebration of Fifty Years of To Kill a Mockingbird, HarperCollins Publishers: 2010. ISBN 978-0-06-192407-1
Noble, Don (ed.). Critical Insights: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Salem Press: 2010. ISBN 978-1-58765-618-7
Petry, Alice. "Introduction" in On Harper Lee: Essays and Reflections. University of Tennessee Press: 1994. ISBN 1-57233-578-5
Shields, Charles. Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee. Henry Holt and Co.: 2006. ISBN 0-8050-7919-X
External links

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To Kill a Mockingbird
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For the film based on the novel, see To Kill a Mockingbird (film).
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To Kill a Mockingbird
Cover of the book showing title in white letters against a black background in a banner above a painting of a portion of a tree against a red background
First edition cover – late printing

Author
Harper Lee
Country
United States
Language
English
Published
July 11, 1960 (J. B. Lippincott & Co.)
Media type
Print (hardback and paperback)
Pages
296 (first edition, hardback)
To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel by Harper Lee published in 1960. It was immediately successful, winning the Pulitzer Prize, and has become a classic of modern American literature. The plot and characters are loosely based on the author's observations of her family and neighbors, as well as on an event that occurred near her hometown in 1936, when she was 10 years old.
The novel is renowned for its warmth and humor, despite dealing with the serious issues of rape and racial inequality. The narrator's father, Atticus Finch, has served as a moral hero for many readers and as a model of integrity for lawyers. One critic explains the novel's impact by writing, "In the twentieth century, To Kill a Mockingbird is probably the most widely read book dealing with race in America, and its protagonist, Atticus Finch, the most enduring fictional image of racial heroism."[1]
As a Southern Gothic novel and a Bildungsroman, the primary themes of To Kill a Mockingbird involve racial injustice and the destruction of innocence. Scholars have noted that Lee also addresses issues of class, courage, compassion, and gender roles in the American Deep South. The book is widely taught in schools in the United States with lessons that emphasize tolerance and decry prejudice. 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.
Reaction to the novel varied widely upon publication. Literary analysis of it is sparse, considering the number of copies sold and its widespread use in education. Author Mary McDonough Murphy, who collected individual impressions of the book by several authors and public figures, calls To Kill a Mockingbird "an astonishing phenomenon".[2] In 2006, British librarians ranked the book ahead of the Bible as one "every adult should read before they die".[3] It was adapted into an Oscar-winning film in 1962 by director Robert Mulligan, with a screenplay by Horton Foote. Since 1990, a play based on the novel has been performed annually in Harper Lee's hometown of Monroeville, Alabama. To date, it is Lee's only published novel, and although she continues to respond to the book's impact, she has refused any personal publicity for herself or the novel since 1964.


Contents  [hide]
1 Biographical background and publication
2 Plot summary
3 Autobiographical elements
4 Style
5 Structure 5.1 Genres
6 Themes 6.1 Southern life and racial injustice
6.2 Class
6.3 Courage and compassion
6.4 Gender roles
6.5 Laws, written and unwritten
6.6 Loss of innocence
7 Reception 7.1 Atticus Finch and the legal profession
7.2 Social commentary and challenges
7.3 Inaccurate rumor regarding potential Capote authorship
7.4 Honors
8 Adaptations 8.1 1962 film
8.2 Play
9 See also
10 Notes
11 References
12 Bibliography
13 External links

Biographical background and publication
Born in 1926, Harper Lee grew up in the Southern town of Monroeville, Alabama, where she became close friends with soon-to-be famous writer Truman Capote. She attended Huntingdon College in Montgomery (1944–45), and then studied law at the University of Alabama (1945–49). While attending college, she wrote for campus literary magazines: Huntress at Huntingdon and the humor magazine Rammer Jammer at the University of Alabama. At both colleges, she wrote short stories and other works about racial injustice, a rarely mentioned topic on such campuses at the time.[4] In 1950, Lee moved to New York City, where she worked as a reservation clerk for British Overseas Airways Corporation; there, she began writing a collection of essays and short stories about people in Monroeville. Hoping to be published, Lee presented her writing in 1957 to a literary agent recommended by Capote. An editor at J. B. Lippincott advised her to quit the airline and concentrate on writing. Donations from friends, including Michael and Joy Brown and Alice Lee Finch,[5] allowed her to write uninterrupted for a year.[6]
Ultimately, Lee spent two and a half years writing To Kill a Mockingbird. A description of the book's creation by the National Endowment for the Arts relates an episode when Lee became so frustrated that she tossed the manuscript out the window into the snow. Her agent made her retrieve it.[7] The book was published on July 11, 1960, initially titled Atticus. Lee renamed it to reflect a story that went beyond a character portrait.[8] The editorial team at Lippincott warned Lee that she would probably sell only several thousand copies.[9] In 1964, Lee recalled her hopes for the book when she said, "I never expected any sort of success with 'Mockingbird.' ... I was hoping for a quick and merciful death at the hands of the reviewers but, at the same time, I sort of hoped someone would like it enough to give me encouragement. Public encouragement. I hoped for a little, as I said, but I got rather a whole lot, and in some ways this was just about as frightening as the quick, merciful death I'd expected."[10] Instead of a "quick and merciful death", Reader's Digest Condensed Books chose the book for reprinting in part, which gave it a wide readership immediately.[11] Since the original publication, the book has never been out of print.
Plot summary
See also: List of To Kill a Mockingbird characters
The book opens with the Finch family's ancestor, Simon Finch, a Cornish Methodist fleeing religious intolerance in England, settling in Alabama, becoming wealthy and, contrary to his religious beliefs, buying several slaves.
The main story takes place during three years of the Great Depression in the fictional "tired old town" of Maycomb, Alabama. It focuses on six-year-old Scout Finch, who lives with her older brother Jem and their widowed father Atticus, a middle-aged lawyer. Jem and Scout befriend a boy named Dill who visits Maycomb to stay with his aunt each summer. The three children are terrified of, and fascinated by, their neighbor, the reclusive "Boo" Radley. The adults of Maycomb are hesitant to talk about Boo and, for many years, few have seen him. The children feed each other's imagination with rumors about his appearance and reasons for remaining hidden, and they fantasize about how to get him out of his house. Following two summers of friendship with Dill, Scout and Jem find that someone is leaving them small gifts in a tree outside the Radley place. Several times, the mysterious Boo makes gestures of affection to the children, but, to their disappointment, never appears in person.
Atticus is appointed by the court to defend Tom Robinson, a black man who has been accused of raping a young white woman, Mayella Ewell. Although many of Maycomb's citizens disapprove, Atticus agrees to defend Tom. Other children taunt Jem and Scout for Atticus' actions, calling him a "nigger-lover". Scout is tempted to stand up for her father's honor by fighting, even though he has told her not to. For his part, Atticus faces a group of men intent on lynching Tom. This danger is averted when Scout, Jem, and Dill shame the mob into dispersing by forcing them to view the situation from Atticus' and Tom's points of view.
Because Atticus does not want them to be present at Tom Robinson's trial, Scout, Jem and Dill watch in secret from the colored balcony. Atticus establishes that the accusers—Mayella and her father, Bob Ewell, the town drunk—are lying. It also becomes clear that the friendless Mayella was making sexual advances towards Tom and her father caught her and beat her. Despite significant evidence of Tom's innocence, the jury convicts him. Jem's faith in justice is badly shaken, as is Atticus', when a hapless Tom is shot and killed while trying to escape from prison.
Despite winning the case, Bob Ewell's reputation is further ruined and he vows revenge. He spits in Atticus' face on the street, tries to break into the presiding judge's house and menaces Tom Robinson's widow. Finally, he attacks the defenseless Jem and Scout as they walk home on a dark night from the school Halloween pageant. Jem's arm is broken in the struggle, but amid the confusion, someone comes to the children's rescue. The mysterious man carries Jem home, where Scout realizes that he is Boo Radley.
Maycomb's sheriff arrives and discovers that Bob Ewell has been killed in the struggle. The sheriff argues with Atticus about the prudence and ethics of holding Jem or Boo responsible. Atticus eventually accepts the sheriff's story that Ewell simply fell on his own knife. Boo asks Scout to walk him home, and after she says goodbye to him at his front door, he disappears again. While standing on the Radley porch, Scout imagines life from Boo's perspective and regrets that they never repaid him for the gifts he had given them.
Autobiographical elements
Lee has said that To Kill a Mockingbird is not an autobiography, but rather an example of how an author "should write about what he knows and write truthfully".[12] Nevertheless, several people and events from Lee's childhood parallel those of the fictional Scout. Lee's father, Amasa Coleman Lee, was an attorney, similar to Atticus Finch, and in 1919, he defended two black men accused of murder. After they were convicted, hanged and mutilated,[13] he never tried another criminal case. Lee's father was also the editor and publisher of the Monroeville newspaper. Although more of a proponent of racial segregation than Atticus, he gradually became more liberal in his later years.[14] Though Scout's mother died when she was a baby, Lee was 25 when her mother, Frances Cunningham Finch, died. Lee's mother was prone to a nervous condition that rendered her mentally and emotionally absent.[15] Lee had a brother named Edwin, who — like the fictional Jem — was four years older than his sister. As in the novel, a black housekeeper came daily to care for the Lee house and family.
Lee modeled the character of Dill on her childhood friend, Truman Capote, known then as Truman Persons.[16][17] Just as Dill lived next door to Scout during the summer, Capote lived next door to Lee with his aunts while his mother visited New York City.[18] Like Dill, Capote had an impressive imagination and a gift for fascinating stories. Both Lee and Capote were atypical children: both loved to read. Lee was a scrappy tomboy who was quick to fight, but Capote was ridiculed for his advanced vocabulary and lisp. She and Capote made up and acted out stories they wrote on an old Underwood typewriter Lee's father gave them. They became good friends when both felt alienated from their peers; Capote called the two of them "apart people".[19] In 1960, Capote and Lee traveled to Kansas together to investigate the multiple murders that were the basis for Capote's nonfiction novel In Cold Blood.
Down the street from the Lees lived a family whose house was always boarded up; they served as the models for the fictional Radleys. The son of the family got into some legal trouble and the father kept him at home for 24 years out of shame. He was hidden until virtually forgotten; he died in 1952.[20]
The origin of Tom Robinson is less clear, although many have speculated that his character was inspired by several models. When Lee was 10 years old, a white woman near Monroeville accused a black man named Walter Lett of raping her. The story and the trial were covered by her father's newspaper which reported that Lett was convicted and sentenced to death. After a series of letters appeared claiming Lett had been falsely accused, his sentence was commuted to life in prison. He died there of tuberculosis in 1937.[21] Scholars believe that Robinson's difficulties reflect the notorious case of the Scottsboro Boys,[22][23] in which nine black men were convicted of raping two white women on negligible evidence. However, in 2005, Lee stated that she had in mind something less sensational, although the Scottsboro case served "the same purpose" to display Southern prejudices.[24] Emmett Till, a black teenager who was murdered for flirting with a white woman in Mississippi in 1955, and whose death is credited as a catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement, is also considered a model for Tom Robinson.[25]
Style



The narrative is very tough, because [Lee] has to both be a kid on the street and aware of the mad dogs and the spooky houses, and have this beautiful vision of how justice works and all the creaking mechanisms of the courthouse. Part of the beauty is that she... trusts the visual to lead her, and the sensory.
—Allan Gurganus[26]
The strongest element of style noted by critics and reviewers is Lee's talent for narration, which in an early review in Time was called "tactile brilliance".[27] Writing a decade later, another scholar noted, "Harper Lee has a remarkable gift of story-telling. Her art is visual, and with cinematographic fluidity and subtlety we see a scene melting into another scene without jolts of transition."[28] Lee combines the narrator's voice of a child observing her surroundings with a grown woman's reflecting on her childhood, using the ambiguity of this voice combined with the narrative technique of flashback to play intricately with perspectives.[29] This narrative method allows Lee to tell a "delightfully deceptive" story that mixes the simplicity of childhood observation with adult situations complicated by hidden motivations and unquestioned tradition.[30] However, at times the blending causes reviewers to question Scout's preternatural vocabulary and depth of understanding.[31] Both Harding LeMay and the novelist and literary critic Granville Hicks expressed doubt that children as sheltered as Scout and Jem could understand the complexities and horrors involved in the trial for Tom Robinson's life.[32][33]
Writing about Lee's style and use of humor in a tragic story, scholar Jacqueline Tavernier-Courbin states: "Laughter ... [exposes] the gangrene under the beautiful surface but also by demeaning it; one can hardly ... be controlled by what one is able to laugh at."[34] Scout's precocious observations about her neighbors and behavior inspire National Endowment of the Arts director David Kipen to call her "hysterically funny".[35] To address complex issues, however, Tavernier-Courbin notes that Lee uses parody, satire, and irony effectively by using a child's perspective. After Dill promises to marry her, then spends too much time with Jem, Scout reasons the best way to get him to pay attention to her is to beat him up, which she does several times.[36] Scout's first day in school is a satirical treatment of education; her teacher says she must undo the damage Atticus has wrought in teaching her to read and write, and forbids Atticus from teaching her further.[37] Lee treats the most unfunny situations with irony, however, as Jem and Scout try to understand how Maycomb embraces racism and still tries sincerely to remain a decent society. Satire and irony are used to such an extent that Tavernier-Courbin suggests one interpretation for the book's title: Lee is doing the mocking—of education, the justice system, and her own society by using them as subjects of her humorous disapproval.[34]
Critics also note the entertaining methods used to drive the plot.[38] When Atticus is out of town, Jem locks a Sunday school classmate in the church basement with the furnace during a game of Shadrach. This prompts their black housekeeper Calpurnia to escort Scout and Jem to her church, which allows the children a glimpse into her personal life, as well as Tom Robinson's.[39] Scout falls asleep during the Halloween pageant and makes a tardy entrance onstage, causing the audience to laugh uproariously. She is so distracted and embarrassed that she prefers to go home in her ham costume, which saves her life.[40]
Structure
A remarkable feature of the book is its repetitive theme. The theme: people aren’t always what they seem to be; they may be better or worse or different or may have redeeming characteristics that offset negative aspects of their personalities. The theme appears on several plot levels. At the highest level is the overarching story of Boo Radley, Scout’s reclusive, psychologically disturbed neighbor. When the story begins, he is the object of fear and misunderstanding, a sort of ogre. Gradually his good qualities come to light. And at the end of the book he emerges as a hero, saving the lives of Scout and Jem when Bob Ewell tries to kill them.
An intermediate plot level covering many chapters features the townspeople, epitomized by the twelve jurors who convict Tom Robinson. Tom is an innocent black man accused of rape. The evidence clearly establishes that the young white woman who accuses him is lying. Outwardly, the jurors are upstanding citizens, good churchgoing Christians. But they aren’t what they seem to be. They are racists, and they willingly condemn a clearly innocent black man to death.
At the chapter level are incidents that reveal individual characters as being something other–usually better–than what they seemed to be. An incomplete list of examples follows:
Scout views her father, Atticus Finch, as an ordinary man. He doesn’t hunt like other men or “do anything that could possibly arouse the admiration of anyone.” Then one day a rabid dog threatens the town. Handed a rifle by the sheriff, who understands Atticus better than Scout does, Atticus reveals himself as a crack shot with a rifle. He kills the dog on his first shot, fired from long range.
Mr. Underwood, editor of the local newspaper is a racist. According to Atticus, “he despises Negroes.” But after Atticus, with Scout’s help, manages to disperse a mob that has arrived at the jail to lynch Tom Robinson, the bright side of Underwood’s character is revealed. He has been at the upstairs window of the building next door with a shotgun aimed at the mob, ready to defend Atticus and Tom if necessary.
Scout has a teacher, Miss Gates, who seemingly is a model for tolerance. She inveighs against the persecution of Jews by Hitler. Then Scout discovers that Miss Gates is disdainful of the idea of blacks marrying whites.
The Finches have a colored cook, Calpurnia. She is highly refined in her speech and manners. One Sunday, with permission, she takes Scout to her “niggertown” church. There Scout learns that, in Calpurnia’s home environment, she can speak a second language–coarse black English that she uses to put down an unrepresentative, disrespectful woman. When the woman tries to block their path to the church, Calpurnia threatens, “Stop right there, nigger.”
Mrs. Dubose is a drooling, outwardly nasty neighbor who calls Atticus a “nigger lover.” But unknown to Scout, Dubose is dying. She is addicted to the painkiller morphine, and is painfully spending her final days weaning herself off morphine so that, upon her death, everything–including her conscience–will be in perfect order. She displays the virtue courage. “Real courage,” says Atticus, is when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but . . . Mrs. Dubose won.” (Whereas Atticus lost when he likewise displayed courage by taking on the hopeless task of defending Tom Robinson.)
The Boo Radley storyline is really a parable of sorts. Though white in the story, Boo symbolizes blacks. The initial irrational fear of Boo displayed by Scout and Jem represents white (particularly southern white) prejudice toward blacks. And the repeated people-aren’t-what-they-seem-to-be theme is Harper Lee’s subtle way of saying that white prejudice toward blacks is irrational.
Genres
Scholars have characterized To Kill a Mockingbird as both a Southern Gothic and coming-of-age or Bildungsroman novel. The grotesque and near-supernatural qualities of Boo Radley and his house, and the element of racial injustice involving Tom Robinson contribute to the aura of the Gothic in the novel.[41][42] Lee used the term "Gothic" to describe the architecture of Maycomb's courthouse and in regard to Dill's exaggeratedly morbid performances as Boo Radley.[43] Outsiders are also an important element of Southern Gothic texts and Scout and Jem's questions about the hierarchy in the town cause scholars to compare the novel to Catcher in the Rye and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.[44] Despite challenging the town's systems, Scout reveres Atticus as an authority above all others, because he believes that following one's conscience is the highest priority, even when the result is social ostracism.[45] However, scholars debate about the Southern Gothic classification, noting that Boo Radley is in fact human, protective, and benevolent. Furthermore, in addressing themes such as alcoholism, incest, rape, and racial violence, Lee wrote about her small town realistically rather than melodramatically. She portrays the problems of individual characters as universal underlying issues in every society.[42]
As children coming of age, Scout and Jem face hard realities and learn from them. Lee seems to examine Jem's sense of loss about how his neighbors have disappointed him more than Scout's. Jem says to their neighbor Miss Maudie the day after the trial, "It's like bein' a caterpillar wrapped in a cocoon ... I always thought Maycomb folks were the best folks in the world, least that's what they seemed like".[46] This leads him to struggle with understanding the separations of race and class. Just as the novel is an illustration of the changes Jem faces, it is also an exploration of the realities Scout must face as an atypical girl on the verge of womanhood. As one scholar writes, "To Kill a Mockingbird can be read as a feminist Bildungsroman, for Scout emerges from her childhood experiences with a clear sense of her place in her community and an awareness of her potential power as the woman she will one day be."[47]
Themes



In the 33 years since its publication, [To Kill a Mockingbird] has never been the focus of a dissertation, and it has been the subject of only six literary studies, several of them no more than a couple of pages long.
—Claudia Johnson in To Kill a Mockingbird: Threatening Boundaries, 1994[48]
Despite the novel's immense popularity upon publication, it has not received the close critical attention paid to other modern American classics. Don Noble, editor of a book of essays about the novel, estimates that the ratio of sales to analytical essays may be a million to one. Christopher Metress writes that the book is "an icon whose emotive sway remains strangely powerful because it also remains unexamined".[49] Noble suggests it does not receive academic attention because of its consistent status as a best-seller ("If that many people like it, it can't be any good.") and that general readers seem to feel they do not require analytical interpretation.[50]
Harper Lee has remained famously detached from interpreting the novel since the mid-1960s. However, she gave some insight into her themes when, in a rare letter to the editor, she wrote in response to the passionate reaction her book caused: "Surely it is plain to the simplest intelligence that To Kill a Mockingbird spells out in words of seldom more than two syllables a code of honor and conduct, Christian in its ethic, that is the heritage of all Southerners."[51]
Southern life and racial injustice
When the book was released, reviewers noted that it was divided into two parts, and opinion was mixed about Lee's ability to connect them.[52] The first part of the novel concerns the children's fascination with Boo Radley and their feelings of safety and comfort in the neighborhood. Reviewers were generally charmed by Scout and Jem's observations of their quirky neighbors. One writer was so impressed by Lee's detailed explanations of the people of Maycomb that he categorized the book as Southern romantic regionalism.[53] This sentimentalism can be seen in Lee's representation of the Southern caste system to explain almost every character's behavior in the novel. Scout's Aunt Alexandra attributes Maycomb's inhabitants' faults and advantages to genealogy (families that have gambling streaks and drinking streaks),[54] and the narrator sets the action and characters amid a finely detailed background of the Finch family history and the history of Maycomb. This regionalist theme is further reflected in Mayella Ewell's apparent powerlessness to admit her advances toward Tom Robinson, and Scout's definition of "fine folks" being people with good sense who do the best they can with what they have. The South itself, with its traditions and taboos, seems to drive the plot more than the characters.[53]
The second part of the novel deals with what book reviewer Harding LeMay termed "the spirit-corroding shame of the civilized white Southerner in the treatment of the Negro".[32] In the years following its release, many reviewers considered To Kill a Mockingbird a novel primarily concerned with race relations.[55] Claudia Durst Johnson considers it "reasonable to believe" that the novel was shaped by two events involving racial issues in Alabama: Rosa Parks' refusal to yield her seat on a city bus to a white person, which sparked the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott, and the 1956 riots at the University of Alabama after Autherine Lucy and Polly Myers were admitted (Myers eventually withdrew her application and Lucy was expelled, but reinstated in 1980).[56] In writing about the historical context of the novel's construction, two other literary scholars remark: "To Kill a Mockingbird was written and published amidst the most significant and conflict-ridden social change in the South since the Civil War and Reconstruction. Inevitably, despite its mid-1930s setting, the story told from the perspective of the 1950s voices the conflicts, tensions, and fears induced by this transition."[57]
Scholar Patrick Chura, who suggests Emmett Till was a model for Tom Robinson, enumerates the injustices endured by the fictional Tom that Till also faced. Chura notes the icon of the black rapist causing harm to the representation of the "mythologized vulnerable and sacred Southern womanhood".[25] Any transgressions by black males that merely hinted at sexual contact with white females during the time the novel was set often resulted in a punishment of death for the accused. Tom Robinson's trial was juried by poor white farmers who convicted him despite overwhelming evidence of his innocence, as more educated and moderate white townspeople supported the jury's decision. Furthermore, the victim of racial injustice in To Kill a Mockingbird was physically impaired, which made him unable to commit the act he was accused of, but also crippled him in other ways.[25] Roslyn Siegel includes Tom Robinson as an example of the recurring motif among white Southern writers of the black man as "stupid, pathetic, defenseless, and dependent upon the fair dealing of the whites, rather than his own intelligence to save him".[58] Although Tom is spared from being lynched, he is killed with excessive violence during an attempted escape from prison, when he is shot seventeen times.
The theme of racial injustice appears symbolically in the novel as well. For example, Atticus must shoot a rabid dog, even though it is not his job to do so.[59] Carolyn Jones argues that the dog represents prejudice within the town of Maycomb, and Atticus, who waits on a deserted street to shoot the dog,[60] must fight against the town's racism without help from other white citizens. He is also alone when he faces a group intending to lynch Tom Robinson and once more in the courthouse during Tom's trial. Lee even uses dreamlike imagery from the mad dog incident to describe some of the courtroom scenes. Jones writes, "[t]he real mad dog in Maycomb is the racism that denies the humanity of Tom Robinson.... When Atticus makes his summation to the jury, he literally bares himself to the jury's and the town's anger."[60]
Class



One of the amazing things about the writing in To Kill a Mockingbird is the economy with which Harper Lee delineates not only race—white and black within a small community—but class. I mean different kinds of black people and white people both, from poor white trash to the upper crust—the whole social fabric.
—Lee Smith[61]
In a 1964 interview, Lee remarked that her aspiration was "to be ... the Jane Austen of South Alabama."[42] Both Austen and Lee challenged the social status quo and valued individual worth over social standing. When Scout embarrasses her poorer classmate, Walter Cunningham, at the Finch home one day, Calpurnia, their black cook, chastises and punishes her for doing so.[62] Atticus respects Calpurnia's judgment, and later in the book even stands up to his sister, the formidable Aunt Alexandra, when she strongly suggests they fire Calpurnia.[63] One writer notes that Scout, "in Austenian fashion", satirizes women with whom she does not wish to identify.[64] Literary critic Jean Blackall lists the priorities shared by the two authors: "affirmation of order in society, obedience, courtesy, and respect for the individual without regard for status".[42]
Scholars argue that Lee's approach to class and race was more complex "than ascribing racial prejudice primarily to 'poor white trash' ... Lee demonstrates how issues of gender and class intensify prejudice, silence the voices that might challenge the existing order, and greatly complicate many Americans' conception of the causes of racism and segregation."[57] Lee's use of the middle-class narrative voice is a literary device that allows an intimacy with the reader, regardless of class or cultural background, and fosters a sense of nostalgia. Sharing Scout and Jem's perspective, the reader is allowed to engage in relationships with the conservative antebellum Mrs. Dubose; the lower-class Ewells, and the Cunninghams who are equally poor but behave in vastly different ways; the wealthy but ostracized Mr. Dolphus Raymond; and Calpurnia and other members of the black community. The children internalize Atticus' admonition not to judge someone until they have walked around in that person's skin, gaining a greater understanding of people's motives and behavior.[57]
Courage and compassion
The novel has been noted for its poignant exploration of different forms of courage.[65][66] Scout's impulsive inclination to fight students who insult Atticus reflects her attempt to stand up for him and defend him. Atticus is the moral center of the novel, however, and he teaches Jem one of the most significant lessons of courage.[67] In a statement that foreshadows Atticus' motivation for defending Tom Robinson and describes Mrs. Dubose, who is determined to break herself of a morphine addiction, Atticus tells Jem that courage is "when you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what".[68]
Charles Shields, who has written the only book-length biography of Harper Lee to date, offers the reason for the novel's enduring popularity and impact is that "its lessons of human dignity and respect for others remain fundamental and universal".[69] Atticus' lesson to Scout that "you never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view — until you climb around in his skin and walk around in it" exemplifies his compassion.[66][70] She ponders the comment when listening to Mayella Ewell's testimony. When Mayella reacts with confusion to Atticus' question if she has any friends, Scout offers that she must be lonelier than Boo Radley. Having walked Boo home after he saves their lives, Scout stands on the Radley porch and considers the events of the previous three years from Boo's perspective. One writer remarks, "... [w]hile the novel concerns tragedy and injustice, heartache and loss, it also carries with it a strong sense [of] courage, compassion, and an awareness of history to be better human beings."[66]
Gender roles
Just as Lee explores Jem's development in coming to grips with a racist and unjust society, Scout realizes what being female means, and several female characters influence her development. Scout's primary identification with her father and older brother allows her to describe the variety and depth of female characters in the novel both as one of them and as an outsider.[47] Scout's primary female models are Calpurnia and her neighbor Miss Maudie, both of whom are strong willed, independent, and protective. Mayella Ewell also has an influence; Scout watches her destroy an innocent man in order to hide her own desire for him. The female characters who comment the most on Scout's lack of willingness to adhere to a more feminine role are also those who promote the most racist and classist points of view.[64] For example, Mrs. Dubose chastises Scout for not wearing a dress and camisole, and indicates she is ruining the family name by not doing so, in addition to insulting Atticus' intentions to defend Tom Robinson. By balancing the masculine influences of Atticus and Jem with the feminine influences of Calpurnia and Miss Maudie, one scholar writes, "Lee gradually demonstrates that Scout is becoming a feminist in the South, for with the use of first-person narration, she indicates that Scout/ Jean Louise still maintains the ambivalence about being a Southern lady she possessed as a child."[64]
Absent mothers and abusive fathers are another theme in the novel. Scout and Jem's mother died before Scout could remember her, Mayella's mother is dead, and Mrs. Radley is silent about Boo's confinement to the house. Apart from Atticus, the fathers described are abusers.[71] Bob Ewell, it is hinted, molested his daughter,[72] and Mr. Radley imprisons his son in his house until Boo is remembered only as a phantom. Bob Ewell and Mr. Radley represent a form of masculinity that Atticus does not, and the novel suggests that such men as well as the traditionally feminine hypocrites at the Missionary Society can lead society astray. Atticus stands apart from other men as a unique model of masculinity; as one scholar explains: "It is the job of real men who embody the traditional masculine qualities of heroic individualism, bravery, and an unshrinking knowledge of and dedication to social justice and morality, to set the society straight."[71]
Laws, written and unwritten
Allusions to legal issues in To Kill a Mockingbird, particularly in scenes outside of the courtroom, has drawn the attention from legal scholars. Claudia Durst Johnson writes that "a greater volume of critical readings has been amassed by two legal scholars in law journals than by all the literary scholars in literary journals".[73] The opening quote by the 19th-century essayist Charles Lamb reads: "Lawyers, I suppose, were children once." Johnson notes that even in Scout and Jem's childhood world, compromises and treaties are struck with each other by spitting on one's palm and laws are discussed by Atticus and his children: is it right that Bob Ewell hunts and traps out of season? Many social codes are broken by people in symbolic courtrooms: Mr. Dolphus Raymond has been exiled by society for taking a black woman as his common-law wife and having interracial children; Mayella Ewell is beaten by her father in punishment for kissing Tom Robinson; by being turned into a non-person, Boo Radley receives a punishment far greater than any court could have given him.[56] Scout repeatedly breaks codes and laws and reacts to her punishment for them. For example, she refuses to wear frilly clothes, saying that Aunt Alexandra's "fanatical" attempts to place her in them made her feel "a pink cotton penitentiary closing in on [her]".[74] Johnson states, "[t]he novel is a study of how Jem and Scout begin to perceive the complexity of social codes and how the configuration of relationships dictated by or set off by those codes fails or nurtures the inhabitants of (their) small worlds."[56]
Loss of innocence

A color photograph of a northern mockingbird

 Lee used the mockingbird to symbolize innocence in the novel.
Songbirds and their associated symbolism appear throughout the novel. The family's last name of Finch also shares Lee's mother's maiden name. The titular mockingbird is a key motif of this theme, which first appears when Atticus, having given his children air-rifles for Christmas, allows their Uncle Jack to teach them to shoot. Atticus warns them that, although they can "shoot all the bluejays they want", they must remember that "it's a sin to kill a mockingbird".[75] Confused, Scout approaches her neighbor Miss Maudie, who explains that mockingbirds never harm other living creatures. She points out that mockingbirds simply provide pleasure with their songs, saying, "They don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us."[75] Writer Edwin Bruell summarized the symbolism when he wrote in 1964, "'To kill a mockingbird' is to kill that which is innocent and harmless—like Tom Robinson."[54] Scholars have noted that Lee often returns to the mockingbird theme when trying to make a moral point.[28][76][77]
Tom Robinson is the chief example among several innocents destroyed carelessly or deliberately throughout the novel. However, scholar Christopher Metress connects the mockingbird to Boo Radley: "Instead of wanting to exploit Boo for her own fun (as she does in the beginning of the novel by putting on gothic plays about his history), Scout comes to see him as a 'mockingbird'—that is, as someone with an inner goodness that must be cherished."[78] The last pages of the book illustrate this as Scout relates the moral of a story Atticus has been reading to her, and in allusions to both Boo Radley and Tom Robinson[25] states about a character who was misunderstood, "when they finally saw him, why he hadn't done any of those things ... Atticus, he was real nice," to which he responds, "Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them."[79]
The novel exposes the loss of innocence so frequently that reviewer R. A. Dave claims that because every character has to face, or even suffer defeat, the book takes on elements of a classical tragedy.[28] In exploring how each character deals with his or her own personal defeat, Lee builds a framework to judge whether the characters are heroes or fools. She guides the reader in such judgments, alternating between unabashed adoration and biting irony. Scout's experience with the Missionary Society is an ironic juxtaposition of women who mock her, gossip, and "reflect a smug, colonialist attitude toward other races" while giving the "appearance of gentility, piety, and morality".[64] Conversely, when Atticus loses Tom's case, he is last to leave the courtroom, except for his children and the black spectators in the colored balcony, who rise silently as he walks underneath them, to honor his efforts.[80]
Reception
Despite her editors' warnings that the book might not sell well, it quickly became a sensation, bringing acclaim to Lee in literary circles, in her hometown of Monroeville, and throughout Alabama.[81] The book went through numerous subsequent printings and became widely available through its inclusion in the Book of the Month Club and editions released by Reader's Digest Condensed Books.[82]
Initial reactions to the novel were varied. The New Yorker declared it "skilled, unpretentious, and totally ingenious",[83] and The Atlantic Monthly's reviewer rated it as "pleasant, undemanding reading", but found the narrative voice—"a six-year-old girl with the prose style of a well-educated adult"—to be implausible.[31] Time magazine's 1960 review of the book states that it "teaches the reader an astonishing number of useful truths about little girls and about Southern life" and calls Scout Finch "the most appealing child since Carson McCullers' Frankie got left behind at the wedding".[27] The Chicago Sunday Tribune noted the even-handed approach to the narration of the novel's events, writing: "This is in no way a sociological novel. It underlines no cause... To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel of strong contemporary national significance."[84]
Not all comments were enthusiastic, however. Some reviews lamented the use of poor white Southerners, and one-dimensional black victims,[85] and Granville Hicks labeled the book "melodramatic and contrived".[33] When the book was first released, Southern writer Flannery O'Connor commented, "I think for a child's book it does all right. It's interesting that all the folks that are buying it don't know they're reading a child's book. Somebody ought to say what it is."[49] Carson McCullers apparently agreed with the Time magazine review, writing to a cousin: "Well, honey, one thing we know is that she's been poaching on my literary preserves."[86]
One year after being published, To Kill a Mockingbird had been translated into ten languages. In the years since, it has sold over 30 million copies and been translated into over 40 languages.[87] To Kill a Mockingbird has never been out of print in hardcover or paperback and has become part of the standard literature curriculum. A 2008 survey of secondary books read by students between grades 9–12 in the U.S. indicates the novel is the most widely read book in these grades.[88] A 1991 survey by the Book of the Month Club and the Library of Congress Center for the Book found that To Kill a Mockingbird was rated behind only the Bible in books that are "most often cited as making a difference".[89][note 1]
The 50th anniversary of the novel's release was met with celebrations and reflections on its impact.[90] Eric Zorn of the Chicago Tribune praises Lee's "rich use of language" but writes that the central lesson is that "courage isn't always flashy, isn't always enough, but is always in style".[91] Jane Sullivan in the Sydney Morning Herald agrees, stating that the book "still rouses fresh and horrified indignation" as it examines morality, a topic that has recently become unfashionable.[92] Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie writing in The Guardian states that Lee, rare among American novelists, writes with "a fiercely progressive ink, in which there is nothing inevitable about racism and its very foundation is open to question", comparing her to William Faulkner, who wrote about racism as an inevitability.[93] Literary critic Rosemary Goring in Scotland's The Herald notes the connections between Lee and Jane Austen, stating the book's central theme, that "one’s moral convictions are worth fighting for, even at the risk of being reviled" is eloquently discussed.[94]
Native Alabamian Allen Barra sharply criticized Lee and the novel in The Wall Street Journal calling Atticus a "repository of cracker-barrel epigrams" and the novel represents a "sugar-coated myth" of Alabama history. Barra writes, "It's time to stop pretending that To Kill a Mockingbird is some kind of timeless classic that ranks with the great works of American literature. Its bloodless liberal humanism is sadly dated..."[95] Thomas Mallon in the New Yorker criticizes Atticus' stiff and self-righteous demeanor, and calls Scout "a kind of highly constructed doll" whose speech and actions are improbable. Although acknowledging that the novel works, Mallon blasts Lee's "wildly unstable" narrative voice for developing a story about a content neighborhood until it begins to impart morals in the courtroom drama, following with his observation that "the book has begun to cherish its own goodness" by the time the case is over.[96][note 2] Defending the book, Akin Ajayi writes that justice "is often complicated, but must always be founded upon the notion of equality and fairness for all." Ajayi states that the book forces readers to question issues about race, class, and society, but that it was not written to resolve them.[97]
Many writers compare their perceptions of To Kill a Mockingbird as adults with when they first read it as children. Mary McDonagh Murphy interviewed celebrities including Oprah Winfrey, Rosanne Cash, Tom Brokaw, and Harper's sister Alice Lee, who read the novel and compiled their impressions of it as children and adults into a book titled Scout, Atticus, and Boo.[98]
Atticus Finch and the legal profession
Main article: Atticus Finch



I promised myself that when I grew up and I was a man, I would try to do things just as good and noble as what Atticus had done for Tom Robinson.
—Scott Turow[99]
One of the most significant impacts To Kill a Mockingbird has had is Atticus Finch's model of integrity for the legal profession. As scholar Alice Petry explains, "Atticus has become something of a folk hero in legal circles and is treated almost as if he were an actual person."[100] Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty Law Center cites Atticus Finch as the reason he became a lawyer, and Richard Matsch, the federal judge who presided over the Timothy McVeigh trial, counts Atticus as a major judicial influence.[101] One law professor at the University of Notre Dame stated that the most influential textbook he taught from was To Kill a Mockingbird, and an article in the Michigan Law Review claims, "No real-life lawyer has done more for the self-image or public perception of the legal profession," before questioning whether, "Atticus Finch is a paragon of honor or an especially slick hired gun".[102]
In 1992, an Alabama editorial called for the death of Atticus, saying that as liberal as Atticus was, he still worked within a system of institutionalized racism and sexism and should not be revered. The editorial sparked a flurry of responses from attorneys who entered the profession because of him and esteemed him as a hero.[103] Critics of Atticus maintain he is morally ambiguous and does not use his legal skills to challenge the racist status quo in Maycomb.[49] However, in 1997, the Alabama State Bar erected a monument to Atticus in Monroeville, marking his existence as the "first commemorative milestone in the state's judicial history".[104] In 2008, Lee herself received an honorary special membership to the Alabama State Bar for creating Atticus who "has become the personification of the exemplary lawyer in serving the legal needs of the poor".[105]
Social commentary and challenges
To Kill a Mockingbird has been a source of significant controversy since its being the subject of classroom study as early as 1963. The book's racial slurs, profanity, and frank discussion of rape have led people to challenge its appropriateness in libraries and classrooms across the United States. The American Library Association reported that To Kill a Mockingbird was number 21 of the 100 most frequently challenged books of 2000–2009.[106]
One of the first incidents of the book being challenged was in Hanover, Virginia, in 1966: a parent protested that the use of rape as a plot device was immoral. Johnson cites examples of letters to local newspapers, which ranged from amusement to fury; those letters expressing the most outrage, however, complained about Mayella Ewell's attraction to Tom Robinson over the depictions of rape.[107] Upon learning the school administrators were holding hearings to decide the book's appropriateness for the classroom, Harper Lee sent $10 to The Richmond News Leader suggesting it to be used toward the enrollment of "the Hanover County School Board in any first grade of its choice".[51] The National Education Association in 1968 placed the novel second on a list of books receiving the most complaints from private organizations—after Little Black Sambo.[108]
With a shift of attitudes about race in the 1970s, To Kill a Mockingbird faced challenges of a different sort: the treatment of racism in Maycomb was not condemned harshly enough. This has led to disparate perceptions that the novel has a generally positive impact on race relations for white readers, but a more ambiguous reception by black readers. In one high-profile case outside the U.S., school districts in the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia attempted to have the book removed from standard teaching curricula in the 1990s,[note 3] stating:

The terminology in this novel subjects students to humiliating experiences that rob them of their self-respect and the respect of their peers. The word 'Nigger' is used 48 times [in] the novel... We believe that the English Language Arts curriculum in Nova Scotia must enable all students to feel comfortable with ideas, feelings and experiences presented without fear of humiliation... To Kill a Mockingbird is clearly a book that no longer meets these goals and therefore must no longer be used for classroom instruction.[109]
Furthermore, despite the novel's thematic focus on racial injustice, its black characters are not fully examined.[72] In its use of racial epithets, stereotyped depictions of superstitious blacks, and Calpurnia, who to some critics is an updated version of the "contented slave" motif and to others simply unexplored, the book is viewed as marginalizing black characters.[110][111] One writer asserts that the use of Scout's narration serves as a convenient mechanism for readers to be innocent and detached from the racial conflict. Scout's voice "functions as the not-me which allows the rest of us—black and white, male and female—to find our relative position in society".[72] A teaching guide for the novel published by The English Journal cautions, "what seems wonderful or powerful to one group of students may seem degrading to another".[112] A Canadian language arts consultant found that the novel resonated well with white students, but that black students found it "demoralizing".[113]
However, the novel is cited as a major reason for the success of civil rights in the 1960s, that it "arrived at the right moment to help the South and the nation grapple with the racial tensions (of) the accelerating civil rights movement".[114] Its publication is so closely associated with the Civil Rights Movement that many studies of the book and biographies of Harper Lee include descriptions of important moments in the movement, despite the fact that she had no direct involvement in any of them.[115][116][117] Civil Rights leader Andrew Young comments that part of the book's effectiveness is that it "inspires hope in the midst of chaos and confusion" and by using racial epithets portrays the reality of the times in which it was set. Young views the novel as "an act of humanity" in showing the possibility of people rising above their prejudices.[118] Alabama author Mark Childress compares it to the impact of Uncle Tom's Cabin, a book that is popularly implicated in starting the U.S. Civil War. Childress states the novel "gives white Southerners a way to understand the racism that they've been brought up with and to find another way. And most white people in the South were good people. Most white people in the South were not throwing bombs and causing havoc... I think the book really helped them come to understand what was wrong with the system in the way that any number of treatises could never do, because it was popular art, because it was told from a child's point of view." [119]
Diane McWhorter, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian of the Birmingham civil rights campaign, asserts that To Kill a Mockingbird condemns racism instead of racists, and states that every child in the South has moments of racial cognitive dissonance when they are faced with the harsh reality of inequality. This feeling causes them to question the beliefs with which they have been raised, which for many children is what the novel does. McWhorter writes of Lee, "...for a white person from the South to write a book like this in the late 1950s is really unusual—by its very existence an act of protest."[120][note 4] Author James McBride calls Lee brilliant but stops short of calling her brave: "I think by calling Harper Lee brave you kind of absolve yourself of your own racism... She certainly set the standards in terms of how these issues need to be discussed, but in many ways I feel ... the moral bar's been lowered. And that's really distressing. We need a thousand Atticus Finches." McBride, however, defends the book's sentimentality, and the way Lee approaches the story with "honesty and integrity".[121]
Inaccurate rumor regarding potential Capote authorship
Lee's childhood friend, author Truman Capote, wrote on the dust jacket of the first edition, "Someone rare has written this very fine first novel: a writer with the liveliest sense of life, and the warmest, most authentic sense of humor. A touching book; and so funny, so likeable."[122] This comment has been construed to suggest that Capote wrote the book or edited it heavily.[7] The only supporting evidence for this rumor is the 2003 report of a Tuscaloosa newspaper, which quoted Capote's biological father, Archulus Persons, as claiming that Capote had written "almost all" of the book.[123] The rumors were put to rest in 2006 when a Capote letter was donated to Monroeville's literary heritage museum. Writing to a neighbor in Monroeville in 1959, Capote mentioned that Lee was writing a book that was to be published soon. Extensive notes between Lee and her editor at Lippincott also refute the rumor of Capote's authorship.[124] Lee's older sister Alice has responded to the rumor, saying: "That's the biggest lie ever told."[21]
Honors

A color photograph of Harper Lee smiling and speaking to President George W. Bush while other seated Medal of Freedom recipients look on

Harper Lee and President George W. Bush at the November 5, 2007, ceremony awarding Lee the Presidential Medal of Freedom for To Kill a Mockingbird
During the years immediately following the novel's publication, Harper Lee enjoyed the attention its popularity garnered her, granting interviews, visiting schools, and attending events honoring the book. In 1961, when To Kill a Mockingbird was in its 41st week on the bestseller list, it was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, stunning Lee.[125] It also won the Brotherhood Award of the National Conference of Christians and Jews in the same year, and the Paperback of the Year award from Bestsellers magazine in 1962.[82][126] Starting in 1964, Lee began to turn down interviews, complaining that the questions were monotonous, and grew concerned that attention she received bordered on the kind of publicity celebrities sought.[127] She has declined ever since to talk with reporters about the book. She has also steadfastly refused to provide an introduction, writing in 1995: "Introductions inhibit pleasure, they kill the joy of anticipation, they frustrate curiosity. The only good thing about Introductions is that in some cases they delay the dose to come. Mockingbird still says what it has to say; it has managed to survive the years without preamble."[128]
In 2001, Lee was inducted into the Alabama Academy of Honor.[129] In the same year, Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley initiated a reading program throughout the city's libraries, and chose his favorite book, To Kill a Mockingbird, as the first title of the One City, One Book program. Lee declared that "there is no greater honor the novel could receive".[130] By 2004, the novel had been chosen by 25 communities for variations of the citywide reading program, more than any other novel.[131] David Kipen of the National Endowment of the Arts, who supervised The Big Read, states "...people just seem to connect with it. It dredges up things in their own lives, their interactions across racial lines, legal encounters, and childhood. It's just this skeleton key to so many different parts of people's lives, and they cherish it."[132]
In 2006, Lee was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Notre Dame. During the ceremony, the students and audience gave Lee a standing ovation, and the entire graduating class held up copies of To Kill a Mockingbird to honor her.[133][note 5] Lee was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom on November 5, 2007 by President George W. Bush. In his remarks, Bush stated, "One reason To Kill a Mockingbird succeeded is the wise and kind heart of the author, which comes through on every page... To Kill a Mockingbird has influenced the character of our country for the better. It's been a gift to the entire world. As a model of good writing and humane sensibility, this book will be read and studied forever."[134]
Adaptations
1962 film
Main article: To Kill a Mockingbird (film)
The book was made into the well-received 1962 film with the same title, starring Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch. The film's producer, Alan J. Pakula, remembered Universal Pictures executives questioning him about a potential script: "They said, 'What story do you plan to tell for the film?' I said, 'Have you read the book?' They said, 'Yes.' I said, 'That's the story.'"[135] The movie was a hit at the box office, quickly grossing more than $20 million from a $2 million budget. It won three Oscars: Best Actor for Gregory Peck, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White, and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium for Horton Foote. It was nominated for five more Oscars including Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Mary Badham, the actress who played Scout.[136]

A black and white photograph of Alan J. Pakula seated next to Harper Lee in director's chairs watching the filming of To Kill a Mockingbird

 Film producer Alan J. Pakula with Lee; Lee spent three weeks watching the filming, then "took off when she realized everything would be fine without her".[129]
Harper Lee was pleased with the movie, saying: "In that film the man and the part met... I've had many, many offers to turn it into musicals, into TV or stage plays, but I've always refused. That film was a work of art."[137] Peck met Lee's father, the model for Atticus, before the filming. Lee's father died before the film's release, and Lee was so impressed with Peck's performance that she gave him her father's pocketwatch, which he had with him the evening he was awarded the Oscar for best actor.[138] Years later, he was reluctant to tell Lee that the watch was stolen out of his luggage in London Heathrow Airport. When Peck eventually did tell Lee, he said she responded, "'Well, it's only a watch.' Harper—she feels deeply, but she's not a sentimental person about things."[139] Lee and Peck shared a friendship long after the movie was made. Peck's grandson was named "Harper" in her honor.[140]
In May 2005, Lee made an uncharacteristic appearance at the Los Angeles Public Library at the request of Peck's widow Veronique, who said of Lee: "She's like a national treasure. She's someone who has made a difference...with this book. The book is still as strong as it ever was, and so is the film. All the kids in the United States read this book and see the film in the seventh and eighth grades and write papers and essays. My husband used to get thousands and thousands of letters from teachers who would send them to him."[10]
Play
The book has also been adapted as a play by Christopher Sergel. It debuted in 1990 in Monroeville, a town that labels itself "The Literary Capital of Alabama". The play runs every May on the county courthouse grounds and townspeople make up the cast. White male audience members are chosen at the intermission to make up the jury. During the courtroom scene the production moves into the Monroe County Courthouse and the audience is racially segregated.[141] Author Albert Murray said of the relationship of the town to the novel (and the annual performance): "It becomes part of the town ritual, like the religious underpinning of Mardi Gras. With the whole town crowded around the actual courthouse, it's part of a central, civic education—what Monroeville aspires to be."[142]
The play adapted by Christopher Sergel also opened the 2013 season at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre in London where it played to full houses and starred Robert Sean Leonard as Atticus Finch, his first London appearance in 22 years. The production is returning to the venue to close the 2014 season, prior to a UK Tour.
According to a National Geographic article, the novel is so revered in Monroeville that people quote lines from it like Scripture; yet Harper Lee herself has refused to attend any performances, because "she abhors anything that trades on the book's fame".[143] To underscore this sentiment, Lee demanded that a book of recipes named Calpurnia's Cookbook not be published and sold out of the Monroe County Heritage Museum.[144] David Lister in The Independent states that Lee's refusal to speak to reporters makes them desire to interview her all the more, and her silence "makes Bob Dylan look like a media tart".[145] Despite her discouragement, a rising number of tourists have come to Monroeville, hoping to see Lee's inspiration for the book, or Lee herself. Local residents call them "Mockingbird groupies", and although Lee is not reclusive, she refuses publicity and interviews with an emphatic "Hell, no!"[146]
See also
Southern literature
Timeline of the African American Civil Rights Movement
To Kill a Mockingbird in popular culture
Notes
1.Jump up ^ It has appeared on numerous other lists that describe its impact. In 1999, it was voted the "Best Novel of the 20th century" by readers of the Library Journal. It is listed as number five on the Modern Library's Reader's List of the 100 Best Novels in the English language since 1900 and number four on the rival Radcliffe Publishing Course's Radcliffe Publishing Course's 100 Best Board Picks for Novels and Nonfiction. To Kill a Mockingbird appeared first on a list developed by librarians in 2006 who answered the question, "Which book should every adult read before they die?" followed by the Bible and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The British public voted in the BBC's Big Read broadcast to rank it 6th of all time in 2003. BBC - The Big Read. Two thousand readers at Play.com voted it the 'Greatest novel of all time' in 2008. (Urmee Khan, June 6, 2008. To Kill a Mockingbird voted Greatest Novel Of All Time, The Daily Telegraph).
2.Jump up ^ Mallon received hate mail for his commentary, and declined to answer challenges about his observations from professional writers, saying he did not want to be the "skunk at the garden party". (Murphy, p. 18.)
3.Jump up ^ In August 2009, St. Edmund Campion Secondary School in Toronto removed To Kill a Mockingbird from the grade 10 curriculum because of a complaint regarding the language in the book. (Noor, Javed [August 12, 2009]. "Complaint prompts school to kill 'Mockingbird' ", The Star (Toronto). Retrieved on August 19, 2009.)
4.Jump up ^ McWhorter went to school with Mary Badham, the actor who portrayed Scout in the film adaptation. (Murphy, p. 141)
5.Jump up ^ Lee has also been awarded honorary degrees from Mount Holyoke College (1962) and the University of Alabama (1990). (Noble, p. 8.)
References
1.Jump up ^ Crespino, Joseph (Summer 2000). "The Strange Career of Atticus Finch", in Southern Cultures 6 (2), pp. 9–29.
2.Jump up ^ Zipp, Yvonne (July 7, 2010). Scout, Atticus & Boo, The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved on July 10, 2010.
3.Jump up ^ Pauli, Michelle (March 2, 2006). Harper Lee tops librarians' must-read list, Guardian Unlimited. Retrieved on February 13, 2008.
4.Jump up ^ Shields, p. 79–99.
5.Jump up ^ Oxoby, Marc C. (2012). "Hey, Boo: Harper Lee & To Kill a Mockingbird (2011)". Communications and Mass Media Collection 42 (2): 127. Retrieved 26 February 2013.
6.Jump up ^ Nelle Harper Lee Alabama Academy of Honor: Alabama Department of Archives and History (2001). Retrieved on November 13, 2007.
7.^ Jump up to: a b National Endowment of the Arts. "The Big Read: To Kill a Mockingbird (About the Author)." National Endowment of the Arts. Retrieved on November 14, 2007.
8.Jump up ^ Shields, p. 129.
9.Jump up ^ Shields, p. 14.
10.^ Jump up to: a b Lacher, Irene (May 21, 2005). "Harper Lee raises her low profile for a friend; The author of 'To Kill a Mockingbird' shuns fanfare. But for the kin of Gregory Peck", Los Angeles Times, p. E.1
11.Jump up ^ Shields, p. 242.
12.Jump up ^ "Harper Lee," in American Decades. Gale Research, 1998.
13.Jump up ^ Shields, p. 120–121.
14.Jump up ^ Shields, p. 122–125.
15.Jump up ^ Shields, p. 40–41.
16.Jump up ^ Krebs, Albin. "Truman Capote Is Dead at 59; Novelist of Style and Clarity", The New York Times, August 26, 1984, p. 1.
17.Jump up ^ Truman Capote, UXL Encyclopedia of World Biography (2003). Retrieved on November 13, 2007.
18.Jump up ^ Fleming, Anne Taylor (July 9, 1976). "The Private World of Truman Capote", The New York Times Magazine. p. SM6.
19.Jump up ^ Steinem, Gloria (November 1967). "Go Right Ahead and Ask Me Anything (And So She Did): An Interview with Truman Capote", McCall's, p. 76.
20.Jump up ^ Hile, Kevin S. "Harper Lee" in Authors and Artists for Young Adults, Gale Research 13 (August 1994) ISBN 978-0-8103-8566-5
21.^ Jump up to: a b Bigg, Matthew (July 23, 2007). "Novel Still Stirs Pride, Debate; 'Mockingbird' Draws Tourists to Town Coming to Grips With Its Past, The Washington Post, p. A3
22.Jump up ^ Johnson, Boundaries p. 7–11.
23.Jump up ^ Noble, p. 13.
24.Jump up ^ Shields, p. 118.
25.^ Jump up to: a b c d Chura, Patrick (Spring 2000). "Prolepsis and Anachronism: Emmet Till and the Historicity of To Kill a Mockingbird", Southern Literary Journal 32 (2), p. 1
26.Jump up ^ Murphy, p. 97.
27.^ Jump up to: a b About Life & Little Girls Time (August 1, 1980). Retrieved on February 15, 2008.
28.^ Jump up to: a b c Dave, R.A. (1974). "Harper Lee's Tragic Vision" Indian Studies in American Fiction MacMillan Company of India, Ltd. pp. 311–323. ISBN 978-0-333-90034-5
29.Jump up ^ Graeme Dunphy, "Meena's Mockingbird: From Harper Lee to Meera Syal", Neophilologus, 88 (2004) 637-660. PDF online
30.Jump up ^ Ward, L. "To Kill a Mockingbird (book review)." Commonwealth: December 9, 1960.
31.^ Jump up to: a b Adams, Phoebe (August 1960). To Kill a Mockingbird The Atlantic Monthly. Retrieved on November 13, 2007.
32.^ Jump up to: a b LeMay, Harding (July 10, 1960). "Children Play; Adults Betray", New York Herald Tribune.
33.^ Jump up to: a b Hicks, Granville (July 23, 1970). "Three at the Outset", Saturday Review, 30.
34.^ Jump up to: a b Tavernier-Courbin, Jacqueline "Humor and Humanity in To Kill a Mockingbird" in On Harper Lee: Essays and Reflections Alice Petry (ed.), University of Tennessee Press (2007). ISBN 978-1-57233-578-3.
35.Jump up ^ Murphy, p. 105.
36.Jump up ^ Lee, p. 46.
37.Jump up ^ Lee, p. 19.
38.Jump up ^ Boerman-Cornell, William "The Five Humors", The English Journal (1999), 88 (4), p. 66. doi=10.2307/822422
39.Jump up ^ Lee, p. 133.
40.Jump up ^ Lee, p. 297.
41.Jump up ^ Johnson, Boundaries p. 40–41.
42.^ Jump up to: a b c d Blackall, Jean "Valorizing the Commonplace: Harper Lee's Response to Jane Austen" in On Harper Lee: Essays and Reflections Alice Petry (ed.). University of Tennessee Press (2007). ISBN 978-1-57233-578-3
43.Jump up ^ Johnson, Boundaries p. 39–45.
44.Jump up ^ Murphy, pp. x, 96, 149.
45.Jump up ^ Fine, Laura "Structuring the Narrator's Rebellion in To Kill a Mockingbird" in On Harper Lee: Essays and Reflections Alice Petry (ed.), University of Tennessee Press (2007). ISBN 978-1-57233-578-3
46.Jump up ^ Lee, p. 246.
47.^ Jump up to: a b Ware, Michele "'Just a Lady': Gender and Power in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird" in Women in Literature: Reading Through the Lens of Gender Jerilyn Fisher and Ellen S. Silber (eds.), Greenwood Press (2003). ISBN 978-0-313-31346-2.
48.Jump up ^ Johnson, Boundaries p. 20.
49.^ Jump up to: a b c Metress, Christopher (September 2003). "The Rise and Fall of Atticus Finch", The Chattahoochee Review, 24 (1).
50.Jump up ^ Noble, pp. vii–viii.
51.^ Jump up to: a b "Harper Lee Twits School Board In Virginia for Ban on Her Novel", The New York Times (January 6, 1966), p. 82.
52.Jump up ^ Johnson, Boundaries p. 20–24
53.^ Jump up to: a b Erisman, Fred (April 1973). "The Romantic Regionalism of Harper Lee", The Alabama Review, 27 (2).
54.^ Jump up to: a b Bruell, Edwin (December 1964). "Keen Scalpel on Racial Ills", The English Journal 51 (9) pp. 658–661.
55.Jump up ^ Henderson, R. (May 15, 1960). "To Kill a Mockingbird", Library Journal.
56.^ Jump up to: a b c Johnson, Claudia (Autumn 1991). "The Secret Courts of Men's Hearts", Studies in American Fiction 19 (2).
57.^ Jump up to: a b c Hovet, Theodore and Grace-Ann (Fall 2001). "'Fine Fancy Gentlemen' and 'Yappy Folk': Contending Voices in To Kill a Mockingbird", Southern Quarterly: A Journal of the Arts in the South, 40 pp. 67–78.
58.Jump up ^ Siegel, Roslyn "The Black Man and the Macabre in American Literature", Black American Literature Forum (1976), 10 (4), p. 133. doi 10.2307/3041614
59.Jump up ^ Lee, p. 107–113.
60.^ Jump up to: a b Jones, Carolyn (Summer 1996). "Atticus Finch and the Mad Dog" Southern Quarterly: A Journal of the Arts in the South, 34 (4), pp. 53–63.
61.Jump up ^ Murphy, p. 178.
62.Jump up ^ Lee, p. 27.
63.Jump up ^ Lee, p. 155.
64.^ Jump up to: a b c d Shackleford, Dean (Winter 1996–1997). "The Female Voice in To Kill a Mockingbird: Narrative Strategies in Film and Novel", Mississippi Quarterly: The Journal of Southern Cultures, 50 (1), pp. 101–13.
65.Jump up ^ "Nelle Harper Lee." Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2007.
66.^ Jump up to: a b c Jolley, Susan "Integrating Poetry and 'To Kill a Mockingbird", The English Journal (2002), 92 (2), p. 34. doi=10.2307/822224
67.Jump up ^ Mancini, p. 19.
68.Jump up ^ Lee, p. 128.
69.Jump up ^ Shields, p. 1.
70.Jump up ^ Lee, p. 33.
71.^ Jump up to: a b Fine, Laura (Summer 1998). "Gender Conflicts and Their 'Dark' Projections in Coming of Age White Female Southern Novels", Southern Quarterly: A Journal of the Arts in the South 36 (4), pp. 121–29
72.^ Jump up to: a b c Baecker, Diane (Spring 1998). "Telling It In Black and White: The Importance of the Africanist Presence in To Kill a Mockingbird", Southern Quarterly: A Journal of the Arts in the South, 36 (3), pp. 124–32.
73.Jump up ^ Johnson, Boundaries p.25–27.
74.Jump up ^ Lee, p. 146.
75.^ Jump up to: a b Lee, p. 103.
76.Jump up ^ Schuster, Edgar "Discovering Theme and Structure in the Novel" The English Journal (1963), 52 (7) p. 506. doi=10.2307/810774
77.Jump up ^ Johnson, Casebook p. 207.
78.Jump up ^ Metress, Christopher. "Lee, Harper." Contemporary Southern Writers. St. James Press, 1999.
79.Jump up ^ Lee, p. 322–323.
80.Jump up ^ Lee, p. 241.
81.Jump up ^ Shields, p. 185–188.
82.^ Jump up to: a b Bain, Robert "Harper Lee" in Southern Writers: A Biographical Dictionary Louisiana State University Press (1980), pp. 276–277. ISBN 0-8071-0390-X
83.Jump up ^ "To Kill a Mockingbird", The New Yorker (September 1960).
84.Jump up ^ Sullivan, Richard (July 17, 1960). "To Kill a Mockingbird", Chicago Sunday Times.
85.Jump up ^ Johnson , Boundaries p.21, 24.
86.Jump up ^ Kiernan, F., "Carson McCullers" (Book Review). Atlantic Monthly (1993) v. 287 no. 4 (April 2001) pp. 100–2.
87.Jump up ^ Book description: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee HarperCollins (2008). Retrieved on July 20, 2008.
88.Jump up ^ "What Kids Are Reading: The Book Reading Habits of Students in American Schools", Renaissance Learning, Inc., 2008. Retrieved on July 11, 2008. See also "What Kids Are Reading: The Book Reading Habits of Students in American Schools, Renaissance Learning, Inc. 2010. Retrieved on May 1, 2011. where To Kill a Mockingbird appears at number 2.
89.Jump up ^ Johnson, Boundaries p. 14.
90.Jump up ^ "To Kill a Mockingbird" Turns 50: Fans Descend on Alabama Town to Celebrate Scout, Atticus and Boo Radley CBS News (July 11, 2010). Retrieved on July 12, 2010.
91.Jump up ^ Zorn, Eric (July 9, 2010), ‘Mockingbird' still sings after 50 years, The Chicago Tribune. Retrieved on July 10, 2010.
92.Jump up ^ Sullivan, Jane (July 9, 2010). To celebrate a Mockingbird, The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved on July 10, 2010.
93.Jump up ^ Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi (July 10, 2010). Rereading: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, The Guardian. Retrieved on July 10, 2010.
94.Jump up ^ Loxton, Rachel (July 10, 2010). America’s favourite novel still vital after 50 years, The Herald (Glasgow). Retrieved on July 10, 2010.
95.Jump up ^ Barra, Allen (June 24, 2010). What 'To Kill a Mockingbird' Isn't, The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved on July 10, 2010.
96.Jump up ^ Mallon, Thomas (May 29, 2006). "Big Bird: A biography of the novelist Harper Lee", The New Yorker, 82 (15), p. 79.
97.Jump up ^ Ajayi, Akin (July 9, 2010) To Kill a Mockingbird: the case for the defence, The Guardian. Retrieved on July 10, 2010.
98.Jump up ^ Scout, Atticus, and Boo: A Celebration of Fifty Years of To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Collins Publishers (2010). Retrieved on July 10, 2010.
99.Jump up ^ Murphy, p. 196–197.
100.Jump up ^ Petry, p. xxiii.
101.Jump up ^ Petry, p. xxiv.
102.Jump up ^ Lubet, Steven (May 1999). "Reconstructing Atticus Finch", Michigan Law Review 97 (6)pp. 1339–62. doi=10.2307/1290205
103.Jump up ^ Petry, p. xxv–xxvii.
104.Jump up ^ "'Mockingbird' Hero Honored in Monroeville", The Birmingham News (Alabama) (May 3, 1997), p. 7A.
105.Jump up ^ "Harper Lee Can Take a Place at the Bar", The Birmingham News (March 17, 2008).
106.Jump up ^ Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books: 2000-2009 American Library Association. Retrieved July 2010.
107.Jump up ^ Johnson, Casebook p. 208–213.
108.Jump up ^ Mancini, p. 56.
109.Jump up ^ Saney, Isaac (July–September 2003). "The Case Against To Kill a Mockingbird" Race & Class 45 (1), pp. 99–110. doi=10.1177/0306396803045001005
110.Jump up ^ Beryle, Banfield "Commitment to Change: The Council on Interracial Books for Children and the World of Children's Books", African American Review (1998) 32 (17), pp. 17–22. .doi=10.2307/3042264
111.Jump up ^ Murphy, pp. 133–134
112.Jump up ^ Suhor, Charles, Bell, Larry "Preparing to Teach To Kill a Mockingbird, The English Journal(1997) 86 (4), pp. 1–16. doi = 10.2307/820996
113.Jump up ^ Martelle, Scott (June 28, 2006). "A Different Read on 'Mockingbird'; Long a classroom starting point for lessons about intolerance, the Harper Lee classic is being reexamined by some who find its perspective limited", The Los Angeles Times, p. 6.
114.Jump up ^ Flora, Joseph "Harper Lee" in Southern Writers: A New Biographical Dictionary Louisiana State University Press (2006).
115.Jump up ^ Johnson, Boundaries p. xi–xiv
116.Jump up ^ Bloom, Harold "Modern Critical Interpretations: To Kill a Mockingbird" Chelsea House Publishers (1999)
117.Jump up ^ Shields, p. 219–220, 223, 233–235
118.Jump up ^ Murphy, pp. 206–209.
119.Jump up ^ Murphy, p. 30.
120.Jump up ^ Murphy, pp. 141–146.
121.Jump up ^ Murphy, pp. 132–139.
122.Jump up ^ First Edition Points to identify To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Pulitzer Prize First Edition Guide. Retrieved on (November 14, 2007).
123.Jump up ^ Windham, Ben (August 24, 2003). "An Encounter with Harper Lee", The Tuscaloosa News.
124.Jump up ^ Noble, p. 32.
125.Jump up ^ Shields, p.199–200.
126.Jump up ^ Mancini, p. 15.
127.Jump up ^ Murphy, p. 128.
128.Jump up ^ Tabor, May (August 23, 1998). "A 'new foreword' that isn't", The New York Times, p. C11.
129.^ Jump up to: a b Bellafante, Ginia (January 20, 2006). Harper Lee, Gregarious for a Day, The New York Times. Retrieved on November 13, 2007.
130.Jump up ^ "Chicago Launches City-wide Book Group", Library Journal (August 13, 2001).
131.Jump up ^ "To Read a Mockingbird" Library Journal (September 1, 2004) 129 (14), p. 13.
132.Jump up ^ Murphy, p. 106.
133.Jump up ^ Commencement 2006 Notre Dame Magazine (July 2006). Retrieved on November 9, 2007.
134.Jump up ^ President Bush Honors Medal of Freedom Recipients, White House press release (November 5, 2007). Retrieved on November 9, 2007.
135.Jump up ^ Nichols, Peter (February 27, 1998). "Time Can't Kill 'Mockingbird' [Review]", The New York Times, p. E.1
136.Jump up ^ To Kill a Mockingbird (film) Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved on March 29, 2008.
137.Jump up ^ Jones, Carolyn "Harper Lee", in The History of Southern Women's Literature, Carolyn Perry (ed.): Louisiana State University Press (2002). ISBN 978-0-8071-2753-7
138.Jump up ^ Bobbin, Jay (December 21, 1997). "Gregory Peck is Atticus Finch in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird", The Birmingham News (Alabama), p. 1.F
139.Jump up ^ King, Susan (December 22, 1997). "How the Finch Stole Christmas; Q & A With Gregory Peck" , Los Angeles Times, p. 1
140.Jump up ^ King, Susan(October 18, 1999). "Q&A; Film Honors Peck, 'Perfectly Happy' in a Busy Retirement", Los Angeles Times, p. 4
141.Jump up ^ Noble, p. 4–5.
142.Jump up ^ Hoffman, Roy (August 9, 1998). "Long Lives the Mockingbird", The New York Times Book Review, p. 31.
143.Jump up ^ Newman, Cathy (January 2006). To Catch a Mockingbird, National Geographic. Retrieved on November 11, 2007.
144.Jump up ^ Robinson, David.The One and Only, The Scotsman. Retrieved on March 29, 2008.
145.Jump up ^ Lister, David (July 10, 2010). David Lister: Those reclusive authors really know how to live, The Independent. Retrieved on July 10, 2010.
146.Jump up ^ Pressley, Sue (June 10, 1996). "Quiet Author, Home Town Attract 'Groupies,' Press; To Live With 'Mockingbird'", The Washington Post p. A3
Bibliography
Johnson, Claudia. To Kill a Mockingbird: Threatening Boundaries. Twayne Publishers: 1994. ISBN 0-8057-8068-8
Johnson, Claudia. Understanding To Kill a Mockingbird: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historic Documents. Greenwood Press: 1994. ISBN 0-313-29193-4
Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. HarperCollins: 1960 (Perennial Classics edition: 2002). ISBN 0-06-093546-4
Mancini, Candice, (ed.) (2008). Racism in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, The Gale Group. ISBN 0-7377-3904-5
Murphy, Mary M. (ed.) Scout, Atticus, and Boo: A Celebration of Fifty Years of To Kill a Mockingbird, HarperCollins Publishers: 2010. ISBN 978-0-06-192407-1
Noble, Don (ed.). Critical Insights: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Salem Press: 2010. ISBN 978-1-58765-618-7
Petry, Alice. "Introduction" in On Harper Lee: Essays and Reflections. University of Tennessee Press: 1994. ISBN 1-57233-578-5
Shields, Charles. Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee. Henry Holt and Co.: 2006. ISBN 0-8050-7919-X
External links

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To Kill a Mockingbird in popular culture
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 This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2007)


 This article possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research may be removed. (October 2010)
Since the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird in 1960, there have been many references and allusions to it in popular culture.
Parties were held across the United States for the 50th anniversary of publication in 2010.[1] In honor of the 50th anniversary, famous authors and celebrities as well as people close to Harper Lee shared their experiences with To Kill a Mockingbird in the book Scout, Atticus, & Boo: A Celebration of Fifty Years of To Kill a Mockingbird. The book features interviews with Mary Badham, Tom Brokaw, Oprah Winfrey, Anna Quindlen, Richard Russo, as well as Harper Lee's sister, Alice Finch Lee.
The 2010 documentary film "Hey, Boo: Harper Lee & To Kill a Mockingbird" focuses on the background of the book and the film as well as their impact on readers and viewers.[2]


Contents  [hide]
1 Comics
2 Movies
3 Television
4 Music
5 Other
6 References
7 Bibliography
8 External links

Comics[edit]
In the comic strip Get Fuzzy, Bucky the cat begins to read the book, before his owner Rob explains that it is not "a how-to manual."
In DC Comics continuity, it has been established that Detective Comics #27 is Superman's favorite book and movie
In the comic strips Bloom County, Outland, and Opus, Opus the penguin is frequently seen reading To Kill a Mockingbird and has stated he rereads it every summer. In the comic strip, a fictional movie was created entitled Kill Mo' Mockingbird.
In the webcomic Angel Moxie, comic 511, Tristan is seen reading To Kill a Mockingbird. When asked about it, she calls the book How To Kill A Mockingbird. After Alex explains the correct title, Tristan remarks, 'That explains the lack of step-by-step instructions.' She is shown reading the book again in comic 610.
In the 1998 comic strip, Tubularman, Ross Wainright (aka Tubularman) decides to download someone else's book report instead of completing his own book report on To Kill A Mockingbird.
Movies[edit]
In the 2007 film Freedom Writers, Hilary Swank's, character, Erin Gruwell, says to her husband when speak about her father, "He was like Atticus Finch to me when I was growing up..."
In Cameron Crowe's 2000 film Almost Famous, the young William Miller and his mother Elaine have just viewed the 1962 film and discuss it as they stroll along the street.
The 2006 film Failure to Launch contains a subplot about killing a mockingbird. The book is specifically mentioned in the gun shop scene.
In the 2002 film Mr. Deeds, Winona Ryder's character, Babe Bennett, alludes to Boo Radley in an attempt to lie about her past. When Babe goes into a building, she says hello to 'Mrs. Finch and her pet Atticus', a reference to Atticus Finch.
In the film Vanilla Sky, the movie is on the screen in the background of the security room in David Aames', played by Tom Cruise, cell. Atticus Finch is also revealed to be the inspiration for Dr. Curtis McCabe, played by Kurt Russell.[citation needed]
In the 2005 film Capote, Truman Capote is invited to the publication party for the novel.
In the 2008 film All Roads Lead Home, the dog on the farm is named Atticus. The film also is a parody of the novel.[citation needed]
In the 2011 film Bad Teacher, this novel is used as one of the learning materials in the English class.
In the 2012 film The Perks of Being a Wallflower, this novel is studied in the English class.
In the 2012 film Broken, Archie and Skunk mirror Atticus and Scout in many ways. Like Atticus, Archie is a highly principled lawyer, and Skunk has many of Scout's qualities, such as honesty, intelligence and charm. However despite the similarities in characterisation, Broken does not involve any exploration of prejudice and hate.
In the 2013 film Beautiful Creatures (2013 film), the novel is studied in class. It is also frequently mentioned in the novel of the film Beautiful Creatures (novel), often referring to Macon Ravenwood as Boo Radley
Television[edit]
There is an episode of King of the Hill entitled "To Kill a Ladybird".
In one of the episodes of the TV series Smallville ("Hug", season 1) Lex refers to Clark as "Atticus" due to the fact that Clark is trying to help a seemingly guilty man. Lex explains he is in the book To Kill a Mockingbird. When Clark asks Lex how the book ends, Lex pauses and replies "The ending's not important, it's the journey".
An episode of the American situation comedy Frasier was titled "To Kill a Talking Bird".
In one episode of The Simpsons Homer says, "I'll have to read Marge's book and I swore never to read again after To Kill a Mockingbird gave me no useful advice on killing Mockingbirds! It did teach me not to judge a man by the color of his skin, but what good does that do me?" Another episode is a pun title of an Itchy And Scratchy Cartoon called "To Kill a Talking Bird". Also, in "Bart to the Future", Bart Simpson's failed band is called the Tequila Mockingbirds. In the 2/15/09 episode, Homer is at a prom with a girl, but sees Marge, and tries to sidetrack the other girl so he can dance with her. He tells her he forgot that he had an English paper due on Monday, and asks her to read "To Kill a Mockingbird", and find out the relation between Boo Radley and Southern Gothics.
In Everybody Loves Raymond, Debra wrote her college thesis on To Kill a Mockingbird, prompting Robert to suggest to Raymond that he buy her a first edition copy of it for Christmas.
In an episode of 8 Simple Rules Rory has to do a book report on the book, and tries to find the part where the mockingbird is killed (unaware that there actually isn't one). In another episode, Paul impersonates Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird in response to a poker buddy's impression of John Wayne.
The 3rd episode of the 2010 TV series Pretty Little Liars the name was changed to, "To Kill A Mocking Girl", the novel was also taught at Rosewood High by Ezra Fitz throughout the first season.
In the NewsRadio episode "Big Brother" from Season 4, Bill, Jimmy and Joe stage a fake trial in the office to determine Lisa's recent romantic involvements. When she protests, Dave says, "I really don't care. The only people who care are my friends Atticus Finch, Scout and Boo Radley over there."
In the television sitcom Dog with a Blog, Stan is seen reading "To Kill a Mockingbird" with Avery.
Music[edit]
The character of Boo Radley gave his name to the British band The Boo Radleys.
The Knoxville, Tennessee-based rock band Atticus was inspired by To Kill a Mockingbird.
The name of the Temecula, California based band Finch (American band) was inspired by To Kill a Mockingbird.
In 2001, Blink-182 band members Mark Hoppus and Tom Delonge created the clothing line Atticus Clothing, named after the character in this book. Similarly, the female line of the brand is called Scout. The brand's logo is a dead bird.
Bruce Hornsby wrote a song called "Sneaking Up on Boo Radley," which describes the kids' adventures and reactions with regard to their neighbor Boo. The end of the song suggests that it is written from Jem's point of view. The song can be found on the 1998 studio album Spirit Trail and the live album Here Come the Noise Makers, which was released in 2000.
The Noisettes song "Atticus" is inspired by To Kill a Mockingbird.
The Paint It Black song "Atticus Finch" is inspired by To Kill a Mockingbird.
The Dietrich Strause song "Jean Louise" is inspired by To Kill a Mockingbird.
The name of the Vanessa-Mae song "Tequila Mockingbird" is a pun on To Kill a Mockingbird.
The Ra Ra Riot song "Each Year" contains elements of the storyline of To Kill a Mockingbird.
Irish band Little Green Cars featured a song named "Harper Lee" on their album Absolute Zero, including the line, "Harper Lee, I'll kill me a bird."
Other[edit]
Bruce Willis and Demi Moore named their second child Scout, reportedly after the character in the novel.
The book is extensively referred to and borrowed from in Mark Giminez's first (2005) novel "The Color of Law", where Harper Lee's "great novel" is acknowledged by author Mark Giminez as his inspiration to become a lawyer, the main hero is named Atticus, Atticus Finch is used a moral exemplerer, and the plot borrows the issue of the right handedness of the real criminal but left handedness of the person charged with the crime.
Daniel Clay's debut novel Broken is a modernization of To Kill a Mockingbird. It features many parallels to Lee's novel. Broken follows a series of events in the lives of Skunk and her brother Jed, the children of lawyer Archie Cunningham. With their nomadic friend Dillon, they navigate their way through the trials of English suburban life. The children attempt to unravel the mystery of their reclusive neighbor "Broken Buckley" while evading the clutches of the unruly Oswald clan. Clay, like Lee, explores the challenge of preserving innocence as one comes of age in an increasingly nefarious society.
There is a level titled To Bubblize a Mockingbird in the video game Rayman Origins, in which the player has to defeat a giant mockingbird.
Australian fashion clothing house Boo Radley[3] takes its name from the novel's character.
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Bosman, Julie. A Classic Turns 50, and Parties Are Planned. The New York Times. 24 May 2010.
2.Jump up ^ Genzlinger, Neil, "Inside an Influential Novel," The New York Times, May 12, 2011, retrieved January 4, 2012.
3.Jump up ^ [1]
Bibliography[edit]
Murphy, Mary McDonagh. Scout, Atticus & Boo: A Celebration of Fifty Years of To Kill a Mockingbird. HarperCollins: 2010. ISBN 978-0-06-192407-1
External links[edit]
Scout, Atticus & Boo: A Celebration of Fifty Years of To Kill a Mockingbird
 


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Atticus Finch
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Atticus Finch is a fictional character of Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Atticus is a lawyer and resident of the fictional Maycomb County, Alabama, and the father of Jeremy "Jem" Finch and Jean Louise "Scout" Finch. Lee based the character on her own father, Amasa Coleman Lee, an Alabama lawyer who, like Atticus Finch, represented black defendants in a highly publicized criminal trial.[1] Book Magazine's list The 100 Best Characters in Fiction Since 1900 lists Finch as the 7th best fictional character of 20th century literature.[2][3] In 2003, Atticus Finch, as portrayed by Gregory Peck in the 1962 film adaptation, was voted by the American Film Institute to be the greatest hero in American film.[4]


Contents  [hide]
1 Impact on the legal profession
2 Film adaptation
3 Social references
4 References
5 Bibliography

Impact on the legal profession[edit]
Claudia Durst Johnson noted about available critique of the novel that, "a greater volume of critical readings has been amassed by two legal scholars in law journals than by all the literary scholars in literary journals."[5] Alice Petry remarked that "Atticus has become something of a folk hero in legal circles and is treated almost as if he were an actual person."[6] Examples of Atticus Finch's impact on the legal profession are plentiful. Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty Law Center notes Finch as the reason he became a lawyer, and Richard Matsch, the federal judge who presided over the Timothy McVeigh trial, counts Atticus as a major judicial influence.[7] One law professor at the University of Notre Dame stated that the most influential textbook he taught from was To Kill a Mockingbird, and an article in the Michigan Law Review, "No real-life lawyer has done more for the self-image or public perception of the legal profession," before questioning whether, "Atticus Finch is a paragon of honor or an especially slick hired gun."[8]
In 1992, Monroe Freedman, a legal ethics expert, published two articles in the national legal newspaper Legal Times calling for the legal profession to set aside Atticus Finch as a role model.[9] Freedman argued that Atticus still worked within a system of institutionalized racism and sexism and should not be revered. Freedman's article sparked a flurry of responses from attorneys who entered the profession holding Atticus Finch as a hero, and the reason they became lawyers.[10] Critics of Atticus such as Freedman maintain that Atticus Finch is morally ambiguous and does not use his legal skills to challenge the racist status quo in Maycomb.[11] Freedman's article sparked furious controversy. Further, in 1997, the Alabama State Bar erected a monument dedicated to Atticus in Monroeville marking his existence as the "first commemorative milestone in the state's judicial history."[12]
Film adaptation[edit]
Main article: To Kill a Mockingbird (film)
In the 1962 film adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird, the actor Gregory Peck portrayed Finch. Lee became good friends with Peck as a result of his depiction of Finch, and even gave Peck her father’s watch.[citation needed] For his performance in the film, Peck received the Academy Award for Best Actor. In 2003, Finch as depicted in the film was voted by the American Film Institute to be the greatest hero in American film.[4] Finch was chosen over film protagonists including Indiana Jones, Rocky Balboa, and Mohandas K. Gandhi, as depicted in the film Gandhi. In 2008, Finch was selected by Empire magazine as one of The 100 Greatest Movie Characters.[13] Premiere magazine also ranked Finch number 13 on their list of The 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.[14] On their list of the 100 Greatest Fictional Characters, Fandomania.com ranked Finch at number 32.[15] Entertainment Weekly placed Finch on their list of The 20 All Time Coolest Heroes in Pop Culture.[16] Peck, a civil rights activist and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom award, who favored the role of Finch over all his other roles, said about his performance:



I put everything I had into it – all my feelings and everything I'd learned in 46 years of living, about family life and fathers and children. And my feelings about racial justice and inequality and opportunity.
—Gregory Peck[17]
Lee continued to praise Peck's portrayal of Finch in the years following the film's release:



In that film, the man and the part met.
—Harper Lee[18]
The line "If you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you'll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it", spoken by Finch in both the novel and film, was one of 400 film quotes nominated by the AFI for its 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes list, but was not included in the final list.[19]
Entertainment Weekly wrote that "[Finch] transforms quiet decency, legal acumen, and great parenting into the most heroic qualities a man can have." It also stated that the character Jake Tyler Brigance from the film A Time to Kill is a "copycat descendant" of Atticus Finch.[16]
Social references[edit]
Atticus Finch's willingness to support social outcasts and victims of prejudice is the eponymous inspiration for the name of the Atticus Circle. The Circle is an organization composed of "straight allies", heterosexual persons supportive of the LGBT rights movement.[20]
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Boston, Talmage (June 2010). "Who was Atticus Finch?" (PDF). Texas Bar Journal 73 (6): 484–485. Retrieved 2013-02-05.
2.Jump up ^ "Book Magazine's The 100 Best Characters in Fiction Since 1900". InfoPlease.com. Retrieved 2010-05-21.
3.Jump up ^ Book Magazine, March/April 2002 (March 2002). "100 Best Characters in Fiction Since 1900". Talk of the Nation. NPR. Retrieved November 17, 2011.
4.^ Jump up to: a b "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains". afi.com. Retrieved 2010-05-21.
5.Jump up ^ Johnson, Boundaries p.25-27
6.Jump up ^ Petry, p. xxiii
7.Jump up ^ Petry, p. xxiv
8.Jump up ^ Lubet, Steven. "Reconstructing Atticus Finch." Michigan Law Review 97, no. 6 (May 1999): 1339–62.
9.Jump up ^ " At the Bar; To Attack A Lawyer In 'To Kill a Mockingbird': An Iconoclast Takes Aim At A Hero" NY Times
10.Jump up ^ Monroe H. Freedman, ""Atticus Finch, Esq., R.I.P.,"" 14 LEGAL TIMES 20 (1992); Monroe H. Freedman, ""Finch: The Lawyer Mythologized,"" 14 LEGAL TIMES 25 (1992) and Monroe Freedman, Atticus Finch – Right and Wrong, 45 Ala. L. Rev. 473 (1994).
11.Jump up ^ Metress, Christopher. "The Rise and Fall of Atticus Finch." The Chattahoochee Review; 24 (1): September, 2003
12.Jump up ^ "'Mockingbird' Hero Honored in Monroeville." Birmingham News (Alabama): May 3, 1997; Pg. 7A.
13.Jump up ^ "Empire's The 100 Greatest Movie Characters". Empire Magazine. Retrieved 2010-05-21.
14.Jump up ^ "Premiere's The 100 Greatest Movie Characters". Filmsite.org. Retrieved 2010-05-21.
15.Jump up ^ "The 100 Greatest Fictional Characters". Fandomania.com. Archived from the original on June 20, 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-21.
16.^ Jump up to: a b "Entertainment Weekly's 20 All Time Coolest Heroes in Pop Culture". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2010-05-21.
17.Jump up ^ "Oscar-winner Gregory Peck dies at age 87" USA Today
18.Jump up ^ Daniel Eagan. America's film legacy: the authoritative guide to the landmark movies in the National Film Registry. National Film Preservation Board (U.S.)
19.Jump up ^ "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes Official Ballot". afi.com. Retrieved May 21, 2010.
20.Jump up ^ "About Atticus Circle". 2009. Retrieved November 17, 2011.
Bibliography[edit]
Johnson, Claudia. To Kill a Mockingbird: Threatening Boundaries. Twayne Publishers: 1994. ISBN 0-8057-8068-8
Johnson, Claudia. Understanding To Kill a Mockingbird: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historic Documents. Greenwood Press: 1994. ISBN 0-313-29193-4
Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. HarperCollins: 1960 (Perennial Classics edition: 2002). ISBN 0-06-093546-4
Mancini, Candice, ed. (2008). Racism in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird , The Gale Group. ISBN 978-0-7377-3904-6
Petry, Alice. "Introduction" in On Harper Lee: Essays and Reflections. University of Tennessee Press: 1994. ISBN 1-57233-578-5
Shields, Charles. Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee. Henry Holt and Co.: 2006. ISBN 0-8050-7919-X
 


Categories: Characters in American novels of the 20th century
Fictional characters from Alabama
Fictional lawyers
To Kill a Mockingbird
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List of To Kill a Mockingbird characters
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To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel by Harper Lee published in 1960. It was instantly successful, winning the Pulitzer Prize, and has become a classic of modern American literature, widely read in U.S. high schools.[1] The story takes place during three years of the Great Depression in the fictional "tired old town" of Maycomb, Alabama. This is a list of characters from the novel.


Contents  [hide]
1 Primary characters 1.1 Atticus Finch
1.2 Jean Louise "Scout" Finch
1.3 Jeremy Atticus "Jem" Finch
1.4 Charles Baker "Dill" Harris
1.5 Calpurnia "Cal"
1.6 Arthur "Boo" Radley
1.7 Miss Maude "Maudie" Atkinson
1.8 Robert "Bob" Ewell
1.9 Mayella Violet Ewell
1.10 Tom Robinson
1.11 Alexandra "Aunt Alexandra" Hancock
2 Minor characters 2.1 John Hale "Uncle Jack" Finch
2.2 Francis Hancock
2.3 Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose
2.4 Judge John Taylor
2.5 Mr. Heck Tate
2.6 Mr. Braxton Bragg (B.B.) Underwood
2.7 Mr. Horace Gilmer
2.8 Dr. Reynolds
2.9 Dolphus Raymond
2.10 Link Deas
2.11 Miss Caroline Fisher
2.12 Reverend Sykes
2.13 Zeebo
2.14 Stephanie Crawford
2.15 Miss Rachel Haverford
2.16 Helen Robinson
2.17 Nathan Radley
2.18 Jessie
2.19 Burris Ewell
2.20 Lula
2.21 Mrs. Grace Merriweather
2.22 Walter Cunningham, Jr.
2.23 Walter Cunningham, Sr.
2.24 Little Chuck Little
2.25 Mr. Dick Avery
2.26 Miss Gates
2.27 Eula May
2.28 Cecil Jacobs
2.29 Tim Johnson
2.30 Simon Finch
2.31 Maxwell Green
2.32 Mr. X Billups
2.33 The Barber Sisters (Miss "Tutti" and Miss "Frutti")
2.34 Mrs. Farrow
3 References

Primary characters[edit]
Atticus Finch[edit]
Main article: Atticus Finch
Atticus Finch is a well-known white Maycomb attorney as well as the father of the book's protagonist, Scout, and her brother Jem. He is a wise and caring father. Atticus is nearly fifty. His children call him "Atticus" rather than "Dad". He was once known as "One-Shot Finch" because of his skill with rifles (shown when killing a rabid dog). Atticus demonstrates great character throughout the book and strives to set a good example for his children, teaching Jem and Scout to treat everyone equally. Atticus' beliefs and strong moral compass lead him to defend Tom Robinson, a black man, from baseless charges of rape. This was an unpopular decision among many Maycomb residents. However, Atticus feels that his refusing to take up the case would make him undeserving of others' respect. He is played by Gregory Peck in the movie.
Jean Louise "Scout" Finch[edit]
Jean Louise "Scout" Finch is the narrator and protagonist of To Kill a Mockingbird. The novel is written from the point of view of an adult Scout describing how she viewed the events of the novel as a child, and she often comments about how she didn't understand something at the time, but now, having grown up, she does. Scout is considered smart for her age, and loves to read. In fact, she gets in trouble with her teacher Miss Caroline because Miss Caroline wants Scout to learn reading and writing her way, but Scout refuses. She is also a tomboy who spends the majority of her time with her brother Jem and best friend Dill. She matures from age 6 to age 8 as the novel progresses but still remains naive and idealistic, despite an increased understanding of human nature and racism in her town. At the beginning of the book, Scout is confused by some of the words and names she has heard people directing towards her father, such as "nigger lover". Being only six, Scout does not know how to handle such situations so she tries to resolve her problems by fighting and talking to Atticus about what she has heard. By the end of the book, she realizes that racism does exist and has come to terms with its presence in her town. Scout also learns how to deal with others, including the Finch family housekeeper, Calpurnia, and her aunt, Alexandra. Scout is the only one of the novel's primary three children (Dill, Jem, and herself), to see and speak to Boo Radley during the course of the novel and realizes that he is harmless, despite her earlier fear of him. She also stops a mob that is trying to lynch Tom Robinson by informing the mob leader (Mr. Cunningham) about inviting his son over for dinner. Mr. Cunningham then tells the other mob members to get back in their cars and leave them alone. The members listen, and Scout unintentionally saves Tom Robinson's life. She is portrayed by Mary Badham in the movie.
Jeremy Atticus "Jem" Finch[edit]
Jeremy Atticus "Jem" Finch is Atticus' son and Scout's older brother by four years. Jem matures greatly throughout the course of the novel and is much more affected by events (his mother's death before the novel begins, the racism in the town, the death of Tom Robinson) than Scout is due to his greater understanding of them. His best friend is Dill. After the Maycomb pageant, Jem and Scout are attacked by Bob Ewell. Jem's arm breaks at the elbow, and he is knocked unconscious. He is carried home by Arthur "Boo" Radley. Jem is portrayed by Phillip Alford in the movie.
Charles Baker "Dill" Harris[edit]
Charles Baker "Dill" Harris is Jem and Scout's best friend who visits Maycomb every summer from Meridian, Mississippi, and stays with his aunt Rachel. His goal throughout the novel is to get Boo Radley to come out of his house, and for the first few summers the children concoct many plans to lure him out, until Atticus stops them. Dill promises to marry Scout, and they become "engaged". One night Dill runs away from his home in the city, because he feels like he is being replaced in the family by his stepfather. He gets on a train and goes to Maycomb County, then hides under Scout's bed until she finds him.
Unlike Scout and Jem, Dill lacks the security of family love. He is unwanted and unloved by his parents: "They do get on a lot better without me, I cannot help them any." As Francis, another Finch from the novel, says, "He hasn't got a home, he just gets passed around from relative to relative." Dill is described as not having a father; he doesn't know where he lives or when he'll come back, if he does. He is played by John Megna in the movie.
This character is believed to be based on author Truman Capote, a childhood friend of Harper Lee.
Calpurnia "Cal"[edit]
Calpurnia is the Finch family's housekeeper, whom the children love and Atticus deeply respects (he remarks in her defense that she "never indulged [the children] like most colored nurses"). She is highly regarded by Atticus. She is an important figure in Scout's life, providing discipline, instruction, and love. She also fills the maternal role for the children after their mother's death. Calpurnia is one of the few black characters in the novel who is able to read and write, and it is she who taught Scout to write. She learned how to read from Miss Maudie's aunt, Miss Buford, who taught her how to read out of "Blackstone's Commentaries", a book given to her.
While everyone in the novel is filtered through Scout’s perception, Calpurnia in particular appears for a long time more as Scout’s idea of her than as a real person. At the beginning of the novel, Scout appears to think of Calpurnia as the wicked stepmother to Scout’s own Cinderella. However, towards the end of the book, Scout views Calpurnia as someone she can look up to and realizes Calpurnia has only protected her over the years. She is played by Estelle Evans in the movie.
Arthur "Boo" Radley[edit]
Arthur "Boo" Radley is the most mysterious character in To Kill a Mockingbird and slowly reveals himself throughout the novel. Boo Radley is a very quiet, reclusive character, who only passively presents himself until Jem and Scout's final interaction with Bob Ewell.
Maycomb children believe he is a horrible person, due to the rumors spread about him and a trial he underwent as a teenager. It is implied during the story that Boo is a very lonely man who attempts to reach out to Jem and Scout for love and friendship, for instance leaving them small gifts and figures in a tree knothole. Scout finally meets him at the very end of the book, when he saves the children's lives. Scout describes him as being sickly white, with a thin mouth and hair and grey eyes, almost as if he was blind. During the same night, when Boo requests that Scout walk him back to the Radley house, Scout takes a moment to picture what it would be like to be Boo Radley. While standing on his porch, she realizes his "exile" inside his house is really not that lonely.
Boo Radley's heroics in protecting the children from Bob Ewell are covered up by Atticus, Sheriff Tate, and Scout. This can be read as a wise refusal of fame. As Tate notes, if word gets out that Boo killed Ewell, Boo would be inundated with gifts and visits, calamitous for him due to his quiet personality. The precocious Scout recognizes the danger: Renown would "kill the mockingbird." Boo Radley is a ghost that haunts the book yet manifests himself at just the right moments in just the right way. He is, arguably, the most potent character in the whole book and as such, inspires the other key characters to save him when he needs saving.
After the Tom Robinson trial, Jem and Scout have a different understanding of Boo Radley. “Scout, I think I'm beginning to understand something. I think I'm beginning to understand why Boo Radley's stayed shut up in the house all this time… it's because he wants to stay inside." (23.117) Having seen a sample of the horrible things their fellow townspeople can do, choosing to stay out of the mess of humanity doesn’t seem like such a strange choice.
When Boo finally does come out, he has a good reason: Bob Ewell is trying to murder the Finch kids. No one sees what happens in the scuffle, but at the end of it, Ewell is dead and Boo carries an unconscious Jem to the Finch house. Finally faced with Boo, Scout doesn’t recognize him: after all, she’s never seen him before, except in her dreams. He is played by Robert Duvall in the movie.
Miss Maude "Maudie" Atkinson[edit]
Miss Maude "Maudie" Atkinson lives across the street from the Finch family. She had known the Finches for many years, having been brought up on the Buford place, which was near the Finch's ancestral home, Finch's Landing. She is described as a woman of about 40 who enjoys baking and gardening; her cakes are especially held in high regard. However, she is frequently harassed by devout "Foot-Washing Baptists", who tell her that her enjoyment of gardening is a sin. Miss Maudie befriends Scout and Jem and tells them stories about Atticus as a boy. Also, she is one of the few adults that Jem and Scout hold in high regard and respect. She does not act condescendingly towards them, even though they are young children. During the course of the novel, her house burns down; however, she shows remarkable courage throughout this (even joking that she wanted to burn it down herself to make more room for her flowers). She is not prejudiced, unlike many of her Southern neighbors, and teaches Scout important lessons about racism and human nature. It is important to note that Miss Maudie fully explains that "it is a sin to kill a mockingbird", whereas Atticus Finch initially brings up the subject but doesn't go into depth. When Jem gets older, and doesn't want to be bothered by Scout, Miss Maudie keeps her from getting mad. Maudie is played by Rosemary Murphy in the movie.
Robert "Bob" Ewell[edit]
Robert E. Lee "Bob" Ewell is the main antagonist of To Kill a Mockingbird. He has a daughter named Mayella, and a younger son named Burris, as well as six other unnamed children. He is an alcoholic, poaching game to feed his family because he spends whatever money they legally gain via government "relief checks" on alcohol. It is implied, and evidence suggests, that he was the one who sexually abused his daughter Mayella Ewell, not Tom Robinson (the Negro man accused of doing so). Although most everybody in town knows that the Ewells are a disgrace and not to be trusted, it is made clear that Tom Robinson was convicted because he is a Negro whose accuser is white. Upon hearing of Tom's death, Bob is absolutely gleeful, gloating about his success. After being humiliated at the trial, however, he goes on a quest for revenge, becoming increasingly violent. He begins by spitting in Atticus' face, followed by a failed attempt to break into the home of Judge Taylor, finally menacing Helen, the poor widow of Tom Robinson. Robert E. Lee "Bob" Ewell then attempts to murder Jem and Scout Finch with a knife to complete his revenge. Fortunately, Boo Radley, like a guardian angel, saves Jem and Scout and it is believed that he kills Bob with a kitchen knife. Heck Tate, the sheriff, puts in the official report that Bob Ewell fell on his own knife and died after lying on the street for 45 minutes. Robert E. Lee "Bob" Ewell is played by James K Anderson in the movie.
Mayella Violet Ewell[edit]
Mayella Violet Ewell is Tom Robinson's 19-and-a-half-year-old accuser and the eldest daughter of Bob Ewell; she has to take care of her siblings (such as Burris Ewell) due to Bob Ewell's alcoholism. Before the trial, Mayella is noted for growing red geraniums outside her otherwise dirty home. Due to her family's living situation, Mayella has no opportunity for human contact or love, and she eventually gets so desperate that she attempts to seduce a black man, Tom Robinson. Her father sees this through a window, and in punishment he beats her. Ewell then finds the sheriff, Heck Tate, and tells him that his daughter has been raped and beaten by Tom. At the trial, Atticus proves that it was her father who beat her by pointing out that the bruises are on the right side of her face only. This is important because Tom's left hand is mangled and useless, while Bob Ewell is left handed. When Atticus Finch asks her if she has any friends, she becomes confused because she does not know what a friend is. During her testimony, she is confused by Atticus' polite speech and thinks that his use of "Miss Mayella" is meant to mock her.
By testifying against Tom Robinson, Mayella is trying to destroy the evidence suggesting that she had attempted to seduce him, and to do what her father wants her to do so that he won't hurt her — to eliminate her own guilt and fear of breaking a 'rigid and time-honored code'. Mayella is played by Collin Wilcox in the movie.
Tom Robinson[edit]
Tom Robinson is an African American man Atticus defends when he is accused of raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell. As Atticus says, Robinson's left arm is "hardly nothing," because it was caught in a cotton gin at age 12; his exclusive right-handedness is the basis of Atticus's defense: since Mayella's bruises were only on the right side of her face, someone who leads with his left must have beaten her. During his testimony, Tom states that he had frequently helped Mayella with small household tasks because he felt sorry for her and her hard life. This shocks the jury, as it was unheard of that a black man could feel sorry for a white woman. Despite Atticus's skillful defense, Robinson is declared guilty by the jury. Although Atticus feels confident that he will be acquitted on appeal, while in prison Robinson is shot 17 times and killed by guards who later report that he had "attempted to escape." He was played in the movie by Brock Peters.
Alexandra "Aunt Alexandra" Hancock[edit]
Alexandra "Aunt Alexandra" Hancock (née Finch) is Atticus' and Jack's sister, married to James "Uncle Jimmy" Hancock. She has a son named Henry and a very spoiled grandson named Francis. Around the middle of the book, Aunt Alexandra decides to leave her husband at Finch's Landing, the Finch family homestead to come stay with the Finches. Aunt Alexandra doesn't consider the black Calpurnia to be a very good motherly figure to Jem and Scout; she disapproves of Scout being a tomboy and wants to make Scout into a southern belle (encouraging her to act more 'lady like').[2] This is the cause of many conflicts between Scout and Alexandra throughout the course of the novel. However, as the trial progresses, Scout comes to see how much her aunt cares for her father and what a strong woman she is. This is especially evidenced by a tea party when Scout is horrified by the racism displayed, and her aunt and Miss Maudie help her deal with her feelings. By the end of the book, it's clear that Alexandra cares very much for her niece and nephew, though she and Scout will probably never really get along.
Minor characters[edit]
John Hale "Uncle Jack" Finch[edit]
John Hale "Uncle Jack" Finch is Atticus' and Alexandra's younger brother. (He is about 40, which is 10 years younger than Atticus.) Jack smells like alcohol and something sweet, and is said that he and Alexandra have similar features. Jack is a childless doctor who can always make Scout and Jem laugh, and they adore him. He and Miss Maudie are close to the same age; he frequently teases her with marriage proposals, which she always declines.
Francis Hancock[edit]
Francis Hancock is the spoiled grandson of Aunt Alexandra. (The son of her son, Henry Hancock.) Every Christmas, Henry and his wife drop Francis at Finch's Landing, which is the only time Scout and Jem see him. Francis lives in Mobile, Alabama, and is a bit of a tattle-tale. He gets along well with Jem, but often spars with Scout. One Christmas, Francis calls Atticus a "nigger-lover," as well as insisting that he was ruining the family and the likes, which infuriates Scout and causes them to get into a fight. Francis lies about his role in it, telling Uncle Jack that Scout started it by calling him a whore lady, and Jack therefore punishes Scout. However, she explains the full story and charitably persuades her uncle not to punish Francis about it, but to let Atticus think they had been fighting about something else (although Atticus later discovers the truth). Francis is considered to be a cousin of Scout and Jem, due to their closeness in age, although he is biologically Scout's cousin-once-removed. He is 8 years old.
Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose[edit]
Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose is an elderly woman who lives near the Finch's. She is hated by the children, who run by her house to avoid her. Scout describes Mrs. Dubose as 'plain hell.' A virulent racist, she calls Atticus a "nigger-lover" to his children, and the upset Jem ravages Mrs. Dubose's camellias. As a punishment, Jem is forced to read to Mrs. Dubose each day for a month. Mrs. Dubose has a fit each time he reads - drooling, twitching, and more. When an alarm rings, Jem is allowed to leave. After a month and a week of reading, Jem is finally allowed to stop. Mrs. Dubose dies shortly thereafter. Atticus informs Jem that Mrs. Dubose was terminally ill and had become addicted to morphine. By reading to her, Jem had distracted her so that she could conquer her addiction and die free from painkillers. In thanks, she leaves him a candy box with a camellia flower in it. Jem disposes of the box in anger, but is later seen by Scout admiring the flower. Atticus tells Jem that Mrs. Dubose was the bravest person he ever knew, and he was trying to teach Jem the importance of bravery and true courage to endure anything when the situation is hopeless, as in her morphine addiction. After Atticus explained why Mrs. Dubose sent him the flower, Jem learned to admire it.
Judge John Taylor[edit]
Judge John Taylor is a white-haired old man with a reputation for running his court in an informal fashion and an enjoyment of singing and dipping tobacco. He is unimportant to the children until he presides over the Tom Robinson trial, in which he shows great distaste for the Ewells and shows great respect for Atticus. Due to his sympathies to Tom, Bob Ewell breaks into his house while his wife is at church. After the trial, Miss Maudie points out to the children that he had tried to help Tom by appointing Atticus to the case instead of Maxwell Green, the new, untried lawyer who usually received court appointed cases. Judge Taylor knew that Atticus was the only man who would have a chance at acquitting Tom, or at least would be able to keep the jury thinking for more than a few minutes.
Mr. Heck Tate[edit]
Mr. Heck Tate is a friend of Atticus and also the sheriff of Maycomb County. At the end of the novel he is the one who comes up with the story to protect Arthur "Boo" Radley from being subjected to unwanted attention after killing Bob Ewell to save Jem and Scout. He also indirectly forces Atticus to reveal his expertise with firearms (which Atticus had previously tried to conceal from his children) by asking him to shoot a rabid dog. Heck is a decent man who tries to protect the innocent from danger. Like Atticus, he seems to be one of the few in Maycomb County who is not prejudiced against the African-Americans. He is described as tall as Atticus but thinner, always wearing boots and boot-cut pants with a belt of bullets. He is a static character, holding onto his basic principles throughout the events of the story.
Mr. Braxton Bragg (B.B.) Underwood[edit]
Mr. Braxton Bragg (B.B.) Underwood is a news reporter and a friend of Atticus. He owns and also publishes The Maycomb Tribune. Being a racist, he disagrees with Atticus on principle. He also has a strong belief in justice, as exemplified when he defends Atticus from the Cunningham mob by having his double barrel shotgun loaded and ready to shoot them. He also demonstrates some humanity when he publishes a scathing editorial comparing the killing of Tom Robinson (a cripple) to "the senseless slaughter of songbirds by hunters and children".
Mr. Horace Gilmer[edit]
Mr. Horace Gilmer is a lawyer from Abbottsville, and is the prosecuting attorney in the Tom Robinson case. Mr. Gilmer is between the ages of forty and sixty. Mr. Gilmer has a slight cast with one eye, which he uses to his advantage in trial. Mr. Gilmer appeared to be racist in his harsh cross-examination of Tom Robinson, but it is hinted at that he is in fact going easy on Tom.
Dr. Reynolds[edit]
Dr. Reynolds is the Maycomb doctor. He is well known to Scout and Jem. Scout says that he "had brought Jem and me into the world, had led us through every childhood disease known to man including the time Jem fell out of the tree house, and he had never lost our friendship. Dr. Reynolds said that if we were boil-prone things would have been different..." (ch. 28). He inspects Jem's broken arm and Scout's minor bruises after the attack from Bob Ewell under the tree.
Dolphus Raymond[edit]
Dolphus Raymond is a white landowner who is jaded by the hypocrisy of the white society and prefers to live among black folks. In fact, he has children with a black woman. Dolphus pretends he is an alcoholic so that the people of Maycomb will have an excuse for his behavior, but in fact he only drinks Coca Cola out of a paper bag. When Dill and Scout discover that he is not a drunk, they are amazed. He shows Scout how sometimes you can pretend to be someone you're not so people will be more understanding of you.
Link Deas[edit]
Link Deas owns cotton fields and a store in Maycomb who employs Tom and later Helen because she does not get accepted by any other employers in the county due to Tom Robinson's legal troubles. He announces to the court (in defense of Tom) at one point in the trial that he hadn't “had a speck o’trouble outa him” even though Tom had been working for him for eight years, and gets sent out by Judge John Taylor for doing so. When Bob Ewell starts threatening Helen after the trial, Mr. Deas fiercely defends her and threatens several times to have Mr. Ewell arrested if he keeps bothering her. He is on Tom Robinson's side during the trial and remains loyal to the family afterwards.
Miss Caroline Fisher[edit]
Miss Caroline Fisher is Scout's first grade teacher and is new to Maycomb, Alabama and its ways. She attempts to teach the first grade class using a new system which she learned from taking certain college courses (Jem mistakenly refers to it as the "Dewey Decimal System", which is really how library books are organized.). She is upset by Scout's advanced reading capabilities and believes that Scout is receiving lessons from Atticus. In an effort to standardize the class, she forbids Scout from reading with her father. Atticus asks Scout to step into Miss Caroline's skin. However, he continues to allow Scout to read with him at night so long as she continues to go to school. Miss Caroline has good intentions but proves quite incompetent as a teacher. When Scout tells Miss Fisher that she shamed a student by giving him lunch money, she raps Scout's palms with a ruler (a punishment unheard of in Maycomb). She is also very sensitive and gets emotionally hurt quite easily, as seen when she cries after Burris Ewell yells at her, "Report and be damned to ye! Ain't no snot-nosed slut of a schoolteacher ever born c'n make me do nothin'! You ain't makin' me go nowhere, missus. You just remember that, you ain't makin' me go nowhere!" After the Burris Ewell incident, Miss Caroline is seldom seen and soon forgotten.
Reverend Sykes[edit]
Reverend Sykes is the reverend of the First Purchase M.E. African Church in Maycomb County. This is the church Tom Robinson attended. Reverend Sykes forces the congregation to donate 10 dollars for Tom Robinson's family since at the time, Tom's wife, Helen, was having trouble finding work. During the trial, when the courtroom was too packed for the children to find seats, Reverend Sykes lets the kids sit with him up in the colored balcony and even saves their seats for them. This is an example of how the black community respects the Finches.
Zeebo[edit]
Zeebo is Calpurnia's eldest son. He is one of just four people in First Purchase Church who can read, so he is the vocal leader, leading hymns in the Negro First Purchase Church by "lining," reading a line of verse and having the congregation repeat it. Calpurnia teaches Zeebo to read through the use of the Bible. He is also the garbage man of Maycomb, taking away dead Tim Johnson, the rabid dog. When a fellow church member, a woman named Lula, tries to make the children feel bad for attending church with his mother, Zeebo welcomes Scout and Jem with open arms. He is kind but very quiet.
Stephanie Crawford[edit]
Stephanie Crawford is the neighborhood gossip who claimed that she once saw Boo Radley from her bedroom standing outside of her cleaned window one night. Crawford is one of the first on the scene after a loud gunshot is heard behind the Radley house. Because she is the neighborhood gossip, it is unwise to think of anything that she says as true, because most of the time it is not true at all. She is a friend of Alexandra Finch. She lets Miss Maudie live with her when Miss Maudie's house burns down, supposedly in order to steal Miss Maudie's Lane cake recipe. She is thrilled to pass on gossip to the kids about Boo Radley. She witnessed Bob Ewell's threatening Atticus at the Post Office corner as she was returning from the local Jitney Jungle grocery store.
Miss Rachel Haverford[edit]
Miss Rachel Haverford is Dill's aunt and the Finch's next door neighbor. She drank neat whiskey heavily after seeing a rattlesnake coiled in her closet, on her washing, when she hung her negligee up. Her trademark line is "Doo Jesus!" and even though she can be very hard to deal with, she truly does love her nephew. Her family name, in the legends of Maycomb County, is synonymous with scatterbrain. Two of her relations murdered the community's blacksmith over one of their mares being wrongfully detained, were imprudent enough to have done so in the presence of witnesses, and then insisted that the blacksmith had it coming to him. They tried to urge the court to plead not guilty to first degree murder, but the court refused, and they were then hanged. This trial was Atticus' first case as a lawyer.
In the film, she's not a character and Miss Stephanie takes her place as Dill's aunt.
Helen Robinson[edit]
Helen Robinson is the wife of Tom Robinson. She is spoken about many times. She has 3 children. Employed by Link Deas following the death of her husband, she is repeatedly harassed by Bob Ewell when traveling to work. Upon learning of this, Deas threatens Ewell, forcing him to stop. She is an example of how one person's actions can have an effect on a lot of people and she elucidates the hardships that surround the Tom Robinson case.
Nathan Radley[edit]
Nathan Radley is the older brother of Arthur "Boo" Radley and another difficult character to understand in To Kill a Mockingbird. When the children try to catch a view of "Boo" late one night through a window, he shoots over their heads with a shotgun (albeit thinking he was aiming at a black person). Nathan also cements up the knothole in which Arthur leaves little gifts for the children. On the other hand, he helps Miss Maudie by saving some of her belongings when her house is on fire. He is more present than his brother, but equally mysterious.
Jessie[edit]
Jessie is Mrs. Dubose's black nurse. She is the woman who shoos the children out when Mrs. Dubose has her fits, and she seems to care enormously for Mrs. Dubose. When Jem is forced to stay reading to Mrs. Dubose, Jessie kindly leads Jem and Scout to the door when Mrs. Dubose's alarm goes off.
Burris Ewell[edit]
Burris Ewell is a son of Bob Ewell and a younger sibling of Mayella Ewell as well as the first antagonist of the novel. Burris is described as being chiefly antagonistic of Little Chuck Little and his teacher Miss Caroline Fisher. He comes to the first day of school, but departs just as everyone else in his family does. He has live lice in his hair. Burris also scared his teacher Caroline Fisher and behaves rudely when she tells him to go home, wash his hair, and come back clean the next day, but he refuses, explaining to her that Ewell children don't attend school. All they do is show up for the first day, get marked down on the register, and then they miss the entire school year until the first day of the next year. She later finds out and is explained to more carefully by the children in the class as she weeps because of Burris's rude behavior. His famous quote was, "Report and be damned to ye! Ain't no snot-nosed slut of a schoolteacher ever born c'n make me do nothin'! You ain't makin' me go nowhere, missus. You just remember that, you ain't makin' me go nowhere!" As of Scout's first year of school (the first grade), Burris has repeated the first grade three times.
Lula[edit]
Lula is an African-American lady with a dislike for white people. She doesn't like the idea of Calpurnia bringing Scout and Jem with her to church and tells her so but is overruled by the other congregants. According to James Zeebo, Calpurnia's son, Lula's said to be, "a troublemaker from way back, with fancy ideas and haughty ways." She's threatened with being "churched" by Reverend Sykes.
Mrs. Grace Merriweather[edit]
Mrs. Grace Merriweather is the producer of the pageant in which Scout plays a ham. She sips gin from Lydia E. Pinkham bottles, which is not so unusual, because her mother did the same thing. The Merriweather family was claimed to be very morbid. She says the "sinners" in the North are hypocrites for setting the Negroes free, but not inviting them to eat with them. She complains about her cooks and field hands moping after Tom Robinson's wrongful conviction. She adores J. Grimes Everett and constantly talks about the "poor Mrunas" in Africa and their "lack of family morality." She tells Everett that "the ladies of the Maycomb Alabama Methodist Episcopal Church South are behind him one hundred percent." She is mostly known for her devotion to the church and is widely held as the most devout lady in Maycomb; however, like many of her peers, she is very hypocritical and loves to gossip with all the other women.
Walter Cunningham, Jr.[edit]
Walter Cunningham, Jr. is a child who is almost as old as Jem but is in Scout's class. He is too poor to even pay off a 25-cent debt because the Great Depression hit his poor family hard. He is invited over to the Finch's house once, after engaging in a fight with Scout, where he covers up all of his dinner with molasses, much to Scout's vocal dismay. This teaches Scout a lesson in humility and compassion.
Walter Cunningham, Sr.[edit]
Walter Cunningham, Sr. is Walter Cunningham Jr.'s father [Citation needed]. He is only displayed twice, once at the beginning of the story when he has to pay off the debt to Atticus (Walter Cunningham Sr. was his client) by giving him firewood, vegetables and other supplies. The third night time, he leads the mob who comes to lynch Tom Robinson the night before the trial. Only when Scout comes and talks to him about his son does he reconsider and calls off the mob. Scout innocently shames him because Scout reminds him of all the things that Atticus has done for him and for Maycomb County. After the verdict is told in the trial, Atticus tells Jem that a Cunningham had changed his thoughts about Tom and pleaded that Tom was not guilty to the jury.
Little Chuck Little[edit]
Little Chuck Little is a student in Scout's first grade class who has the mindset of an adult. His real name is Charles. He is depicted as chiefly antagonistic of Burris Ewell. He is presented in the novel when Miss Caroline is frightened by Burris' lice. He warned Miss Caroline that if Burris wasn't released from class, he might try something that would put their classmates at risk. When Burris starts advancing on Little Chuck after his warning/veiled insult, Little Chuck's hand moved to his pocket (implying that he was going to pull out a knife) while saying, "Watch your step, Burris. I'd soon's kill you as look at you. Now go home." Scared by Little Chuck's bravery and his implied knife, Burris retreats. From this we see, through the narrative view of Scout, his gentlemanly attitude and how it calms Miss Caroline down. Little Chuck may be even more intelligent than originally meets the eye, as he easily could have been bluffing about the aforementioned implied knife to scare Burris into retreating.
Mr. Dick Avery[edit]
Mr. Dick Avery is an overweight neighbor who tells Jem and Scout that the weather only changes because of bad children like them. He is seen by them taking a leak in the street. After it snows, they build a snowman resembling him. Mr. Avery can also be seen in the story pushing a mattress out of a window when Ms. Maudie's house catches fire. The kids including Jem and Scout always waited for him to do something interesting. For instance one night he peed from his front porch in an impressive arch as said by Jem. Mr. Avery is also a neighborhood gossip like Miss Crawford.[3]
Miss Gates[edit]
Miss Gates is a third grade teacher at Scout's school who insists that America isn't prejudiced like Hitler's Germany. Despite this, Scout has heard her say that the blacks need to be taught a lesson after Tom's trial.
Eula May[edit]
Eula May is Maycomb's most prominent telephone operator. She sends out public announcements, invitations, and activates the fire alarm. She announced the closing of schools when it snowed and announced the rabid dog that entered Maycomb.
Cecil Jacobs[edit]
Cecil Jacobs is a huge bully to Scout and Jem at school. Scout almost gets into a fight with Cecil over the trial of Tom Robinson. Scout beats up Cecil Jacobs because he says Atticus is a "Nigger Lover." He gives a current event on 'Old Adolf Hitler', and later, frightens Scout and Jem on their way to the Halloween pageant. He and Scout then pair up at the carnival; at the pageant afterwards, Cecil was a cow. He hints that black people are not as good as white people while talking about Hitler during current events. He also tends to take jokes too far. However importantly he shows how prejudice is passed on from Parent to child.
Tim Johnson[edit]
Tim Johnson is a dog belonging to Harry Johnson (a character in the book who is mentioned once but is never seen). He is infected by rabies in chapter 10 and goes mad, putting everyone in the town at risk. Atticus is forced to shoot Tim Johnson before he reaches the Radley House or attacks anyone. When Atticus shoots the dog, his excellent marksmanship is revealed to Scout and Jem (his nickname used to be One-Shot Finch). His body is collected by Zeebo.
Simon Finch[edit]
Simon Finch is the founder of Finch's Landing. He is only brought up in the first chapter of the book. He is the ancestor of Atticus, Jem and Scout Finch. He is a Cornish Methodist apothecary, who was also a fur trader. He fled from religious persecution in England and sailed across the Atlantic to Philadelphia, and then Jamaica, before finally settling in Alabama. After returning to St. Stephens, where he was married, with one son, Welcome; and several daughters, he established the Finch homestead, Finch's Landing. He ended up dying rich, due to his medical practice.
Maxwell Green[edit]
Maxwell Green is the new lawyer in town. He usually takes Judge-assigned cases, but Judge Taylor assigned Tom Robinson's case to Atticus to give Tom Robinson a better chance.
Mr. X Billups[edit]
Mr. X Billups who is seen only once in the book, going to the trial, is described as a "funny man". X is his name, and not his initial. He was asked repeated times what his name was until he signed it. X was the name he had been given when he was born because his parents marked his birth certificate with an X instead of a name.
The Barber Sisters (Miss "Tutti" and Miss "Frutti")[edit]
The Barber Sisters (Miss Sarah, nicknamed "Tutti" and Miss Frances, nicknamed "Frutti") are maiden sisters who live in the only house in Maycomb with a cellar. They were originally from Clanton, Alabama; and are rumored to be Republicans. Besides their Yankee ways, both sisters are deaf (Tutti completely deaf; Frutti uses an ear trumpet), and had a Halloween prank pulled on them by some "wicked" schoolchildren (Scout claims she was not included) who put all of their furniture in their cellar.
Mrs. Farrow[edit]
Mrs. Farrow is a lady in the missionary society who visits the Finch house occasionally.
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "What Kids Are Reading: The Book Reading Habits of Students in American Schools", Renaissance Learning, Inc., 2008. Retrieved on July 11, 2008. See also "What Kids Are Reading: The Book Reading Habits of Students in American Schools, Renaissance Learning, Inc. 2010. Retrieved on May 1, 2011. where To Kill a Mockingbird appears at number 2.
2.Jump up ^ Lee, Harper (1960). To Kill a Mockingbird. United States of America: Warner Books. p. 81.
3.Jump up ^ http://www.bookrags.com/notes/tkm/CHR.htm
 


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To Kill a Mockingbird (film)
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To Kill a Mockingbird
To Kill a Mockingbird poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster

Directed by
Robert Mulligan
Produced by
Robert Mulligan
Alan J. Pakula
Screenplay by
Horton Foote
Based on
To Kill a Mockingbird
 by Harper Lee
Narrated by
Kim Stanley
Starring
Gregory Peck
Mary Badham
Phillip Alford
Music by
Elmer Bernstein
Cinematography
Russell Harlan
Editing by
Aaron Stell
Distributed by
Universal Pictures
Release dates
December 25, 1962
Running time
128 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$2 million[1]
Box office
$15,062,211[2]
To Kill a Mockingbird is a 1962 American drama adaptation of Harper Lee's novel of the same name, directed by Robert Mulligan. It stars Gregory Peck in the role of Atticus Finch and Mary Badham in the role of Scout.
The film, widely considered to be one of the greatest ever made, earned an overwhelmingly positive response from critics, and was a box office success as well, earning more than 10 times its budget. In 1995, the film was listed in the National Film Registry. It also ranks twenty-fifth on the American Film Institute's 10th anniversary list of the greatest American movies of all time. In 2003, AFI named Atticus Finch the greatest movie hero of the 20th century.
To Kill a Mockingbird marks the film debuts of Robert Duvall, William Windom, and Alice Ghostley.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Soundtrack
4 Critical response
5 Awards and honors 5.1 Academy Awards
5.2 Golden Globe Awards
5.3 Cannes Film Festival
6 Restoration
7 See also
8 References
9 External links

Plot[edit]
The film's young protagonists, Jean Louise "Scout" Finch (Mary Badham) and her brother Jem (Phillip Alford), live in the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the 1930s. The story covers three years, during which Scout and Jem undergo changes in their lives. They begin as innocent children, who spend their days happily playing games with each other and spying on Arthur "Boo" Radley (Robert Duvall), who has not been seen for many years by anybody as a result of never leaving his house and about whom many rumors circulate. Their widowed father, Atticus (Gregory Peck), is a town lawyer and has a strong belief that all people are to be treated fairly, to turn the other cheek, and to stand for what you believe. He also allows his children to call him by his first name. Early in the film, the children see their father accept hickory nuts, and other produce, from a Mr. Cunningham for legal work because the client has no money.[3] Through their father's work as a lawyer, Scout and Jem begin to learn of the racism and evil in their town, aggravated by poverty; they mature quickly as they are exposed to it.
The local judge appoints Atticus to defend a black man, Tom Robinson (Brock Peters), against an accusation of rape of a white teenaged girl, Mayella Ewell. Atticus accepts the case. Jem and Scout experience schoolyard taunts for their father's decision. Later, a lynch mob, led by Mr. Cunningham, tries to lynch Robinson over Atticus' objections. Scout, Jem and their friend, Dill, interrupt the confrontation. Scout, unaware of the mob's purpose, recognizes Cunningham as the man who paid her father in hickory nuts and tells him to say hello to his son, who is her schoolmate. Cunningham becomes embarrassed and the mob disperses. It is undisputed that Tom came to Mayella's home, at her request, to assist her with a chifforobe. It is also undisputed that Mayella showed signs of having been beaten around that time. Among Atticus' chief arguments, he points out that Tom is crippled in his left arm, and that the supposed rapist would have had to make extensive use of his left hand in assaulting Mayella before raping her. At the same time Atticus demonstrates that Mayella's father, Bob Ewell, is left handed, implying that he beat Mayella rather than Tom. Atticus also states that the girl had not even been examined by a doctor to check for signs of rape after the supposed assault. In his closing argument Atticus asks the all white, male jury to cast aside their prejudices and instead focus on Tom's obvious innocence. In taking the stand in his own defense, Tom testifies he assisted Mayella because he felt pity for her due to her circumstances. In a town where whites are viewed as superior to blacks, Tom's sympathy for Mayella dooms his case.
Atticus arrives home to find out that Tom has been killed by a deputy during Tom's transportation to prison. This deputy characterizes the event surrounding his death as an escape attempt. The deputy reported that Tom ran like a "crazy" man before he was shot. A short time later, Scout and Jem attend an evening Halloween pageant at their school. Scout wears a ham costume, portraying one of Maycomb county's products. During the pageant, Scout misplaces her dress and her shoes. Scout is forced to walk home without shoes in her ham costume. On their way home, Scout and Jem are attacked by an unidentified man who has been following them in the woods. Scout's costume, like an awkward suit of armor, protects her from the attack but restricts her movement and severely circumscribes her vision. Their attacker is thwarted and overcome by another unidentified man. Jem is knocked unconscious and Scout escapes unharmed in a brief but violent struggle. Scout escapes her costume in time to see a man carrying Jem home. Scout follows and finds Jem unconscious. Jem is later diagnosed with a broken arm. We learn from Sheriff Tate that the attacker was the vengeful Bob Ewell, the drunkard father of Mayella, the girl Tom Robinson allegedly raped.
The sheriff arrives to report that he has found Bob Ewell dead with a knife in his ribs. Scout notices Arthur "Boo" Radley standing in corner of the room and recognizes him as the person who came to their aid against Ewell in the woods. Atticus assumes Jem killed Ewell in self-defense. Sheriff Tate, however, believes that Boo has justifiably killed Ewell and tells Atticus that to drag the shy and reserved Boo into the spotlight for his heroism would be "a sin." To protect Boo, Sheriff Tate suggests the conclusion that Ewell "fell on his knife." Scout draws a startlingly precocious analogy to an earlier lesson from the film (hence its title) when she likens public recognition of Boo to killing a mockingbird. The film ends with Scout considering events from Boo's point of view, and Atticus watching over the unconscious Jem.
Cast[edit]
See also: List of characters from the 1960 novel To Kill a Mockingbird
Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch
Mary Badham as Jean Louise "Scout" Finch
Phillip Alford as Jeremy Atticus "Jem" Finch
Robert Duvall as Arthur "Boo" Radley
John Megna as Charles Baker "Dill" Harris
Alice Ghostley as Stephanie Crawford
Brock Peters as Tom Robinson
Frank Overton as Sheriff Heck Tate
Rosemary Murphy as Maude "Maudie" Atkinson
Ruth White as Mrs. Dubose
Estelle Evans as Calpurnia
Richard Hale as Nathan Radley
James K Anderson as Robert E. Lee "Bob" Ewell
Collin Wilcox as Mayella Violet Ewell
William Windom as Mr. Gilmer, District Attorney
Paul Fix as Judge John Taylor
Bill Walker as Reverend Sykes
David Crawford as David Robinson
Kim Hamilton as Helen Robinson (uncredited)
Dan White as Mob leader (uncredited)
Crahan Denton as Walter Cunningham, Sr.
Steven Charles Condit as Walter Cunningham, Jr. (uncredited)
Jester Hairston as Spence Robinson, Tom Robinson's father (uncredited)
Kim Stanley as adult Jean Louise "Scout" Finch (voice only, narrator — uncredited)
Robert Duvall and Rosemary Murphy are the last adult cast members still living. Kim Hamilton, who played Helen Robinson, was the film's last surviving African-American adult actor with a speaking role.[4]
Soundtrack[edit]

To Kill a Mockingbird

Soundtrack album by Elmer Bernstein

Released
1997
Recorded
August 1–2, 1996, City Halls, Glasgow
Label
Varèse Sarabande
All music composed by Elmer Bernstein; A re-recording has been performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra conducted by the composer.
1."Main Title" 3:21
2."Remember Mama" 1:08
3."Atticus Accepts The Case - Roll in the Tire" 2:06
4."Creepy Caper - Peek-A-Boo" 4:10
5."Ewell's Hatred" 3:33
6."Jem's Discovery" 3:47
7."Tree Treasure" 4:23
8."Lynch Mob" 3:04
9."Guilty Verdict" 3:10
10."Ewell Regret It" 2:11
11."Footsteps in the Dark" 2:07
12."Assault in the Shadows" 2:28
13."Boo Who" 3:00
14."End Title" 3:25
Critical response[edit]
According to Bosley Crowther:[5]

"Horton Foote's script and the direction of Mr. Mulligan may not penetrate that deeply, but they do allow Mr. Peck and little Miss Badham and Master Alford to portray delightful characters. Their charming enactments of a father and his children in that close relationship that can occur at only one brief period are worth all the footage of the film. Rosemary Murphy as a neighbor, Brock Peters as the Negro on trial and Frank Overton as a troubled sheriff are good as locality characters, too. James Anderson and Collin Wilcox as Southern bigots are almost caricatures. But those are minor shortcomings in a rewarding film."
Gregory Peck's performance became synonymous with the role and character of Atticus Finch. Alan J. Pakula remembered hearing from Peck when he was first approached with the role: "He called back immediately. No maybes. [...] I must say the man and the character he played were not unalike."[6] Peck later said in an interview that he was drawn to the role because the book reminded him of growing up in La Jolla, California.[7] "Hardly a day passes that I don't think how lucky I was to be cast in that film," Peck said in a 1997 interview. "I recently sat at a dinner next to a woman who saw it when she was 14 years old, and she said it changed her life. I hear things like that all the time."[8]
The 1962 softcover edition of the novel opens with the following: "The Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama reminds me of the California town I grew up in. The characters of the novel are like people I knew as a boy. I think perhaps the great appeal of the novel is that it reminds readers everywhere of a person or a town they have known. It is to me a universal story - moving, passionate and told with great humor and tenderness. Gregory Peck"
Harper Lee, in liner notes written for the re-release of the movie on DVD by Universal wrote: "When I learned that Gregory Peck would play Atticus Finch in the film production of To Kill A Mockingbird, I was of course delighted: here was a fine actor who had made great films – what more could a writer ask for? ...The years told me his secret. When he played Atticus Finch, he had played himself, and time has told all of us something more: when he played himself, he touched the world." [9]Upon Peck's death in 2003, Brock Peters, who played Tom Robinson in the film version, quoted Harper Lee at Peck's eulogy, saying, "Atticus Finch gave him an opportunity to play himself." Peters concluded his eulogy stating, "To my friend Gregory Peck, to my friend Atticus Finch, vaya con Dios."[10] Peters remembered the role of Tom Robinson when he recalled, "It certainly is one of my proudest achievements in life, one of the happiest participations in film or theater I have experienced."[11] Peters remained friends not only with Peck but with Mary Badham throughout his life.
Awards and honors[edit]
In 1995, To Kill a Mockingbird was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."[12] It is also Robert Duvall's big-screen debut, as the misunderstood recluse Boo Radley. Duvall was cast on the recommendation of screenwriter Horton Foote, who met him at Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City where Duvall starred in a 1957 production of Foote's play, The Midnight Caller.[13]
The American Film Institute named Atticus Finch the greatest movie hero of the 20th century.[14] Additionally, the AFI ranked the movie second on their 100 Years... 100 Cheers list, behind It's a Wonderful Life.[15] The film was ranked number 34 on AFI's list of the 100 greatest movies of all time, but moved up to number 25 on the 10th Anniversary list.[16] In June 2008, the AFI revealed its "Ten top Ten"—the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. To Kill a Mockingbird was acknowledged as the best film in the courtroom drama genre.[17]. In the 54 Best Legal Films of all-time[18], To Kill a Mockingbird finished in top place with 14 votes out of a possible 15[19].
In 2007, Hamilton was honored by the Harlem community for her part in the movie. She is the last surviving African-American adult who had a speaking part in the movie. When told of the award, she said, "I think it is terrific. I'm very pleased and very surprised."[20]
American Film Institute ListsAFI's 100 Years…100 Movies - #34
AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains: Atticus Finch - #1 Hero
AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes: "Miss Jean Louise, stand up. Your father's passing." - Nominated[21]
"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it. - Nominated[21]
AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores - #17
AFI's 100 Years…100 Cheers - #2
AFI's 100 Years…100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) - #25
AFI's 10 Top 10 - #1 Courtroom Drama
Academy Awards[edit]
The film won three Academy Awards out of the eight for which it was nominated. [22]
Academy Award for Best Actor — Gregory Peck (The award was presented to Peck by Sophia Loren)
Academy Award for Best Art Direction - Set Decoration, Black-and-White — (Henry Bumstead, Alexander Golitzen, and Oliver Emert)
Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay - Horton Foote
Other nominations were for Best Picture (Producer, Alan J. Pakula), Best Director (Robert Mulligan), Best Cinematography, Black-and-White (Russell Harlan), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Mary Badham), and Best Music, Score — Substantially Original (Elmer Bernstein) It's main competition was Lawrence of Arabia. It won the Oscar for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Score. The Longest Day claimed the award for Best Cinematography while Patty Duke was awarded Best Supporting Actress for her work in The Miracle Worker.
Golden Globe Awards[edit]
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama — Gregory Peck
Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score — Motion Picture — Elmer Bernstein
Golden Globe Award for Best Film Promoting International Understanding — To Kill a Mockingbird
Cannes Film Festival[edit]
The film was selected for the 1963 Cannes Film Festival in feature film category, winning the Gary Cooper Award.[23][24]
Restoration[edit]
The film was restored and released on Blu-ray and DVD in 2012 as part of the 100th anniversary of Universal Pictures.[25]
See also[edit]
La Joven (The Young One), the 1960 film by Luis Buñuel
List of To Kill a Mockingbird characters
Trial movies
References [edit]
1.Jump up ^ Box Office Information for To Kill a Mockingbird. IMDb. Retrieved June 13, 2013.
2.Jump up ^ Box Office Information for To Kill a Mockingbird. The Numbers. Retrieved June 13, 2013.
3.Jump up ^ http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/mocking/section2.rhtml
4.Jump up ^ "Harlem community honors 'Mockingbird' actress". Associated Press (USA Today). 2007-04-13. Retrieved 2013-10-13.
5.Jump up ^ Crowther, Bosley (February 15, 1963). "One Adult Omission in a Fine Film: 2 Superb Discoveries Add to Delight". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
6.Jump up ^ Nichols, Peter. "Time Can't Kill 'Mockingbird'; [Review]." New York Times: February 27, 1998. pg. E.1
7.Jump up ^ King, Susan. "How the Finch Stole Christmas; Q & A WITH GREGORY PECK." Los Angeles Times: December 22, 1997. pg. 1
8.Jump up ^ Bobbin, Jay. "Gregory Peck is Atticus Finch in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird." Birmingham News (Alabama): December 21, 1997 Pg. 1F.
9.Jump up ^ Universal Pictures Legacy Series DVD 2005
10.Jump up ^ Hoffman, Allison, Rubin, H. "Peck Memorial Honors Beloved Actor and Man; The longtime star is remembered for his integrity and constancy." Los Angeles Times: June 17, 2003. pg. B.1.
11.Jump up ^ Oliver, Myrna. "Obituaries; Brock Peters, 78; Stage, Screen, TV Actor Noted for Role in 'To Kill a Mockingbird'; " Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, Calif.: August 24, 2005. pg. B.8.
12.Jump up ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056592/awards
13.Jump up ^ Robert Duvall (actor), Gary Hertz (director) (2002-04-16). Miracles & Mercies (Documentary). West Hollywood, California: Blue Underground. Retrieved 2008-01-28.
14.Jump up ^ http://connect.afi.com/site/DocServer/handv100.pdf?docID=246
15.Jump up ^ http://connect.afi.com/site/DocServer/cheers100.pdf?docID=202
16.Jump up ^ http://connect.afi.com/site/DocServer/100Movies.pdf?docID=301
17.Jump up ^ "AFI's 10 Top 10". American Film Institute. 2008-06-17. Retrieved 2008-06-18.
18.Jump up ^ http://www.oklahomalegalgroup.com/oklahoma-criminal-defense/best-legal-movies-of-all-time
19.Jump up ^ http://www.oklahomalegalgroup.com/bestlegalmovies
20.Jump up ^ "Harlem community honors 'Mockingbird' actress" from the USA Today.
21.^ Jump up to: a b "AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes Nominees" (PDF). Retrieved 2013-06-13.
22.Jump up ^ "NY Times: To Kill a Mockingbird". NY Times. Retrieved 2008-12-24.
23.Jump up ^ "Festival de Cannes: To Kill a Mockingbird". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
24.Jump up ^ "1963 Cannes Film Festival". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2 October 2012.
25.Jump up ^ Appelo, Tim (2012-01-10). "Universal Celebrates 100th Birthday With New Logo and 13 Film Restorations". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2012-12-10.
External links[edit]
 Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: To Kill a Mockingbird (film)
Studying TKAM? Here are some study notes and themes.'
To Kill a Mockingbird at the Internet Movie Database
To Kill a Mockingbird at Box Office Mojo
To Kill A Mockingbird at the TCM Movie Database
Atticus Finch's closing argument in text and audio from AmericanRhetoric.com
To Kill A Mockingbird location and production notes


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Films directed by Robert Mulligan


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Fear Strikes Out (1957)
 

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The Rat Race (1960) ·
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War and Peace
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This article is about the Tolstoy novel. For other uses, see War and Peace (disambiguation).

War and Peace
Front page of War and Peace, first edition, 1869 (Russian)
Author
Leo Tolstoy
Original title
Война и миръ
Country
Russia
Language
Russian, with some French
Genre
Historical, Romance, War novel, philosophical
Publisher
The Russian Messenger (serial)

Publication date
 1869
Media type
Print (Hardback & Paperback) & Audio book
Pages
1,225 (first published edition)
War and Peace (Pre-reform Russian: «Война и миръ», Voyna i mir) is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in 1869. The work is epic in scale and is regarded as one of the most important works of world literature.[1][2][3] It is considered Tolstoy's finest literary achievement, along with his other major prose work Anna Karenina (1873–1877).
War and Peace delineates in graphic detail events surrounding the French invasion of Russia, and the impact of the Napoleonic era on Tsarist society, as seen through the eyes of five Russian aristocratic families. Portions of an earlier version of the novel, then known as The Year 1805,[4] were serialized in the magazine The Russian Messenger between 1865 and 1867. The novel was first published in its entirety in 1869.[5] Newsweek in 2009 ranked it first in its list of the Top 100 Books.[6] In 2003, the novel was listed at number 20 on the BBC's survey The Big Read.[7]
Tolstoy himself, somewhat enigmatically, said of War and Peace that it was "not a novel, even less is it a poem, and still less a historical chronicle". Large sections of the work, especially in the later chapters, are philosophical discussion rather than narrative.[8] He went on to elaborate that the best Russian literature does not conform to standard norms and hence hesitated to call War and Peace a novel. (Instead, Tolstoy regarded Anna Karenina as his first true novel.)


Contents  [hide]
1 Crafting the novel
2 Realism
3 Language 3.1 English and other translations
4 Background and historical context
5 Plot summary 5.1 Book/Volume One
5.2 Book/Volume Two
5.3 Book/Volume Three
5.4 Book/Volume Four
5.5 Epilogue in two parts
6 Principal characters in War and Peace
7 Reception
8 Full translations into English 8.1 Comparing translations
9 Adaptations 9.1 Film
9.2 Television
9.3 Opera
9.4 Theatre
9.5 Radio
9.6 Music
10 See also
11 References
12 External links

Crafting the novel[edit]



 Only known color photograph of the writer, taken at his Yasnaya Polyana estate in 1908 by Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky


 Tolstoy's notes from the ninth draft of War and Peace, 1864
War and Peace is well known as being one of the longest novels ever written, though not the longest. It is actually the seventh longest novel ever written in a Latin or Cyrillic based alphabet and is subdivided into four books or volumes, each with sub parts containing many chapters. It is 16th on Wikipedia's list of the world's longest novels.[9]
Tolstoy came up with the title, and some of his themes, from an 1861 work of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon: La Guerre et la Paix ('War and Peace' in French). Tolstoy had served in the Crimean War and written a series of short stories and novellas featuring scenes of war.
He began writing War and Peace in the year that he finally married and settled down at his country estate. The first half of the book was written under the name "1805".
During the writing of the second half, he read widely and acknowledged Schopenhauer as one of his main inspirations. However, Tolstoy developed his own views of history and the role of the individual within it.[10]
The first draft of War and Peace was completed in 1863. In 1865, the periodical Russkiy Vestnik published the first part of this early version under the title 1805. In the following year, it published more of the same early version. Tolstoy was dissatisfied with this version, although he allowed several parts of it to be published with a different ending in 1867, still under the same title "1805". He heavily rewrote the entire novel between 1866 and 1869.[5][10] Tolstoy's wife, Sophia Tolstaya, copied as many as seven separate complete manuscripts by hand before Tolstoy considered it again ready for publication.[10] The version that was published in Russkiy Vestnik had a very different ending from the version eventually published under the title War and Peace in 1869.
The completed novel was then called Voyna i mir (new style orthography; in English War and Peace).
The 1805 manuscript (sometimes referred to as "the original War and Peace") was re-edited and annotated in Russia in 1983 and since has been translated separately from the "known" version, to English, German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, Albanian, and Korean. The fact that so many versions of War and Peace survive make it one of the best insights into the mental processes of a great novelist.
Russians who had read the serialized version were anxious to acquire the complete first edition, which included epilogues, and it sold out almost immediately. The novel was translated almost immediately after publication into many other languages.
The novel can be generally classified as historical fiction. It contains elements present in many types of popular 18th and 19th century literature, especially the romance novel. War and Peace attains its literary status by transcending genres.
Tolstoy was instrumental in bringing a new kind of consciousness to the novel. His narrative structure is noted for its "god-like" ability to hover over and within events, but also in the way it swiftly and seamlessly portrayed a particular character's point of view. His use of visual detail is often cinematic in its scope, using the literary equivalents of panning, wide shots and close-ups, to give dramatic interest to battles and ballrooms alike. These devices, while not exclusive to Tolstoy, are part of the new style of the novel that arose in the mid-19th century and of which Tolstoy proved himself a master.[11]
Realism[edit]


 This section is written like a personal reflection or opinion essay rather than an encyclopedic description of the subject. Please help improve it by rewriting it in an encyclopedic style. (August 2013)
Tolstoy incorporated extensive historical research. He was also influenced by many other novels.[10] A veteran of the Crimean War, Tolstoy was quite critical of standard history, especially the standards of military history, in War and Peace. Tolstoy read all the standard histories available in Russian and French about the Napoleonic Wars and combined more traditional historical writing with the novel form. He explains at the start of the novel's third volume his own views on how history ought to be written. His aim was to blur the line between fiction and history, in order to get closer to the truth, as he states in Volume II.
The novel is set 60 years earlier than the time at which Tolstoy wrote it, "in the days of our grandfathers", as he puts it. He had spoken with people who had lived through war during the French invasion of Russia in 1812, so the book is also, in part, accurate ethnography fictionalized. He read letters, journals, autobiographical and biographical materials pertaining to Napoleon and the dozens of other historical characters in the novel. There are approximately 160 real persons named or referred to in War and Peace.[12]
Language[edit]



 Cover of War and Peace, Italian translation, 1899
Although Tolstoy wrote most of the book, including all the narration, in Russian, significant portions of dialogue (including its opening paragraph) are written in French with characters often switching between the two languages. This reflected 19th century Russian aristocracy, where French, a foreign tongue, was widely spoken and considered a language of prestige and more refined than Russian.[13] This came about from the historical influence throughout Europe of the powerful court of the Sun King, Louis XIV of France, leading to members of the Russian aristocracy being less competent in speaking their mother tongue. In War and Peace, for example, Julie Karagina, Princess Marya's friend, has to take Russian lessons in order to master her native language.
It has been suggested[14] that it is a deliberate literary device employed by Tolstoy, to use French to portray artifice and insincerity as the language of the theater and deceit while Russian emerges as a language of sincerity, honesty and seriousness. It displays slight irony that as Pierre and others socialize and use French phrases, they will be attacked by legions of Bonapartists in a very short time. It is sometimes used in satire against Napoleon. In the novel, when Pierre proposes to Hélène, he speaks to her in French—Je vous aime ("I love you"). When the marriage later emerges to be a sham, Pierre blames those French words.
The use of French diminishes as the book progresses and the wars with the French intensify, culminating in the capture and eventual burning of Moscow. The progressive elimination of French from the text is a means of demonstrating that Russia has freed itself from foreign cultural domination.[14] It is also, at the level of plot development, a way of showing that a once-admired and friendly nation, France, has turned into an enemy. By midway through the book, several of the Russian aristocracy, whose command of French is far better than their command of Russian, are anxious to find Russian tutors for themselves.
English and other translations[edit]
War and Peace has been translated into many languages. It has been translated into English on several occasions, starting with Clara Bell working from a French translation. The translators Constance Garnett and Louise and Aylmer Maude knew Tolstoy personally. Translations have to deal with Tolstoy’s often peculiar syntax and his fondness for repetitions. About 2% of War and Peace is in French; Tolstoy removed the French in a revised 1873 edition, only to restore it later.[14] Most translators follow Garnett retaining some French, Briggs uses no French, while Pevear-Volokhonsky and Amy Mandelker's revision of the Maude translation both retain the French fully.[14] (For a list of translations see below)
Background and historical context[edit]



In 1812 by the Russian artist Illarion Pryanishnikov
The novel begins in the year 1805 during the reign of Tsar Alexander I and leads up to the 1812 French invasion of Russia by Napoleon. The era of Catherine the Great (1762–1796), when the royal court in Paris was the centre of western European civilization,[15] is still fresh in the minds of older people. Catherine, fluent in French and wishing to reshape Russia into a great European nation, made French the language of her royal court. For the next one hundred years, it became a social requirement for members of the Russian nobility to speak French and understand French culture.[15] This historical and cultural context in the aristocracy is reflected in War and Peace. Catherine's grandson, Alexander I, came to the throne in 1801 at the age of 24. In the novel, his mother, Marya Feodorovna, is the most powerful woman in the Russian court.
War and Peace tells the story of five aristocratic families—the Bezukhovs, the Bolkonskys, the Rostovs, the Kuragins and the Drubetskoys—and the entanglements of their personal lives with the then contemporary history of 1805 to 1813, principally Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812. The Bezukhovs, while very rich, are a fragmented family as the old Count, Kirill Vladimirovich, has fathered dozens of illegitimate sons. The Bolkonskys are an old established and wealthy family based at Bald Hills. Old Prince Bolkonsky, Nikolai Andreevich, served as a general under Catherine the Great, in earlier wars. The Moscow Rostovs have many estates, but never enough cash. They are a closely knit, loving family who live for the moment regardless of their financial situation. The Kuragin family has three children, who are all of questionable character. The Drubetskoy family is of impoverished nobility, and consists of an elderly mother and her only son, Boris, whom she wishes to push up the career ladder.
Tolstoy spent years researching and rewriting the book. He worked from primary source materials (interviews and other documents), as well as from history books, philosophy texts and other historical novels.[10] Tolstoy also used a great deal of his own experience in the Crimean War to bring vivid detail and first-hand accounts of how the Russian army was structured.[16]
The standard Russian text of War and Peace is divided into four books (fifteen parts) and an epilogue in two parts – one mainly narrative, the other thematic. While roughly the first half of the novel is concerned strictly with the fictional characters, the later parts, as well as one of the work's two epilogues, increasingly consist of essays about the nature of war, power, history, and historiography. Tolstoy interspersed these essays into the story in a way that defies previous fictional convention. Certain abridged versions remove these essays entirely, while others, published even during Tolstoy's life, simply moved these essays into an appendix.
Plot summary[edit]
War and Peace has a large cast of characters, the majority of whom are introduced in the first book. Some are actual historical figures, such as Napoleon and Alexander I. While the scope of the novel is vast, it is centered around five aristocratic families. The plot and the interactions of the characters take place in the era surrounding the 1812 French invasion of Russia during the Napoleonic wars.[17]
Book/Volume One[edit]



 The Empress Dowager, Maria Feodorovna, mother of reigning Tsar Alexander I, is the most powerful woman in the Russian royal court, in the historical setting of the novel.
The novel begins in July 1805 in Saint Petersburg, at a soirée given by Anna Pavlovna Scherer—the maid of honour and confidante to the queen mother Maria Feodorovna. Many of the main characters and aristocratic families in the novel are introduced as they enter Anna Pavlovna's salon. Pierre (Pyotr Kirilovich) Bezukhov is the illegitimate son of a wealthy count, an elderly man who is dying after a series of strokes. Pierre is about to become embroiled in a struggle for his inheritance. Educated abroad at his father's expense following his mother's death, Pierre is essentially kindhearted, but socially awkward, and owing in part to his open, benevolent nature, finds it difficult to integrate into Petersburg society. It is known to everyone at the soirée that Pierre is his father's favorite of all the old count’s illegitimate children.
Also attending the soireé is Pierre's friend, the intelligent and sardonic Prince Andrei Nikolayevich Bolkonsky, husband of Lise, the charming society favourite. Finding Petersburg society unctuous and disillusioned with married life after discovering his wife is empty and superficial, Prince Andrei makes the fateful choice to be an aide-de-camp to Prince Mikhail Ilarionovich Kutuzov in the coming war against Napoleon.
The plot moves to Moscow, Russia's ancient city and former capital, contrasting its provincial, more Russian ways to the highly mannered society of Petersburg. The Rostov family are introduced. Count Ilya Andreyevich Rostov has four adolescent children. Thirteen-year-old Natasha (Natalia Ilyinichna) believes herself in love with Boris Drubetskoy, a disciplined young man who is about to join the army as an officer. Twenty-year-old Nikolai Ilyich pledges his love to Sonya (Sofia Alexandrovna), his fifteen-year-old cousin, an orphan who has been brought up by the Rostovs. The eldest child of the Rostov family, Vera Ilyinichna, is cold and somewhat haughty but has a good prospective marriage in a Russian-German officer, Adolf Karlovich Berg. Petya (Pyotr Ilyich) is nine and the youngest of the Rostov family; like his brother, he is impetuous and eager to join the army when of age. The heads of the family, Count Ilya Rostov and Countess Natalya Rostova, are an affectionate couple but forever worried about their disordered finances.
At Bald Hills, the Bolkonskys' country estate, Prince Andrei departs for war and leaves his terrified, pregnant wife Lise with his eccentric father Prince Nikolai Andreyevich Bolkonsky and devoutly religious sister Maria Nikolayevna Bolkonskaya.
The second part opens with descriptions of the impending Russian-French war preparations. At the Schöngrabern engagement, Nikolai Rostov, who is now conscripted as ensign in a squadron of hussars, has his first taste of battle. He meets Prince Andrei, whom he insults in a fit of impetuousness. Even more than most young soldiers, he is deeply attracted by Tsar Alexander's charisma. Nikolai gambles and socializes with his officer, Vasily Dmitrich Denisov, and befriends the ruthless, and perhaps, psychopathic Fyodor Ivanovich Dolokhov.
Book/Volume Two[edit]



 Scene in Red Square, Moscow, 1801. Oil on canvas by Fedor Yakovlevich Alekseev.
Book Two begins with Nikolai Rostov briefly returning on home leave to Moscow. Nikolai finds the Rostov family facing financial ruin due to poor estate management. He spends an eventful winter at home, accompanied by his friend Denisov, his officer from the Pavlograd Regiment in which he serves. Natasha has blossomed into a beautiful young girl. Denisov falls in love with her, proposes marriage but is rejected. Although his mother pleads with Nikolai to find himself a good financial prospect in marriage, Nikolai refuses to accede to his mother's request. He promises to marry his childhood sweetheart, the dowry-less Sonya.
Pierre Bezukhov, upon finally receiving his massive inheritance, is suddenly transformed from a bumbling young man into the richest and most eligible bachelor in the Russian Empire. Despite rationally knowing that it is wrong, he is convinced into marriage with Prince Kuragin's beautiful and immoral daughter Hélène (Elena Vasilyevna Kuragina), to whom he is superficially attracted. Hélène, who is rumoured to be involved in an incestuous affair with her brother, the equally charming and immoral Anatol, tells Pierre that she will never have children with him. Hélène is rumoured to have an affair with Dolokhov, who mocks Pierre in public. Pierre loses his temper and challenges Dolokhov, a seasoned dueller and ruthless killer, to a duel. Unexpectedly, Pierre wounds Dolokhov. Hélène denies her affair, but Pierre is convinced of her guilt and, after almost being violent to her, leaves her. In his moral and spiritual confusion, Pierre joins the Freemasons, and becomes embroiled in Masonic internal politics. Much of Book Two concerns his struggles with his passions and his spiritual conflicts to be a better man. Now a rich aristocrat, he abandons his former carefree behavior and enters upon a philosophical quest particular to Tolstoy: how should one live a moral life in an ethically imperfect world? The question continually baffles and confuses Pierre. He attempts to liberate his serfs, but ultimately achieves nothing of note.
Pierre is vividly contrasted with the intelligent and ambitious Prince Andrei Bolkonsky. At the Battle of Austerlitz, Andrei is inspired by a vision of glory to lead a charge of a straggling army. He suffers a near fatal artillery wound. In the face of death, Andrei realizes all his former ambitions are pointless and his former hero, Napoleon (who rescues him in a horseback excursion to the battlefield), is apparently as vain as himself.
Prince Andrei recovers from his injuries in a military hospital and returns home, only to find his wife Lise dying in childbirth. He is stricken by his guilty conscience for not treating Lise better when she was alive, and is haunted by the pitiful expression on his dead wife's face. His child, Nikolenka, survives.
Burdened with nihilistic disillusionment, Prince Andrei does not return to the army but chooses to remain on his estate, working on a project that would codify military behavior to solve problems of disorganization responsible for the loss of life on the Russian side. Pierre visits him and brings new questions: where is God in this amoral world? Pierre is interested in panentheism and the possibility of an afterlife.
Pierre's estranged wife, Hélène, begs him to take her back, and against his better judgment and in trying to abide by the Freemason laws of forgiveness, he does. Despite her vapid shallowness, Hélène establishes herself as an influential hostess in Petersburg society.
Prince Andrei feels impelled to take his newly written military notions to Petersburg, naively expecting to influence either the Emperor himself or those close to him. Young Natasha, also in Petersburg, is caught up in the excitement of dressing for her first grand ball, where she meets Prince Andrei and briefly reinvigorates him with her vivacious charm. Andrei believes he has found purpose in life again and, after paying the Rostovs several visits, proposes marriage to Natasha. However, old Prince Bolkonsky, Andrei's father, dislikes the Rostovs, opposes the marriage, and insists on a year's delay. Prince Andrei leaves to recuperate from his wounds abroad, leaving Natasha initially distraught. She soon recovers her spirits, however, and Count Rostov takes her and Sonya to spend some time with a friend in Moscow.
Natasha visits the Moscow opera, where she meets Hélène and her brother Anatol. Anatol has since married a Polish woman whom he has abandoned in Poland. He is very attracted to Natasha and is determined to seduce her. Hélène and Anatol conspire together to accomplish this plan. Anatol kisses Natasha and writes her passionate letters, eventually establishing plans to elope. Natasha is convinced that she loves Anatol and writes to Princess Maria, Andrei's sister, breaking off her engagement. At the last moment, Sonya discovers her plans to elope and foils them. Pierre is initially horrified by Natasha's behavior, but realizes he has fallen in love with her. During the time when the Great Comet of 1811–2 streaks the sky, life appears to begin anew for Pierre.
Prince Andrei accepts coldly Natasha's breaking of the engagement. He tells Pierre that his pride will not allow him to renew his proposal. Ashamed, Natasha makes a suicide attempt and is left seriously ill.
Book/Volume Three[edit]



 The Battle of Borodino, fought on September 7, 1812 and involving more than 250,000 troops and 70,000 casualties was a pivotal turning point in Napoleon's failed campaign to take Russia. It is vividly depicted in great detail through the plot and characters in War and Peace.
 Painting by Louis-François, Baron Lejeune, 1822.
With the help of her family, especially Sonya, and the stirrings of religious faith, Natasha manages to persevere in Moscow through this dark period. Meanwhile, the whole of Russia is affected by the coming confrontation between Napoleon's troops and the Russian army. Pierre convinces himself through gematria that Napoleon is the Antichrist of the Book of Revelation. Old prince Bolkonsky dies of a stroke while trying to protect his estate from French marauders. No organized help from any Russian army seems available to the Bolkonskys, but Nikolai Rostov turns up at their estate in time to help put down an incipient peasant revolt. He finds himself attracted to Princess Maria, but remembers his promise to Sonya.
Back in Moscow, the war-obsessed Petya manages to snatch a loose piece of the Tsar's biscuit outside the Cathedral of the Assumption; he finally convinces his parents to allow him to enlist.
Napoleon himself is a main character in this section of the novel and is presented in vivid detail, as both a thinker and would-be strategist. His toilette and his customary attitudes and traits of mind are depicted in detail. Also described are the well-organized force of over 400,000 French Army (only 140,000 of them actually French-speaking) which marches quickly through the Russian countryside in the late summer and reaches the outskirts of the city of Smolensk. Pierre decides to leave Moscow and go to watch the Battle of Borodino from a vantage point next to a Russian artillery crew. After watching for a time, he begins to join in carrying ammunition. In the midst of the turmoil he experiences firsthand the death and destruction of war; Eugène's artillery continues to pound Russian support columns, while Marshals Ney and Davout set up a crossfire with artillery positioned on the Semyonovskaya heights. The battle becomes a hideous slaughter for both armies and ends in a standoff. The Russians, however, have won a moral victory by standing up to Napoleon's reputedly invincible army. For strategic reasons and having suffered grievous losses, the Russian army withdraws the next day, allowing Napoleon to march on to Moscow. Among the casualties are Anatol Kuragin and Prince Andrei. Anatol loses a leg, and Andrei suffers a grenade wound in the abdomen. Both are reported dead, but their families are in such disarray that no one can be notified.
The Rostovs have waited until the last minute to abandon Moscow, even after it is clear that Kutuzov has retreated past Moscow and Muscovites are being given contradictory, often propagandistic, instructions on how to either flee or fight. Count Rostopchin is publishing posters, rousing the citizens to put their faith in religious icons, while at the same time urging them to fight with pitchforks if necessary. Before fleeing himself, he gives orders to burn the city. The Rostovs have a difficult time deciding what to take with them, but in the end, Natasha convinces them to load their carts with the wounded and dying from the Battle of Borodino. Unknown to Natasha, Prince Andrei is amongst the wounded.
When Napoleon's Grand Army finally occupies an abandoned and burning Moscow, Pierre takes off on a quixotic mission to assassinate Napoleon. He becomes an anonymous man in all the chaos, shedding his responsibilities by wearing peasant clothes and shunning his duties and lifestyle. The only people he sees while in this garb are Natasha and some of her family, as they depart Moscow. Natasha recognizes and smiles at him, and he in turn realizes the full scope of his love for her.
Pierre saves the life of a French officer who fought at Borodino, yet is taken prisoner by the retreating French during his attempted assassination of Napoleon, after saving a woman from being raped by soldiers in the French Army.
Book/Volume Four[edit]



 Napoleon's retreat from Moscow. Painting by Adolf Northern (1828–1876)
Pierre becomes friends with a fellow prisoner, Platon Karataev, a peasant with a saintly demeanor, who is incapable of malice. In Karataev, Pierre finally finds what he has been seeking: an honest person of integrity (unlike the aristocrats of Petersburg society) who is utterly without pretense. Pierre discovers meaning in life simply by living and interacting with him. After witnessing French soldiers sacking Moscow and shooting Russian civilians arbitrarily, Pierre is forced to march with the Grand Army during its disastrous retreat from Moscow in the harsh Russian winter. After months of trial and tribulation—during which the fever-plagued Karataev is shot by the French—Pierre is finally freed by a Russian raiding party, after a small skirmish with the French that sees the young Petya Rostov killed in action.
Meanwhile, Andrei, wounded during Napoleon's invasion, has been taken in as a casualty and cared for by the Rostovs, fleeing from Moscow to Yaroslavl. He is reunited with Natasha and his sister Maria before the end of the war. Having lost all will to live, he forgives Natasha in a last act before dying.
As the novel draws to a close, Pierre's wife Hélène dies from an overdose of abortion medication (Tolstoy does not state it explicitly but the euphemism he uses is unambiguous). Pierre is reunited with Natasha, while the victorious Russians rebuild Moscow. Natasha speaks of Prince Andrei's death and Pierre of Karataev's. Both are aware of a growing bond between them in their bereavement. With the help of Princess Maria, Pierre finds love at last and, revealing his love after being released by his former wife's death, marries Natasha.
Epilogue in two parts[edit]
The first part of the epilogue begins with the wedding of Pierre and Natasha in 1813. It is the last happy event for the Rostov family, which is undergoing a transition. Count Rostov dies soon after, leaving his eldest son Nikolai to take charge of the debt-ridden estate.
Nikolai finds himself with the task of maintaining the family on the verge of bankruptcy. His abhorrence at the idea of marrying for wealth almost gets in his way, but finally he marries the now-rich Maria Bolkonskaya and in so doing also saves his family from financial ruin.
Nikolai and Maria then move to Bald Hills with his mother and Sonya, whom he supports for the rest of their life. Buoyed by his wife's fortune, Nikolai pays off all his family's debts. They also raise Prince Andrei's orphaned son, Nikolai Andreyevich (Nikolenka) Bolkonsky.
As in all good marriages, there are misunderstandings, but the couples — Pierre and Natasha, Nikolai and Maria — remain devoted to their spouses. Pierre and Natasha visit Bald Hills in 1820, much to the jubilation of everyone concerned. There is a hint in the closing chapters that the idealistic, boyish Nikolenka and Pierre would both become part of the Decembrist Uprising. The first epilogue concludes with Nikolenka promising he would do something with which even his late father "would be satisfied..." (presumably as a revolutionary in the Decembrist revolt).
The second part of the epilogue contains Tolstoy's critique of all existing forms of mainstream history. The 19th-century Great Man Theory claims that historical events are the result of the actions of "heroes" and other great individuals, Tolstoy argues that this is impossible because of how rarely these actions result in great historical events. Rather, he argues, great historical events are the result of many smaller events driven by the thousands of individuals involved (he compares this to Calculus, and the sum of infinitesimals). He then goes on to argue that these smaller events are the result of an inverse relationship between necessity and free-will, necessity being based on reason and therefore explainable by historical analysis, and free-will being based on "consciousness" and therefore inherently unpredictable.
Principal characters in War and Peace[edit]
Main article: List of characters in War and Peace



War and Peace simple family tree


War and Peace detailed family tree


 Natasha Rostova by Elisabeth BohmCount Pyotr Kirillovich (Pierre) Bezukhov: The large-bodied, ungainly, and socially awkward illegitimate son of an old Russian grandee. Pierre, educated abroad, returns to Russia as a misfit. His unexpected inheritance of a large fortune makes him socially desirable. Pierre is the central character and often a voice for Tolstoy's own beliefs or struggles.
Prince Andrey Nikolayevich Bolkonsky: A strong but skeptical, thoughtful and philosophical aide-de-camp in the Napoleonic Wars.
Princess Maria Nikolayevna Bolkonskaya: Sister of Prince Andrew, Princess Maria is a pious woman whose eccentric father attempted to give her a good education. The caring, nurturing nature of her large eyes in her otherwise thin and plain face are frequently mentioned.
Count Ilya Andreyevich Rostov: The pater-familias of the Rostov family; terrible with finances, generous to a fault.
Countess Natalya Rostova: Wife of Count Ilya Rostov, mother of the four Rostov children.
Countess Natalya Ilyinichna (Natasha) Rostova: A central character, introduced as "not pretty but full of life" and a romantic young girl, although impulsive and highly strung, she evolves through trials and suffering and eventually finds happiness. She is an accomplished singer and dancer.
Count Nikolai Ilyich (Nikolenka) Rostov: An hussar, the beloved eldest son of the Rostov family.
Sofia Alexandrovna (Sonya) Rostova: Orphaned cousin of Vera, Nikolai, Natasha, and Petya Rostov.
Countess Vera Ilyinichna Rostova: Eldest of the Rostov children, she marries the German career soldier, Berg.
Pyotr Ilyich (Petya) Rostov: Youngest of the Rostov children.
Prince Vasily Sergeyevich Kuragin: A ruthless man who is determined to marry his children well, despite having doubts about the character of some of them.
Princess Elena Vasilyevna (Hélène) Kuragin: A beautiful and sexually alluring woman who has many affairs, including (it is rumoured) with her brother Anatole.
Prince Anatole Vasilyevich Kuragin: Hélène's brother and a very handsome and amoral pleasure seeker who is secretly married yet tries to elope with Natasha Rostova.
Prince Ippolit Vasilyevich: The eldest and perhaps most dim-witted of the Kuragin children.
Prince Boris Drubetskoy: A poor but aristocratic young man driven by ambition, even at the expense of his friends and benefactors, who marries for money, rather than love, an heiress, Julie Karagina.
Princess Anna Mihalovna Drubetskaya: The mother of Boris.
Fyodor Ivanovich Dolokhov: A cold, almost psychopathic officer, he ruins Nikolai Rostov by luring him into an outrageous gambling debt (by which he, Dolokhov, profits), he only shows love to his doting mother.
Adolf Karlovich Berg: A young Russian officer, who desires to be just like everyone else.
Anna Pavlovna Sherer: Also known as Annette, she is the hostess of the salon that is the site of much of the novel's action in Petersburg.
Maria Dmitryevna Akhrosimova: An older Moscow society lady, she is an elegant dancer and trend-setter, despite her age and size.
Amalia Evgenyevna Bourienne: A French woman who lives with the Bolkonskys, primarily as Princess Marya's companion.
Vasily Dmitrich Denisov: Nikolai Rostov's friend and brother officer, who proposes to Natasha.
Platon Karataev: The archetypal good Russian peasant, whom Pierre meets in the prisoner of war camp.
Napoleon I of France: the Great Man, whose fate is detailed in the book.
General Mikhail Ilarionovich Kutuzov: Russian commander-in-chief.
Osip Bazdeyev: the Freemason who interests Pierre in his mysterious group, starting a lengthy subplot.[citation needed]
Tsar Alexander I of Russia: He signed a peace treaty with Napoleon in 1807 and then went to war with him.
Many of Tolstoy's characters in War and Peace were based on real-life people known to Tolstoy himself. His grandparents and their friends were the models for many of the main characters, his great-grandparents would have been of the generation of Prince Vassily or Count Ilya Rostov. Some of the characters, obviously, are actual historic figures.
Reception[edit]
The novel which has made its author "the true lion of the Russian literature" (according to Ivan Goncharov)[18][19] upon its publication enjoyed great success with the reading public and spawned dozens of reviews and analytical essays in the press, some of which (by Pisarev, Annenkov, Dragomirov and Strakhov) formed the basis for Tolstoy scholars' later research.[19] Yet the Russian press's initial response to the novel was muted, most critics feeling bewildered by this mammoth work they couldn’t decide how to classify. The liberal newspaper Golos (The Voice, April 3, #93, 1865) was one of the first to react. Its anonymous reviewer posed the question which was later repeated by many others: "What could this possibly be? What kind of genre are we supposed to file it to?.. Where is fiction in it, and where is real history?"[19]



 Leonid Pasternak's 1893 illustration to War and Peace".
Writer and critic Nikolai Akhsharumov, writing in Vsemirny Trud (#6, 1867) suggested that War and Peace was "neither a chronicle, nor a historical novel", but a genre merger, this ambiguity never undermining its immense value. Pavel Annenkov, who praised the novel too, was equally vague when trying to classify it. "The cultural history of one large section of our society, the political and social panorama of it in the beginning of the current century," was his suggestion. "It is the [social] epic, the history novel and the vast picture of the whole nation's life," wrote Ivan Turgenev in his bid to define War and Peace in the foreword for his French translation of "The Two Hussars" (published in Paris by Le Temps in 1875).
In general, the literary left received coldly the novel which, as they saw it, was totally devoid of social critique and keen on the idea of national unity. The major fault with the novel, being, as they saw it, "author's inability to portray a new kind of revolutionary intelligentsia in his novel," as critic Varfoomey Zaytsev put it.[20] Articles by D.Minayev, V.Bervi-Flerovsky and N.Shelgunov in Delo magazine characterized the novel as "lacking realism", showing its characters as "cruel and rough", "mentally stoned", "morally depraved" and promoting "the philosophy of stagnation". Still, Mikhail Saltykov-Schedrin, who's never expressed his opinion of the novel publicly, in the private conversation was reported to have expressed delight with "how strongly this Count has stung our higher society".[21] Dmitry Pisarev in his unfinished article "Russian Gentry of Old" (Staroye barstvo, Otechestvennye Zapiski, #2, 1868) while praising Tolstoy's realism in portraying members of high society, still was unhappy with the way the author, as he saw it, 'idealized' the old nobility, expressing "unconscious and quite natural tenderness towards" the Russian dvoryanstvo. On the opposite front, the conservative press and "patriotic" authors (A.S.Norov and P.A.Vyazemsky among them) were accusing Tolstoy of consciously distorting the 1812 history, desecrating the "patriotic feelings of our fathers" and ridiculing dvoryanstvo.[19]
One of the first comprehensive articles on the novel was that of Pavel Annenkov, published in #2, 1868 issue of Vestnik Evropy. The critic praised Tolstoy's masterful portrayal of man at war, marveled at the complexity of the whole composition, organically merging historical facts and fiction. "The dazzling side of the novel", according to Annenkov, was "the natural simplicity with which [the author] transports the worldly affairs and big social events down to the level of a character who witnesses them." Annekov thought the historical gallery of the novel was incomplete with the two "great raznotchintsys", Speransky and Arakcheev, and deplored the fact that the author stopped at introducing to the novel "this relatively rough but original element". In the end the critic called the novel "the whole epoch in the Russian fiction".[19]
Slavophiles declared Tolstoy their "bogatyr" and pronounced War and Peace "the Bible of the new national idea". Several articles on War and Peace were published in 1869–1870 in Zarya magazine by Nikolai Strakhov. "War and Peace is the work of genius, equal to everything that the Russian literature has produced before," he pronounced in the first, samller essay. "It is now quite clear that from 1868 when the War and Peace was published the very essence of what we call Russian literature has become quite different, acquired the new form and meaning," the critic continued later. Strakhov was the first critic in Russia who declared Tolstoy's novel to be a masterpiece of level previously unknown in Russian literature. Still, being a true Slavophile, he could not fail to see the novel as promoting the major Slavophiliac ideas of "meek Russian character'ss supremacy over the rapacious European kind" (using Apollon Grigoriev's formula). Years later, in 1878, discussing Strakhov's own book The World as a Whole, Tolstoy criticized both Grigoriev's concept (of "Russian meekness vs. Western bestiality") and Strakhov's interpretation of it.[22]



Battle of Schöngrabern by K.Bujnitsky
Among the reviewers were military men and authors specializing in the war literature. Most assessed highly the artfulness and realism of Tolstoy's battle scenes. N.Lachinov, a member of the Russky Invalid newspaper stuff (#69, April 10, 1868) called the Battle of Schöngrabern scenes "bearing the highest degree of historical and artistic truthfulness" and totally agreed with the author's view on the Battle of Borodino which some of his opponents were disputing. The army general and respected military writer Mikhail Dragomirov in an article published in Oruzheiny Sbornik (The Military Almanac, 1868-1870), while disputing some of Tolstoy's ideas concerning the "spontaneity" of wars and the role of commander in battles, advised all the Russian Army officers to use War and Peace as their desk book, describing its battle scenes as "incomparable" and "serving for an ideal manual to every textbook on theories of military art."[19]
Unlike professional literary critics, most prominent Russian writers of the time supported the novel wholeheartedly. Goncharov, Turgenev, Leskov, Dostoyevsky and Fet have all gone on record as declaring War and Peace the masterpiece of the Russian literature. Ivan Goncharov in a July 17, 1878, letter to Pyotr Ganzen advised him to chose for translating into Danish War and Peace, adding: "This is positively what might be called a Russian Ilyad. Embracing the whole epoch, it is the grandiose literary event, showcasing the gallery of great men painted by a lively brush of the great master... This is one of the most, if not the most profound literary work ever.[23] In 1879, unhappy with Ganzen having chosen Anna Karenina to start with, Goncharov insisted: "War and Peace is the extraordinary poem of a novel, both in content and execution. It also serves as a monument to Russian history's glorious epoch when whatever figure you take is a colossus, a statue in bronze. Even [the novel's] minor characters carry all the characteristic features of the Russian people and its life."[24] In 1885, expressing satisfaction with the fact that Tolstoy's works have now been translated into Danish, Goncharov again stressed the immense importance of War and Peace. "Count Tolstoy really mounts over everybody else here [in Russia]," he remarked.[25]
Fyodor Dostoyevsky (in a May 30, 1871, letter to Strakhov) described War and Peace as "the last word of the landlord's literature and the brilliant one at that". In a draft version of the Teenager novel he described Tolstoy as "a historiograph of the dvoryanstvo, or rather, its cultural elite." "The objectivity and realism impart wonderful charm to all scenes, and alongside people of talent, honour and duty he exposes numerous scoundrels, worthless goons and fools," he added.[26] In 1876 Dostoyevsky wrote: "My strong conviction is that a writer of fiction has to have most profound knowledge - not only of the poetic side of his art, but also the reality he deals with, in its historical as well as contemporary context. Here [in Russia], as far as I see it, only one writer excels in this, Count Lev Tolstoy."[27]
Nikolai Leskov, then an anonymous reviewer in Birzhevy Vestnik (The Stock Exchange Herald), wrote several articles praising highly War and Peace, calling it "the best ever Russian historical novel" and "the pride of the contemporary literature". Marveling at the realism and factual truthfulness of Tolstoy's book, Leskov thought the author deserved the special credit for "having lifted up the people's spirit upon the high pedestal it deserved". "While working most elaborately upon individual characters, the author, apparently, has been studying most diligently the character of the nation as a whole; the life of people whose moral strength came to be concentrated in the Army that came up to fight mighty Napoleon. In this respect the novel of Count Tolstoy could be seen as an epic of the Great national war which up until now has had its historians but never had its singers," Leskov wrote.[19]
Afanasy Fet, in a January 1, 1870, letter to Tolstoy, expressed his great delight with the novel. "You've managed to show us in great detail the other, mundane side of life and explain how organically does it feed the outer, heroic side of it," he added.[28]
Ivan Turgenev gradually re-considered his initial skepticism as to the novel’s historical aspect and also the style of Tolstoy's psychological analysis. In his 1880 article written in the form of a letter addressed to Edmond Abou, the editor of the French newspaper Le XIX-e Siecle, Turgenev described Tolstoy as "the most popular Russian writer" and War and Peace as "one of the most remarkable books of our age".[29] "This vast work has the spirit of an epic, where the life of Russia of the beginning of our century in general and in details has been recreated by the hand of a true master... The manner in which Count Tolstoy conducts his treatise is innovative and original. This is the great work of a great writer, and in it there’s true, real Russia," Turgenev wrote.[30] It was largely due to Turgenev's efforts that the novel started to gain popularity with the European readership. The first French edition of the War and Peace (1879) paved the way for the worldwide success of Leo Tolstoy and his works.[19]
Since then many world famous authors have praised War and Peace as a masterpiece of the world literature. Gustav Flaubert expressed his delight in a January 1880 letter to Turgenev, writing: "This is the first class work! What an artist and what a psychologist! The first two volumes are exquisite. I used to utter shrieks of delight while reading. This is powerful, very powerful indeed."[31] Later John Galsworthy has called War and Peace "the best novel that had ever been written". Romain Rolland, remembering his reading the novel as a student, wrote: "this work, like life itself, has no beginning, no end. It is life itself in its eternal movement."[32] Thomas Mann thought War and Peace to be "the greatest ever war novel in the history of literature."[33] Ernest Hemingway confessed that it was from Tolstoy that he'd been taking lessons on how to "write about war in the most straightforward, honest, objective and stark way." "I don't know anybody who could write about war better than Tolstoy did," Hemingway asserted in his 1955 Men at War. The Best War Stories of All Time anthology.[19]
Isaak Babel said, after reading War and Peace, "If the world could write by itself, it would write like Tolstoy."[34] Tolstoy "gives us a unique combination of the 'naive objectivity' of the oral narrator with the interest in detail characteristic of realism. This is the reason for our trust in his presentation."[35]
Full translations into English[edit]
Clara Bell (from a French version) (1885–86)
Nathan Haskell Dole (1898)
Leo Wiener (1904)
Constance Garnett (1904)
Aylmer and Louise Maude (1922–3)
Rosemary Edmonds (1957, revised 1978)
Ann Dunnigan (1968)
Anthony Briggs (2005)
Andrew Bromfield (2007), translation of the first completed draft, approx. 400 pages shorter than other English translations
Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky (2007)
Maude translation revised by Amy Mandelker, Oxford University Press (2010) ISBN 978-0-19-923276-5
Comparing translations[edit]
Academic Zoja Pavlovskis-Petit has this to say about the translations of War and Peace available in 2000: "Of all the translations of War and Peace, Dunnigan's (1968) is the best....Unlike the other translators, Dunnigan even succeeds with many characteristically Russian folk expressions and proverbs....She is faithful to the text and does not hesitate to render conscientiously those details that the uninitiated may find bewildering: for instance, the statement that Boris's mother pronounced his name with a stress on the o – an indication to the Russian reader of the old lady's affectation."
On the Garnett translation Pavlovskis-Petit writes: "her...War and Peace is frequently inexact and contains too many anglicisms. Her style is awkward and turgid, very unsuitable for Tolstoi." On the Maudes' translation she comments: "this should have been the best translation, but the Maudes' lack of adroitness in dealing with Russian folk idiom, and their style in general, place this version below Dunnigan's." She further comments on Edmonds's revised translation, formerly on Penguin: "[it] is the work of a sound scholar but not the best possible translator; it frequently lacks resourcefulness and imagination in its use of English....a respectable translation but not on the level of Dunnigan or Maude."[36]
Adaptations[edit]
Film[edit]
The first Russian adaptation was Война и мир (Voyna i mir) in 1915, which was directed by Vladimir Gardin and starred Gardin and the Russian ballerina Vera Karalli. F. Kamei produced a version in Japan in 1947.
The 208-minute long American 1956 version was directed by King Vidor and starred Audrey Hepburn (Natasha), Henry Fonda (Pierre) and Mel Ferrer (Andrei). Audrey Hepburn was nominated for a BAFTA Award for best British actress and for a Golden Globe Award for best actress in a drama production.
The critically acclaimed Soviet version by the director Sergei Bondarchuk was released in four parts in 1966 and 1967. It starred Lyudmila Savelyeva (as Natasha Rostova) and Vyacheslav Tikhonov (as Andrei Bolkonsky). Bondarchuk himself played the character of Pierre Bezukhov. The series' length was some seven hours; it involved thousands of extras and took six years to finish the shooting, as a result of which the actors age changed dramatically from scene to scene. It won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film for its authenticity and massive scale.[37] Bondarchuk's film is considered to be the best screen version of the novel. It attracted some controversy due to the number of horses killed during the making of the battle sequences and screenings were actively boycotted in several US cities by the ASPCA.[38]
Television[edit]
War and Peace (1972): The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) made a television serial based on the novel, broadcast in 1972–73. Anthony Hopkins played the lead role of Pierre. Other lead characters were played by Rupert Davies, Faith Brook, Morag Hood, Alan Dobie, Angela Down and Sylvester Morand. This version faithfully included many of Tolstoy's minor characters, including Platon Karataev (Harry Locke).[39][40]
La guerre et la paix (2000): French TV production of Prokofiev's opera War and Peace, directed by François Roussillon. Robert Brubaker played the lead role of Pierre.[41]
War and Peace (2007): produced by the Italian Lux Vide, a TV mini-series in Russian & English co-produced in Russia, France, Germany, Poland and Italy. Directed by Robert Dornhelm, with screenplay written by Lorenzo Favella, Enrico Medioli and Gavin Scott. It features an international cast with Alexander Beyer playing the lead role of Pierre assisted by Malcolm McDowell, Clémence Poésy, Alessio Boni, Pilar Abella, J. Kimo Arbas, Ken Duken, Juozapas Bagdonas and Toni Bertorelli.[42]
War and Peace (2015): On 18 February 2013, the BBC announced plans for a six-part adaptation of the novel to be scripted by Andrew Davies and aired on BBC One in 2015.[43]
Opera[edit]
Initiated by a proposal of the German director Erwin Piscator in 1938, the Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev composed his opera War and Peace (Op. 91, libretto by Mira Mendelson) based on this epic novel during the 1940s. The complete musical work premiered in Leningrad in 1955. It was the first opera to be given a public performance at the Sydney Opera House (1973).[44]
Theatre[edit]
The first successful stage adaptations of War and Peace were produced by Alfred Neumann and Erwin Piscator (1942, revised 1955, published by Macgibbon & Kee in London 1963, and staged in 16 countries since) and R. Lucas (1943).
A stage adaptation by Helen Edmundson, first produced in 1996 at the Royal National Theatre, was published that year by Nick Hern Books, London. Edmundson added to and amended the play[45] for a 2008 production as two 3-hour parts by Shared Experience, directed by Nancy Meckler and Polly Teale.[46] This was first put on at the Nottingham Playhouse, then toured in the UK to Liverpool, Darlington, Bath, Warwick, Oxford, Truro, London (the Hampstead Theatre) and Cheltenham.
A musical adaptation by OBIE Award-winner Dave Malloy, called Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 premiered at the Ars Nova theater in Manhattan on October 1, 2012. The show is described as an electropop opera, and is based on Book 8 of War and Peace, focusing on Natasha's affair with Anatole.[47]
Radio[edit]
The BBC Home Service broadcast an eight-part adaptation by Walter Peacock from 17 January to 7 February 1943 with two episodes on each Sunday. All but the last instalment, which ran for one and a half hours, were one hour long. Leslie Banks played Pierre while Celia Johnson was Natasha.
In December 1970, Pacifica Radio station WBAI broadcast a reading of the entire novel (the 1968 Dunnigan translation) read by over 140 celebrities and ordinary people.[48]
A dramatised full-cast adaptation in 20 parts, edited by Michael Bakewell, was broadcast by the BBC. Transmission Times: 30.12.1969 to 12.5.1970 Cast included: David Buck, Kate Binchy, Martin Jarvis
A dramatised full-cast adaptation in ten parts was written by Marcy Kahan and Mike Walker in 1997 for BBC Radio 4. The production won the 1998 Talkie award for Best Drama and was around 9.5 hours in length. It was directed by Janet Whitaker and featured Simon Russell Beale, Gerard Murphy, Richard Johnson, and others.[49]
Music[edit]
Composition by Nino Rota[50]
Referring to album notes, the first track "The Gates of Delirium", from the album Relayer, by the progressive rock group Yes, is said to be based loosely on the novel.[51]
See also[edit]
List of characters in War and Peace
List of historical novels
Natasha's Dance by Orlando Figes, a cultural history of Russia using the name of the main female character[52]


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References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Moser, Charles. 1992. Encyclopedia of Russian Literature. Cambridge University Press. pp. 298–300.
2.Jump up ^ Thirlwell, Adam "A masterpiece in miniature." The Guardian (London, UK) October 8, 2005
3.Jump up ^ Briggs, Anthony. 2005. "Introduction" to War and Peace. Penguin Classics.
4.Jump up ^ Pevear, Richard (2008). "Introduction". War and Peace. Trans. Pevear; Volokhonsky, Larissa. New York City, New York: Vintage Books. pp. VIII–IX. ISBN 978-1-4000-7998-8.
5.^ Jump up to: a b Knowles, A.V. Leo Tolstoy, Routledge 1997.
6.Jump up ^ Newsweek's Top 100 Books: The Meta-List, retrieved on 07 July 2009
7.Jump up ^ "BBC - The Big Read". BBC. April 2003, Retrieved October 27, 2012
8.Jump up ^ "Introduction?". War and Peace. Wordsworth Editions. 1993. ISBN 978-1-85326-062-9. Retrieved 2009-03-24.
9.Jump up ^ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_longest_novels
10.^ Jump up to: a b c d e Kathryn B. Feuer; Robin Feuer Miller; Donna Tussing Orwin (January 2008). Tolstoy and the Genesis of War and Peace. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-7447-7. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
11.Jump up ^ Emerson, Caryl (1985). "The Tolstoy Connection in Bakhtin". PMLA 100 (1): 68–80 (68–71). doi:10.2307/462201. JSTOR 462201.
12.Jump up ^ Pearson and Volokhonsky op cit.
13.Jump up ^ Flaitz, Jeffra (1988). The ideology of English: French perceptions of English as a world language. Walter de Gruyter. p. 3. ISBN 3-11-011549-2, 9783110115499 Check |isbn= value (help). Retrieved 22 November 2010.
14.^ Jump up to: a b c d Figes O (November 22, 2007). "Tolstoy's Real Hero". The New York Review of Books 54 (18).
15.^ Jump up to: a b Inna, Gorbatov (2006). Catherine the Great and the French philosophers of the Enlightenment: Montesquieu, Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot and Grim. Academica Press, LLC. p. 14. ISBN 1-933146-03-6, 9781933146034 Check |isbn= value (help). Retrieved 3 December 2010.
16.Jump up ^ Troyat, Henri. Tolstoy, a biography. Doubleday, 1967.
17.Jump up ^ Randomhouse.com. (PDF) . Retrieved on 2012-01-29.
18.Jump up ^ Sukhikh, Igor (2007). "The History Of XIX Russian literature". Zvezda. Retrieved 2012-03-01.
19.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i Opulskaya, L.D. War and Peace: the Epic. L.N. Tolstoy. Works in 12 volumes. War and Peace. Commentaries. Vol.7. Moscow, Khudozhesstvennaya Literatura. 1974. Pp. 363-389
20.Jump up ^ Zaitsev, V. Pearls and Adamants of the Russian Journalism. Russkoye Slovo, 1865, #2.
21.Jump up ^ Kuzminskaya, T.A. My Life at home and at Yasnaya Polyana. Tula, 1958, 343
22.Jump up ^ Gusev, N.I. Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy. Materials for Biography, 1855-1869. Moscow, 1967. Pp 856-857.
23.Jump up ^ The Literature Archive, vol. 6, Academy of Science of the USSR, 1961, p. 81
24.Jump up ^ Literary Archive, p.94
25.Jump up ^ Literary Archive, p. 104.
26.Jump up ^ The Beginnings (Nachala), 1922. #2, p.219
27.Jump up ^ Dostoyevsky, F.M., Letters, Vol. III, 1934, p. 206.
28.Jump up ^ Gusev, p. 858
29.Jump up ^ Gusev, pp 863-874
30.Jump up ^ The Complete I.S.Turgenev, vol.XV, Moscow-Leningrad, 1968, 187-188
31.Jump up ^ Motylyova, T. Of the worldwide significance of Tolstoy. Moscow. Sovetsky pisatel Publishers, 1957, p.520.
32.Jump up ^ Literaturnoye Nasledstsvo, vol. 75, book 1, p. 61
33.Jump up ^ Literaturnoye Nasledstsvo, vol. 75, book 1, p. 173
34.Jump up ^ "Introduction to War and Peace" by Richard Pevear in Pevear, Richard and Larissa Volokhonsky, War and Peace, 2008, Vintage Classics.
35.Jump up ^ Greenwood, Edward Baker (1980). "What is War and Peace?". Tolstoy: The Comprehensive Vision. London: Taylor & Francis. p. 83. ISBN 0-416-74130-4.
36.Jump up ^ Pavlovskis-Petit, Zoja. Entry: Lev Tolstoi, War and Peace. Classe, Olive (ed.). Encyclopedia of Literary Translation into English, 2000. London, Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, pp. 1404–1405.
37.Jump up ^ "War and Peace (1967)". IMDb.com.
38.Jump up ^ http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/53286/War-and-Peace/overview
39.Jump up ^ War and Peace. BBC Two (ended 1973). TV.com. Retrieved on 2012-01-29.
40.Jump up ^ War & Peace (TV mini-series 1972–1974). IMDb.com
41.Jump up ^ La guerre et la paix (TV 2000). IMDb.com
42.Jump up ^ War and Peace (TV mini-series 2007). IMDb.com
43.Jump up ^ BBC press release
44.Jump up ^ History – highlights. Sydney Opera House. Retrieved on 2012-01-29.
45.Jump up ^ Cavendish, Dominic (February 11, 2008). "War and Peace: A triumphant Tolstoy". The Daily Telegraph (London).
46.Jump up ^ War and Peace at the Wayback Machine (archived December 20, 2008). Sharedexperience.org.uk
47.Jump up ^ Vincentelli, Elisabeth (October 17, 2012). "Over the Moon For Comet". The NY Post (New York).
48.Jump up ^ The War and Peace Broadcast: 35th Anniversary at the Wayback Machine (archived February 9, 2006). Pacificaradioarchives.org
49.Jump up ^ "Marcy Kahan Radio Plays". War and Peace (Radio Dramatization). Retrieved 2010-01-20.
50.Jump up ^ War and Peace at the Wayback Machine (archived June 18, 2008). Billboard.com. June 17, 2008
51.Jump up ^ Yesworld.com. Yesworld.com (2011-07-12). Retrieved on 2012-01-29.
52.Jump up ^ Orlando Figes (6 October 2003). Natasha's dance: a cultural history of Russia. Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-312-42195-3. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
External links[edit]
 Wikisource has original text related to this article:
War and Peace

 Wikimedia Commons has media related to War and Peace.
Compare English translations of War and Peace
English audiorecording at LibriVox.org
English translation at gutenberg
Searchable version of the gutenberg text in multiple formats SiSU
War and Peace, complete text with accompanying audio.
Full text of War and Peace in modern Russian orthography
An audio version of Book 1 of War and Peace (other books are available through links).
A searchable online version of Aylmer Maude's English translation of War and Peace
SparkNotes Study Guide for "War and Peace"
Birth, death, balls and battles by Orlando Figes. This is an edited version of an essay found in the Penguin Classics new translation of War and Peace (2005).
Homage to War and Peace Searchable map, compiled by Nicholas Jenkins, of places named in Tolstoy's novel (2008).
War and Peace Map Map of places named in Tolstoy's novel (2012).
Russian Army during the Napoleonic Wars
The War and Peace Broadcast: 35th Anniversary, from Pacifica Radio Archives site
War and Peace at the Internet Book List
Radio documentary about 1970 marathon reading of War and Peace on WBAI, from Democracy Now! program, December 6, 2005
Discussion-Forum at Reading Group Guides


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A Tale of Two Cities
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For other uses, see A Tale of Two Cities (disambiguation).


 This article possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research may be removed. (February 2011)

A Tale of Two Cities
Tales serial.jpg
Cover of serial Vol. V, 1859

Author
Charles Dickens
Illustrator
Hablot Knight Browne (Phiz)
Cover artist
Hablot Knight Browne (Phiz)
Country
United Kingdom
Language
English
Series
Weekly: 30 April 1859 - 26 November 1859 [1]
Genre
Novel
Historical
Social criticism
Publisher
London: Chapman & Hall

Publication date
 1859
Media type
Print
A Tale of Two Cities (1859) is a novel by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. With well over 200 million copies sold, it ranks among the most famous works in the history of fictional literature.[2]
The novel depicts the plight of the French peasantry demoralised by the French aristocracy in the years leading up to the revolution, the corresponding brutality demonstrated by the revolutionaries toward the former aristocrats in the early years of the revolution, and many unflattering social parallels with life in London during the same time period. It follows the lives of several protagonists through these events. The most notable are Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton. Darnay is a former French aristocrat who falls victim to the indiscriminate wrath of the revolution despite his virtuous nature, and Carton is a dissipated English barrister who endeavours to redeem his ill-spent life out of his unrequited love for Darnay's wife. The 45-chapter novel was published in 31 weekly instalments in Dickens's new literary periodical titled All the Year Round. From April 1859 to November 1859, Dickens also republished the chapters as eight monthly sections in green covers. All but three of Dickens's previous novels had appeared only as monthly instalments. The first weekly instalment of A Tale of Two Cities ran in the first issue of All the Year Round on 30 April 1859. The last ran thirty weeks later, on 26 November.[1]


Contents  [hide]
1 Synopsis 1.1 Book the First: Recalled to Life
1.2 Book the Second: The Golden Thread
1.3 Book the Third: The Track of a Storm
2 Analysis 2.1 Language
2.2 Humour
3 Themes 3.1 Resurrection
3.2 Water
3.3 Darkness and light
3.4 Social justice
4 Relation to Dickens's personal life
5 Characters
6 Sources
7 Adaptations 7.1 Films
7.2 Radio
7.3 Television programmes
7.4 Stage musicals
7.5 Opera
8 Notes
9 Works cited
10 Further reading
11 External links

Synopsis[edit]
Book the First: Recalled to Life[edit]
As the title suggests, the first chapter immediately establishes the era in which the novel takes place: England and France in 1775.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way...
Mr. Jarvis Lorry and Miss Lucie Manette travel to Saint Antoine, a suburb of Paris, and meet Monsieur Defarge and Madame Defarge. The Defarges operate a wine shop which they use to lead a clandestine band of revolutionaries; they refer to each other by the codename "Jacques," which Dickens drew from the Jacobins, an actual French revolutionary group.
Monsieur Defarge was Dr. Manette's servant before the latter's incarceration. After Dr. Manette's recent release from prison Defarge takes care of him. Miss Manette and Mr Lorry have been sent for to meet the doctor. As a result of his long imprisonment, Dr. Manette suffers a form of psychosis, an obsession with making shoes, a trade he learned in prison. At first, he does not recognise his daughter, whose existence he was unaware of; but he eventually recognises her similarity to her mother, through her blue eyes and long golden hair (a strand of which he found on his sleeve when he was incarcerated). Mr. Lorry and Miss Manette take Dr. Manette back with them to England.
Book the Second: The Golden Thread[edit]
"The Golden Thread" redirects here. For the legal judgement, see Golden thread (law).
Five years later, two British spies, John Barsad (Solomon Pross) and Roger Cly, are trying to frame French émigré Charles Darnay for their own gain; and Darnay is on trial for treason at the Old Bailey. They claim, falsely, that Darnay gave information about British troops in North America to the French. Darnay is acquitted, however, when Barsad, who claims he would be able to recognise Darnay anywhere, is unable to tell Darnay apart from a barrister present in court, Sydney Carton, who looks almost identical to him.
In Paris, the despised Marquis St. Evrémonde orders his carriage driven recklessly fast through the crowded streets, hitting and killing the child of a peasant, Gaspard. The Marquis throws a coin to Gaspard to compensate him for his loss. Defarge, a witness to the incident, comforts Gaspard. As the Marquis's coach drives off, the coin thrown to Gaspard is thrown back into the coach by an unknown hand, probably that of Madame Defarge, enraging the Marquis.
Arriving at his château, the Marquis meets with his nephew and heir, Darnay. (Out of disgust with his family, Darnay shed his real surname and adopted an Anglicised version of his mother's maiden name, D'Aulnais.[3]) The following scene demonstrates the Marquis's thoughts:

"Repression is the only lasting philosophy. The dark deference of fear and slavery, my friend," observed the Marquis, "will keep the dogs obedient to the whip, as long as this roof," looking up to it, "shuts out the sky."[4]
That night, Gaspard, who followed the Marquis to his château by riding on the underside of the carriage, stabs and kills the Marquis in his sleep. He leaves a note on the knife saying, "Drive him fast to his tomb. This, from JACQUES."[5] After nine months on the run, he is caught, and hanged above the village's fountain.
In London, Darnay gets Dr. Manette's permission to wed Lucie; but Carton confesses his love to Lucie as well. Knowing she will not love him in return, Carton promises to "embrace any sacrifice for you and for those dear to you".[6]
On the morning of the marriage, Darnay reveals his real name and who his family is, a detail which Dr. Manette had asked him to withhold. Dr. Manette reverts to his obsessive shoemaking. His sanity is restored before Lucie returns from her honeymoon and the whole incident kept secret from her. Lorry and Miss Pross destroy the shoemaking bench and tools, which Dr. Manette had brought with him from Paris.
It is 14 July 1789. The Defarges help to lead the storming of the Bastille, a symbol of royal tyranny but also a massive ammunition store. The demonstrators of the Third Estate needed gunpowder for the muskets they had already seized from the Hôtel des Invalides. The Bastille is nearly empty of prisoners, housing only seven old men annoyed by all the disturbance: four forgers, two lunatics and one deviant aristocrat, the Comte de Solages. Defarge enters Dr. Manette's former cell, "One Hundred and Five, North Tower".[7] The reader does not know what Monsieur Defarge is searching for until Book 3, Chapter 10. It is a statement in which Dr. Manette explains why he was imprisoned.
As time passes in England, Lucie and Charles begin to raise a family, a son (who dies in childhood) and a daughter, little Lucie. Lorry finds a second home and a sort of family with the Darnays. Stryver, who once had intentions to marry Lucie, marries a rich widow with three children and becomes even more insufferable as his ambitions begin to be realised. Carton, even though he seldom visits, is accepted as a close friend of the family and becomes a special favourite of little Lucie.
Book the Third: The Track of a Storm[edit]



 "The Sea Rises", an illustration for Book 2, Chapter 21 by "Phiz"
Darnay, being called by a former servant who has been unjustly imprisoned, decides to come back to France to free him. But shortly after his arrival, he is denounced for being an emigrated aristocrat from France and imprisoned in La Force Prison in Paris.[8] Dr. Manette and Lucie—along with Miss Pross, Jerry Cruncher, and "Little Lucie", the daughter of Charles and Lucie Darnay—come to Paris and meet Mr. Lorry to try to free Darnay. A year and three months pass, and Darnay is finally tried.
Dr. Manette, who is seen as a hero for his imprisonment in the hated Bastille, is able to have him released; but Darnay is immediately arrested again. He is put on trial again the following day, under new charges brought by the Defarges and one "unnamed other", soon learned to be Dr. Manette, through the written account of his imprisonment at the hands of Darnay's father. Manette is horrified when his words are used to condemn Darnay.
On an errand, Miss Pross is amazed to see her long-lost brother, Solomon Pross; but Solomon does not want to be recognised. Sydney Carton suddenly steps forward from the shadows and identifies Solomon Pross as John Barsad, one of the men who tried to frame Darnay for treason at the Old Bailey trial. Carton threatens to reveal Solomon's identity as a Briton and an opportunist who spies for the French or the British as it suits him.
Darnay is confronted at the tribunal by Monsieur Defarge, who identifies Darnay as the Marquis St. Evrémonde and reads the letter Dr. Manette had hidden in his cell in the Bastille. Defarge can identify Darnay as Evrémonde because Barsad told him Darnay's identity when Barsad was fishing for information at the Defarges' wine shop in Book 2, Chapter 16.
The letter describes how Dr. Manette was locked away in the Bastille by Darnay's father and his uncle for trying to report their crimes against a peasant family. Darnay's uncle had become infatuated with a girl, whom he had kidnapped and raped. Despite Dr. Manette's attempts to save her, she died. The uncle then killed her husband by working him to death, and her father died from a heart attack on being informed of what had happened. Before he died defending the family honour, the brother of the raped peasant had hidden the last member of the family, his younger sister. The letter also reveals that Dr. Manette was imprisoned because the Evrémonde brothers discovered that they could not bribe him to keep quiet. The paper concludes by condemning the Evrémondes, "them and their descendants, to the last of their race".[9] Dr. Manette is horrified, but his protests are ignored—he is not allowed to take back his condemnation. Darnay is sent to the Conciergerie and sentenced to be guillotined the next day.
Carton wanders into the Defarges' wine shop, where he overhears Madame Defarge talking about her plans to have the rest of Darnay's family (Lucie and "Little Lucie") condemned. Carton discovers that Madame Defarge was the surviving sister of the peasant family savaged by the Evrémondes. The only plot detail that might give one any sympathy for Madame Defarge is the loss of her family and that she has no (family) name. Defarge is her married name, and Dr. Manette does not know her family name, though he asked her dying sister for it.[10] At night, when Dr. Manette returns, shattered after spending the day in many failed attempts to save Charles' life, he has reverted to his obsessive search for his shoemaking implements. Carton urges Lorry to flee Paris with Lucie, her father, and Little Lucie, asking them to leave as soon as he joins them in the coach.
That same morning, Carton visits Darnay in prison. Carton drugs Darnay, and Barsad (whom Carton is blackmailing) has Darnay carried out of the prison. Carton has decided to pretend to be Darnay and to be executed in his place. He does this out of love for Lucie. Following Carton's earlier instructions, Darnay's family and Lorry flee Paris and France. In their coach is an unconscious Darnay, who carries Carton's identification papers.
Meanwhile, Madame Defarge, armed with a pistol, goes to the residence of Lucie's family, hoping to catch them illegally mourning Darnay, an enemy of the Republic; however, the residents are already gone. To give them time to escape, Miss Pross confronts Madame Defarge and they struggle. In the struggle, Madame Defarge's pistol goes off, killing her; the noise of the shot and the shock of Madame Defarge's death cause Miss Pross to go permanently deaf.
The novel concludes with the guillotining of Sydney Carton. As he is waiting to board the tumbril, he is approached by a seamstress, also condemned to death, who mistakes him for Darnay but, upon getting close, realises the truth. Awed by his unselfish courage and sacrifice, she asks to stay close to him and he agrees. Upon their arrival at the guillotine, Carton comforts her, telling her that their ends will be quick but that there is no Time or Trouble "in the better land where ... [they] will be mercifully sheltered", and she is able to meet her death in peace. Carton's unspoken last thoughts are prophetic:[11]
I see Barsad, ... Defarge, The Vengeance [a lieutenant of Madame Defarge], ... long ranks of the new oppressors who have risen on the destruction of the old, perishing by this retributive instrument, before it shall cease out of its present use. I see a beautiful city and a brilliant people rising from this abyss, and, in their struggles to be truly free, in their triumphs and defeats, through long years to come, I see the evil of this time and of the previous time of which this is the natural birth, gradually making expiation for itself and wearing out.I see the lives for which I lay down my life, peaceful, useful, prosperous and happy, in that England which I shall see no more. I see Her with a child upon her bosom, who bears my name. I see her father, aged and bent, but otherwise restored, and faithful to all men in his healing office, and at peace. I see the good old man [Mr. Lorry], so long their friend, in ten years' time enriching them with all he has, and passing tranquilly to his reward.I see that I hold a sanctuary in their hearts, and in the hearts of their descendants, generations hence. I see her, an old woman, weeping for me on the anniversary of this day. I see her and her husband, their course done, lying side by side in their last earthly bed, and I know that each was not more honoured and held sacred in the other's soul, than I was in the souls of both.I see that child who lay upon her bosom and who bore my name, a man winning his way up in that path of life which once was mine. I see him winning it so well, that my name is made illustrious there by the light of his. I see the blots I threw upon it, faded away. I see him, fore-most of just judges and honoured men, bringing a boy of my name, with a forehead that I know and golden hair, to this place—then fair to look upon, with not a trace of this day's disfigurement—and I hear him tell the child my story, with a tender and a faltering voice.It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.
Lucie and Darnay have a first son earlier in the book who is born and dies within a single paragraph; it seems likely that this first son appears in the novel so that their later son, named after Carton, can represent another way in which Carton restores Lucie and Darnay through his sacrifice.[12]
Analysis[edit]

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A Tale of Two Cities is one of only two works of historical fiction by Charles Dickens (Barnaby Rudge is the other one). It has fewer characters and sub-plots than a typical Dickens novel. The author's primary historical source was The French Revolution: A History by Thomas Carlyle: Dickens wrote in his Preface to Tale that "no one can hope to add anything to the philosophy of Mr. Carlyle's wonderful book".
Language[edit]
Dickens uses literal translations of French idioms for characters who cannot speak English, such as "What the devil do you do in that galley there?!!" and "Where is my wife? ---Here you see me." The Penguin Classics edition of the novel notes that "Not all readers have regarded the experiment as a success."
Humour[edit]
A Tale of Two Cities stands out from most of Dickens's other novels as the one containing the least humour. That is not surprising, as the historical context and focus of the novel, the French Reign of Terror, might be too bleak to allow for the wackier characters Dickens is known for. Still, Dickens, in his usual manner, manages to find the opportunity to make a number of wry comments about various aspects of the era and of the darker side of human nature. If a humorous character is to be found anywhere in the novel, it would likely be Jerry Cruncher; however, his occupation as a "resurrectionist" (grave-robber) and his abuse of his wife casts a more sinister light on his character.
Themes[edit]
Resurrection[edit]
In Dickens's England, resurrection always sat firmly in a Christian context. Most broadly, Sydney Carton is resurrected in spirit at the novel's close (even as he, paradoxically, gives up his physical life to save Darnay's—just as in Christian belief, Christ died for the sins of the world.) More concretely, "Book the First" deals with the rebirth of Dr. Manette from the living death of his incarceration.
Resurrection appears for the first time when Mr. Lorry replies to the message carried by Jerry Cruncher with the words "Recalled to Life". Resurrection also appears during Mr. Lorry's coach ride to Dover, as he constantly ponders a hypothetical conversation with Dr. Manette: ("Buried how long?" "Almost eighteen years." ... "You know that you are recalled to life?" "They tell me so.") He believes he is helping with Dr. Manette's revival and imagines himself "digging" up Dr. Manette from his grave.
Resurrection is the main theme in the novel. In Jarvis Lorry's thoughts of Dr. Manette, resurrection is first spotted as a theme. It is also the last theme: Carton's sacrifice. Dickens originally wanted to call the entire novel Recalled to Life. (This instead became the title of the first of the novel's three "books".)
Jerry is also part of the recurring theme: he himself is involved in death and resurrection in ways the reader does not yet know. The first piece of foreshadowing comes in his remark to himself: "You'd be in a blazing bad way, if recalling to life was to come into fashion, Jerry!" The black humour of this statement becomes obvious only much later on. Five years later, one cloudy and very dark night (in June 1780[13]), Mr. Lorry reawakens the reader's interest in the mystery by telling Jerry it is "Almost a night ... to bring the dead out of their graves". Jerry responds firmly that he has never seen the night do that.[14]
It turns out that Jerry Cruncher's involvement with the theme of resurrection is that he is what the Victorians called a "Resurrection Man", one who (illegally) digs up dead bodies to sell to medical men (there was no legal way to procure cadavers for study at that time).
The opposite of resurrection is of course death. Death and resurrection appear often in the novel. Dickens is angered that in France and England, courts hand out death sentences for insignificant crimes. In France, peasants are even put to death without any trial, at the whim of a noble. The Marquis tells Darnay with pleasure that "[I]n the next room (my bedroom), one fellow ... was poniarded on the spot for professing some insolent delicacy respecting his daughter—his daughter!"[15]
Interestingly, the demolition of Dr. Manette's shoe-making workbench by Miss Pross and Mr. Lorry is described as "the burning of the body".[16] It seems clear that this is a rare case where death or destruction (the opposite of resurrection) has a positive connotation, since the "burning" helps liberate the doctor from the memory of his long imprisonment. But Dickens's description of this kind and healing act is strikingly odd:



 "The Accomplices", an illustration for Book 2, Chapter 19 by "Phiz"
So wicked do destruction and secrecy appear to honest minds, that Mr. Lorry and Miss Pross, while engaged in the commission of their deed and in the removal of its traces, almost felt, and almost looked, like accomplices in a horrible crime.[17]
Sydney Carton's martyrdom atones for all his past wrongdoings. He even finds God during the last few days of his life, repeating Christ's soothing words, "I am the resurrection and the life".[18] Resurrection is the dominant theme of the last part of the novel. Darnay is rescued at the last moment and recalled to life; Carton chooses death and resurrection to a life better than that which he has ever known: "it was the peacefullest man's face ever beheld there ... he looked sublime and prophetic".
In the broadest sense, at the end of the novel Dickens foresees a resurrected social order in France, rising from the ashes of the old one.
Water[edit]
Hans Biedermann writes that water "is the fundamental symbol of all the energy of the unconscious—an energy that can be dangerous when it overflows its proper limits (a frequent dream sequence)."[19] This symbolism suits Dickens's novel; in A Tale of Two Cities, the frequent images of water stand for the building anger of the peasant mob, an anger that Dickens sympathises with to a point, but ultimately finds irrational and even animalistic.
Early in the book, Dickens suggests this when he writes, "[T]he sea did what it liked, and what it liked was destruction."[20] The sea here represents the coming mob of revolutionaries. After Gaspard murders the Marquis, he is "hanged there forty feet high—and is left hanging, poisoning the water."[21] The poisoning of the well represents the bitter impact of Gaspard's execution on the collective feeling of the peasants.
After Gaspard's death, the storming of the Bastille is led (from the St. Antoine neighbourhood, at least) by the Defarges; "As a whirlpool of boiling waters has a centre point, so, all this raging circled around Defarge's wine shop, and every human drop in the cauldron had a tendency to be sucked towards the vortex..."[22] The crowd is envisioned as a sea. "With a roar that sounded as if all the breath in France had been shaped into a detested word [the word Bastille], the living sea rose, wave upon wave, depth upon depth, and overflowed the city..."[22]
Darnay's jailer is described as "unwholesomely bloated in both face and person, as to look like a man who had been drowned and filled with water." Later, during the Reign of Terror, the revolution had grown "so much more wicked and distracted ... that the rivers of the South were encumbered with bodies of the violently drowned by night..." Later a crowd is "swelling and overflowing out into the adjacent streets ... the Carmagnole absorbed them every one and whirled them away."
During the fight with Miss Pross, Madame Defarge clings to her with "more than the hold of a drowning woman". Commentators on the novel have noted the irony that Madame Defarge is killed by her own gun, and perhaps Dickens means by the above quote to suggest that such vicious vengefulness as Madame Defarge's will eventually destroy even its perpetrators.
So many read the novel in a Freudian light, as exalting the (British) superego over the (French) id. Yet in Carton's last walk, he watches an eddy that "turned and turned purposeless, until the stream absorbed it, and carried it onto the sea"—his fulfilment, while masochistic and superego-driven, is nonetheless an ecstatic union with the subconscious.
Darkness and light[edit]
As is common in English literature,[citation needed] good and evil are symbolised by light and darkness. Lucie Manette is the light and Madame Defarge is darkness. Darkness represents uncertainty, fear and peril. It is dark when Mr. Lorry rides to Dover; it is dark in the prisons; dark shadows follow Madame Defarge; dark, gloomy doldrums disturb Dr. Manette; his capture and captivity are shrouded in darkness; the Marquis's estate is burned in the dark of night; Jerry Cruncher raids graves in the darkness; Charles's second arrest also occurs at night. Both Lucie and Mr. Lorry feel the dark threat that is Madame Defarge. "That dreadful woman seems to throw a shadow on me," remarks Lucie. Although Mr. Lorry tries to comfort her, "the shadow of the manner of these Defarges was dark upon himself". Madame Defarge is "like a shadow over the white road", the snow symbolising purity and Madame Defarge's darkness corruption. Dickens also compares the dark colour of blood to the pure white snow: the blood takes on the shade of the crimes of its shedders.
Social justice[edit]
Charles Dickens was a champion of the maltreated poor because of his terrible experience when he was forced to work in a factory as a child. (His father, John Dickens, continually lived beyond his means and eventually went to debtors' prison. Charles was forced to leave school and began working ten-hour days at Warren's Blacking Warehouse, earning six shillings a week.) His sympathies, however, lie with the revolutionaries only up to a point; he condemns the mob madness which soon sets in. When madmen and -women massacre eleven hundred detainees in one night and hustle back to sharpen their weapons on the grindstone, they display "eyes which any unbrutalised beholder would have given twenty years of life, to petrify with a well-directed gun".
The reader is shown that the poor are brutalised in France and England alike. As crime proliferates, the executioner in England is "stringing up long rows of miscellaneous criminals; now hanging housebreaker ... now burning people in the hand" or hanging a broke man for stealing sixpence. In France, a boy is sentenced to have his hands removed and be burned alive, only because he did not kneel down in the rain before a parade of monks passing some fifty yards away. At the lavish residence of Monseigneur, we find "brazen ecclesiastics of the worst world worldly, with sensual eyes, loose tongues, and looser lives ... Military officers destitute of military knowledge ... [and] Doctors who made great fortunes ... for imaginary disorders".[23] (This incident is fictional, but is based on a true story related by Voltaire in a famous pamphlet, An Account of the Death of the Chevalier de la Barre.)[24]
So riled is Dickens at the brutality of English law that he depicts some of its punishments with sarcasm: "the whipping-post, another dear old institution, very humanising and softening to behold in action". He faults the law for not seeking reform: "Whatever is, is right" is the dictum of the Old Bailey.[25] The gruesome portrayal of quartering highlights its atrocity.
Dickens wants his readers to be careful that the same revolution that so damaged France will not happen in Britain, which (at least at the beginning of the book)[26] is shown to be nearly as unjust as France. But his warning is addressed not to the British lower classes, but to the aristocracy. He repeatedly uses the metaphor of sowing and reaping; if the aristocracy continues to plant the seeds of a revolution through behaving unjustly, they can be certain of harvesting that revolution in time. The lower classes do not have any agency in this metaphor: they simply react to the behaviour of the aristocracy. In this sense it can be said that while Dickens sympathises with the poor, he identifies with the rich: they are the book's audience, its "us" and not its "them". "Crush humanity out of shape once more, under similar hammers, and it will twist itself into the same tortured forms. Sow the same seed of rapacious licence and oppression over again, and it will surely yield the same fruit according to its kind".[27]
With the people starving and begging the Marquis for food, his uncharitable response is to let the people eat grass; the people are left with nothing but onions to eat and are forced to starve while the nobles are living lavishly upon the people's backs. Every time the nobles refer to the life of the peasants it is only to destroy or humiliate the poor.
Relation to Dickens's personal life[edit]
Some have argued that in A Tale of Two Cities Dickens reflects on his recently-begun affair with eighteen-year-old actress Ellen Ternan, which was possibly platonic but certainly romantic. Lucie Manette has been noted as resembling Ternan physically.[28]
After starring in a play by Wilkie Collins titled The Frozen Deep, Dickens was first inspired to write Tale. In the play, Dickens played the part of a man who sacrifices his own life so that his rival may have the woman they both love; the love triangle in the play became the basis for the relationships between Charles Darnay, Lucie Manette, and Sydney Carton in Tale.[29]
Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay may also bear importantly on Dickens's personal life. The plot hinges on the near-perfect resemblance between Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay; the two look so alike that Carton twice saves Darnay through the inability of others to tell them apart. Carton is Darnay made bad. Carton suggests as much:

'Do you particularly like the man [Darnay]?' he muttered, at his own image [which he is regarding in a mirror]; 'why should you particularly like a man who resembles you? There is nothing in you to like; you know that. Ah, confound you! What a change you have made in yourself! A good reason for talking to a man, that he shows you what you have fallen away from and what you might have been! Change places with him, and would you have been looked at by those blue eyes [belonging to Lucie Manette] as he was, and commiserated by that agitated face as he was? Come on, and have it out in plain words! You hate the fellow.'[30]
Many have felt that Carton and Darnay are doppelgängers, which Eric Rabkin defines as a pair "of characters that together, represent one psychological persona in the narrative".[31] If so, they would prefigure such works as Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Darnay is worthy and respectable but dull (at least to most modern readers), Carton disreputable but magnetic.
One can only suspect whose psychological persona it is that Carton and Darnay together embody (if they do), but it is often thought to be the psyche of Dickens himself. Dickens might have been quite aware that between them, Carton and Darnay shared his own initials.[32] However, he denied it when asked.
Characters[edit]



 Illustration from a serialised edition of the story, showing three tricoteuses knitting, with the Vengeance standing in the center.
Many of Dickens's characters are "flat", not "round", in the novelist E. M. Forster's famous terms, meaning roughly that they have only one mood.[33] In Tale, for example, the Marquis is unremittingly wicked and relishes being so; Lucie is perfectly loving and supportive. (As a corollary, Dickens often gives these characters verbal tics or visual quirks that he mentions over and over, such as the dints in the nose of the Marquis.) Forster believed that Dickens never truly created rounded characters.
Sydney Carton – A quick-minded but depressed English barrister. Though he is portrayed in the beginning as a cynical alcoholic, he ultimately becomes a selfless hero.
Lucie Manette – An ideal pre-Victorian lady, perfect in every way. She is loved by both Carton and Charles Darnay (whom she marries), and is the daughter of Dr. Manette. She is the "golden thread" after whom Book Two is named, so called because she holds her father's and her family's lives together (and because of her blond hair like her mother's). She also ties nearly every character in the book together.[34]
Charles Darnay – A young French noble of the Evrémonde family. In disgust at the cruelty of his family to the French peasantry, he took on the name "Darnay" (after his mother's maiden name, D'Aulnais) and left France for England.[35] He exhibits an admirable honesty in his decision to reveal to Doctor Manette his true identity as a member of the infamous Evrémonde family. So, too, does he prove his courage in his decision to return to Paris at great personal risk to save the imprisoned Gabelle.
Dr. Alexandre Manette – Lucie's father, kept as a prisoner in the Bastille for eighteen years. Dr. Manette dies 12 years after Sydney Carton.
Monsieur Ernest Defarge – The owner of a French wine shop and leader of the Jacquerie; husband of Madame Defarge; servant to Dr. Manette as a youth. One of the key revolutionary leaders, he embraces the revolution as a noble cause, unlike many other revolutionaries.
Madame Therese Defarge – A vengeful female revolutionary, arguably the novel's antagonist.
Jacques One, Two, and Three – Revolutionary compatriots of Ernest Defarge. Jacques Three is especially bloodthirsty and serves as a juryman on the Revolutionary Tribunals.
The Vengeance – A companion of Madame Defarge referred to as her "shadow" and lieutenant, a member of the sisterhood of women revolutionaries in Saint Antoine, and revolutionary zealot. (Many Frenchmen and women did change their names to show their enthusiasm for the Revolution[36])
The Mender of Roads – A peasant who later works as a woodsawyer and assists the Defarges.
Jarvis Lorry – An elderly manager at Tellson's Bank and a dear friend of Dr. Manette.
Miss Pross – Lucie Manette's governess since Lucie was ten years old. She is fiercely loyal to Lucie and to England.
The Marquis St. Evrémonde[37] – The cruel uncle of Charles Darnay. Also called "The Younger." He inherited the title at "the Elder"'s death.
The Elder and his wife – The twin brother of the Marquis St. Evrémonde, referred to as "the Elder" (he held the title of Marquis St. Evrémonde at the time of Dr. Manette's arrest), and his wife, who fears him. They are the parents of Charles Darnay.
John Barsad (real name Solomon Pross) – A spy for Britain who later becomes a spy for France (at which point he must hide his British identity). He is the long-lost brother of Miss Pross.
Roger Cly – Another spy, Barsad's collaborator.
Jerry Cruncher – Porter and messenger for Tellson's Bank and secret "Resurrection Man" (body-snatcher). His first name is short for either Jeremiah or Gerald; the latter name shares a meaning with the name of Jarvis Lorry.
Young Jerry Cruncher - Son of Jerry and Mrs. Cruncher. Young Jerry often follows his father around to his father's odd jobs, and at one point in the story, follows his father at night and discovers that his father is a resurrection man. Young Jerry looks up to his father as a role model, and aspires to become a resurrection man himself when he grows up.
Mrs. Cruncher - Wife of Jerry Cruncher. She is a very religious woman, but her husband, somewhat paranoid, claims she is praying against him, and that is why he does not often succeed at work. She is often abused verbally, and, almost as often, physically, by Jerry, but at the end of the story, he appears to feel a bit guilty about this.
Mr. C.J. Stryver – An arrogant and ambitious barrister, senior to Sydney Carton.[38] There is a frequent misperception that Stryver's full name is "C. J. Stryver", but this is very unlikely. The mistake comes from a line in Book 2, Chapter 12: "After trying it, Stryver, C. J., was satisfied that no plainer case could be."[39] The initials C. J. almost certainly refer to a legal title (probably "chief justice"); Stryver is imagining that he is playing every role in a trial in which he browbeats Lucie Manette into marrying him.
The Seamstress – A young woman caught up in The Terror. She precedes Sydney Carton, who comforts her, to the guillotine.
Théophile Gabelle – Gabelle is "the Postmaster, and some other taxing functionary, united"[40] for the tenants of the Marquis St. Evrémonde. Gabelle is imprisoned by the revolutionaries, and his beseeching letter brings Darnay to France. Gabelle is "named after the hated salt tax".[41]
Gaspard – Gaspard is the man whose son is run over by the Marquis. He then kills the Marquis and goes into hiding for a year. He eventually is found, arrested, and executed.
"Monseigneur" – The appellation "Monseigneur" is used to refer to both a specific aristocrat in the novel, and the general class of displaced aristocrats in England.
A peasant boy and his sister – Victims of the Marquis St. Evrémonde and his brother. They are Madame Defarge's brother and sister.
Sources[edit]
While performing in The Frozen Deep, Dickens was given a play to read called The Dead Heart by Watts Phillips which had the historical setting, the basic storyline, and the climax that Dickens used in A Tale of Two Cities.[42] The play was produced while A Tale of Two Cities was being serialised in All the Year Round and led to talk of plagiarism.[43]
Other sources are History of the French Revolution by Thomas Carlyle; Zanoni by Edward Bulwer-Lytton; The Castle Spector by Matthew Lewis; Travels in France by Arthur Young; and Tableau de Paris by Louis-Sébastien Mercier. Dickens also used material from an account of imprisonment during the Terror by Beaumarchais, and records of the trial of a French spy published in The Annual Register.[44]
Adaptations[edit]



Classic Comics issue #6
Films[edit]
A Tale of Two Cities, a 1911 silent film.
A Tale of Two Cities, a 1917 silent film.
A Tale of Two Cities, a 1922 silent film.
The Only Way, a 1927 silent British film directed by Herbert Wilcox.
A Tale of Two Cities, a 1935 black-and-white MGM film starring Ronald Colman, Elizabeth Allan, Reginald Owen, Basil Rathbone and Edna May Oliver. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.
A Tale of Two Cities, a 1958 version, starring Dirk Bogarde, Dorothy Tutin, Christopher Lee, Leo McKern and Donald Pleasence.
A Tale of Two Cities, a 1980 version for TV, starring Chris Sarandon, Peter Cushing, Alice Krige and Billie Whitelaw.
Radio[edit]
On July 25, 1938, The Mercury Theatre on the Air produced a radio adaptation starring Orson Welles. Welles also starred in a version broadcast on Lux Radio Theater on March 26, 1945.
In 1945, a portion of the novel was adapted to the syndicated programme The Weird Circle as "Dr. Manette's Manuscript."
In 1950, a radio adaptation written by Terence Rattigan and John Gielgud was broadcast by the BBC. They had written it in 1935, as a stage play, but it was not produced.
A half-hour version titled "Sydney Carton" was broadcast on March 27, 1954 on Theatre Royal hosted by and starring Laurence Olivier
In June 1989, BBC Radio 4 produced a 7-hour drama adapted for radio by Nick McCarty and directed by Ian Cotterell. This adaptation has been occasionally repeated by BBC Radio 7 (most recently in 2009).
In December 2011 as part of their special season on Charles Dickens' Bicentenerary,[45] BBC Radio 4 produced a new five-part adaptation for radio by Mike Walker with original music by Lennert Busch and directed by Jessica Dromgoole and Jeremy Mortimer[46] which won the 2012 Bronze Sony Radio Academy Award for Best Drama.[47]
Television programmes[edit]
An 8-part mini-series was produced by the BBC in 1957 starring Peter Wyngarde as "Sydney Carton", Edward de Souza as "Charles Darnay" and Wendy Hutchinson as "Lucie Manette".
A 10-part mini-series was produced by the BBC in 1965.
An 8-part BBC mini-series was produced in 1980 starring Paul Shelley as "Carton/Darnay", Sally Osborne as "Lucie Manette" and Nigel Stock as "Jarvis Lorry".
A 2-part mini-series was produced in 1989 starting James Wilby as "Sydney Carton", Xavier Deluc as "Charles Darnay" and Serena Gordon as "Lucie Manette".
Stage musicals[edit]
A 1968 stage version, Two Cities, the Spectacular New Musical, with music by Jeff Wayne, lyrics by Jerry Wayne and starring Edward Woodward.
In 1997 Paul Nicholas commissioned an adaptation with music by David Pomeranz and book by Steven David Horwich and David Soames. Co-produced by Bill Kenwright, the show ran at the New Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham during their 1998 Christmas season with Paul Nicholas as Sydney Carton.
Opera[edit]
Arthur Benjamin's operatic version of the novel, subtitled Romantic Melodrama in six scenes, was premiered by the BBC on 17 April 1953, conducted by the composer; it received its stage premiere at Sadler's Wells on 22 July 1957, under the baton of Leon Lovett.[48]
Notes[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b "Facsimile of the original 1st publication of "A Tale of Two Cities" in All the year round". S4ulanguages.com. Retrieved 2013-01-05.
2.Jump up ^ Broadway.com on A Tale of Two Cities: "Since its inaugural publication on 30 August 1859, A Tale of Two Cities has sold over 200 million copies in several languages making it one of the most famous books in the history of fictional literature." (24 March 2008)
3.Jump up ^ Dickens 2003, p. 191 (Book 2, Chapter 16).
4.Jump up ^ Dickens 2003, p. 128 (Book 2, Chapter 9). This statement (about the roof) is truer than the Marquis knows, and another example of foreshadowing: the Evrémonde château is burned down by revolting peasants in Book 2, Chapter 23.
5.Jump up ^ Dickens 2003, p. 134 (Book 2, Chapter 9)
6.Jump up ^ Dickens 2003, p. 159 (Book 2, Chapter 14)
7.Jump up ^ Dickens 2003, p. 330 (Book 3, Chapter 9)
8.Jump up ^ Emigration is about to be made illegal but is not yet. See Dickens 2003, p. 258 (Book 3, Chapter 1)
9.Jump up ^ Dickens 2003, p. 344 (Book 3, Chapter 10)
10.Jump up ^ Dickens 2003, p. 340 (Book 3, Chapter 10)
11.Jump up ^ Dickens 2003, p. 390 (Book 3, Chapter 15)
12.Jump up ^ Dickens 2003, p. 219 (Book 2, Chapter 21)
13.Jump up ^ Dickens 2003, p. xxxix
14.Jump up ^ Dickens 2003, pp. 107-108 (Book 2, Chapter 6)
15.Jump up ^ The Marquis emphasises his because Dickens is alluding to the (probably mythical) Droit de seigneur, under which any girl from the Marquis's land would belong to the Marquis rather than to her parents. Dickens 2003, p. 127 (Book 2, Chapter 9)
16.Jump up ^ Dickens 2003, p. 212 (Book 2, Chapter 19)
17.Jump up ^ Dickens 2003, p. 214 (Book 2, Chapter 19)
18.Jump up ^ John 11.25-6
19.Jump up ^ Biedermann 1994, p. 375
20.Jump up ^ Dickens 2003, p. 21 (Book 1, Chapter 4)
21.Jump up ^ Dickens 2003, p. 178 (Book 2, Chapter 15)
22.^ Jump up to: a b Dickens 2003, p. 223 (Book 2, Chapter 21)
23.Jump up ^ Dickens 2003, p. 110 (Book 2, Chapter 7)
24.Jump up ^ The Chevalier de la Barre was indeed executed for acts of impiety, including failure to pay homage to a procession of monks. These acts were attributed to him, it seems, by his mother's slighted lover. A synopsis of the story is given by Stanford University's Victorian Reading Project. See also Andrew Sanders, Companion to A Tale of Two Cities (London: Unwin Hyman, 1988), p.31; see also Voltaire, An Account of the Death of the Chevalier de la Barre (1766); translated by Simon Harvey, Treatise on Tolerance (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000).
25.Jump up ^ Dickens 2003, p. 63 (Book 2, Chapter 2). Dickens is quoting Alexander Pope's Essay on Man of 1733.
26.Jump up ^ Ruth Glancy has argued that Dickens portrays France and England as nearly equivalent at the beginning of the novel, but that as the novel progresses, England comes to look better and better, climaxing in Miss Pross's pro-Britain speech at the end of the novel.
27.Jump up ^ Dickens 2003, p. 385 (Book 3, Chapter 15)
28.Jump up ^ Dickens 2003, p. xxi
29.Jump up ^ "Context of A Tale of Two Cities". Retrieved 2009-08-03.
30.Jump up ^ Dickens 2003, p. 89 (Book 2, Chapter 4) p. 89
31.Jump up ^ Rabkin 2007, course booklet p. 48
32.Jump up ^ Schlicke 2008, p. 53
33.Jump up ^ "In their purest form [flat characters] ... are constructed round a single idea or quality. ... Part of the genius of Dickens is that he does use types and caricatures, people whom we recognise the instant they re-enter, and yet achieves effects that are not mechanical and a vision of humanity that is not shallow. Those who dislike Dickens have an excellent case. He ought to be bad." Forster 1927, p. 67, 71-72
34.Jump up ^ Dickens 2003, p. 83 (Book 2, Chapter 4)
35.Jump up ^ After Dr. Manette's letter is read, Darnay says that "It was the always-vain endeavour to discharge my poor mother's trust, that first brought my fatal presence near you." (Dickens 2003, p. 347 [Book 3, Chapter 11].) Darnay seems to be referring to the time when his mother brought him, still a child, to her meeting with Dr. Manette in Book 3, Chapter 10. But some readers also feel that Darnay is explaining why he changed his name and travelled to England in the first place: to discharge his family's debt to Dr. Manette without fully revealing his identity. (See note to the Penguin Classics edition: Dickens 2003, p. 486.)
36.Jump up ^ Dickens 2003, p. 470
37.Jump up ^ The Marquis is sometimes referred to as "Monseigneur the Marquis St. Evrémonde." He is not so called in this article because the title "Monseigneur" applies to whoever among a group is of the highest status; thus, this title sometimes applies to the Marquis and other times does not.
38.Jump up ^ Stryver, like Carton, is a barrister and not a solicitor; Dickens 2003, p. xi
39.Jump up ^ Dickens 2003, p. 147
40.Jump up ^ Dickens 2003, p. 120 (Book 2, Chapter 8)
41.Jump up ^ Dickens 2003, p. 462
42.Jump up ^ Dickens by Peter Ackroyd; Harper Collins, 1990, p. 777
43.Jump up ^ Dickens by Peter Ackroyd; Harper Collins, 1990, p. 859
44.Jump up ^ Dickens by Peter Ackroyd; Harper Collins, 1990, p. 858-862
45.Jump up ^ "Dickens on Radio 4".
46.Jump up ^ Dromgoole, Jessica. "A Tale of Two Cities on BBC Radio 4. And a podcast too!".
47.Jump up ^ Sony Radio Academy Awards 2012 – Best Drama[dead link]
48.Jump up ^ Boosey & Hawkes page
Works cited[edit]
"A Tale of Two Cities." Shmoop: Study Guides & Teacher Resources. Web. 27 Mar. 2011. <http://www.shmoop.com/tale-of-two-cities/>.
Biedermann, Hans. Dictionary of Symbolism. New York: Meridian (1994) ISBN 978-0-452-01118-2
Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. Edited and with an introduction and notes by Richard Maxwell. London: Penguin Classics (2003) ISBN 978-0-14-143960-0
Drabble, Margaret, ed. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 5th ed. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press (1985) ISBN 0-19-866130-4
Forster, E. M. Aspects of the Novel (1927). 2005 reprint: London: Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-144169-6
Orwell, George. "Charles Dickens". In A Collection of Essays. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (1946) ISBN 0-15-618600-4
Rabkin, Eric. Masterpieces of the Imaginative Mind: Literature's Most Fantastic Works. Chantilly, VA: The Teaching Company (2007)
Schlicke, Paul. Coffee With Dickens. London: Duncan Baird Publishers (2008) ISBN 978-1-84483-608-6
"SparkNotes: A Tale of Two Cities: Character List." SparkNotes: Today's Most Popular Study Guides. Web. 11 Apr. 2011. <http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/twocities/characters.html>.
Ackroyd, Peter. Dickens. New York: HarperCollins (1990). ISBN 0-06-016602-9.
Further reading[edit]
Glancy, Ruth. Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities: A Sourcebook. London: Routledge (2006) ISBN 978-0-415-28760-9
Sanders, Andrew. The Companion to A Tale of Two Cities. London: Unwin Hyman (1989) ISBN 978-0-04-800050-7 Out of print.
External links[edit]
 Wikisource has original text related to this article:
A Tale of Two Cities

 Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: A Tale of Two Cities
 Wikimedia Commons has media related to A Tale of Two Cities.
A Tale of Two Cities at Internet Archive.
A Tale of Two Cities at Project Gutenberg
A Tale of Two Cities - The original manuscript of the novel, held by the Victoria and Albert Museum (requires Adobe Flash).
A Tale of Two Cities, full text with audio.
'Dickens: A Tale of Two Cities', lecture by Dr. Tony Williams on the writing of the book, at Gresham College on 3 July 2007 (with video and audio files available for download, as well as the transcript).
Analysis of A Tale of Two Cities on Lit React


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Les Misérables (musical)
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This article is about the musical theatre production. For the film adaptation of the musical, see Les Misérables (2012 film). For the original novel, see Les Misérables.

Les Misérables
LesMisLogo.png
Music
Claude-Michel Schönberg
Lyrics
Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel (French lyrics)
Herbert Kretzmer (English adaptation)

Book
Claude-Michel Schönberg
Alain Boublil
Trevor Nunn and John Caird (adaptation)

Basis
1862 novel by Victor Hugo
Les Misérables
Premiere
September 1980 – Palais des Sports, Paris
Productions
1980 Paris
1985 West End
1987 Broadway
1987 First US Tour
1988 Second US Tour
1988 Third US Tour
1992 UK Tour
1992 Madrid
1995 10th Anniversary Concert
2000 Argentina
2002 Mexico
2006 Broadway Revival
2009 25th Anniversary UK Tour
2010 25th Anniversary Concert
2010 Spain
2010 Fourth US Tour
2012 Film adaptation
2013 Toronto
2013 Spain
2013 Puerto Rico
2014 Broadway Revival
2014 Aarhus, Denmark
 Multiple productions worldwide

Awards
Tony Award for Best Musical
Tony Award for Best Book
Tony Award for Best Score

Les Misérables (/leɪ ˈmɪzərɑːb/ or /leɪ ˌmɪzəˈrɑːb/; French pronunciation: ​[le mizeˈʁabl]), colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz /leɪ ˈmɪz/) is a sung-through musical based on the novel of the same name by French poet and novelist Victor Hugo. It has music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, original French lyrics by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel, with an English-language libretto by Herbert Kretzmer.
Set in early 19th-century France, it is the story of Jean Valjean, a French peasant, and his quest for redemption after serving nineteen years in jail for having stolen a loaf of bread for his starving sister's child. Valjean decides to break his parole and start his life anew after a kindly bishop inspires him by a tremendous act of mercy, but he is relentlessly tracked down by a police inspector named Javert. Along the way, Valjean and a slew of characters are swept into a revolutionary period in France, where a group of young idealists make their last stand at a street barricade.


Contents  [hide]
1 Background
2 Reception
3 Emblem
4 Synopsis 4.1 Act I
4.2 Act II
5 Musical numbers
6 Characters 6.1 Casts
7 Productions 7.1 Original French production
7.2 Original West End production
7.3 Original Broadway production
7.4 2006 Broadway revival
7.5 2013 Toronto revival
7.6 2014 Broadway revival
8 Concert productions 8.1 10th Anniversary Concert
8.2 25th Anniversary Concert
8.3 Other concert performances
9 Touring Productions 9.1 National US Tours of the Original Broadway Production
9.2 25th Anniversary International Tour
10 International productions
11 Regional productions 11.1 School edition
12 Film adaptation
13 Cast recordings 13.1 English 13.1.1 Original London Cast recording
13.1.2 Original Broadway Cast recording
13.1.3 Complete Symphonic Recording
13.1.4 10th Anniversary Concert
13.1.5 Manchester Highlights
13.1.6 25th Anniversary UK Tour Cast
13.1.7 25th Anniversary Concert
13.2 Other languages
14 Awards and nominations 14.1 Original West End production
14.2 Original Broadway production
15 See also
16 References
17 External links

Background[edit]
Originally released as a French-language concept album, the first musical-stage adaptation of Les Misérables was presented at a Paris sports arena, the Palais des Sports, in 1980.[1] However, the first production closed after three months when the booking contract expired.
In 1983, about six months after producer Cameron Mackintosh had opened Cats on Broadway, he received a copy of the French concept album from director Peter Farago. Farago had been impressed by the work and asked Mackintosh to produce an English-language version of the show. Initially reluctant, Mackintosh eventually agreed. Mackintosh, in conjunction with the Royal Shakespeare Company, assembled a production team to adapt the French musical for a British audience. After two years in development, the English-language version opened in London on 8 October 1985, by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Barbican Centre, then the London home of the RSC. The success of the West End musical led to a Broadway production.
Reception[edit]
See also: Long-running musical theatre productions
At the opening of the London production, critical reviews were negative. The Sunday Telegraph's Francis King described the show as "a lurid Victorian melodrama produced with Victorian lavishness" and Michael Ratcliffe in the Observer dubbed the show "a witless and synthetic entertainment", while literary scholars condemned the project for converting classic literature into a musical.[2][3] Public opinion differed: the box office received record orders. The three-month engagement sold out, and reviews improved. The London production, as of March 2013, has run continuously since October 1985: the second longest-running musical in the world after The Fantasticks,[4] the second longest-running West End show after The Mousetrap,[5] It is the longest-running musical in the West End followed by The Phantom of the Opera. In 2010, it played its ten-thousandth performance in London, at Queen's Theatre.[6] On 3 October 2010, the show celebrated its 25th anniversary with three productions running in London: the original production at the Queen's Theatre; the 25th Anniversary touring production at its 1985 try-out venue, the Barbican Centre; and the 25th Anniversary concert at London's O2 Arena.[6]
The Broadway production opened 12 March 1987 and ran until 18 May 2003, closing after 6,680 performances. It is the fifth longest-running Broadway show in history and was the second-longest at the time.[7] The show was nominated for 12 Tony Awards and won eight, including Best Musical and Best Original Score.
Subsequently, numerous tours and international and regional productions have been staged, as well as concert and broadcast productions. Several recordings have also been made. A Broadway revival opened in 2006 at the Broadhurst Theatre and closed in 2008. The show was placed first in a BBC Radio 2 listener poll of Britain's "Number One Essential Musicals" in 2005, receiving more than forty percent of the votes.[8] A film version directed by Tom Hooper was released at the end of 2012 to generally positive reviews.
Emblem[edit]



 The etching by Gustave Brion that served as the model for the musical's emblem.
The musical's emblem is a picture of the waif Cosette sweeping the Thénardiers' inn (which occurs in the musical during "Castle on a Cloud"), usually shown cropped to a head-and-shoulders portrait superimposed on the French flag. The image is based on an etching by Gustave Brion based on the drawing by Émile Bayard. It appeared in several of the novel's earliest French-language editions.
Synopsis[edit]
Act I[edit]
In Bagne prison in Toulon, France, in 1815, the prisoners work at hard labour ("Work Song"). After 19 years in prison (five for stealing bread for his starving sister's son and her family, and the rest for trying to escape), Jean Valjean, "prisoner 24601," is released on parole by the policeman Javert. By law, Valjean must display a yellow ticket-of-leave, which identifies him as an ex-convict ("On Parole"). As a convict, Valjean is shunned by society though the Bishop of Digne offers him food and shelter. Overnight, Valjean steals the Bishop's silver and flees but is captured by the police. The Bishop tells the police that the silver was a gift and not only lets him keep the silver he stole, but also gives him two more valuable candlesticks. The Bishop tells Valjean that he must use the silver "to become an honest man" and that he has "bought (Valjean's) soul for God" ("Valjean Arrested, Valjean Forgiven"). Ashamed, yet humbled by the Bishop's kindness, Valjean decides "another story must begin." He tears up his yellow ticket, breaks his parole and resolves to redeem his sins. ("Valjean's Soliloquy" / "What Have I Done?").
Eight years later, in 1823, Valjean has assumed a new identity as Monsieur Madeleine, a wealthy factory owner and mayor of Montreuil-sur-Mer. One of his workers discovers that Fantine (another worker) is sending money to her secret illegitimate daughter, Cosette, who lives with an innkeeper and his wife ("At the End of the Day"). Fantine and the worker fight, and the Mayor breaks up the conflict but asks his factory foreman to resolve it. The other women demand Fantine's dismissal, and because she had previously rejected his advances, the foreman dismisses Fantine. Fantine reflects on her broken dreams and about Cosette's father, who left her ("I Dreamed a Dream"). Desperate for money, she sells her locket and hair, finally becoming a prostitute ("Lovely Ladies"). When she fights back against an abusive customer (Bamatabois), Javert, now a police inspector stationed in Montreuil-sur-Mer, arrives and arrests her. The Mayor arrives and, realising his part in Fantine's circumstances, orders Javert release her before taking her to a hospital ("Fantine's Arrest").
Soon afterwards, the Mayor rescues a man pinned by a runaway cart ("The Runaway Cart"); reminding Javert of the abnormally strong Jean Valjean, whom he has sought tirelessly for years. Javert apologizes for comparing the Mayor to a criminal, and assures the Mayor that Valjean has in fact been arrested recently. At first, Valjean thinks the man could be his chance to escape his past life, but is unwilling to see an innocent man (Champmathieu) go to prison in his place, and so confesses his identity to the court ("Who Am I?—The Trial"). At the hospital, a delirious Fantine dreams of Cosette. Valjean arrives and promises to find Cosette and protect her ("Come to Me" / "Fantine's Death"). Relieved, Fantine succumbs to her illness and dies. Suddenly, Javert confronts Valjean. Valjean asks Javert for three days to fetch Cosette, but Javert refuses to believe his honest intentions. They struggle, but Valjean overpowers Javert. Valjean once again promises to Fantine he "will raise (Cosette) to the light" and escapes ("The Confrontation").
In Montfermeil, the duplicitous innkeepers, the Thénardiers, use Cosette as a servant while extorting money from Fantine claiming that Cosette is seriously ill, all the while indulging their own daughter, Éponine. Cosette dreams of a life where she is not forced to work and is treated lovingly. Madame Thénardier arrives and angrily accuses Cosette of "slacking," and orders Cosette to retrieve water from the woods, while Éponine teases Cosette and pushes her out the door ("Castle on a Cloud"). The Thénardiers successfully cheat their customers in various ways, though Madame Thénardier shows contempt for her husband ("Master of the House"). Valjean finds Cosette in the woods and accompanies her back to the inn ("The Well Scene"). He offers the Thénardiers payment to take her away, and informs them of Fantine's death ("The Bargain"). The Thénardiers feign concern for Cosette and bargain with Valjean, who pays them 1,500 francs to let him take her away. The Thénardiers accept the money, but later realize they could have asked for much more. Valjean and Cosette leave for Paris ("The Waltz of Treachery").
Nine years later, in 1832, Paris is in upheaval because of the impending death of General Lamarque, the only man in the government who shows mercy to the poor. The young street urchin Gavroche mingles with the prostitutes and beggars on the street, while students Marius Pontmercy and Enjolras discuss what will happen after Lamarque's death ("Look Down"). The Thénardiers have since lost their inn, and Thénardier now leads a street gang. They prepare to con some charitable visitors who turn out to be Valjean and Cosette. Éponine also takes part. Before taking watch, she has a conversation with Marius, whom she secretly loves. As the gang is about to con the visitors, Éponine warns Marius to stay out of it and runs away. As Marius chases after her, he bumps into Cosette and falls in love with her at first sight, much to the dismay of Éponine. Thénardier suddenly recognizes Valjean, and he and the gang attack him, while Cosette is shielded by Marius. Éponine then warns that Javert is coming ("The Robbery"). He arrives on the scene and thwarts the robbery, not recognizing Valjean until after he and Cosette escape. Thénardier informs Javert of a brand he saw on Valjean ("Javert's Intervention"). Javert vows to the stars that he will find Valjean and recapture him ("Stars"). Meanwhile, Éponine remembers Cosette from when they were children. Marius persuades Éponine to help him find Cosette. Despite her own feelings for him, she reluctantly agrees to help ("Éponine's Errand").
At a small café, Enjolras prepares a group of idealistic students for revolution, while Marius interrupts the serious atmosphere by fantasizing about his new-found love, Cosette ("The ABC Café—Red and Black"). When Gavroche brings the news of General Lamarque's death, the students march into the streets ("Do You Hear the People Sing?"). At Valjean's house, Cosette thinks about Marius and laments that she doesn't truly know herself, having never been told about her mother or Valjean's history ("Rue Plumet—In My Life"). Marius and Éponine arrive, and Marius confesses his love to Cosette, which she reciprocates, while Éponine looks on sadly ("A Heart Full of Love"). Thénardier and his gang arrive intending to rob Valjean's house, but Éponine stops them by screaming ("The Attack on Rue Plumet"). The scream alerts Valjean who believes that Javert must have found him. He tells Cosette that they must flee the country.
On the eve of the 1832 Paris Uprising, Valjean prepares to go into exile; Cosette and Marius part in despair; Éponine mourns her unrequited love for Marius; Enjolras encourages all of Paris to join the revolution as he and the other students prepare for battle; Marius is conflicted whether to follow Cosette or join the other students, but after Éponine takes him to the other students, he ultimately decides to stand with his brothers, while Éponine joins in secret; Javert briefs the soldiers under his command while he reveals his plans to spy on the students; and the Thénardiers hide underground and look forward to robbing the corpses of those who will be killed during the battle. Everyone ponders what this "tomorrow" will bring ("One Day More").[6]
Act II[edit]
As the students build a barricade, Javert, disguised as a rebel, volunteers to "spy" on the government troops. Marius discovers Éponine, who disguised herself as a boy, and sends her to deliver a farewell letter to Cosette. Valjean intercepts the letter, promising Éponine he will tell Cosette about it. In the letter, he learns about Marius and Cosette's romantic relationship ("Building the Barricade—Upon These Stones"). Éponine walks the streets of Paris alone, imagining that Marius is there with her, but laments that her love for Marius will never be reciprocated; nevertheless, she decides to rejoin him at the barricade ("On My Own").
The French army arrives at the barricade and demands that the students surrender ("At the Barricade—Upon These Stones"); though Javert tells the students that the government will not attack that night ("Javert's Arrival"). Gavroche exposes him as a spy, and the students detain him ("Little People"). Éponine returns but is shot by the soldiers crossing the barricade. As Marius holds her, she assures him that she feels no pain and reveals her love for him before dying in his arms ("A Little Fall of Rain"). Marius is devastated over her death, while Enjolras and the other students mourn this first loss of life at the barricades. The students resolve to fight in her name, and they carry her body away. Valjean arrives at the barricades in search of Marius disguised as a soldier ("Night of Anguish"). As the first battle erupts, Valjean saves Enjolras by shooting a sniper. In return, he asks Enjolras to be the one to kill the imprisoned Javert, which Enjolras grants. As soon as Valjean and Javert are alone, Valjean frees Javert and tells him to leave the barricades. Javert warns Valjean that he will not give up his pursuit and rejects what he perceives as a bargain for Valjean's freedom. Valjean says there are no conditions to his release, and holds no blame toward Javert for doing his duty. As Javert leaves, Valjean fires a shot in the air to make it appear that he has executed Javert ("The First Attack"). The students settle down for the night and reminisce and Marius wonders if Cosette will remember him if he dies ("Drink with Me"). Valjean overhears this, and as Marius sleeps, Valjean prays to God to save Marius from the onslaught that is to come, even at the cost of his own life ("Bring Him Home").
As dawn approaches, Enjolras realizes that the people of Paris have not risen up with them, but resolves to fight on ("Dawn of Anguish"). Gavroche is shot attempting to gather ammunition ("The Second Attack / Death of Gavroche"). The army gives a final warning to surrender, but the rebels fight to the last man with Enjolras exhorting "let others rise until the Earth is free!". All are killed except Valjean and a gravely wounded Marius who escape into the sewers ("The Final Battle"). Thénardier, also in the sewers, has been looting bodies ("Dog Eats Dog"). He takes a ring from the unconscious Marius, while Valjean sleeps. When Valjean carries Marius to the sewer's exit, he finds Javert who has been waiting for him. Valjean begs Javert for one hour to bring Marius to a doctor, and Javert reluctantly agrees. Javert finds himself unable to reconcile Valjean's mercy with his conception of Valjean as a convict and his need to bring him to justice. Shaken by the questions over his belief in absolute justice, Javert commits suicide by throwing himself into the Seine ("Soliloquy - Javert's Suicide)".
Back on the streets, women mourn the deaths of the students ("Turning") as Marius mourns his friends ("Empty Chairs at Empty Tables"). As he wonders who saved him from the barricades, Cosette comforts him and they reaffirm their blossoming romance. Valjean realises that Cosette "was never (his) to keep" and gives them his blessing ("Every Day"). Valjean confesses to Marius that he is an escaped convict and must go away because his presence endangers Cosette ("Valjean's Confession"). He makes Marius promise never to tell Cosette, to which Marius agrees. A few months later, Marius and Cosette marry ("Wedding Chorale"). The Thénardiers crash the reception in disguise as "The Baron and Baroness du Thénard". As Marius sees through their disguise, Thénardier attempts to blackmail Marius, telling him that Valjean is a murderer and that he saw him carrying a corpse in the sewers after the barricades fell. When Thénardier shows him the ring as proof, Marius realises that it was Valjean who saved his life. Marius strikes Thénardier, the newlyweds leave to find Valjean, and the Thénardiers enjoy the party and celebrate their survival ("Beggars at the Feast").
At a convent, Valjean awaits his death, having nothing left to live for. The spirit of Fantine appears to him, thanking him for raising her daughter, and tells him that he has been forgiven and that he will be with God. Cosette and Marius arrive to find Valjean near death. Valjean thanks God for letting him live long enough to see Cosette again and Marius thanks him for saving his life. ("Epilogue - Valjean's Death"). Valjean gives Cosette a letter confessing all about his troubled past and the truth about her mother Fantine. As he dies, the spirits of Fantine and Éponine guide him to Heaven reminding him that "to love another person is to see the face of God." They are joined by the spirits of those who died at the barricades who ask once more: "Do You Hear the People Sing?" ("Finale").
Musical numbers[edit]
Main article: Songs from Les Misérables

Act I


Song
Performer(s)
1 "Prologue: Work Song" Chain Gang, Javert and Valjean
2 "Prologue: On Parole" Valjean, Farmer, Labourer, Innkeeper's Wife, Innkeeper and Bishop of Digne
3 "Prologue: Valjean Arrested, Valjean Forgiven" Policemen and Bishop of Digne
4 "Prologue: What Have I Done?" Valjean
5 "At the End of the Day" Poor, Foreman, Workers, Factory Girls, Fantine and Valjean
6 "I Dreamed a Dream" Fantine
7 "Lovely Ladies" Sailors, Old Woman, Fantine, Crone, Whores and Pimp
8 "Fantine's Arrest" Bamatabois, Fantine, Javert and Valjean
9 "'The Runaway Cart" Townspeople, Valjean, Fauchelevant and Javert
10 "Who Am I? / The Trial" Valjean
11 "Fantine's Death: Come to Me" Fantine and Valjean
12 "The Confrontation" Javert and Valjean
13 "Castle on a Cloud" Young Cosette and Madame Thénardier
14 "Master of the House" Thénardier, Madame Thénardier and Customers
15 "The Well Scene" Valjean and Young Cosette
16 "The Bargain / The Thénardier Waltz of Treachery" Thénardier, Valjean, Madame Thénardier and Young Cosette
17 "Look Down" Gavroche, Beggars, Old Woman, Prostitute, Pimp, Enjolras, and Marius
18 "The Robbery" Thénardier, Madame Thénardier, Marius, Éponine and Valjean
19 "Javert's Intervention" Javert and Thénardier
20 "Stars" Javert
21 "Éponine's Errand" Éponine and Marius
22 "ABC Café / Red and Black" Students, Enjolras, Marius, Grantaire and Gavroche
23 "Do You Hear the People Sing?" Enjolras, Grantaire, Students and Beggars
24 "Rue Plumet – In My Life" Cosette, Valjean, Marius and Éponine
25 "A Heart Full of Love" Marius, Cosette and Éponine
26 "The Attack on the Rue Plumet" Thénardier, Thieves, Éponine, Marius, Valjean and Cosette
27 “One Day More" Valjean, Marius, Cosette, Éponine, Enjolras, Javert, Thénardier, Madame Thénardier, Gavroche and Company

Act II


Song
Performer(s)
28 "Building the Barricade (Upon These Stones)" Enjolras, Javert, Marius, Éponine and Valjean
29 "On My Own" Éponine
30 "At the Barricade (Upon These Stones)" Enjolras, Students and Army Officer
31 "Javert's Arrival" Javert and Enjolras
32 "Little People" Gavroche, Students, Enjolras and Javert
33 "A Little Fall of Rain" (Éponine's Death) Éponine and Marius
34 "Night of Anguish" Enjolras, Marius, Valjean and Students
35 "The First Attack" Enjolras, Grantaire, Students, Valjean and Javert
36 "Drink with Me" Grantaire, Students, Women and Marius
37 "Bring Him Home" Valjean
38 "Dawn of Anguish" Enjolras and Students
39 "The Second Attack (Death of Gavroche)" Gavroche, Enjolras, Marius, Valjean, Feuilly and Students
40 "The Final Battle" Army Officer, Enjolras, Grantaire and Students
41 "Dog Eats Dog (The Sewers)" Thénardier
42 "Soliloquy (Javert's Suicide)" Javert and Valjean
43 "Turning" Women of Paris
44 "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" Marius
45 "Every Day" Cosette, Marius and Valjean
46 "Valjean's Confession" Marius and Valjean
47 "Wedding Chorale" Guests, Thénardier, Marius and Madame Thénardier
48 "Beggars at the Feast" Thénardier and Madame Thénardier
49 "Valjean's Death" Valjean, Fantine, Cosette, Marius and Éponine
50 "Do You Hear The People Sing? (Reprise) / [Finale]" Full Company

Characters[edit]
Characters in order of appearance

Character[9]
Voice[10]
Description

Jean Valjean
dramatic tenor Prisoner 24601. After being released from imprisonment for serving nineteen years (five for stealing a loaf of bread and fourteen for multiple escape attempts), he decides to break his parole and turns his life around, proving that the corrupt can make themselves virtuous and selfless once more. He changes his identity, becoming the wealthy mayor of a small town. He later adopts Cosette, the only daughter of Fantine. At the end, he eventually dies and the spirit of Fantine thanks him for raising her child.
Inspector Javert
baritone or bass-baritone Respects the law above all else and relentlessly pursues Valjean, hoping to bring the escaped convict to justice. He firmly believes that humans cannot change for the better. In the end he commits suicide.
The Bishop of Digne
baritone Houses Valjean after his release from jail and gives him gifts of silver and absolution. His acts of kindness inspire Valjean to improve himself and escape the label of "criminal."
The Factory Foreman
baritone or tenor Foreman of Valjean's (Valjean has assumed the name Madeleine) jet bead factory in Montreuil-sur-Mer which employs Fantine and other workers. The Foreman fires Fantine from the factory when she persists in resisting his overt sexual advances and because it is discovered that she is the mother of an illegitimate child (Cosette) living elsewhere.
The Factory Girl
lyric mezzo-soprano In the original Broadway and London versions of the musical, the Factory Girl is mistress to the Factory Foreman. The Factory Girl discovers that the Foreman has his eyes set on bedding Fantine, so she does what she believes is necessary to see to it that Fantine gets fired. At the factory (in "At the End of the Day"), the Factory Girl intercepts a letter that the Thénardiers have sent to Fantine requesting that Fantine send them more money to care for Cosette who is ill (a lie). The letter exposes Fantine as the mother of an illegitimate child, and the Factory Girl shows it to the Foreman, insisting that Fantine be fired. The Foreman complies.
Fantine
lyric mezzo-soprano A poor worker who loses her job and, as a result, turns to prostitution in order to continue paying the Thénardiers to care for her illegitimate daughter, Cosette. As Fantine dies of consumption, she asks Valjean to look after her child. Ultimately she appears as a spirit and escorts the dying Valjean to Heaven.
Old Woman
contralto Affectionately called "The Hair Hag" in many of the original US companies, the Old Woman is the character who talks Fantine into selling her hair before Fantine becomes a prostitute.
Crone
soprano Also called "The Locket Crone," this character is the woman who talks Fantine into selling her precious locket for much less than it is worth.
Bamatabois
baritone or tenor An upper-class "fop" who tries to buy Fantine's services. He treats her abusively so she refuses him. When Javert enters the scene, Bamatabois tries to cover the fact that he was soliciting a prostitute by having her arrested for attacking him.
Fauchelevent
baritone or tenor In a role reduced from the novel, Fauchelevent appears only in the Cart Crash scene, where he is trapped under the cart and rescued by Valjean. He is an elderly man who has fallen upon hard times.
Champmathieu
silent A man who is arrested and on trial because he is believed to be Jean Valjean. Valjean, still under the name Madeleine, confesses his true identity at the trial in order to save the man.
Young Cosette
treble The eight-year-old daughter of Fantine. Cosette is in the care of the Thénardiers who are paid by Fantine to take care of her child. Unknown to Fantine, the Thénardiers force Cosette to work, and they use Fantine's money for their own needs.
Madame Thénardier
contralto Thénardier's unscrupulous wife.
Young Éponine
silent Eight-year-old Éponine is the pampered daughter of the Thénardiers. She grows up with Cosette and is unkind to her.
Thénardier
comic baritone A second-rate thief, Thénardier runs a small inn.
Gavroche
boy soprano Gavroche is a streetwise urchin who dies on the barricade helping the revolutionaries. He is actually the abandoned son of the Thénardiers, though this is not mentioned in the musical.
Enjolras
baritone or tenor Enjolras is the leader of the student revolutionaries and a friend of Marius.
Marius Pontmercy
baritone or tenor Marius, a student revolutionary, is friends with Éponine, but falls in love with Cosette, and she with him. He is later rescued from the barricades by Valjean, who ultimately gives Marius and Cosette his blessing, allowing them to be married.
Éponine
mezzo-soprano Daughter of the Thénardiers, Éponine, now ragged and a waif, secretly loves Marius. She is killed while returning to the barricades to see Marius. In the end she appears as a spirit alongside Fantine and they guide the dying Valjean to Heaven.
Brujon
baritone or tenor The brutish and cowardly but dissatisfied member of Thénardier's Gang, Brujon's role in the musical expands to cover Gueulemer.
Babet
baritone or tenor A foreboding member of Thénardier's Gang.
Claquesous
baritone or tenor Quiet and masked, expert at evading the police, Claquesous might in fact be working for the law.
Montparnasse
baritone or tenor A young member of Thénardier's Gang, Montparnasse a handsome man appears to be close to Éponine.
Cosette
soprano Cosette, the daughter of Fantine, has grown-up to become a beautiful young woman of culture and privilege under Valjean's adoptive and loving fatherly care and protection. She falls in love with Marius, and he returns her equally strong and pure romantic feelings. She marries him at the end of the musical.
Friends of the ABC
baritone or tenor Student revolutionaries who lead a revolution and die in the process, the Friends of the ABC become martyrs for the rights of citizens. (See Members listed below)
Combeferre
baritone or tenor Combeferre is the philosopher of the ABC group. Enjolras' second-in-command. He is described as the guide of the Friends of the ABC.
Feuilly
baritone or tenor Feuilly is the only member of the Friends of the ABC who is not a student; he is a workingman. An optimist who stands as a sort of ambassador for the "outside," while the rest of the men stand for France. He loves Poland very much.
Courfeyrac
baritone or tenor Friendly and open, Courfeyrac introduces Marius to the ABC society in the novel. He always has many mistresses, and is described as the centre of the Friends of the ABC, always giving off warmth.
Joly
baritone or tenor A medical student and a hypochondriac; best friends with Lesgles.
Grantaire
baritone or tenor Grantaire is a member of the Friends of the ABC. Though he admires Enjolras and is one of his truest friends, Grantaire often opposes Enjolras' fierce determination and occasionally acts as a voice of reason. Grantaire is also very close to Gavroche and attempts to act as his protector. Grantaire has a weakness for spirits of the alcoholic kind and is often tipsy throughout the musical, carrying a bottle of wine wherever he goes.
Jean Prouvaire
baritone or tenor Prouvaire is the youngest student member of the Friends. He is a poet and embodies the Romantic Era. He affects the medieval spelling "Jehan" and grows flowers. Jean Prouvaire has the honor of waving the giant red flag during "One Day More" at the end of Act One.
Lesgles
baritone or tenor Best friends with Joly. A very unlucky man, but also a very happy one.
Casts[edit]
Casts

Character
Original French Stage Cast (1980)
Original London Cast (1985)
Original Broadway Cast (1987)
10th Anniversary Cast (1995)
First Broadway Revival (2006)
25th Anniversary Cast (2010)
Current London Cast
Second Broadway Revival (2014)

Jean Valjean
Maurice Barrier Colm Wilkinson Alexander Gemignani Alfie Boe Daniel Koek Ramin Karimloo
Javert
Jean Vallée Roger Allam Terrence Mann Philip Quast Norm Lewis Tam Mutu Will Swenson
Fantine
Rose Laurens Patti LuPone Randy Graff Ruthie Henshall Daphne Rubin-Vega Lea Salonga Na-Young Jeon Caissie Levy
Eponine
Marianne Mille Frances Ruffelle Lea Salonga Celia Keenan-Bolger Samantha Barks Carrie Hope Fletcher Nikki M. James
Thénardier
Yvan Dautin Alun Armstrong Leo Burmester Alun Armstrong Gary Beach Matt Lucas Cameron Blakely Cliff Saunders
Madame Thénardier
Marie-France Roussel Susan Jane Tanner Jennifer Butt Jenny Galloway Wendy Ferguson Keala Settle
Marius
Gilles Buhlmann Michael Ball David Bryant Michael Ball Adam Jacobs Nick Jonas Rob Houchen Andy Mientus
Cosette
Fabienne Guyon Rebecca Caine Judy Kuhn Ali Ewoldt Katie Hall Samantha Dorsey Charlotte Maltby
Enjolras
Christian Ratellin David Burt Michael Maguire Aaron Lazar Ramin Karimloo Anton Zetterholm Kyle Scatliffe
Gavroche
Florence Davis
 Cyrille Dupont
 Fabrice Ploquin Ian Tucker
 Oliver Spencer
 Liza Hayden Braden Danner
 RD Robb Adam Searles Brian D'Addario
 Jacob Levine
 Austin Myers Robert Madge Beau Cripps
 Johnny Evans Hutchison Joshua Colley
 Gaten Matarazzo
Productions[edit]
Original French production[edit]



 The Palais des Sports in Paris where the musical was first played .
French songwriter Alain Boublil had the idea to adapt Victor Hugo's novel into a musical while at a performance of the musical Oliver! in London:

As soon as the Artful Dodger came onstage, Gavroche came to mind. It was like a blow to the solar plexus. I started seeing all the characters of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables—Valjean, Javert, Gavroche, Cosette, Marius, and Éponine—in my mind's eye, laughing, crying, and singing onstage.[11]
He pitched the idea to French composer Claude-Michel Schönberg, and the two developed a rough synopsis. They worked up an analysis of each character's mental and emotional state, as well as that of an audience. Schönberg then began to write the music, while Boublil began work on the text. According to Boublil, "...I could begin work on the words. This I did—after myself deciding on the subject and title of every song—in collaboration with my friend, poet Jean-Marc Natel."[12] Two years later, a two-hour demo tape with Schönberg accompanying himself on the piano and singing every role was completed. An album of this collaboration was recorded at CTS Studios in Wembley and was released in 1980, selling 260,000 copies.
The concept album includes Maurice Barrier as Jean Valjean, Jacques Mercier as Javert, Rose Laurens as Fantine, Yvan Dautin as Thénardier, Marie-France Roussel as Mme. Thénardier, Richard Dewitte as Marius, Fabienne Guyon as Cosette, Marie-France Dufour as Éponine, Michel Sardou as Enjolras, Fabrice Bernard as Gavroche, Maryse Cédolin as Young Cosette, Claude-Michel Schönberg as Courfeyrac, Salvatore Adamo as Combeferre, Michel Delpech as Feuilly, Dominique Tirmont as M. Gillenormand, and Mireille as the hair buyer.
That year, in September 1980, a stage version directed by veteran French film director Robert Hossein was produced at the Palais des Sports in Paris. The show was a success, with 100 performances seen by over 500,000 people.[13][14][15]
Most of the cast from the concept album performed in the production.[13][16] The cast included Maurice Barrier as Valjean, Jean Vallée as Javert, Rose Laurens as Fantine, Maryse Cédolin and Sylvie Camacho and Priscilla Patron as Young Cosette, Marie-France Roussel as Mme. Thénardier, Yvan Dautin as M. Thénardier, Florence Davis and Fabrice Ploquin and Cyrille Dupont as Gavroche, Marianne Mille as Éponine, Gilles Buhlmann as Marius, Christian Ratellin as Enjolras, Fabienne Guyon as Cosette, René-Louis Baron as Combeferre, Dominique Tirmont as M. Gillenormand, Anne Forrez as Mlle. Gillenormand, and Claude Reva as the storyteller.[13][16][17][18]
Original West End production[edit]



Les Misérables at Queen's Theatre in London
The English-language version, with lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer and additional material by James Fenton, was substantially expanded and reworked from a literal translation by Siobhan Bracke of the original Paris version, in particular adding a prologue to tell Jean Valjean's backstory. Kretzmer's work is not a direct "translation" of the French, a term that Kretzmer refused to use. A third of the English lyrics were a "rough" translation, another third were adapted from the French lyrics and the final third consisted of new material. The majority is performed in recitative style; the vocalists use natural speech delivery, not musical metrics.[19]
The first production in English, produced by Cameron Mackintosh and adapted and directed by Trevor Nunn and John Caird, opened on 8 October 1985 (five years after the original production) at the Barbican Arts Centre, London. It was billed in the RSC Barbican Theatre programme as "The Royal Shakespeare Company presentation of the RSC/Cameron Mackintosh production", and played to preview performances beginning on 28 September 1985.
The set was designed by John Napier, costumes by Andreane Neofitou and lighting by David Hersey. Musical supervision and orchestrations were by John Cameron, who had been involved with the show since Boublil and Schönberg hired him to orchestrate the original French concept album. Musical staging was by Kate Flatt with musical direction by Martin Koch.
The original London cast included Colm Wilkinson as Jean Valjean, Roger Allam as Javert, Ken Caswell as the Bishop of Digne, Patti LuPone as Fantine, Zoë Hart, Jayne O'Mahony and Joanne Woodcock as Young Cosette, Danielle Akers, Gillian Brander and Juliette Caton as Young Éponine, Susan Jane Tanner as Madame Thénardier, Alun Armstrong as Thénardier, Frances Ruffelle as Éponine, Rebecca Caine as Cosette, Michael Ball as Marius, David Burt as Enjolras, with Ian Tucker, Oliver Spencer and Liza Hayden sharing the role of Gavroche.[20][21]
On 4 December 1985, the show transferred to the Palace Theatre, London and moved again on 3 April 2004, to the much more intimate Queen's Theatre, with some revisions of staging and where, as of January 2013, it was still playing. It celebrated its ten-thousandth performance on 5 January 2010.[22] The drummer from the original cast album, Peter Boita, stayed with the show for the first 25 years of its history.[citation needed]
The co-production has generated valuable income for the Royal Shakespeare Company.[23]
Original Broadway production[edit]
The musical had its out-of-town tryout at the Kennedy Center's Opera House in Washington D.C., in December 1986 for eight weeks, through February 14, 1987.[24]
The musical then premiered on Broadway on March 12, 1987 at The Broadway Theatre. Colm Wilkinson and Frances Ruffelle reprised their roles from the London production.[25] The $4.5 million production had a more than $4 million advance sale prior to its New York opening.[26]
The show underwent further tightening and an improved sewer lighting and Javert suicide scene effect was incorporated.[27] Boublil explained: "The transfer from London to the United States has prompted further modifications. 'We are taking this opportunity to rethink and perfect, to rewrite some details which probably no one else will see, but which for us are still long nights of work,' Mr. Boublil says. 'There are things that nobody had time to do in London, and here we have a wonderful opportunity to fix a few things. No one will notice, perhaps, but for us, it will make us so happy if we can better this show. We would like this to be the final version.'"[26] Two songs were deleted—the complete version of Gavroche's song "Little People" and the adult Cosette's "I Saw Him Once". A short section at the beginning of "In My Life" replaced "I Saw Him Once". The lyrics in Javert's "Stars" were changed. It now ended with the line, "This I swear by the stars!", while the London production and cast recording ended with the repeated line, "Keeping watch in the night".
The original Broadway cast included Colm Wilkinson as Jean Valjean, David Bryant as Marius, Judy Kuhn as Cosette, Michael Maguire as Enjolras, Frances Ruffelle as Éponine, Braden Danner as Gavroche, Donna Vivino as Young Cosette, Jennifer Butt as Madame Thénardier, Leo Burmester as Thénardier, Randy Graff as Fantine, Terrence Mann as Javert, Chrissie McDonald as Young Éponine, and Norman Large as the Bishop of Digne.[25]
Other members of the original Broadway cast included Kevin Marcum, Paul Harman, Anthony Crivello, John Dewar, Joseph Kolinski, Alex Santoriello, Jesse Corti, Susan Goodman, John Norman, Norman Large, Marcus Lovett, Steve Shocket, Cindy Benson, Marcie Shaw, Jane Bodle, Joanna Glushak, Ann Crumb, Kelli James, Gretchen Kingsley-Weihe, Chrissie McDonald. Michael Hinton was the original drummer and credited on the cast album.[25]
The musical ran at the Broadway Theatre through October 10, 1990, when it moved to the Imperial Theatre.[25] It was scheduled to close on March 15, 2003, but the closing was postponed by a surge in public interest.[28] According to an article in The Scotsman, "Sales picked up last October, when Sir Cameron made the announcement that the show would be closing on March 15th...its closure postponed to May 18th because of an unexpected increase in business."[29] After 6,680 performances in sixteen years,[29] when it closed on May 18, 2003,[25] it was the second-longest-running Broadway musical after Cats.[30] It was surpassed by The Phantom of the Opera, in 2006.[31]
This Broadway production of Les Misérables and its advertising in New York City is a reoccurring theme in American Psycho. The reviewer for the Financial Times wrote that Les Misérables is "the book's hilarious main cultural compass-point".[32]
2006 Broadway revival[edit]
Only three years after the original run closed, Les Misérables began a return to Broadway on 9 November 2006 at the Broadhurst Theatre for a limited run that was subsequently made open-ended.
Using the set, costumes, performers, and other resources from the recently closed third US national touring production, the production was only slightly altered. Minor changes included colourful projections blended into its existing lighting design, and a proscenium that extended out into the first two boxes on either side of the stage.
Some cuts made to the show's prologue during its original Broadway run were restored, lyrics for Gavroche's death scene (known in the revival as "Ten Little Bullets") cut during the development of the original London production were restored, and much of the show was re-orchestrated by Christopher Jahnke, introducing a snare and timpani-heavy sound played by a 14 member band, a reduction of about 8 musicians from the original production's 22 musician orchestration.[citation needed]
The original 2006 Broadway revival cast included Alexander Gemignani as Jean Valjean, Norm Lewis as Javert, Daphne Rubin-Vega as Fantine, Celia Keenan-Bolger as Éponine, Aaron Lazar as Enjolras, Adam Jacobs as Marius, Ali Ewoldt as Cosette, Gary Beach as Thénardier, Jenny Galloway as Madame Thénardier, Brian D’Addario and Jacob Levine and Skye Rainforth and Austyn Myers as Gavroche, James Chip Leonard as The Bishop of Digne, Drew Sarich as Grantaire, and Tess Adams and Kylie Liya Goldstein and Carly Rose Sonenclar as Young Cosette/Young Éponine.[33]
Lea Salonga, who previously played the role of Éponine in the 10th Anniversary concert, replaced Rubin-Vega as Fantine beginning on March 2, 2007. Zach Rand replaced Jacob Levine as Gavroche on March 15, 2007. Ann Harada replaced Jenny Galloway as Mme. Thénardier on April 24, 2007. Ben Davis joined playing Javert, and Max von Essen playing Enjolras. Ben Crawford and Mandy Bruno joined the cast that day too, playing Brujon and Éponine respectively. On July 23, 2007, Sarich took over the role of Valjean, following Gemignani's departure. On September 5, 2007, it was announced that John Owen-Jones (who was playing Valjean in London) was to join the Broadway cast. In return, Sarich would join the London cast in Owen-Jones' place. Judy Kuhn, who originated the role of Cosette, returned to the show after twenty years as Fantine, succeeding Salonga.
The revival closed on 6 January 2008. Combined with the original production's 6,680 performances, Les Misérables has played 7,176 performances on Broadway.[34]
2013 Toronto revival[edit]
A sit down production is playing at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto, Canada. Previews began on September 27, 2013 with the opening night on October 9. Tickets are on sale through February 4, 2014.[35][36][37][38] Laurence Olivier Award nominee, Ramin Karimloo, is starring as Jean Valjean.[39] He is joined by fellow West End star, Earl Carpenter, who is reprising the role of Inspector Javert.[40] Other cast members include Genevieve Leclerc as Fantine, Samantha Hill as Cosette, Melissa O'Neil as Eponine, Cliff Saunders as Monsieur Thenardier, Lisa Horner as Madame Thenardier, and Mark Uhre as Enjolras.[41] The roles of young Cosette and young Eponine are shared by Ella Ballentine, Saara Chaudry and Madison Oldroyd. Gavroche is shared by David Gregory Black and Aiden GlennRead.[42]
2014 Broadway revival[edit]
The show is set to return on Broadway in March 2014 at the Imperial Theatre with previews beginning March 1, 2014 and an official opening set for March 23, 2014.[43][44] The creative team includes the direction of Laurence Connor and James Powell, the set design by Matt Kinley, costumes by Andreane Neofitou and Christine Rowlands, lighting by Paule Constable, sound by Mick Potter and projections by Fifty-Nine Productions. Cameron Mackintosh will be producing once again. On October 22, 2013, it was announced that Ramin Karimloo, Will Swenson, Caissie Levy, and Nikki M. James would be headlining the revival cast as Jean Valjean, Javert, Fantine, and Eponine respectively.[45] Andy Mientus and Charlotte Maltby will also star as Marius and Cosette respectively.[46]
Concert productions[edit]
10th Anniversary Concert[edit]
Main article: Les Misérables: The Dream Cast in Concert
On 8 October 1995, the show celebrated its tenth anniversary with a concert at the Royal Albert Hall. This 10th Anniversary Concert was nearly "complete," missing only a handful of scenes, including "The Death of Gavroche" and the confrontation between Marius and the Thénardiers at the wedding feast. Sir Cameron Mackintosh hand-selected the cast, which became known as the Les Misérables Dream Cast, assembled from around the world, and engaged the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The concert concluded with seventeen Valjeans from various international productions singing, "Do You Hear the People Sing?" in their native languages. The concert cast included Colm Wilkinson as Jean Valjean, Philip Quast as Javert, Paul Monaghan as the Bishop of Digne, Ruthie Henshall as Fantine, Hannah Chick as Young Cosette, Jenny Galloway as Madame Thénardier, Alun Armstrong as Thénardier, Adam Searles as Gavroche, Michael Maguire as Enjolras, Michael Ball as Marius, Judy Kuhn as Cosette, Lea Salonga as Éponine, and Anthony Crivello as Grantaire. The concert was staged by Ken Caswell and conducted by David Charles Abell.
25th Anniversary Concert[edit]
Main article: Les Misérables: 25th Anniversary Concert
The 25th Anniversary Concert of Les Misérables was held at The O2 in North Greenwich on Sunday, 3 October 2010 at 1:30 pm and 7:00 pm.
It featured Alfie Boe as Jean Valjean, Norm Lewis as Javert, Lea Salonga as Fantine, Nick Jonas as Marius, Katie Hall as Cosette, Jenny Galloway as Madame Thénardier, Ramin Karimloo as Enjolras, Samantha Barks as Éponine, Matt Lucas as Thénardier, Mia Jenkins as Young Cosette, Robert Madge as Gavroche and Earl Carpenter as the Bishop of Digne. (Originally, Camilla Kerslake had been selected to perform as Cosette, however she was unable to attend. Katie Hall was selected in her place. Hall had previously acted the role at the Queen's Theatre from 2009 and in the 25th Anniversary Tour production at the Barbican.) Casts of the current London, international tour, original 1985 London, and several school productions took part, comprising an ensemble of three hundred performers and musicians. The concert was directed by Laurence Connor & James Powell and conducted by David Charles Abell.
Other concert performances[edit]
The musical has also been performed in concert at Cardiff Castle and several venues in southern England, produced by Earl Carpenter Concerts. A concert version starring Jeff Leyton was also performed at the Odyssey Arena, Belfast. In 1989, a one-night concert performance was performed at SkyDome, Toronto, and the largest concert production attracted an audience of approximately 125,000 as part of the Australia Day celebrations in Sydney's Domain Park. The Scandinavian concert tour, produced by Cameron Mackintosh in association with Noble Art, starred Danish musical icon Stig Rossen in the leading role and commemorated author Victor Hugo's 200th birthday. Venues on the tour included the Stockholm Globe Arena, Oslo Spektrum, the Helsinki Hartwell Areena, and the Gothenburg Scandinavium, with audiences totalling over 150,000 for the complete tour.
In November 2004, to celebrate the centennial of the Entente Cordiale, the Queen invited the cast of Les Misérables in the West End to perform for French President Jacques Chirac at Windsor Castle. It was the first time the cast of a West End musical had performed at a Royal residence. The cast was the same as in the West End, supplemented by several guest singers and a choir of former performers. The part of Jean Valjean was played by Michael Ball – the original 1985 London and 1995 Dream Cast Marius - and the part of Javert was played by Michael McCarthy.
In February 2008, Les Misérables was performed at the Bournemouth International Centre, England with a cast of West End stars accompanied by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. In August 2008, a concert version, directed by Richard Jay-Alexander, was performed at the Hollywood Bowl. The cast included veteran Les Misérables star J. Mark McVey as Valjean, The Office star Melora Hardin as Fantine, Broadway star and Bowl veteran Brian Stokes Mitchell as Javert, Spring Awakening and Glee star Lea Michele as Éponine, Tony-winning Jersey Boys star John Lloyd Young as Marius, West End star Tom Lowe as Enjolras, Michael McCormick as Thénardier, Ruth Williamson as Madame Thénardier, Michele Maika as Cosette, Maddie Levy as Young Cosette, and Sage Ryan as Gavroche.
In September 2008, it was performed at the St John Loveridge Hall in Guernsey with a cast of West End performers—the first time that it had been professionally performed on the Island where Victor Hugo wrote the novel. Former London Valjean Phil Cavill reprised his role alongside Les Misérables veteran Michael McCarthy as Javert. In March 2009, the Guernsey production was remounted at Fort Regent in Jersey; and in July 2009, the musical was performed in concert at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight.
Touring Productions[edit]
National US Tours of the Original Broadway Production[edit]
The show had three national touring companies of the original Broadway production in the US, all of which shared the Broadway producer and manager, creative teams, as well nearly identical sets, costumes, and lighting. While the touring production and the New York production were running simultaneously, the staff, cast members, crew, and musicians of the two productions interchanged often, which contributed to keeping both companies of the show in form. When the New York production closed in 2003, the Third National Tour continued for another three years, and enjoyed the influx of many members from the original and subsequent New York companies.
The First National Tour opened at Boston's Shubert Theatre on 12 December 1987, and continued to play major cities until late 1991. The Second National Tour (called "The Fantine Company") opened at Los Angeles' Shubert Theatre on 1 June 1988. The production played for fourteen months then transferred to San Francisco's Curran Theatre where it enjoyed a similar run. The Third National Tour of Les Misérables (called "The Marius Company") was one of the longest running American touring musical productions. Opening on 28 November 1988, at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center in Florida, and closing on 23 July 2006, at the Fox Theatre in St. Louis, Missouri,[47] the tour ran for seventeen years and 7,061 performances. The tour played in 145 cities in 43 states. The same touring company also frequently performed in Canada, made a 1994 diversion to Singapore, and another diversion in 2002 to be the first Western musical production to visit China, opening in Shanghai's Grand Theatre for a three-week engagement.
All US productions (including Broadway and its revival) were visually identical in scale and design but the third national tour was notable for its portability without sacrificing the Broadway-caliber experience. Thanks to innovative touring techniques borrowed from the pop/rock concert industry, the 4.5 million dollar production was adaptable to smaller and larger venues and traveled complete in all of 8 semi tractor trailers. It was set up and ready to go in less than 24 hours and broken down and packed up in about 16 hours. This allowed it to reach many cities and venues in its acclaimed, original Broadway form.
The final company of the Third National Broadway Tour included Randal Keith as Valjean (Keith also played Valjean in the final company of the original Broadway engagement), Robert Hunt as Javert, Joan Almedilla as Fantine, Daniel Bogart as Marius, Norman Large (from Original Broadway Cast) as Monsieur Thénardier, Jennifer Butt (from Original Broadway Cast) as Madame Thénardier, Melissa Lyons as Éponine, Ali Ewoldt as Cosette, Victor Wallace as Enjolras, Meg Guzulescu and Rachel Schier alternating as Young Cosette and Young Éponine, and Austyn Myers and Anthony Skillman alternating as Gavroche.
25th Anniversary International Tour[edit]
A tour to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the show began performances on 12 December 2009, at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff. Differences from the original production included a new set, new costumes, new direction and alterations to the original orchestrations. The tour also did not use a revolving stage and the scenery was inspired by the paintings of Victor Hugo. Locations have included Manchester, Norwich, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Bristol, Salford, and Southampton. The tour also played a special engagement in Paris. From September through October, the show returned to the Barbican Centre, London, site of the original 1985 production. The tour cast featured John Owen-Jones as Valjean, Earl Carpenter as Javert, Gareth Gates as Marius, Ashley Artus as Thénardier, Lynne Wilmot as Madame Thénardier, Madalena Alberto as Fantine, Rosalind James as Éponine, Jon Robyns as Enjolras, Katie Hall as Cosette (with Eliza Jones as Young Cosette), and David Lawrence as the Bishop of Digne. The tour ended 2 October 2010, at the Barbican.[citation needed]
Since its UK premiere, several international productions based on the 25th Anniversary Tour has been staged in different countries, including Spain Which had Nicolas Martinelli as Jean Valjean, Ignasi Vidal as Javert, Elena Medina as Fantine, Lydia Fairen as Eponine, Talia De Val as Cosette, Guido Balzaretti as Marius, Armando Pita as Thenardier, Eva Diago as Madame Thenardier, Carlos Solano as Enjolras, Leonardo Aguilar Naranjo, Sebastian Salas Manjon and Nacho Rodriguez Peris as Gavroche and Ana Perez Segura, Martina Vidal, Chiruca Baez Seoane as Little Cosette and Little Eponine ,South Korea which had Chung Sung Hwa as Jean Valjean, Moon Jong Won as Javert, Cho Jung Eun as Fantine, Im Choon Gil as Thenardier, Park Jun Myun as Madame Thenardier, Kim Woo Hyung as Enjolras, Jo Sang Woong as Marius, Park Ji Yeon as Eponine and Lee Ji Soo as Cosette and Japan, The Japanese 25th Anniversary Production had Shoichi Fukui (also plays the role of Javert), Kim Hyun Jun (only for a short period) and Mitsuo Yoshihara (also plays the role of Javert) as Jean Valjean, Shoichi Fukui (Also plays the role of Jean Valjean), Mitsuo Yoshihara (Also plays the role of Jean Valjean), Tatsuya Kawaguchi and Yoshio Kamata as Javert, Rina Chinen, Miou Kazune and Anna Sato as Fantine, Hajime Komada, KENTARO and Norihide Mantani as Thenardier, Kumiko Mori, Rinko Urashima and Yuna Taniguchi as Madame Thenardier, Rena Sasamoto, Natsumi Kon, Aya Hirano and Sayaka Watabiki as Eponine, Ikuyo Aoyama, Reina Isogai and Kumiko Wakai as Cosette, Rio Uehara, Naoto Nojima and Alihiro Sugiyama as Enjolras, Yuichi Harada, Ryota Tamura and Ikusaburo Yamazaki as Marius, Seishiro Kato, Tomonori Suzuki and Matsui Tsukimori as Gavroche and Mai Kitagawa, Sora Kimura, Shion Shimizu, Yukiko Takeda, Tsukino Chika Sada and Kurumi Harada both play Little Cosette and Little Eponine respectively. .
In the fall of 2010, The tour moved to the US with a new company presented by Broadway Across America to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the show opening on Broadway. The tour had its opening on 19 November 2010 at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey, running until 19 December 2010. This tour originally starred Lawrence Clayton as Valjean, Andrew Varela as Javert, Betsy Morgan as Fantine, Jenny Latimer as Cosette, Justin Scott Brown as Marius, Chasten Harmon as Éponine, Michael Kostroff as Thénardier, Shawna Hamic as Madame Thénardier, Jeremy Hays as Enjolras, Josh Caggiano and Ethan Paul Khusidman as Gavroche, Maya Jade Frank and Juliana Simone alternating as Young Cosette and Young Éponine. J. Mark McVey's daughter, Kylie McVey was the understudy for Young Cosette and Young Éponine. Clayton left the tour in April 2011. Ron Sharpe later took over as Valjean until June 2011. J. Mark McVey was then Valjean (McVey previously played the role on Broadway), but McVey and his daughter left the tour on 1 April 2012. Peter Lockyer replaces him as Valjean. Betsy Morgan left the tour on December 2, 2012. She was replaced by Genevieve Leclerc. The tour ran until August 11, 2013, closing at the Smith Center for the Performing Arts in Las Vegas. The tour's final cast included Peter Lockyer as Valjean, Andrew Varela as Javert, Genevieve Leclerc as Fantine, Lauren Wiley as Cosette, Devin Ilaw as Marius, Briana Carlson-Goodman as Éponine, Timothy Gulan as Thénardier, Shawna Hamic as Madame Thénardier, and Jason Forbach as Enjolras, [48][49] In 2011 it was reported that the tour is one of six US national Broadway tours that are grossing over $1,000,000 per week.[50]
International productions[edit]
The show has been produced in forty-two countries and translated into 21 languages: English, French, German (Austria and Germany), Spanish (four versions: two from Spain, one version each from Argentina and Mexico), Japanese, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian (Bokmål and Nynorsk), Polish, Swedish (in Sweden and in Finland), Dutch (Netherlands and Belgium), Danish, Finnish, Brazilian Portuguese, Estonian, Czech, Mauritian Creole, Basque, Catalan and Korean. Including singles and promos, there have been over seventy official recordings from worldwide productions.[51]
Interestingly, the stage show, which had changed so significantly since its Parisian conception as a stadium concert in 1980, was only finally translated back into the language of Victor Hugo for its French World Première in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1991. This production, which in fact boasted a cast that presented five shows a week in French and three a week in English, was a great success. It gave the producers a clear indication that Les Misérables was finally ready to go "home", to Paris, later that same year.
Regional productions[edit]


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In September 2008, a mini-tour produced by Atlanta's Theater of the Stars played Eisenhower Hall at the United States Military Academy,[52] in West Point, New York; the Filene Center at the Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in Vienna, Virginia; Kansas City Starlight Theatre; and the Fox Theater in Atlanta. The show featured a new set of original pictures painted by Victor Hugo himself. Robert Evan played Valjean, returning to the role he played in the mid-nineties on Broadway. Also featured were Nikki Rene Daniels as Fantine and Robert Hunt as Javert, both reprising their roles from the Broadway revival. Fred Hanson directed the production. The creative team included Matt Kinley as Scenic Designer, Ken Billington as Lighting Designer, Peter Fitzgerald and Erich Bechtel as Sound Designers, Zachary Borovay as Projection Designer, and Dan Riddle as Musical Director and Conductor.[53]
In 2008, the Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia staged a small venue "black box" version of the play. Signature received Mackintosh's special permission for the production: "One of the great pleasures of being involved with the creation of Les Misérables is seeing this marvelous musical being done in a completely different and original way. Having seen many shows brilliantly reimagined at Signature I have no doubt that Eric and his team will come up with a revolutionary new take on Les Miz unlike anything anyone has seen before. Viva la différence!"[54] The production officially opened on 14 December 2008 (after previews from 2 December), and ran through 22 February 2009 (extended from 25 January 2009).[55][56]
In May 2012, the Calpe Rooke Band staged Les Misérables based on the 10th anniversary version in St Michael's Cave. The show was made up of local singers and musicians.[57] It was expected to last for over two hours. Tickets for the event sold out within three days of going on sale.
In March 2013, Cumberland County Playhouse in Crossville, Tennessee launched a full production of Les Mis shortly after the last national tour closed and the property was released for regional professional theaters. The production featured Nathaniel Hackman, who performed in the 2012 national tour. The Cumberland County Playhouse production opened on March 9, 2013 and closed on May 3, 2013 after 33 scheduled performances.[58]
In March 2013, Belmont University Musical Theatre presented the first collegiate production of Les Misérables at the Troutt Theatre in Nashville, Tennessee, directed by David Shamburger.[59]
In June 2013, Hometown Acting Studio presented their version of Les Misérables in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada. All proceeds went to the Medicine Hat Women's Shelter Society.[60]
In August, 2013, the 65 year old, 450 seat Surflight Theatre located in Beach Haven, NJ, presented a full production of Les Mis­érables.  Originally scheduled to run from July 31 through August 24, the show was extended through August 31, 2013.  The show was directed and choreographed by Norb Joerder, and starred Bart Shatto as Jean Valjean, reprising his Broadway and National Tour role, and Todd Alan Johnson as Javert, also reprising his National Tour role.  Also featured were Jillian Gottlieb as Cosette, Kelly McCormick as Fantine, Kelly Briggs as Thénardier, Scott Sowinski as Enjolras, Ali Gleason as Eponine, Yvonne Strumecki as MadameThénardier, and Nicholas Cox as Marius.[61]
School edition[edit]
The school edition cuts a considerable amount of material from the original show. It is divided into thirty scenes and, although no "critical" scenes or songs have been removed, it runs 25–30 minutes shorter than the "official" version making the total running time about 2 ½ hours.[62] A few subtle changes of vocal pitch have been made: "What Have I Done?", Valjean's Soliloquy, "Stars" by Javert, "A Little Fall of Rain" by Éponine and Marius, "Turning", and "Castle on a Cloud" lose a verse each. During "Fantine's Arrest" Bamatabois loses two verses. The song "Fantine's Death/Confrontation" is edited, and the counterpoint duel between Javert and Valjean is lost, as well as a verse by Fantine. "Dog Eats Dog" by Thénardier is heavily truncated. "Beggars at the Feast", is shortened, with Thénardier losing a verse, and the song before it, "Wedding Chorale", is excluded entirely although the rest of the wedding remains in place. Also, the drinker's introduction to "Master of the House" is cut completely.[63]
The Woodlands School, located in Mississauga, Ontario, marked the first presentation of the Les Misérables school edition in Canada.[64]
Film adaptation[edit]
For the most recent film adaptation, see Les Misérables (2012 film).
Although numerous films of the Les Misérables story have been made, no film adaptation of the stage musical was produced for many years. A film adaptation has been in development several times since the late 1980s. Alan Parker was reported to be connected to an adaptation at an early stage.[65] In 1992 Mackintosh announced planning for a film to be directed by Bruce Beresford and co-produced by Tri-Star Pictures,[66] but the project was later abandoned.[67]
The 2010 DVD/Blu-ray release of Les Misérables: 25th Anniversary Concert included an announcement of revised plans for a film adaptation[68] which was later confirmed by Mackintosh. Tom Hooper signed on in March 2011 to direct the Mackintosh-produced film from a screenplay by William Nicholson.[69] In June 2011, Working Title Films and Mackintosh announced that the film would begin principal photography in early 2012 for a tentative December release date. The film was given its general US release on Christmas Day 2012.[70] Principal cast members include Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean, Russell Crowe as Javert,[71] Anne Hathaway as Fantine,[72] Amanda Seyfried as Cosette,[73] Eddie Redmayne as Marius Pontmercy,[74] Samantha Barks as Éponine,[75] and Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter as the Thénardiers.[76][77] Other notable actors who played roles in the film include Aaron Tveit as Enjolras, Bertie Carvel as Bamatabois, Colm Wilkinson as the Bishop of Digne and Frances Ruffelle as prostitute.[78]
Cast recordings[edit]
English[edit]
The following recordings of Les Misérables are available in English: the Original London Cast, the Original Broadway Cast, the Complete Symphonic Recording, the 10th Anniversary London Concert, The 25th Anniversary UK Tour Cast and the 25th Anniversary London Concert.
Original London Cast recording[edit]
The Original London Cast recording was the first English language album of the musical. Recorded in 1985, when the show premiered, it is closest to the original French concept album. For example, "Stars" appears before "Look Down" and shortly after, the original version of "Little People" plays, which was later incorporated into the revealing of Javert. It also features a song entitled "I Saw Him Once", sung by Cosette, which was later incorporated into the first part of "In My Life". The album has sold 887,000 copies in the US.[79]
The cast includes Colm Wilkinson as Valjean, Roger Allam as Javert, Patti LuPone as Fantine, Alun Armstrong as Thénardier, Susan Jane Tanner as Mme. Thénardier, Frances Ruffelle as Éponine, Ian Tucker as Gavroche, Michael Ball as Marius, David Burt as Enjolras, and Rebecca Caine as Cosette.
Original Broadway Cast recording[edit]
The Original Broadway Cast recording was produced in 1987. It included several changes to the songs that are still evident in today's performances. As with its predecessor, it is incomplete, and leaves out songs or parts that are more important narratively than musically (e.g., "Fantine's Arrest", "The Runaway Cart", "The Final Battle"). The album has sold 1,596,000 copies in the US.[79]
The cast includes Colm Wilkinson as Valjean, Terrence Mann as Javert, Randy Graff as Fantine, Leo Burmester as Thénardier, Jennifer Butt as Madame Thénardier, Frances Ruffelle as Éponine, Braden Danner as Gavroche, David Bryant as Marius, Judy Kuhn as Cosette, Michael Maguire as Enjolras, and Donna Vivino as Young Cosette.
Complete Symphonic Recording[edit]
Recorded in 1988 and released in 1989, the Complete Symphonic Recording features the entire score. (The Czech Revival Recording is the only other album, in any language, to feature the entire score; on the other hand, the four 2003 Japanese recordings feature the entire score after the cuts first made on Broadway at the end of 2000.) Cameron Mackintosh's original plan was to use the Australian cast,[80] but the scope was expanded to create an international cast featuring performers from the major performances of the musical. The cast was recorded in three different places.[81]
The album, produced by David Caddick and conducted by Martin Koch, won the Best Musical Cast Show Album Grammy Award in 1991. The cast includes Gary Morris as Valjean, Philip Quast as Javert, Debra Byrne as Fantine, Gay Soper as Mme. Thénardier, Barry James as Thénardier, Kaho Shimada as Éponine, Michael Ball as Marius, Anthony Warlow as Enjolras, and Tracy Shayne as Cosette.
10th Anniversary Concert[edit]
Main article: Les Misérables: The Dream Cast in Concert
The 10th Anniversary recording was of a concert version of Les Misérables, performed at the Royal Albert Hall in October 1995, featuring full orchestra and choir. All the parts were sung live, giving the performance a different mood from other recordings. The score was recorded consecutively without pauses or multiple recordings. The concert's encores are also included. As with the original recordings; however, they differed from those missing from the original (e.g., those vital to plot such as "Fantine's Arrest" and "The Runaway Cart" were kept, while unnecessary or complex songs, such as "At the Barricade", were left out).
The cast includes Colm Wilkinson as Valjean, Philip Quast as Javert, Ruthie Henshall as Fantine, Alun Armstrong as Thénardier, Jenny Galloway as Mme. Thénardier, Lea Salonga as Éponine, Adam Searles as Gavroche, Hannah Chick as Young Cosette, Michael Ball as Marius, Michael Maguire as Enjolras, Judy Kuhn as Cosette and Anthony Crivello as Grantaire.
Manchester Highlights[edit]
A five-track album featuring members of the UK national tour was released in 1992 and includes "I Dreamed a Dream" (Ria Jones); "Stars" (Philip Quast); "On My Own" (Meredith Braun); "Bring Him Home" (Jeff Leyton); and "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" (Mike Sterling). The version of "Stars" is the same as that on the Complete Symphonic Recording.
25th Anniversary UK Tour Cast[edit]
Recorded live at the Palace Theatre in Manchester, this recording was released to commemorate 25 years of Les Misérables in English. This recording featured new arrangements and reinspired orchestrations, and included John Owen-Jones as Valjean, Earl Carpenter as Javert, Madalena Alberto as Fantine, Ashley Artus as M. Thénardier, Lynne Wilmot as Mme. Thénardier, Gareth Gates as Marius, Katie Hall as Cosette, Jon Robyns as Enjolras, and Rosalind James as Éponine.
25th Anniversary Concert[edit]
Main article: Les Misérables: 25th Anniversary Concert

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The 25th Anniversary Concert was recorded live at The O2 (London) on 3 October 2010 and is available on DVD in the UK while the Blu-ray was released worldwide. It was shown in select US theaters via NCM Fathom Events. The release for the DVD and Blu-ray in the United States was 22 February 2011 to promote the film adaptation. A CD single of the 'Valjean Quartet' singing "Bring Him Home" was also recorded and released, with proceeds going to the charity "Tickets For Troops." The cast included Alfie Boe as Jean Valjean, Norm Lewis as Javert, Nick Jonas as Marius, Samantha Barks as Éponine, Katie Hall as Cosette, Ramin Karimloo as Enjolras, Lea Salonga as Fantine, Matt Lucas as Monsieur Thénardier and Jenny Galloway as Madame Thénardier.
Other languages[edit]
There are also various non-English language cast albums of the musical.


1980 Original French concept album
1987 Original Israeli cast
1988 Original Norway cast
1988 Original Hungarian cast
1988 Original Vienna cast
1990 Original Swedish cast
1991 Original Dutch cast
1991 Paris Revival cast
1992 Original Danish cast
1992 Original Czech cast
1993 Original Spanish cast
1994 Japanese "blue" cast
1994 Japanese "red" cast
 1996 Original Duisburg cast
1996 Swedish Värmland cast
1998 Original Antwerp cast
2003 Japanese "orange" cast
2003 Japanese "green" cast
2003 Japanese "light blue" cast
2003 Japanese "violet" cast
2003 Czech revival cast
2008 Dutch revival cast
2008 Le Capitole de Québec cast
2010 Polish Revival cast
2010 Spanish 25th anniversary production cast
2011 Czech cast

Awards and nominations[edit]
Original West End production[edit]
Original West End production

Year
Award
Category
Nominee
Result
1985 Laurence Olivier Award Best New Musical Nominated
Best Actor in a Musical Colm Wilkinson Nominated
Alun Armstrong Nominated
Best Actress in a Musical Patti LuPone Won
2012 Laurence Olivier Award[82] Audience Award for Most Popular Show Won
Original Broadway production[edit]
Original Broadway production

Year
Award
Category
Nominee
Result
1987 Tony Award Best Musical Won
Best Book of a Musical Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg Won
Best Original Score Claude-Michel Schönberg and Herbert Kretzmer Won
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical Colm Wilkinson Nominated
Terrence Mann Nominated
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical Michael Maguire Won
Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical Judy Kuhn Nominated
Frances Ruffelle Won
Best Direction of a Musical Trevor Nunn and John Caird Won
Best Scenic Design John Napier Won
Best Costume Design Andreane Neofitou Nominated
Best Lighting Design David Hersey Won
Drama Desk Award Outstanding Musical Won
Outstanding Actor in a Musical Colm Wilkinson Nominated
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical Michael Maguire Won
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical Judy Kuhn Nominated
Outstanding Orchestrations John Cameron Won
Outstanding Music Claude-Michel Schönberg Won
Outstanding Set Design John Napier Won
See also[edit]

Portal icon Musical Theatre portal
Lists of musicals
References[edit]
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65.Jump up ^ Schaefer, Stephen (18 October 1991). "Musical Chairs". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2011-03-06.
66.Jump up ^ "Cameron Mackintosh's Production of Les Misérables Celebrates Its 2,000th Performance on Thursday, March 5 and Its Fifth Anniversary" (Press release). lesmis.com. 12 February 1992. Archived from the original on 23 October 2006. Retrieved 2011-02-06.
67.Jump up ^ "Les Miserables Hits Hollywood". contactmusic.com. 2 October 2005. Retrieved 2011-03-06.
68.Jump up ^ Les Misérables in Concert: The 25th Anniversary (Blu-Ray). London, England: Universal Pictures. 29 November 2010. "Coming Soon – Universal Pictures proudly announce the musical motion picture of Les Misérables: A Working Title-Cameron Mackintosh Film"
69.Jump up ^ "Hooper to direct 'Les Miserables'". The Times Of India.[dead link]
70.Jump up ^ Bamigboye, Baz (16 June 2011). "Miss Daisy hits the West End". The Daily Mail (London). Retrieved 2012-11-04.
71.Jump up ^ Jones, Kenneth (9 September 2011). "Hugh Jackman Is Russell Crowe's Quarry in Les Miserables Film". Playbill. Retrieved 2012-11-04.
72.Jump up ^ "Cameron Mackintosh Confirms Anne Hathaway for Les MIsérables Film". Broadway World. 17 October 2011. Retrieved 2012-11-04.
73.Jump up ^ MacKenzie, Carina Adly (3 January 2012). "Taylor Swift, Amanda Seyfried get 'Les Misérables' gigs over Lea Michele". Zap2it. Retrieved 2012-08-16.
74.Jump up ^ Labrecque, Jeff (1 November 2011). "Eddie Redmayne lands 'Les Miserables' role". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2012-11-04.
75.Jump up ^ Dunn, Carrie (31 January 2012). "Breaking News: Samantha Barks To Play Eponine In Les Miserables Movie". Broadway World. Retrieved 2012-11-04.
76.Jump up ^ Jones, Kenneth (9 February 2012). "Mistress of the House: Helena Bonham Carter Will Be Madame Thénardier in Les Miz Movie". Playbill. Retrieved 2012-11-04.
77.Jump up ^ Jones, Kenneth (16 March 2012). "Sacha Baron Cohen, Daniel Evans, Linzi Hateley and More Confirmed for "Les Miz" Film". Playbill. Retrieved 2012-11-04.
78.Jump up ^ "Miz Film: It's official! Aaron Tveit is confirmed to join the cast...". lesmis.com.[dead link]
79.^ Jump up to: a b Paul Grein (January 9, 2012). "Week Ending Jan. 6, 2013. Albums: Les Miz Takes Broadway To The Top". Yahoo Music (Chart Watch).
80.Jump up ^ "Complete Symphonic Recording". Retrieved 2007-07-07.[unreliable source?]
81.Jump up ^ "Les Misérables [Relativity Complete Symphonic Recording]". Answers.com. 2006. Retrieved 2007-03-24.[unreliable source?]
82.Jump up ^ Shenton, Mark (15 April 2012). "Matilda - the Musical Sweeps Olivier Awards; Benedict Cumberbatch, Jonny Lee Miller Are Also Winners". Playbill. Retrieved 2012-11-04.
External links[edit]
 Wikimedia Commons has media related to Les Misérables (musical).
Les Misérables at the Internet Broadway Database
Cameron Mackintosh: Les Misérables (Worldwide)
Cameron Mackintosh: Les Misérables (Broadway)
An Archive of Performers from the Original Broadway Run of Les Mis
An Archive of Performers from the London Run of Les Mis
Les Miserables London
Les Mis 25th Anniversary Production running in Barcelona, 2011


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Les Misérables (2012 film)
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Les Misérables
The poster shows a young girl, played by Isabelle Allen, in the background of a dark night. Text above reveals the cast listing and text below reveals the film's title.
Theatrical film poster[1]

Directed by
Tom Hooper
Produced by
Tim Bevan
Eric Fellner
Debra Hayward
Cameron Mackintosh
Screenplay by
William Nicholson
Alain Boublil
Claude-Michel Schönberg
Herbert Kretzmer
Based on
Les Misérables (musical)
 by Alain Boublil
 Claude-Michel Schönberg
Les Misérables (novel)
 by Victor Hugo
Starring
Hugh Jackman
Russell Crowe
Anne Hathaway
Amanda Seyfried
Eddie Redmayne
Samantha Barks
Helena Bonham Carter
Sacha Baron Cohen
Music by
Claude-Michel Schönberg
Cinematography
Danny Cohen
Editing by
Melanie Ann Oliver
Chris Dickens
Studio
Working Title Films
 Cameron Mackintosh Ltd.[2]
Distributed by
Universal Pictures
Release dates
5 December 2012 (London premiere)[3]
11 January 2013 (United Kingdom)

Running time
158 minutes[4]
Country
United Kingdom[5][6]
Language
English
Budget
$61 million[7][8]
Box office
$441,809,770[8]
Les Misérables is a 2012 British epic romantic musical historical drama film produced by Working Title Films and distributed by Universal Pictures. The film is based on the musical of the same name by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg which is in turn based on the 1862 French novel by Victor Hugo. The film is directed by Tom Hooper, scripted by William Nicholson, Boublil, Schönberg and Herbert Kretzmer, and stars an ensemble cast led by Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, and Amanda Seyfried.
The film tells the story of Jean Valjean, an ex-convict who, inspired by a kindly bishop, decides to turn his life around. He eventually becomes mayor of a town in France and owner of a factory in that town. He is always alert to the risk of being captured again by police inspector Javert, who is ruthless in hunting down law-breakers, believing they cannot change for the better. One of his factory workers, Fantine, blames him for her being cast into a life of prostitution. When she dies, he feels responsible and agrees to take care of her illegitimate daughter, Cosette — though he must first escape Javert. Later, when Cosette is grown, they are swept up in the political turmoil in France, which culminates in the June Rebellion of France.
Examining the nature of law and grace, the novel elaborates upon the history of France, the architecture and urban design of Paris, politics, moral philosophy, antimonarchism, justice, religion, and the types and nature of romantic and familial love. Les Misérables has been popularized through numerous adaptations for the stage, television, and film, including a musical and a film adaptation of that musical.
Development of Les Misérables based on the stage musical began in the late 1980s. After the musical's 25th Anniversary concert in October 2010, producer Cameron Mackintosh, producer of Miss Saigon and The Phantom of the Opera, announced that the film resumed development. Hooper and Nicholson were approached in March 2011 and the main characters were cast in 2011. Principal photography commenced in March 2012,[9] and took place in various English locations, including Greenwich, London, Chatham, Winchester, and Portsmouth; as well as in Gourdon, France.
Les Misérables premiered in London on 5 December 2012, and was released on 25 December 2012 in the United States, on 26 December 2012 in Australia, and on 11 January 2013 in the United Kingdom.[3][8][10]
The film received divided, but generally favourable[11] reviews, with many critics praising the cast, with Jackman, Hathaway, Redmayne, and Barks being the most often singled out for praise. The film won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for Jackman and the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture for Hathaway. It has also won four BAFTA Awards, including the Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Hathaway). It received eight Academy Award nominations including Best Picture (the first musical nominated since 2002's winner Chicago) and Best Actor for Jackman, and won three, for Best Sound Mixing, Best Makeup and Hairstyling and Best Supporting Actress for Hathaway.[12]


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Musical numbers
4 Production 4.1 Development
4.2 Pre-production
4.3 Filming
4.4 Post-production
5 Distribution 5.1 Marketing
5.2 Release
5.3 Home media
6 Reception 6.1 Box office
6.2 Critical response
6.3 Accolades
7 References
8 External links

Plot[edit]
In 1815, convict Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) is released on parole by prison guard Javert (Russell Crowe) after serving a nineteen-year sentence for stealing a loaf of bread and numerous escape attempts, set free by carrying a heavy flag. Valjean is refused employment and driven out of every town, because of his paroled status. He is offered food and shelter by the Bishop of Digne, but steals his silver during the night. When he is captured by the authorities, the Bishop tells them that the silver was given as a gift, securing Valjean's release. The Bishop urges Valjean to do something worthwhile with his life. Moved by the Bishop's grace, Valjean breaks his parole and vows to start a new life under a new identity.
Eight years later, Valjean has become a factory owner and mayor of Montreuil-sur-Mer, and Javert is assigned as his new chief of police. In their initial meeting, Javert recognizes his face, but cannot place it, and after witnessing him demonstrate his strength by lifting a heavy cart to free a man trapped underneath, becomes suspicious that he is the convict who broke his parole eight years earlier. Meanwhile, Fantine (Anne Hathaway), one of Valjean's workers, is discovered by the other women working there to be sending money to her illegitimate daughter, Cosette (Isabelle Allen), who lives with the unscrupulous Thénardiers (Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter) and their daughter Éponine. The foreman, angry that Fantine has spurned his advances, dismisses her for her promiscuity. In a desperate attempt to support her daughter, she sells her hair and teeth and eventually becomes a prostitute. She is arrested by Javert after she attacks an abusive customer, but is saved by Valjean, who has her hospitalized and watches over her.
Later, Valjean learns that a man believed to be him has been arrested. Because of this, Javert tries to resign his duties, but Valjean refuses, saying that he only did his job. Finally unable to accept that an innocent man could be condemned in his place, Valjean reveals his identity to the court. He returns to the hospital, where he promises the dying Fantine he will look after her daughter. Shortly after, Fantine dies. Javert arrives to take Valjean into custody, but Valjean pleads for enough time to rescue Cosette. After a brief fight, Valjean jumps into a river to escape. He finds the Thénardiers, pays Fantine's debts, and leaves with Cosette, promising to be like a father to her. Valjean and Cosette flee to Paris. The Thénardiers wonder whether they demanded enough money from Valjean, and how much more money he might have. After a brief escape plot, in which Valjean and Cosette escapes to a convent, Javert vows to bring the escaped convict to justice.
Nine years later, there is increasing poverty in Paris. Jean Maximilien Lamarque, the only government official sympathetic towards the poor, is nearing death; therefore a large group of young revolutionary students, known as the Friends of the ABC, plan a rebellion against the French monarchy. The students consist of Marius Pontmercy (Eddie Redmayne), Enjolras (Aaron Tveit), Gavroche (Daniel Huttlestone), Grantaire (George Blagden), Courfeyrac (Fra Fee), Combeferre (Killian Donnelly, Joly (Hugh Skinner), and Jean Prouvaire (Alistair Brammer). Marius lives in a small room near the Thénardiers and has become friendly with their daughter, Éponine (Samantha Barks). Éponine is deeply in love with Marius, though he considers her merely a friend.
When Valjean and Cosette (Amanda Seyfried), now a young woman, are out giving alms to the poor, Marius catches a glimpse of Cosette and instantly falls in love with her. The Thénardiers also see Valjean and believe that they now have their chance to extract more money from him. Valjean and Thénardier have an argument and Javert arrives in the street to break it up. Valjean and Cosette slip away before Javert can recognize them. Thénardier cooks up a plot to rob Valjean. Marius pleads with Éponine to find out where Cosette lives so he can see her again.
At a wine shop, Enjolras is rallying the students when they receive word from Gavroche that Lamarque has died. Éponine leads Marius to Cosette. The two profess their love for one another, while Éponine laments that her secret love for Marius will go unrequited. As Marius and Cosette conclude their talk, Thénardier's gang arrives at Valjean's home to capture him for a reward from Javert. Éponine screams to warn Valjean and Cosette. Thénardier is enraged at Éponine's interference, and slaps her. Valjean decides to flee, unaware of Cosette's desire for Marius. Cosette tries to talk him out of it, then asks him questions about her past, and his as well. Valjean refuses to tell her anything. She leaves a note for Marius to tell him why she's leaving. Éponine finds Cosette's letter to Marius, who is heartbroken to lose the love of his life so soon after he's found her. He sends a farewell to Cosette and, having nothing left to live for, joins the revolution. Éponine joins too, disguised as a man, just to be near Marius. Enjolras urges the Parisians to full revolt.
The next day, the students interrupt Lamarque's funeral procession and begin their revolt. They throw up barricades all over the city. Javert poses as a rebel in order to spy on them, but he is quickly exposed by street child Gavroche and captured. During the ensuing battle, Éponine saves Marius from blowing up the barricade at the cost of her own life. She gives Marius the letter Cosette wrote and professes her love to him before she dies in his arms, leaving Marius devastated at the loss of his friend.
Meanwhile, Marius asks Gavroche to deliver the letter for Cosette and it is instead given to Valjean. He intercepts the letter from Marius to Cosette and learns of their love. He abandons his plans to flee the country and instead goes to the barricade to protect Marius. After saving Enjolras from a sniper, he is allowed to execute Javert. However, when the two are alone, Valjean frees Javert. Javert leaves, confused by this act of mercy from a criminal whom he holds in low regard.



Jean Maximilien Lamarque's funeral pyre.
With the Parisians not joining the revolution as the students expected, they resolve to fight to the death. Everyone is killed except Marius, who is saved when Valjean drags his unconscious body into the sewers before the army arrives. Thénardier discovers Marius and Valjean and steals Marius's ring before moving on to scavenge other bodies. Valjean jumps on Thénardier and demands a way out. Thénardier show the way, and Valjean escapes the sewers carrying Marius, but is confronted by Javert. Valjean begs for one hour to take Marius to a doctor. Javert refuses and threatens to shoot him if he does not surrender. Valjean ignores him and leaves with Marius. Unable to reconcile the conflict between his civil and moral duties, two things which he always considered the same, Javert jumps to his death in the Seine.
Marius recovers at his grandfather's home without knowing who rescued him from the barricade. He mourns his friends, and Cosette comforts him. Valjean sees that Cosette and Marius are happy together and believes that his presence can only threaten their happiness. He reveals his past to Marius and tells him he must leave to ensure their safety and happiness. Marius is shocked, and at first attempts to persuade him to stay, but reluctantly accepts Valjean's decision to leave. He vows that he will not tell Cosette that her father is a fugitive.
Marius and Cosette marry, although Cosette is sad that Valjean is not with them. The Thénardiers attempt to crash the reception and tell Marius that they saw his father-in-law (Valjean) carrying a murdered corpse through the sewers. They plan to blackmail him to keep it quiet. As proof, Thénardier shows Marius the ring that he stole from the murder victim in the sewers. Recognizing the ring as his own, Marius realizes it was Valjean who saved his life. The Thénardiers are carried out, and Marius and Cosette hurry off to find Valjean, who is dying in a local convent. As he perceives Fantine's spirit arriving to take him to Heaven, Cosette and Marius rush in to bid him farewell. Valjean hands Cosette a letter of his confession of his past life and joins the spirits of the Bishop, Fantine, Enjolras, Éponine, Gavroche, Courfeyrac, Joly and the other rebels at the holy barricade.
Cast[edit]

Actor

Role
Hugh Jackman     Jean Valjean
Russell Crowe   Javert
Anne Hathaway   Fantine
Amanda Seyfried   Cosette
Eddie Redmayne  Marius Pontmercy
Aaron Tveit   Enjolras
Samantha Barks   Éponine
 Isabelle Allen  Young Cosette
 Daniel Huttlestone   Gavroche
Colm Wilkinson   Bishop Myriel
Helena Bonham Carter   Madame Thénardier
Sacha Baron Cohen   Thénardier
Bertie Carvel  Bamatabois
George Blagden   Grantaire
Killian Donnelly   Combeferre
Fra Fee   Courfeyrac
Alistair Brammer  Jean Prouvaire
Gabriel Vick   Feuilly
Hugh Skinner   Joly
Iwan Lewis   Bahorel
Stuart Neal   Lesgles
Hadley Fraser   National Guard Leader
Heather Chasen   Madame Magloire
Georgie Glen   Mademoiselle Baptistine
Hugh Jackman stars as Jean Valjean, a Frenchman released from Toulon prison after 19 years of imprisonment for stealing bread and failed attempts at escaping from the prison.[13] Around June 2011, Jackman met with producer Cameron Mackintosh to audition in New York.[14] To prepare for the role, Jackman lost 15 pounds and later regained 30 pounds to mirror his character's success.[14] He avoided drinking coffee, warmed up at least 15 minutes every day, kept Ricola lozenges, drank as much as seven litres of water per day, sat in steam three times a day, took cold baths and used a wet washcloth over his face while flying, citing the musical's original co-director Trevor Nunn for his training.[15] He worked extensively with vocal coach Joan Lader, and managed to extend his vocal range, which he originally categorized a high Baritone, up to Tenor.[16]
Russell Crowe stars as Javert, a police inspector dedicating his life to imprisoning Valjean once again.[13] Before being cast as Javert, Crowe was initially dissatisfied with the character. On his way to Europe for a friend's wedding, Crowe came to London and met with producer Cameron Mackintosh. On meeting with Tom Hooper, he told the director about his concerns about playing Javert, and after meeting with him, Crowe was "determined to be involved in the project and play Javert. I think it had something to do with Tom's passion for what he was about to undertake, and he clearly understood the problems and he clearly understood the challenge."[17] On visiting Victor Hugo's home in Paris, Crowe said, "[The house's curator] told me about [19th century detective Eugene Francois] Vidocq, a man who had been both a prisoner and a policeman, the man credited with inventing undercover police work when he established the Brigade de Surete."[14]
Anne Hathaway plays Fantine, and Amanda Seyfried plays Cosette.[18][19][20] Fantine is a struggling factory worker and mother of an illegitimate child, Cosette, who is kept by the Thénardiers until Valjean buys her from them. When Hathaway was cast, she stated, "There was resistance because I was between their ideal ages for the parts—maybe not mature enough for Fantine but past the point where I could believably play Cosette."[14] On developing Cosette, Seyfried said, "In the little time that I had to explain Cosette and give the audience a reason [to see her] a symbol of love and strength and light in this tragedy, I needed to be able to convey things you may not have connected with in the show."[21] A vocal coach was enlisted to help her with the songs.[22] Isabelle Allen plays Cosette a child.[23] On working with her fellow actors, Allen said, "They gave us lots of tips and mostly [made] sure we were all OK. They were really nice."[24]
Eddie Redmayne plays Marius Pontmercy, a student revolutionary who is friends with the Thenardiers' daughter, Éponine, but falls in love with Cosette.[25][26][27] He found director Hooper's vision "incredibly helpful". On collaborating with Hooper, Redmayne said, "He was incredibly collaborative. Certainly during the rehearsal process, we sat with Tom and the Victor Hugo book adding things."[28] It was Redmayne who suggested to Hooper that his character's song, "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables", should begin a cappella (without musical accompaniment) in order to better express Marius' loneliness and longing.
Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen play the Thénardiers, a pair of swindling innkeepers.[29][30][31] Hooper previously collaborated with Bonham Carter in The King's Speech, in which she portrayed Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.[32] Baron Cohen and Bonham Carter previously co-starred in the film adaptation of the musical, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. When Baron Cohen accepted the role Thénardier, he had to abandon Django Unchained.[33]
Samantha Barks played Éponine, the Thénardiers' daughter.[34] Having previously played the role at the 25th Anniversary concert and in the West End production, Barks said "there was similarities in playing the role—they're the same character—but Eponine in the novel and Eponine in the musical are two kind of different girls, so to me it was the thrill of merging those two together, to get something that still had that heart and soul that we all connect to in the musical, but also the awkward, self-loathing teenager that we see in the novel, trying to merge those two together." She found Jackman "fascinating to learn from, and I feel like that's the way it should be done".[35]
Aaron Tveit portrayed Enjolras, the leader of Les Amis de l'ABC. Hoping to play Marius, Tveit submitted an audition tape in which he sang "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" and "In My Life". He had never performed any role in the musical. He also said that "once I got more and more familiar with the material and when I read the novel, I was like, 'Wow this is a really, really great role,' and I felt very much better suited for it." Tveit said the shooting of the film was "almost grueling a marathon".[36]
Colm Wilkinson and Frances Ruffelle, two of the original cast members involved in the Broadway and West End productions of the English version (as Jean Valjean and Éponine, respectively), make appearances. Wilkinson plays the Bishop of Digne, while Ruffelle plays a prostitute.[37] West End star Hadley Fraser, who previously played Grantaire in the 25th Anniversary Concert and Javert at West End, also makes a cameo as the Army General. Another West End star, Gina Beck, makes a cameo appearance one of the "Turning Women". Michael Jibson plays the foreman of the factory in which Fantine works and is fired from.[38]
Several actors in the West End production of the musical appear members of the student society, including George Blagden as Grantaire;[39] Killian Donnelly as Combeferre; Fra Fee as Courfeyrac; Alistair Brammer as Jean Prouvaire; Hugh Skinner as Joly;[40] Gabriel Vick as Feuilly;[41] Iwan Lewis as Bahorel; and Stuart Neal as Lesgles. Blagden was cast in January 2012.[42] Other stage actors including Hannah Waddingham, Daniel Evans and Kerry Ellis have small parts in the film along with actors who previously starred in various productions of Les Misérables.[31][43]
Musical numbers[edit]
See also: Les Misérables: Highlights from the Motion Picture Soundtrack
A highlights soundtrack album was released via Universal Republic on 21 December 2012.[44] On 25 January 2013, Republic Records confirmed via Twitter that a 2-disc deluxe soundtrack was in production alongside the DVD and Blu-ray; it was released on 19 March 2013.[45]
The film contains every song from the original stage musical itself with the exception of "I Saw Him Once" and "Dog Eats Dog",. however many songs have been partially or extensively cut. "The Attack on Rue Plumet" and "Little People" were especially shortened. In addition, the Bishop sings with Fantine during "Valjean's Death" instead of Eponine, as was in the stage musical. The lyrics of some songs were also changed to suit the changes in setting or narrative to the stage musical. In addition to the cuts, a new song, "Suddenly" was added, new music was composed for the battle scenes, and the order of several songs has changed from the stage musical.
1."Look Down" – Convicts, Javert, Valjean†§
2."On Parole" – Valjean, Bishop of Digne
3."The Bishop" – Bishop of Digne†§
4."Valjean's Soliloquy" – Valjean†§
5."At the End of the Day" – Poor, Foreman, Workers, Factory Women, Fantine, Valjean†§
6."The Runaway Cart" – Valjean, Javert
7."The Docks (Lovely Ladies)" – Sailors, Old Woman, Fantine, Crone, Whores, Pimp, Toothman§
8."I Dreamed a Dream" – Fantine†§
9."Fantine's Arrest" – Bamatabois, Fantine, Javert, Valjean§
10."Who Am I?" – Valjean§
11."Fantine's Death" – Fantine, Valjean§
12."The Confrontation" – Javert, Valjean†§
13."Castle on a Cloud" – Young Cosette, Mme. Thénardier†§
14."Master of the House" – Thénardier, Mme. Thénardier, Inn Patrons†§
15."The Well Scene" – Valjean, Young Cosette§
16."The Bargain" – Valjean, Thénardier, Mme. Thénardier§
17."The Thénardier Waltz of Treachery" – Thénardier, Valjean, Mme. Thénardier, Young Cosette§
18."Suddenly" – Valjean†§
19."The Convent" – Valjean§
20."Stars" – Javert§
21."Paris/Look Down" – Gavroche, Beggars, Enjolras, Marius, Students§
22."The Robbery" – Thénardier, Mme. Thénardier, Éponine, Valjean§
23."Javert's Intervention" – Javert, Thénardier§
24."ABC Café/Red and Black" – Students, Enjolras, Marius, Grantaire, Gavroche†§
25."Éponine's Errand" – Éponine, Marius
26."In My Life" – Cosette, Valjean, Marius, Éponine§
27."A Heart Full of Love" – Marius, Cosette, Éponine†§
28."The Attack on Rue Plumet" – Thénardier, Thieves, Éponine, Valjean
29."On My Own" – Éponine†§
30."One Day More" – Valjean, Marius, Cosette, Éponine, Enjolras, Javert, Thénardier, Mme. Thénardier, Cast of Les Misérables†§
31."Do You Hear the People Sing?" – Enjolras, Marius, Students, Beggars§
32."Building the Barricade (Upon These Stones)" – Enjolras, Javert, Gavroche, Students§
33."Javert's Arrival" – Javert, Enjolras§
34."Little People" – Gavroche, Students, Enjolras, Javert§
35."The First Attack" – Orchestra§
36."A Little Fall of Rain" – Éponine, Marius§
37."Night of Anguish" – Enjolras, Marius, Valjean, Javert, Students
38."Drink With Me" – Grantaire, Marius, Gavroche, Students†§
39."Bring Him Home" – Valjean†§
40."Dawn of Anguish" – Enjolras, Marius, Gavroche, Students§
41."The Second Attack (Death of Gavroche)" – Gavroche, Enjolras, Students, Army Officer§
42."The Final Battle" – Orchestra†§
43."The Sewers" – Valjean, Javert§
44."Javert's Suicide" – Javert†§
45."Turning" – Parisian women§
46."Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" – Marius†§
47."A Heart Full of Love [Reprise]" – Marius, Cosette, Valjean, Gillenormand§
48."Valjean's Confession" – Valjean, Marius§
49."Suddenly [Reprise]" – Marius, Cosette§
50."Wedding Chorale" – Chorus, Marius, Thérnardier, Mme. Thérnardier§
51."Beggars at the Feast" – Thénardier, Mme. Thénardier§
52."Valjean's Death" – Valjean, Fantine, Cosette, Marius, Bishop of Digne†§
53."Do You Hear the People Sing? [Reprise]" – The Cast of Les Misérables†§
54."End Credits Suite" – Orchestra
† Included on the highlights edition soundtrack
§ Included on the deluxe edition soundtrack
Production[edit]
Development[edit]
In 1988, Alan Parker was considered to direct a film adaptation of the Les Misérables musical. However, in 1991, Bruce Beresford signed on to be the film's director.[46]



 Producer Cameron Mackintosh had an integral role in facilitating the production of the film
In 1992, producer Cameron Mackintosh announced that the film would be co-produced by TriStar Pictures.[47] However, the film was abandoned. In 2005, Mackintosh later confirmed that interest in turning the musical into a film adaptation had resumed during the early months of that year. Mackintosh said that he wanted the film to be directed by "someone who has a vision for the show that will put the show's original team, including [Mackintosh], back to work." He also said that he wanted the film audiences to make it "fresh as the actual show [itself]."[48] In 2009, producer Eric Fellner began negotiations with Mackintosh to acquire the film's rights and concluded it near the end of 2011.[14] Fellner, Tim Bevan, and Debra Hayward engaged William Nicholson to write a screenplay for the film.[14] Nicholson wrote the draft within six weeks time.[14]
The DVD/Blu-ray release of Les Misérables: 25th Anniversary Concert confirmed an announcement of the musical's film adaptation.[49]
Pre-production[edit]
In March 2011, director Tom Hooper began negotiations to direct Les Misérables from the screenplay by William Nicholson.[50] Production on the film officially began in June that year, with Cameron Mackintosh and Working Title Films co-producing. Having already approached Hooper prior to production with the desire of playing Jean Valjean, Hugh Jackman began negotiations to star in the film alongside Paul Bettany as Javert.[51][52] Other stars who became attached to the project included Hathaway and Helena Bonham Carter.[53]
In September 2011, Jackman was officially cast as Jean Valjean and Russell Crowe was cast as Javert.[54] The following month, Mackintosh confirmed that Fantine would be played by Hathaway. Before Hathaway was cast, Amy Adams, Jessica Biel, Tammy Blanchard, Kristin Kreuk, Marion Cotillard, Kate Winslet and Rebecca Hall had reportedly been considered for the part.[55] For the role, Hathaway allowed her hair to be cut short into a pixie cut on camera for a scene in which her character sells her hair, stating that the lengths she goes to for her roles "don't feel like sacrifices. Getting to transform is one of the best parts of [acting]."[56] The role also required her to lose 25 pounds.[14]
In November 2011, Eddie Redmayne joined the cast as Marius Pontmercy.[25] It was reported that the shortlist of actresses for the role of Éponine included Scarlett Johansson (who also auditioned for the role of Fantine), Lea Michele, Tamsin Egerton, Taylor Swift, and Evan Rachel Wood.[57][58]
In January 2012, the press reported that the role of Éponine had officially been offered to Taylor Swift, but Swift later stated that those reports were not entirely accurate.[59][60][61][62] At the end of the month, Mackintosh made a special appearance during the curtain call of the Oliver! UK tour at the Palace Theatre, Manchester, announcing that the tour's Nancy, Samantha Barks, who had played Éponine in the West End production and in the 25th Anniversary concert, would reprise the role in the film.[34] Barks had been auditioning for 15 weeks by that point.[63]
Originally, an unknown was sought for the role of Cosette, with an open casting call in New York City in December 2011.[64] In January 2012, reports surfaced that Amanda Seyfried had been offered the role instead.[65] Eddie Redmayne confirmed both Seyfried's casting and that of Bonham Carter as Madame Thénardier in an interview on 12 January.[18] Hooper confirmed that he would stick to the musical's essentially sung-through form and would thus introduce very little additional dialogue.[27] Hooper confirmed that the film would not be shot in 3D, expressing his opinion that it would not enhance the emotional narrative of the film and would distract audiences from the storytelling.[66]
Following this announcement, reports surfaced in the press that Sacha Baron Cohen had begun talks to join the cast as Thénardier and that Aaron Tveit had been cast as Enjolras.[67][68] Later that month, the press officially confirmed Tveit's casting as Enjolras.[19][20] Colm Wilkinson and Frances Ruffelle (the original Valjean and Éponine, respectively, in the West End and Broadway productions) appeared in the film. Wilkinson played the Bishop of Digne, and Ruffelle had a cameo as a prostitute.[37] George Blagden was cast as Grantaire.[39] In an interview with BBC Radio 4's Front Row, Tom Hooper revealed that Claude-Michel Schönberg will be composing one new song and additional music. The director also expanded on the performers singing live on set, which he felt would eliminate the need to recapture "locked" performances and allow more creative freedom. More details of this were confirmed by Eddie Redmayne in an interview. He stated that the cast would sing to piano tracks (via earpiece) and that the orchestra would be added in post-production.[69]
In February 2012, casting auditions involving extras for the film took place at the University of Portsmouth and Chatham Maritime in Chatham.[70] Several days later, Mackintosh officially confirmed that Bonham Carter would play Madame Thénardier.[30] He also announced that the title of the newly created song for the film is "Suddenly" and that it "beautifully explains what happens when Valjean takes Cosette from the inn and looks after her."[71] At the end of the month, The Sun reported that the long-rumoured Baron Cohen had been cast in the role of Monsieur Thénardier.[72]
The cast began rehearsals in January 2012, with principal photography due to begin in March.[73] The press officially confirmed Baron Cohen's casting during the latter month.[31] No table read took place before filming.[22]
Filming[edit]



 Tom Hooper directing the second unit of Les Misérables on location in Winchester in April 2012.


 The film's set at Greenwich Naval College.
With a production budget of $61 million,[7] principal photography of the film began on 8 March 2012 in Gourdon. Filming locations in England included Winchester College, Winchester Cathedral Close, Her Majesty's Naval Base Portsmouth, Chatham Dockyard,[74] St Mary the Virgin Church, Ewelme, South Oxfordshire and Pinewood Studios.[9][75][76][77] In April 2012, a replica of the Elephant of the Bastille was constructed in Greenwich. In the novel, Gavroche lives in the decaying monument. Footage of Hathaway singing "I Dreamed a Dream", a song from the musical, was shown at CinemaCon on 26 April 2012. On 5 June 2012, Russell Crowe confirmed on Twitter that he had finished filming. He was later followed by Samantha Barks, confirming that all of her scenes had too been completed. On 23 June 2012, Jackman stated that all filming had been completed.[78] Some late filming was carried out in Bath, Somerset, in October 2012 where stunt shots for Javert's suicide scene had to be reshot due to an error found with this footage during post-production. Bath was not the original filming location for this scene, but the late footage was captured at Pulteney Weir.[79]
Post-production[edit]
The film's vocals were recorded live on set using live piano accompaniments played through earpieces as a guide, with the orchestral accompaniment recorded in post-production, rather than the traditional method where the film's musical soundtracks are usually pre-recorded and played back on set to which actors lip-sync. Production sound mixer Simon Hayes used 50 DPA 4071 lavalier microphones to record the vocals.[80] Hooper explained his choice:
“ I just felt ultimately, it was a more natural way of doing it. You know, when actors do dialogue, they have freedom in time, they have freedom in pacing. They can stop for a moment, they can speed up. I simply wanted to give the actors the normal freedoms that they would have. If they need a bit for an emotion or a feeling to form in the eyes before they sing, I can take that time. If they cry, they can cry through a song. When you're doing it to playback, to the millisecond you have to copy what you do. You have no freedom in the moment – and acting is the illusion of being free in the moment.[81] ”
Although this unique live recording method has been stated as "a world's first" by the creative team, several film musicals have used this method before, including early talkies, as lip-syncing wasn't perfected, the 1975 20th Century Fox film At Long Last Love and more recently in the 1995 adaptation of The Fantasticks,in the 2001 film version of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and in the 2007 film Across the Universe with songs by The Beatles.
On 27 August 2012, it was announced that recording sessions for Les Misérables would begin in London on 10 October and featured a 70-piece orchestra. It was also announced that composer Claude-Michel Schönberg was working on writing additional music to underscore the film.[82] On 9 September 2012, Universal Studios executives were granted a viewing of the rough cut of the film without the orchestra. The cut was greeted with "extreme excitement".
Distribution[edit]
Marketing[edit]
On 30 May 2012, the film's first teaser trailer debuted online, and later in theatres with Snow White and the Huntsman, The Bourne Legacy and Argo.[83]
On 20 September 2012, an extended first look was released on the film's official Facebook page. This short introduces and explains Hooper's method of recording vocals live on set, and compares it to the traditional method of pre-recording the vocals in a studio months in advance. Hugh Jackman stated that filming in this way allows him more creative freedom with the material and that he "only has to worry about acting it." Both Hooper and the actors believe that this choice of production method will make the film feel much more emotional, raw, and real. The actors praised Hooper for his method and provide brief interviews throughout the video. Hooper mentions, "I thought it was an amazing opportunity to do something genuinely groundbreaking."[84] Clips of Jackman, Hathaway, Seyfried, Redmayne and Barks singing were received very positively, especially the teaser trailer's presentation of "I Dreamed a Dream" by Hathaway. On 24 September 2012, a new poster for the film was released on the film's official Facebook page. The poster featured young Cosette, played by Isabelle Allen.[85] Posters featuring Jean Valjean, Javert, Fantine, and Cosette were later released on 12 October,[86] with further posters of Thénardiers and Marius released on 1 November 2012.
Release[edit]
Les Misérables was originally going to be released on 7 December 2012 before it was moved to 14 December; however, on 18 September 2012, the film's release date was moved back to 25 December, so as not to conflict with the opening of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, which opened on 14 December. Because of this, it opened alongside Django Unchained.[10] Release date for the United Kingdom was 11 January 2013.[87]
On 23 November 2012, Les Misérables was screened for the first time at the Lincoln Center in New York City, which received a standing ovation from the crowd.[88][89] This was followed by a screening the next day in Los Angeles, which also received positive reviews.[90]
Les Misérables premiered on 5 December 2012, at the Empire, Leicester Square in London.[3] Red carpet footage was screened live online in an event hosted by Michael Ball, the original Marius of the West End. The film was released in select IMAX theatres in New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, and Montreal the same day as its domestic theatrical release on 25 December 2012.[91] Les Misérables was released internationally by IMAX theatres on 10 January 2013.[91]
Home media[edit]
The film was confirmed for home release on 13 May 2013 on DVD, Blu-ray, and VOD in the United Kingdom; it was released in the United States on 22 March 2013. The DVD contains three featurettes: The Stars of Les Misérables, Creating the Perfect Paris, and The Original Masterwork: Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, along with an audio commentary from director Tom Hooper. The Blu-ray has all DVD features including four additional featurettes: Les Misérables Singing Live, Battle at the Barricade, The West End Connection, and Les Misérables On Location.[92]
Reception[edit]
Box office[edit]
As of April 2013, Les Misérables earned $148,809,770 in North America and $293,000,000 in other territories for a worldwide total of $441,809,770.[8] In North America, Les Misérables opened on 25 December 2012 in 2,808 theatres placing first at the box office with $18.1 million.[93] This amount broke the record for the highest opening day gross for a musical film, previously held by High School Musical 3: Senior Year, and was also the second highest opening day gross for a film released on Christmas Day.[94] It earned $27.3 million in its opening weekend, placing third behind Django Unchained and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.[95]
The film was released in the United Kingdom on 11 January 2013 and earned £8.1 ($13.1) million in its opening weekend, making it the largest opening weekend for a musical film, as well as for Working Title.[96]
Critical response[edit]
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 70% approval rating with an average rating of 7/10, based on an aggregation of 225 reviews. It offers the consensus: "Impeccably mounted but occasionally bombastic, Les Misérables largely succeeds thanks to bravura performances from its distinguished cast." [97] On Metacritic, the film achieved an average score of 63 out of 100 based on 41 reviews, signifying "generally favorable reviews".[98] The film was generally praised for its acting and ensemble cast, with several performances being singled out for praise. The live singing, which was heavily promoted in marketing for the film, received a more divided response.
Robbie Collin of the Daily Telegraph gave the film five stars: "Les Misérables is a blockbuster, and the special effects are emotional: explosions of grief; fireballs of romance; million-buck conflagrations of heartbreak. Accordingly, you should see it in its opening week, on a gigantic screen, with a fanatical crowd."[99]
The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw concurred: "Even as a non-believer in this kind of "sung-through" musical, I was battered into submission by this mesmeric and sometimes compelling film ...".[100] Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times gave a positive review, saying that the film "is a clutch player that delivers an emotional wallop when it counts. You can walk into the theater as an agnostic, but you may just leave singing with the choir."[101] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone said, "Besides being a feast for the eyes and ears, Les Misérables overflows with humor, heartbreak, rousing action and ravishing romance. Damn the imperfections, it's perfectly marvelous."[102]
Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter said, "As the enduring success of this property has shown, there are large, emotionally susceptible segments of the population ready to swallow this sort of thing, but that doesn't mean it's good."[103]
Manohla Dargis of The New York Times wrote: "[Director Tom] Hooper can be very good with actors. But his inability to leave any lily ungilded—to direct a scene without tilting or hurtling or throwing the camera around—is bludgeoning and deadly. By the grand finale, when tout le monde is waving the French tricolor in victory, you may instead be raising the white flag in exhausted defeat."[104]
Justin Chang of Variety wrote that the film "will more than satisfy the show's legions of fans." Chang praised the performances of Jackman, Hathaway, Barks, Tveit and Seyfried (i.e., every leading cast member except Crowe and Redmayne) but said that the film's editing "seems reluctant to slow down and let the viewer simply take in the performances."[105]
Callum Marsh of Slant Magazine gave the film 1 star, and wrote: "Flaws—and there are a great many that would have never made the cut were this a perfectible studio recording—are conveniently swept under the rug of candid expression ... the worst quality of Les Misérables's live singing is simply that it puts too much pressure on a handful of performers who frankly cannot sing.... Fisheye lenses and poorly framed close-ups abound in Les Misérables, nearly every frame a revelation of one man's bad taste ... One would be hard-pressed to describe this, despite the wealth of beauty on display, as anything but an ugly film, shot and cut ineptly. Everything in the film, songs included, is cranked to 11, the melodrama of it all soaring. So it's odd that this kind of showboating maximalism should be ultimately reduced to a few fisheye'd faces, mugging for their close-up, as the people sing off-key and broken."[106] The Chicago Tribune critic Michael Philips gave the film only one and a half stars, writing: "The camera bobs and weaves like a drunk, frantically. So you have hammering close-ups, combined with woozy insecurity each time more than two people are in the frame. ...too little in this frenzied mess of a film registers because Hooper is trying to make everything register at the same nutty pitch."[107]
Specific performances were reviewed very positively. Anne Hathaway's performance of ballad "I Dreamed a Dream" was met with praise, with many comparing its showstopper-like quality to Jennifer Hudson's performance of "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" from Dreamgirls.[108] Christopher Orr from The Atlantic wrote that "Hathaway gives it everything she has, beginning in quiet sorrow before building to a woebegone climax: she gasps, she weeps, she coughs. If you are blown away by the scene—as many will be; it will almost certainly earn Hathaway her first Oscar—this may be the film for you."[109] Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post writes that "The centerpiece of a movie composed entirely of centerpieces belongs to Anne Hathaway, who as the tragic heroine Fantine sings another of the memorable numbers".[110] Joy Tipping from Dallas Morning News described Hathaway's performance as "angelic".[111]
Claudia Puig from USA Today describes her as "superb as the tragic Fantine".[112] Travers felt that "A dynamite Hathaway shatters every heart when she sings how 'life has killed the dream I dreamed.' Her volcanic performance has Oscar written all over it."[102] Lou Lumenick, critic for the New York Post, wrote that the film is "worth seeing for Hathaway alone".[113] She was widely considered to be the frontrunner for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress,[114] ultimately winning it.
Eddie Redmayne has also received considerable praise for his performance with Bloomberg News saying that "Eddie Redmayne—most recently seen as the eager young production assistant in My Week with Marilyn—delivers by far the most moving and memorable performance in the film as the young firebrand Marius, who, along with his fellow students, is caught up in France's political upheavals in the 19th century."[115]
Samantha Barks earned praise for her portrayal of Éponine, with Digital Journal saying: "Samantha Barks plays Éponine with such grace, sweetness, and sadness that it is hard to imagine anyone else in the role",[116] while Claudia Puig of USA Today calls her "heartbreakingly soulful",[117] Richard Roeper of The Chicago Sun-Times describes her performance as "star-making",[118] and Roger Friedman of Showbiz411.com says she "just about steals the film".[119]
In 2013, the film was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including the Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role for Hugh Jackman,[120] and went on to win in three categories: Best Supporting Actress for Anne Hathaway, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, and Best Sound Mixing.
Accolades[edit]


List of awards and nominations

Award
Date of ceremony
Category
Nominee
Result
Ref

Academy Award 24 February 2013 Best Picture Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, and Cameron Mackintosh Nominated [120]
Best Actor Hugh Jackman Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway Won
Best Original Song "Suddenly" (music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil) Nominated
Best Costume Design Paco Delgado Nominated
Best Makeup and Hairstyling Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell Won
Best Sound Mixing Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson, and Simon Hayes Won
Best Production Design Eve Stewart and Anna Lynch-Robinson Nominated
American Film Institute 11 January 2013 Movies of the Year Won [121]
Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Award 28 January 2013 Best International Film Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, and Cameron Mackintosh Nominated [122]
Best International Actor Hugh Jackman Nominated
British Academy Film Award 10 February 2013 Best Film Nominated [123]
Best British Film Nominated
Best Actor in a Leading Role Hugh Jackman Nominated
Best Actress in a Supporting Role Anne Hathaway Won
Best Cinematography Danny Cohen Nominated
Best Costume Design Paco Delgado Nominated
Best Makeup and Hair Lisa Westcott Won
Best Sound Simon Hayes, Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson, Jonathan Allen, Lee Walpole, and John Warhurst Won
Best Production Design Eve Stewart and Anna Lynch-Robinson Won
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards 10 January 2013 Best Film Nominated [124]
Best Acting Ensemble The Cast of Les Misérables Nominated
Best Actor Hugh Jackman Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway Won
Best Director Tom Hooper Nominated
Best Song "Suddenly" Nominated
Best Cinematography Danny Cohen Nominated
Best Art Direction Eve Stewart and Anna Lynch-Robinson Nominated
Best Editing Chris Dickens Nominated
Best Costume Design Paco Delgado Nominated
Best Makeup Lisa Westcott Won
Chicago Film Critics Association 17 December 2012 Best Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway Nominated [125]
Best Art Direction Eve Stewart and Anna Lynch-Robinson Nominated
Most Promising Performer Samantha Barks Nominated
Directors Guild of America Award 2 February 2013 Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures Tom Hooper Nominated 
Golden Globe Award 13 January 2013 Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy Won [126]
Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Hugh Jackman Won
Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture Anne Hathaway Won
Best Original Song "Suddenly" Nominated
Grammy Awards 26 January 2014 Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media Cameron Mackintosh, Lee McCutcheon and Stephan Metcalfe Nominated [127]
Hollywood Film Festival 23 October 2012 Best Trailer Erin Wyatt Won [128]
Producer of the Year Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, and Cameron Mackintosh Won
Spotlight Award Samantha Barks Won
Houston Film Critics Society 5 January 2013 Best Picture Nominated 
Best Director Tom Hooper Nominated
Best Actor Hugh Jackman Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway Won
Best Cinematography Danny Cohen Nominated
Best Original Song "Suddenly" Won
5th Annual Lancashire Film Critics Awards 30 March 2013 Best Film  Won [129]
Best Director Tom Hooper Won
London Film Critics Circle 20 January 2013 British Film of the Year Nominated 
Actor of the Year Hugh Jackman Nominated
Supporting Actress of the Year Anne Hathaway Won
Young British Performer of the Year Samantha Barks Nominated
Los Angeles Film Critics Association 9 December 2012 Best Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway
(also for The Dark Knight Rises) Nominated 
MTV Movie Awards 14 April 2013 Best Female Performance Anne Hathaway Nominated [130]
Best Breakthrough Performance Eddie Redmayne Nominated
Best Musical Moment Anne Hathaway Nominated
New York Film Critics Circle Award 3 December 2012 Best Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway
(also for The Dark Knight Rises) Nominated 
New York Film Critics Online 3 December 2012 Movies of the Year Won 
Best Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway Won
Producers Guild of America Award 26 January 2013 Best Theatrical Motion Picture Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, and Cameron Mackintosh Nominated [131]
Satellite Award 16 December 2012 Best Film Nominated [132]
Best Cast – Motion Picture The Cast of Les Misérables Won
Best Actor – Motion Picture Hugh Jackman Nominated
Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture Eddie Redmayne Nominated
Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture Anne Hathaway Won
Samantha Barks Nominated
Best Art Direction and Production Design Eve Stewart and Anna Lynch-Robinson Nominated
Best Costume Design Paco Delgado Nominated
Best Editing Chris Dickens Nominated
Best Original Song "Suddenly" Won
Best Sound John Warhurst, Lee Walpole, and Simon Hayes Won
Saturn Awards 26 June 2013 Best Action / Adventure Nominated [133]
Best Actor Hugh Jackman Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway Nominated
Best Performance by a Younger Actor Daniel Huttlestone Nominated
Best Costume Paco Delgado Won
Best Production Design Eve Stewart Nominated
Screen Actors Guild Award 27 January 2013 Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture The Cast of Les Misérables Nominated [134]
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role Hugh Jackman Nominated
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role Anne Hathaway Won
Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture Nominated
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association 10 December 2012 Best Film Nominated [135]
Best Acting Ensemble The Cast of Les Misérables Won
Best Actor Hugh Jackman Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Samantha Barks Nominated
Anne Hathaway Won
Best Director Tom Hooper Nominated
Best Art Direction Eve Stewart and Anna Lynch-Robinson Nominated
Best Cinematography Danny Cohen Nominated
Young Artist Award 5 May 2013 Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actor Daniel Huttlestone Nominated [136]
Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actress Ten and Under Isabelle Allen Won

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59.Jump up ^ Mann, Camille (4 January 2012). "Taylor Swift reportedly offered role of Eponine in 'Les Mis' film". CBS News. Retrieved 19 January 2012.
60.Jump up ^ "Amanda Seyfried & Taylor Swift Complete LES MISÉRABLES Film Cast". BroadwayWorld.com (Wisdom Digital Media). 3 January 2012. Retrieved 25 September 2012.
61.Jump up ^ "Taylor Swift Not Bothered About Losing Les Mis Role". ShowbizSpy.com. 19 February 2012. Retrieved 25 September 2012. "“I didn't miss out on the role for Les Miserables because I never got the role,” says Taylor.”"
62.Jump up ^ Malkin, Marc; Malec, Brett (19 February 2012). "Whitney Houston: "She Was Relatable," Says Taylor Swift". EOnline.com. Retrieved 25 September 2012. "Things sometimes don't happen and it happens all the time, that things don't come together," she said. "But the thing about my life is that everybody seems to know all these different versions of stories that may or may not be true."
63.Jump up ^ "Q&A: Samantha Barks On Les Misérables". Awardsline. 21 December 2012. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
64.Jump up ^ "Want to Be Cosette in the LES MIS Film? Open Call 12/10 in NYC". BroadwayWorld.com (Wisdom Digital Media). 2 December 2011. Retrieved 25 September 2012.
65.Jump up ^ Brown, Todd (3 January 2012). "Breaking: Amanda Seyfried Offered Cosette in Tom Hooper's Les Misérables". TwitchFilm.com. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
66.Jump up ^ Masters, Tim (5 December 2011). "Tom Hooper rejects 3D for Les Misérables movie". BBC News. Retrieved 21 September 2012.
67.Jump up ^ Labrecque, Jeff (8 December 2011). "Sacha Baron Cohen in talks for 'Les Misérables'". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 28 July 2012.
68.Jump up ^ "Aaron Tveit Joins LES MISÉRABLES Film as Enjolras". BroadwayWorld.com (Wisdom Digital Media). 8 December 2011. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
69.Jump up ^ "New song for Les Misérables". BBC News. 12 January 2012.
70.Jump up ^ "Auditions held in Chatham today for Les Misérables". KentOnline.co.uk. 3 February 2012. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
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72.Jump up ^ Smart, Gordon (26 February 2012). "Sacha Baron Cohen Lands Part in Les Misérables". The Sun. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
73.Jump up ^ "Hugh Jackman Confirms LES MISÉRABLES to Begin Rehearsing in January, Film in March". BroadwayWorld.com (Wisdom Digital Media). 27 December 2011. Retrieved 1 January 2012.
74.Jump up ^ Les Misérables (2013)
75.Jump up ^ Larkin, Mike (22 March 2012). "Why so Misérable? Hugh Jackman looks glum and bedraggled as he films scenes for musical adaptation". Daily Mail. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
76.Jump up ^ Smart, Gordon (24 March 2012). "Russell Crowe is so Miserables". The Sun. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
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78.Jump up ^ "Hugh Jackman Official Twitter". Twitter.com. Retrieved 24 September 2012.[non-primary source needed]
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82.Jump up ^ Hetrick, Adam; Jones, Kenneth (27 August 2012). "Les Misérables Film to Feature 70-Piece Orchestra; Recording to Begin in October". Playbill. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
83.Jump up ^ "'Les Misérables' Trailer: Anne Hathaway Sings!". ScreenCrush.com. Retrieved 30 May 2012.
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86.Jump up ^ Chitwood, Adam (12 October 2012). "4 Character Posters for LES MISERABLES Featuring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, and Amanda Seyfried". Collider.com. Retrieved 1 December 2012.
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89.Jump up ^ Tapley, Kristopher (23 November 2012). "'Tom Hooper unveils 'Les Misérables' to over-the-moon, theater-loving NYC audience". HitFix. Retrieved 26 November 2012.
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106.Jump up ^ Slant Magazine review of the film
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108.Jump up ^ "Les Miserables Review: Hit the High Notes?". Movie Fanatic. 24 December 2012. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
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111.Jump up ^ Joy Tipping (24 December 2012). "'Les Misérables' gloriously uplifting, heartening and hopeful". Dallasnews.com. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
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113.Jump up ^ Lumenick, Lou (20 December 2012). "'Les Miserables' movie review". NYPOST.com. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
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115.Jump up ^ "Les Miserables review: Breakout performances but falls short overall". Voxxi.com. 26 December 2012. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
116.Jump up ^ "Op-Ed: Samantha Barks is heavenly as Éponine in Les Misérables". Digitaljournal.com. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
117.Jump up ^ USA Today film review
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119.Jump up ^ Friedman, Roger (23 November 2012). "First Review: "Les Miserables" Comes to Movies with Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway". Showbiz411.com. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
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122.Jump up ^ Garry, Maddox (9 January 2013). "Jackman, Kidman up for AACTA awards". The Sydney Morning Herald (Fairfax Media). Retrieved 11 January 2013.
123.Jump up ^ "'Lincoln leads Bafta shortlist with ten nominations". BBC News. 9 January 2013. Retrieved 9 January 2013.
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125.Jump up ^ "2012 Chicago Film Critics Awards". Chicago Film Critics Association. Retrieved 17 December 2012.
126.Jump up ^ "British stars lead the way as Helen Mirren, Benedict Cumberbatch and Adele are nominated for Golden Globe Awards". Daily Mail. 13 December 2012. Retrieved 13 December 2012.
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135.Jump up ^ "The 2012 WAFCA Awards". DC Film Critics. 9 December 2012. Retrieved 9 December 2012.
136.Jump up ^ "34th Annual Young Artist Awards". YoungArtistAwards.org. Retrieved 31 March 2013.
External links[edit]
 Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Les Misérables (2012 film)
Official website
Les Misérables at the Internet Movie Database
Les Misérables at Box Office Mojo
Les Misérables at Rotten Tomatoes
Les Misérables at Metacritic
Les Misérables: information about the film and novel.


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Marie Antoinette (1938 film)
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Marie Antoinette
Mariea.jpg
DVD cover

Directed by
W. S. Van Dyke
Produced by
Hunt Stromberg
Screenplay by
Donald Ogden Stewart
Ernest Vajda
Claudine West
F. Scott Fitzgerald (uncredited)
Talbot Jennings (uncredited dialogue)
Based on
Marie Antoinette: The Portrait of an Average Woman
 by Stefan Zweig
Starring
Norma Shearer
Tyrone Power
John Barrymore
Robert Morley
Anita Louise
Joseph Schildkraut
Gladys George
Henry Stephenson
Music by
Herbert Stothart
Cinematography
William H. Daniels
Editing by
Robert Kern
Distributed by
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release dates
July 8, 1938

Running time
157 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$2.9 million[1]
Marie Antoinette is a 1938 film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.[2][3] It was directed by W. S. Van Dyke and starred Norma Shearer as Marie Antoinette. Based upon the 1932 biography of the ill-fated Queen of France by the Austrian writer Stefan Zweig, it had its Los Angeles premiere at the legendary Carthay Circle Theatre, where the landscaping was specially decorated for the event.
The film was the last project of Irving Thalberg who died in 1936 while it was in the planning stage. His widow Norma Shearer remained committed to the project even while her enthusiasm for her film career in general was waning following his death.
With a budget close to two million dollars, it was one of the most expensive films of the 1930s, but also one of the biggest successes.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Background 3.1 Costumes and set designs
4 Reception
5 Home media
6 Academy Award nominations
7 References
8 External links

Plot[edit]
In Vienna, 15-year-old Marie Antoinette (Norma Shearer) is informed by her mother, Empress Marie Therese of Austria, that Marie is to marry the future King of France, the Dauphin Louis XVI. The young princess is excited to meet her future husband and live as a queen, but the Dauphin she married is actually a shy man, more at home with locksmithing than attending parties at the court at Versailles. After they are married, Marie tries desperately to please her husband, and after some trepidation, the Dauphin realizes he can trust Marie and tells her he cannot produce heirs. Even though Dauphin does not like him, Marie is bored and associates with the power-hungry Duc d'Orleans (Joseph Schildkraut).
On their second wedding anniversary, Marie is insulted by Madame du Barry (Gladys George), the mistress of King Louis XV, who gives Marie a gift of an empty cradle to symbolize Marie's uselessness in producing and heir to the throne. Marie is enraged, but the Dauphin is too weak to have his father punish her. Later, at a costume party, she meets the Swedish Count Axel von Fersenshe (Tyrone Power) and introduces him as a member of the Russian nobility as a party game. She then wagers and loses a necklace worth 200,000 livres, which causes her mother's ambassador, Count Mercey (Henry Stephenson) to scold her for her wanton behavior and disregard for the people.
On their fourth wedding anniversary, a ball is held to conciliate Madame du Barry and Marie, but a confrontation between the two women ensues. Louis XV decides that the marriage between his grandson and Marie should be annulled. This decision drives the Dauphin to finally defend his wife, and pushes his grandfather down and threatens to put Madame du Barry in the Bastille. When Marie is told she is to be sent back to Austria, she is immediately discarded by d'Orleans, who only was her friend because of her role as future Queen of France. Nonetheless, the king remains adamant Marie must go. Count von Fersen arrives and tells her he loves her and has loved her for years -- learning all he could about her from museums.
Eventually, Marie falls in love with Count von Fersen, but as she goes to tell the Dauphin of this fact, she learns that King Louis XV is on the verge of death. The Dauphin tells Marie that she cannot leave and he tolerates her, even if he does not love her. Marie consents, they become King and Queen of France. Marie tells Count von Fersen that they can meet at another palace to be together, but he declines and tells her to fulfill her duty as Queen. She ultimately gives birth in front of an audience, and a new Dauphin is born.
Some years later, as the Dauphin is a boy, villagers throw stones at Marie's carriage, and she is shocked at the intense dislike displayed by the people of France. She blames d'Orleans for inciting them. Marie later rejects a jeweler's expensive and elaborate necklace, but she is framed by court insiders and the Affair of the Diamond Necklace erupts. Marie is outraged, but d'Orleans tells the royal couple to abdicate the throne in favor the Dauphin under the regency of d'Orleans.
The French Revolution comes, and the royal family is taken prisoner. Count von Fersen returns with a plan of escape, but when the Dauphin tells a guard that his father is a locksmith, the King is recognized and captured after being identified by the former priest at Versailles. The King is put on trial and sentenced to death, and spends his last night with his family, his children not realizing this is the last night they will spend with their father. Marie is heartbroken, but is then separated from her children and put on trial as well. The Dauphin, too young to understand what is going on around him, is forced to testify against his mother. The night before she is executed, Count von Fersen goes to the prison and they pledge their love to each other, with Marie telling him that she will never say goodbye.
Cast[edit]
Norma Shearer as Marie Antoinette
Tyrone Power as Count Axel von Fersen
John Barrymore as King Louis XV
Robert Morley as King Louis XVI
Anita Louise as Princesse de Lamballe
Joseph Schildkraut as Duc de Orleans
Gladys George as Madame du Barry
Henry Stephenson as Count Mercey
Cora Witherspoon as Countess De Noailles
 Barnett Parker as Prince de Rohan
Reginald Gardiner as Comte d'Artois
Henry Daniell as La Motte[4]
Joseph Calleia as Drouet
George Meeker as Robespierre
Scotty Beckett as The Dauphin
Ruth Hussey as Duchess de Polignac
Barry Fitzgerald as a peddler
Vernon Downing as Man in gaming house
Marilyn Knowlden as Princesse Thérèse

Background[edit]
William Randolph Hearst originally planned this film as a vehicle for Marion Davies as early as 1933. However, a clash with Louis B. Mayer after the failure of her film Operator 13 led to the couple switching to neighboring Warner Brothers.
Norma Shearer was the wife of MGM studio head Irving Thalberg when this project was greenlighted sometime before his death in 1936. This was reportedly Shearer's favorite role.
Originally to be directed by Sidney Franklin, the job was given to W.S. Van Dyke. Irving Thalberg originally planned for Charles Laughton to play the role of Louis XVI, but Laughton, after lengthy deliberations, finally declined.
Costumes and set designs[edit]
The movie had thousands of expensive costumes and lavish set designs. Costume designer Adrian visited France and Austria in 1937 researching the period and buying antique lace, fabric and accessories. Although much artistic licence was taken, he studied the paintings of Marie Antoinette, even using a microscope on them so that the embroidery and fabric could be identical. Fabrics were specially woven and embroidered with stitches sometimes too fine to be seen with the naked eye. As early as September 1937 the MGM studio manager raged at the amount of money being spent on the costume materials and labour for the film. The attention to detail was extreme, from the framework to hair. Some gowns became extremely heavy due to the amount of embroidery, fabric and precious stones used. Ms. Shearer's gowns alone had the combined weight of over 1,768 pounds, the heaviest being the 108 pound wedding dress which used over 500 yards of white silk satin. Originally slated to be shot in color, many of the gowns were specially dyed. The fur trim on one of Ms. Shearer's capes was therefore sent out to be dyed the exact shade of her eyes.[5]
The ballroom at Versailles was built to be twice as large as the original and much antique furniture was used. The budget was a then-enormous $2.9 million, and plans to render it in color were scrapped because of concerns it would cost even more to add Technicolor.[6]
Reception[edit]
The film was popular but because of its enormous cost recorded a loss of $767,000.[1]
Home media[edit]
Sofia Coppola released her 2006 film version of the life of the queen at Versailles, causing Warner Brothers to release its 1938 vault version of Marie Antoinette on DVD. Extras are sparse, with only two vintage shorts included on the disc. "Hollywood Goes to Town" provides a glimpse of the elaborate premiere for the movie, while a trailer is also included.[6]
Academy Award nominations[edit]
Best Actress - Norma Shearer
Best Supporting Actor - Robert Morley
Best Art Direction - Cedric Gibbons
Best Music, Original Score - Herbert Stothart
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b Scott Eyman, Lion of Hollywood: The Life and Legend of Louis B. Mayer, Robson, 2005 p 257
2.Jump up ^ Variety film review; July 13, 1938, page 15.
3.Jump up ^ Harrison's Reports film review; August 27, 1938, page 138.
4.Jump up ^ Marie Antoinette (1938) - Full cast and crew
5.Jump up ^ The Costumes of Marie Antoinette | The Movies and the Woman
6.^ Jump up to: a b DVD Verdict Review - Marie Antoinette (1938)
External links[edit]
 Wikimedia Commons has media related to Marie Antoinette (1938 film).
Marie Antoinette at the Internet Movie Database
Marie Antoinette at the TCM Movie Database
Marie Antoinette at allmovie


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Films directed by W. S. Van Dyke


1910s
The Hawk's Trail (1919)
 

1920s
Daredevil Jack (1920) ·
 Double Adventure (1921) ·
 Forget Me Not (1922) ·
 The Avenging Arrow (1921) ·
 White Eagle (1922) ·
 Gold Heels (1924) ·
 Loving Lies (1924) ·
 The Gentle Cyclone (1926) ·
 War Paint (1926) ·
 Winners of the Wilderness (1927) ·
 White Shadows in the South Seas (1928) ·
 The Pagan (1929)
 

1930s
Trader Horn (1931) ·
 Tarzan the Ape Man (1932) ·
 Penthouse (1933) ·
 Eskimo (1933) ·
 Manhattan Melodrama (1934) ·
 The Thin Man (1934) ·
 Hide-Out (1934) ·
 Forsaking All Others (1934) ·
 I Live My Life (1935) ·
 Rose Marie (1936) ·
 San Francisco (1936) ·
 The Devil Is a Sissy (1936) ·
 Love on the Run (1936) ·
 After the Thin Man (1936) ·
 They Gave Him a Gun (1937) ·
 Personal Property (1937) ·
 Marie Antoinette (1938) ·
 Sweethearts (1938) ·
 Stand Up and Fight (1939) ·
 It's a Wonderful World (1939) ·
 Another Thin Man (1939)
 

1940s
I Take This Woman (1940) ·
 I Love You Again (1940) ·
 Bitter Sweet (1940) ·
 Rage in Heaven (1941) ·
 The Feminine Touch (1941) ·
 Shadow of the Thin Man (1941) ·
 Dr. Kildare's Victory (1942) ·
 I Married an Angel (1942) ·
 Cairo (1942) ·
 Journey for Margaret (1942)
 

 


Categories: 1938 films
English-language films
1930s drama films
American films
Films based on biographies
Films based on works by Stefan Zweig
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films
Black-and-white films
Films about capital punishment
Films directed by W. S. Van Dyke
Films produced by Irving Thalberg
Films about Marie Antoinette
Films set in the 1760s
Films set in the 1770s
Films set in the 1780s
Films set in the 1790s
Films set in Vienna
Films set in France




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Marie Antoinette (2006 film)
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Jump to: navigation, search


Marie Antoinette
Marie-Antoinette poster.jpg
Directed by
Sofia Coppola
Produced by
Sofia Coppola
Ross Katz
Written by
Sofia Coppola
Based on
Marie Antoinette: The Journey
 by Antonia Fraser
Starring
Kirsten Dunst
Jason Schwartzman
Judy Davis
Rip Torn
Rose Byrne
Cinematography
Lance Acord
Editing by
Sarah Flack
Studio
American Zoetrope
Distributed by
Columbia Pictures
Release dates
May 24, 2006 (France)
October 20, 2006 (United States)

Running time
127 minutes
Country
United States
 France
 Japan
Language
English
 French (occasionally)
Budget
$40 million
Box office
$60,917,189
Marie Antoinette is a 2006 historical comedy-drama film, written and directed by Sofia Coppola. It is very loosely based on the life of the Queen in the years leading up to the French Revolution. It won an Academy Award for Best Costume Design. It was released in the United States on October 20, 2006, by Columbia Pictures. The film has since gained a cult following.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production
4 Soundtrack
5 Reception 5.1 Reception in USA
5.2 Reception in France
6 Box office
7 Nominations and awards
8 DVD release
9 See also
10 References
11 External links

Plot[edit]
Fourteen-year-old Maria Antonia Josephina Johanna Habsburg (Kirsten Dunst) is the beautiful, charming, and naive princess of Austria, and the youngest daughter of Empress Maria Theresa's (Marianne Faithfull) sixteen children. In 1768, she is selected by her mother to marry the Dauphin of France, the future Louis XVI of France (Jason Schwartzman), therefore sealing an alliance between the two rival countries. Marie Antoinette travels to France, relinquishing all connections with her home country, including her pet Pug "Mops", and meets the King Louis XV of France (Rip Torn) and her future husband, Louis Auguste. The two arrive at the palace of Versailles, which was built by the King's grandfather, and are married and are encouraged to produce an heir to the throne as soon as possible, but the next day it is reported that "nothing happened" on their wedding night.
As time passes, Marie Antoinette begins to find life at the court of Versailles stifling. Her husband's courtiers disdain her as a foreigner, and constantly blame her for not having produced a heir. The French court is rife with gossip, and Marie Antoinette consistently ruffles feathers by defying its ritualistic formality. Marie Antoinette also refuses to meet with Jeanne Bécu, Madame du Barry (Asia Argento), who is the mistress of Louis XV. Over the years, Maria Theresa continues to write to her daughter, giving advice on how to impress and seduce the Dauphin. Unfortunately, Marie's attempts to have sex with her husband fail and the marriage remains fruitless. Marie then spends most of her time buying shoes, dresses, jewelry, luxurious pastries, and gambling. Then, the King catches smallpox; he orders du Barry to leave Versailles, and he later dies. Now his grandson and granddaughter-in-law are rulers of France, but they pray to God for help. Louis and Marie are crowned king and queen of France.
Marie Antoinette's brother, Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor (Danny Huston) comes to visit, counseling her against her constant parties and associations; advice that she ignores. Joseph then meets Louis XVI at the Royal Zoo and explains to him the "mechanics" of sexual intercourse in terms of "key-making", as one of the King's favorite hobbies is locksmithing. That night, the King and Marie Antoinette have sex for the first time, and on December 18, 1778, Marie Antoinette gives birth to a daughter, Princess Marie Thérèse of France. As the baby princess grows up, Marie Antoinette spends much of her time at the Petit Trianon, a small chateau on the grounds of Versailles. It is also at this time that she begins an alleged affair with Axel von Fersen (Jamie Dornan). As France's financial crisis worsens, food shortages and riots become commonplace. Marie Antoinette's image with her subjects has completely deteriorated by this point: her luxurious lifestyle and seeming indifference to the struggles of the masses earn her the title Madame Déficit.
Beginning to mature, she focuses less on her social life and more on her family, and makes what she considers to be some significant financial adjustments. A few months after her mother's death on November 29, 1780, Marie Antoinette gives birth to a son, Louis Joseph, Dauphin of France on October 22, 1781. She also gives birth to another son, Louis XVII of France on March 27, 1785, and another daughter, Princess Sophie of France on July 9, 1786, who unfortunately dies on June 19, 1787, a month shy of her 1st birthday. As the French Revolution begins to erupt rapidly, the royal family resolves to stay in France, unlike much of the nobility. Angry rioting Parisians force the family to leave Versailles for Paris. The film ends with the royal family's transfer to Tuileries Palace. The last image is a shot of Marie Antoinette's bedroom, destroyed by angry rioters.
Cast[edit]
Kirsten Dunst as Marie Antoinette
Jason Schwartzman as Louis XVI of France
Judy Davis as Comtesse Anne de Noailles
Steve Coogan as Florimond Claude
Rip Torn as Louis XV of France
Rose Byrne as Yolande de Polastron
Asia Argento as Jeanne Bécu
Molly Shannon as Princess Victoire of France
Shirley Henderson as Princess Sophie of France
Danny Huston as Joseph II of Austria
Marianne Faithfull as Empress Maria Theresa
Jamie Dornan as Axel von Fersen
Tom Hardy as Raumont
Al Weaver as Charles X of France
Mary Nighy as Princess Marie Louise of Savoy
Sebastian Armesto as Louis XVIII of France
Production[edit]
The production was given unprecedented access to the Palace of Versailles.[1] The movie takes the same sympathetic view of Marie Antoinette's life as was presented in Fraser's biography. Coppola has stated that the style for shooting was heavily influenced by the films of Stanley Kubrick, Terrence Malick, and Miloš Forman, Coppola was also influenced by Lisztomania by Ken Russell.[citation needed]
While the action happens in Versailles (including the Queen's Petit Trianon and the Hameau de la Reine) and the Paris Opera (which was built after the death of the real Marie Antoinette), some scenes were also shot in Vaux-le-Vicomte, Château de Chantilly, Hôtel de Soubise and at the Belvedere in Vienna.
Milena Canonero and six assistant designers created the gowns, hats, suits and prop costume pieces. Ten rental houses were also employed, and the wardrobe unit had seven transport drivers. Shoes were made by Manolo Blahnik and Pompei, and hundreds of wigs and hair pieces were made by Rocchetti & Rocchetti. As revealed in the "Making of" documentary on the DVD, the look of Count von Fersen was influenced by 1980s rock star Adam Ant. Ladurée made the pastries for the film; its famous macarons are featured in a scene between Marie-Antoinette and Ambassador Mercy.[2]
Soundtrack[edit]
Main article: Marie Antoinette (soundtrack)
The film's soundtrack contains New Wave and post-punk bands New Order, Gang of Four, The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Bow Wow Wow, Adam and the Ants, The Strokes, Dustin O'Halloran and The Radio Dept. Some scenes utilize period music by Jean-Philippe Rameau, Antonio Vivaldi and François Couperin. The soundtrack also includes songs by electronic musicians Squarepusher and Aphex Twin.
Reception[edit]
In several 2006 interviews, Coppola suggests that her highly stylized interpretation was intentionally very modern in order to humanize the historical figures involved. She admitted taking great artistic liberties with the source material, and said that the film does not focus simply on historical facts – "It is not a lesson of history. It is an interpretation documented, but carried by my desire for covering the subject differently." Perhaps because of this unusual approach, the film was booed at early screenings at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival (see below).
Reception in USA[edit]
People magazine's movie critic, Leah Rozen, wrote in her wrap-up of the 2006 Cannes Film Festival that, "The absence of political context, however, upset most critics of Marie Antoinette, director Sofia Coppola's featherweight follow-up to Lost in Translation. Her historical biopic plays like a pop video, with Kirsten Dunst as the doomed 18th century French queen acting like a teenage flibbertigibbet intent on being the leader of the cool kids' club."[3]
American film critic Roger Ebert gave the film four stars out of four. He states that, "every criticism I have read of this film would alter its fragile magic and reduce its romantic and tragic poignancy to the level of an instructional film. This is Sofia Coppola's third film centering on the loneliness of being female and surrounded by a world that knows how to use you but not how to value and understand you." [4]
On the Rotten Tomatoes website, which compiles mostly North American reviews, the film has been given a rating average of 55% based on contributing critics giving it positive reviews; the site's consensus states "Lavish imagery and a daring soundtrack set this film apart from most period dramas; in fact, style completely takes precedence over plot and character development in Coppola's vision of the doomed queen."[5]
The Metacritic site lists the film as having received "mainly positive" reviews with 65% of critics contributing such reviews.
Reception in France[edit]
The film's critical reception in France was generally positive. It has an aggregate score of 4/5 on the French cinema site AlloCiné, based on 21 reviews from professional critics.[6]
Critics who gave the film positive reviews included Danielle Attali of Le Journal du Dimanche, who praised it as "a true wonder, with stunning colors, sensations, emotions, intelligence".[6] François Vey of Le Parisien found it to be "funny, upbeat, impertinent" and "in a word, iconoclastic".[6] Philippe Paumier of the French edition of Rolling Stone said that, "Transformed into a sanctuary for the senses, the microcosm of power becomes this moving drama of first emotions and Marie Antoinette, the most delicate of looks on adolescence".[6]
Among negative critical reviews, Jean-Luc Douin of Le Monde described Marie Antoinette as "kitsch and roc(k)oco" which "deliberately displays its anachronisms", and additionally as a "sensory film" that was "dreamt by a Miss California" and "orchestrated around the Du Barry or Madame de Polignac playground gossip".[7] Alex Masson of Score thought the film had a script "which is often forgotten to the corruption of becoming a special issue of Vogue devoted to scenes of Versailles".[6]
French historians took issue with the film's loose portrayal of real historical events and figures. In the newspaper Le Figaro, historian Jean Tulard called the film "Versailles in Hollywood sauce", saying that it "dazzles" with a "deployment of wigs, fans and pastries, a symphony of colors" which "all [mask] some gross errors and voluntary anachronisms".[8] In the magazine L'Internaute, Évelyne Lever, a historian and authority on Marie Antoinette, described the film as "far from historical reality". She wrote that the film's characterization of Marie Antoinette lacked historical authenticity and psychological development: "In reality she did not spend her time eating pastries and drinking champagne! [...] In the movie Marie Antoinette is the same from 15 to 33 years". She also expressed the view that "better historical films" including Barry Lyndon and The Madness of King George succeeded because their directors were "steeped in the culture of the time they evoked".[9]
Box office[edit]
In the United States and Canada, the film opened with $5,361,050 in just 859 theaters, with $6,241 per theater.[10] Nevertheless, the film quickly faded, grossing $15 million in Northern America, and has grossed around $61 million worldwide, making it one of the few underperformers for distributor Columbia that year.[10] The film made over $7 million in France, where the film is set, but fared less well in the United Kingdom, where it took only $1,727,858 at the box office, while the film's biggest international market was Japan, where it made a total of $15,735,433.[11]
Nominations and awards[edit]

Academy Awards record
1. Best Costume Design, Milena Canonero
Won the Academy Award for Costume Design (Milena Canonero).
Nominated for three BAFTA awards, for Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design and Best Makeup & Hair.
At the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, Marie Antoinette was entry for Official Selection of Golden Palm and won the Cinema Prize of the French National Education System.[12][13]
The film was nominated for Best Feature at the Gotham Awards.[14]
Won Best Art Direction at the Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards.
Won Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design at both the Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards and the Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards.
DVD release[edit]
The Region 1 DVD version of the movie was released on February 13, 2007. Special features on the disc included a "making of" featurette, two deleted scenes and a brief parody segment of MTV Cribs, featuring Jason Schwartzman as Louis XVI of France. The Region 2 DVD version, including the same special features, was released on February 26, 2007. No commentary was available for the DVD. In France, the double-disc edition included additional special features: Sofia Coppola's first short movie, Lick the Star, and a BBC documentary film on Marie Antoinette. A collector's edition boxset, entitled "Coffret Royal", was also released in France, and included the double-disc edition of the movie, Antonia Fraser's biography, photographs and a fan. The Japanese edition was released on July 19. This two-disc edition included the same extra features as the North American release, though it also included the American, European and Japanese theatrical trailers and Japanese TV spots. A limited-edition special Japanese boxed set contained the two disc DVD set, a jewellery box, a Swarovski high-heeled shoe brooch, a hand mirror, and a lace handkerchief.
See also[edit]
Rose of Versailles
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ MARIE ANTOINETTE - Production Notes...CinemaReview.com Movie Reviews, Movie Contents, Moviegoer Opinions and Much More!
2.Jump up ^ A Tribute to Marie Antoinette
3.Jump up ^ "Kirsten's Marie Antoinette Fizzles at Cannes". People. Retrieved October 21, 2006.
4.Jump up ^ "Marie Antoinette". Chicago Sun-Times.
5.Jump up ^ Marie Antoinette - Movie Reviews, Trailers, Picture - Rotten Tomatoes
6.^ Jump up to: a b c d e http://www.allocine.fr/film/revuedepresse_gen_cfilm=57887.html
7.Jump up ^ http://www.lemonde.fr/festival-de-cannes/article/2006/05/23/marie-antoinette-une-reine-rock-et-rococo_774975_766360.html
8.Jump up ^ http://www.lefigaro.fr/cinema/2010/08/14/03002-20100814ARTFIG00004-marie-antoinette-la-reine-de-l-ecran.php
9.Jump up ^ http://www.linternaute.com/savoir/interview/evelyne-lever/chat-evelyne-lever.shtml
10.^ Jump up to: a b Box Office Mojo
11.Jump up ^ Box Office Mojo
12.Jump up ^ "Festival de Cannes: Marie Antoinette". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-12-13.
13.Jump up ^ "BoxOffice Week Editie". Sneakpoint.com. Retrieved October 21, 2006.
14.Jump up ^ Gotham Awards
External links[edit]
Marie Antoinette at the Internet Movie Database
Marie Antoinette at Rotten Tomatoes
Translated interview with Sofia Coppola
'Marie Antoinette': Best or Worst of Times? - The New York Times Cannes Journal
Screencaps


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Films directed by Sofia Coppola


Lick the Star (1998) ·
 The Virgin Suicides (1999) ·
 Lost in Translation (2003) ·
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 Somewhere (2010) ·
 The Bling Ring (2013)
 

 


Categories: 2006 films
American drama films
French films
Japanese films
English-language films
2000s drama films
American Zoetrope films
Columbia Pictures films
Epic films
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Films set in Austria
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Films set in the 1760s
Films set in the 1770s
Films set in the 1780s
Films about Marie Antoinette
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Mirror Mirror (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

Not to be confused with Mirror, Mirror (film).

Mirror Mirror
Mirror Mirror FilmPoster.jpeg
Theatrical film poster

Directed by
Tarsem Singh
Produced by
Ryan Kavanaugh
Bernie Goldmann
Brett Ratner
Kevin Misher
Screenplay by
Marc Klein
Jason Keller
Story by
Melissa Wallack
Based on
Snow White by the Brothers Grimm
Starring
Lily Collins
Julia Roberts
Armie Hammer
Nathan Lane
Mare Winningham
Michael Lerner
Sean Bean
Music by
Alan Menken
Cinematography
Brendan Galvin
Editing by
Robert Duffy
Nick Moore
Distributed by
Relativity Media (theatrical release)
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (DVD/Blu-ray release)
Release dates
March 30, 2012

Running time
106 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$85 million[1]
Box office
$162,835,167[1]
Mirror Mirror is a 2012 American comedy fantasy film based on the fairy tale "Snow White" collected by the Brothers Grimm. It is directed by Tarsem Singh and stars Lily Collins, Julia Roberts, Armie Hammer, Nathan Lane, and Sean Bean.[2] The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Costume Design.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Casting
4 Production
5 Release 5.1 Box office
5.2 Reception
5.3 Home media
5.4 Awards and nominations
5.5 International release
6 See also
7 References
8 External links

Plot[edit]
Snow White's mother died in child birth, and her father, the King (Sean Bean), marries Clementianna (Julia Roberts), the most beautiful woman in the land and raises Snow White. One day, the king leaves to fight a great evil that has invaded the land but never returns. Queen Clementianna rules in his absence and keeps Snow White in the palace.
Ten years later, Snow White (Lily Collins) having turned eighteen, desires to see her kingdom. Defying Queen Clementianna's orders, she leaves the palace. Arriving at a forest, she meets Prince Andrew Alcott (Armie Hammer) who has been robbed by thieving dwarfs. She and the Prince are drawn to each other but go their separate ways. Snow White arrives in the town, and finds the once-happy townfolk are destitute due to Queen Clementianna's greed.
Meanwhile, Prince Alcott finds his way to the palace. Queen Clementianna realizes he comes from a wealthy kingdom, and throws a ball to woo the Prince to solve her financial problems. Snow White secretly attends the ball, planning to ask the prince to help her restore the kingdom. Queen Clementianna notices them dancing and orders her manservant Brighton (Nathan Lane) to take the princess into the forest and feed her to the Beast (Frank Welker) that lives there. Brighton takes Snow White to the forest, but he releases her and urges her to run. Snow White flees the Beast and collapses at the door to the Seven Dwarfs' house. She wakes up to find the dwarfs Grimm (Danny Woodburn), Butcher (Martin Klebba), Wolf (Sebastian Saraceno), Napoleon (Jordan Prentice), Half Pint (Mark Povinelli), Grub (Joe Gnoffo), and Chuck (Ronald Lee Clark).
Queen Clementianna levies another tax among the starving people to pay for the parties she throws for Prince Alcott. Brighton collects the taxes, but, on the way back to the palace, the dwarfs rob Brighton and steal the money. Snow White sneaks away to return the money. The townspeople and the Town Magistrate (Alex Ivanovici) are overjoyed to have their money back and Snow White lets the Dwarfs take credit for it, earning them the people's acceptance and gratitude.
Meanwhile, Queen Clementianna informs Alcott that Snow White is dead. When the Prince finds out that the bandits have robbed Brighton, he goes after them, unaware of the awful things the Queen has done. In the forest, Alcott discovers that Snow White is alive and in league with the bandits. Each believing the other to be in the wrong, Snow White and Alcott duel. Alcott returns to the Palace defeated and informs the Queen that Snow White is alive.
Queen Clementianna goes to her Magic Mirror, within which lives her reflection, the Mirror Queen (Lisa Roberts Gillan). Displeased that Brighton had lied about Snow White's death, Queen Clementianna has the Mirror Queen turn Brighton into a cockroach (which was for a short time). The Queen requests a love potion so she can make the Prince fall in love with her. The Mirror Queen repeatedly warns Queen Clementianna that there is a price for using dark magic, but Queen Clementianna refuses to listen. The potion, however, turns out to be a 'puppy love' potion and the Prince becomes devoted to her like a puppy dog. Under this spell, the Prince agrees to marry Queen Clementianna. She then uses dark magic to create two giant wooden puppets in the forest and uses them to try and kill Snow White and the Dwarfs. Snow White is able to cut the strings of the puppets and break the spell.
Snow White and the Dwarfs crash the royal wedding and capture the Prince before Queen Clementianna and Brighton arrive. Back in the forest, the still-cursed Prince wishes to return to the Queen. Snow White kisses Alcott and the spell is broken.
Snow White encounters Queen Clementianna who reveals that she can control the Beast that has been plaguing the forest and sends it after Snow White. Prince Alcott tries to save Snow White, and after the struggle, the Beast captures the princess. However, the Beast hesitates in killing her and Snow White sees that it wears a necklace with a moon charm on it similar to the one the Queen wears. She cuts the chain with her father's dagger and the Beast suddenly becomes engulfed in light. Queen Clementianna begins to age, and the Mirror Queen says this is her consequence for using dark magic. The Beast turns out to be Snow White's father, who has no memory of the last ten years.
Grateful to Alcott for his assistance, the king agrees to let him marry Snow White. During the wedding celebration, a crone in a hooded robe appears and offers Snow White an apple (which is poisoned) as a wedding gift. At first, Snow White accepts the gift, but as she is about to bite it, she realizes that the crone is Clementianna. Then Snow White pulls out her knife and cuts a piece from the apple and gives it to Clementianna, she says that sometimes you must admit that you've been defeated. Accepting defeat, Clementianna takes the apple as the Mirror House shatters upon the Mirror Queen while she declares that it was Snow White's story all along.
The film's epilogue reveals what happened to the Dwarfs: Grimm becomes a teacher again and writes a book of fairy tales, Napoleon becomes a hairdresser, Wolf "returned to his pack", Half-Pint finds a girlfriend, Butcher becomes a flyweight champion, Chuck joins the royal circus, but Grub just continues to eat. Now they can live happily ever after just like any other fairytale.
Cast[edit]
Lily Collins as Snow White
Julia Roberts as the Queen Clementianna, The Evil Queen, Snow White's stepmother.
Armie Hammer as the Prince Andrew Alcott
Nathan Lane as Brighton, the Queen's executive bootlicker.
Mare Winningham as Margaret, a baker who was Snow White's friend since childhood.
Michael Lerner as the Baron
Sean Bean as the King, the father of Snow White who went missing.
Danny Woodburn as Grimm, the leader of the Seven Dwarfs. He is named after the Brothers Grimm.
Martin Klebba as Butcher, a dwarf that used to work as a butcher.
Sebastian Saraceno as Wolf, a dwarf in a wolf cape.
Jordan Prentice as Napoleon, a dwarf that wears a hat similar to Napoleon.
Mark Povinelli as Half Pint, a dwarf who has a crush on Snow White.
Joe Gnoffo as Grub, a dwarf who is always eating.
Ronald Lee Clark as Chuckles, a dwarf who chuckles a lot.
Lisa Roberts Gillan as the Mirror Queen, the reflection of Queen Clementianna who is much wiser, kinder, and somewhat younger than her.
Robert Emms as Charles Renbock, Prince Alcott's faithful valet and confidant.
Alex Ivanovici as the Town Magistrate
Frank Welker as the voice of the Beast, a chimeric creature with a lion/dog-like head, the antlers of a deer, chicken leg-like arms, the wings of an eagle, and the body and tail of a snake with a tail-claw at the end of the tail. Frank Welker also provides the vocal effects of the giant puppets.

Casting[edit]
Roberts was the first to be cast, because very early on Tarsem Singh wanted an Evil Queen with whom audiences could relate. He stated that in the film, the queen is not evil, but rather insecure. He also suggested that the Queen's true ugliness may be revealed at the very end of the film.[3]
Originally Saoirse Ronan was considered for the role of Snow White but the age difference between her and Armie Hammer was too large (he was 25 and she was 17). Felicity Jones was offered the part but turned it down.[4] Collins was eventually cast in the role.[5] Collins said in an interview that her casting happened in 24 hours after she met Tarsem Singh and read for him.[6]
Hammer was cast as the prince who is at first drawn towards the Queen and then towards Snow White. He beat out James McAvoy and Alex Pettyfer for the role.[7]
Production[edit]
Filming for Mirror Mirror began on June 20, 2011 in Montreal, Quebec, under the working title Untitled Snow White Project.[8] Production on the film wrapped in mid-September.[9] The film was officially titled Mirror Mirror on November 4, 2011. The first trailer was released on November 30, 2011 in partnership with Relativity Media and Trailer Park.[10] The teaser poster was released the same day. Mirror Mirror was the last film which Tarsem's regular costume designer, Eiko Ishioka, worked on before her death. The visual effects were done by Wayne Brinton, Tim Carras, Sébastien Moreau and Amanda Dyar.[11]
Relativity Media announced the movie's final cost as being $85 million, though an article in the Los Angeles Times said the true budget was closer to $100 million.[12]
Release[edit]
The film was released March 30, 2012 in theaters. The film was originally scheduled for a March 16, 2012 release, but was delayed until a date of March 30, which was announced January 26.[13] Plus, before the March 16 date, a June 29 date had been scheduled. Overall, the film had been rescheduled twice, finally landing on its date of March 30.
Box office[edit]
On its opening day, Mirror Mirror made $5.8 million, coming in at the No. 3 spot behind The Hunger Games and Wrath of the Titans.[14] For its opening weekend, the film earned $18.1 million while holding onto the No. 3 spot at the box office.[15] During its theatrical run, Mirror Mirror grossed $64,935,167 in North America and $97,900,000 internationally, bringing its worldwide total to $162,835,167.[1]
Reception[edit]
The film received generally mixed reviews. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports the film currently holds a rating of 49% with an average score of 5.6/10 based on 172 critic reviews. The site's general consensus is that "Like most of Tarsem Singh's films, Mirror Mirror is undeniably beautiful – but its treatment of the age-old Snow White fable lacks enough depth or originality to set it apart from the countless other adaptations of the tale."[16] On Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 reviews from film critics, it has an average score of 46 from the 34 reviews, which indicates "Mixed or average reviews".[17]
Robbie Collin from British newspaper The Telegraph gave the film four stars describing it as "an exuberantly charming fairy story that owes as much to the gnarled folk tale illustrations of Arthur Rackham as the stagey, saturated lunacy of that half-loved, half-feared East German fantasy The Singing Ringing Tree. It's a Grimm piece of work, but far from a grim one: without rehashing the seminal Disney animated version, it radiates gorgeousness and good humour with a near-nuclear intensity." Collin praised costume designer Eiko Ishioka's work, saying "every outfit in Mirror Mirror is a masterpiece". He concluded the film is "the opposite of Tim Burton's brash, chaotic, dispiritingly popular Alice in Wonderland: here, the artistry of the cast and crew leaps off the screen, not 3D computer graphics."[18]
Home media[edit]
Mirror Mirror was released on DVD and Blu-ray on June 26, 2012.[19]
Awards and nominations[edit]

Award
Category
Recipient(s)
Result
Ref.
2012 Teen Choice Awards Choice Movie: Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Nominated [20]
Choice Movie Actress: Sci-Fi/Fantasy Lily Collins Nominated
2013 Kids' Choice Awards Favorite Villain Julia Roberts Nominated [21]
85th Academy Awards Best Costume Design Eiko Ishioka Nominated [22]
International release[edit]
 Russia - March 15, 2012
 Spain - March 23, 2012
 Argentina - March 29, 2012
 Australia - March 29, 2012
 Canada - March 30, 2012
 United States - March 30, 2012
 Colombia - March 30, 2012
 Chile - April 5, 2012
 Brazil - April 6, 2012
 Mexico - April 6, 2012
See also[edit]

Portal icon Film portal
Snow White and the Huntsman, which came out the same year starring Kristen Stewart as Snow White and Charlize Theron as Queen Ravenna.
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b c "Mirror Mirror (2012)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved May 15, 2012.
2.Jump up ^ West, Kelly (2011-11-04). "Tarsem Singh's Snow White Film Titled Mirror Mirror". Cinema Blend. cinemablend.com. Retrieved March 30, 2012.
3.Jump up ^ Bibbiani, William (October 29, 2011). "EXCLUSIVE: Tarsem Singh Reveals 'Snow White' Plot Details!". CraveOnline. Retrieved April 2, 2012.
4.Jump up ^ Grant, Olly (July 31, 2011). "Felicity Jones: rising star". The Telegraph. Retrieved January 17, 2012.
5.Jump up ^ Alison Schwartz, Kristin Luna (April 2, 2011). "Lily Collins 'So Excited' to Play Snow White Opposite Julia Roberts". People. People.com. Retrieved April 2, 2012.
6.Jump up ^ "Lily Collins Is Hollywood's Latest 'go To' Girl". Associated Press. Youtube. June 1, 2011. Retrieved April 2, 2012.
7.Jump up ^ Mirror Mirror (2012) – Trivia – IMDb
8.Jump up ^ "Relativity starts shooting its ‘Snow White’ on Monday". Orlando Sentinel. June 15, 2011. Retrieved April 2, 2012.
9.Jump up ^ Maison, Jordan (November 4, 2011). "'Mirror Mirror' The Official Title of Tarsem Singh's Snow White Movie". themoviepool.com. Retrieved April 2, 2012.
10.Jump up ^ Mirror Mirror – Movie Trailers – iTunes
11.Jump up ^ "Full Cast and Crew for Mirror, Mirror". IMDb. Retrieved April 18, 2012.
12.Jump up ^ Kaufman, Amy (2012-03-29). "Movie Projector: 'The Hunger Games' to dominate box office – again". Los Angeles Times. latimesblogs.latimes.com. Retrieved March 30, 2012.
13.Jump up ^ Beard, Lanford. "'Mirror Mirror' release delayed two weeks as new trailer hits the Internet". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
14.Jump up ^ Subers, Ray (March 31, 2012). "Friday Report: 'Hunger Games' Easily Tops 'Wrath,' 'Mirror'". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved April 2, 2012.
15.Jump up ^ Subers, Ray (April 1, 2012). "Weekend Report: 'Wrath,' 'Mirror' No Match for 'Hunger Games'". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved April 2, 2012.
16.Jump up ^ "Mirror Mirror (2012)". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved May 24, 2012.
17.Jump up ^ "Mirror Mirror". Metacritic. CNET Networks. Retrieved March 30, 2012.
18.Jump up ^ Collin, Robbie (March 30, 2012). "Mirror, Mirror – review". The Telegraph. Retrieved March 30, 2012.
19.Jump up ^ Mirror Mirror @ ETA
20.Jump up ^ First Wave of 'Teen Choice 2012' Nominees Announced; Special Airs Sunday July 22 on FOX
21.Jump up ^ Nickelodeon Unveils 2013 'Kids Choice Awards' Nominees
22.Jump up ^ Oscar 2013: The nominations revealed ...
External links[edit]
Official website
Mirror Mirror at the Internet Movie Database
Mirror Mirror at Box Office Mojo
Mirror Mirror at Metacritic
Mirror Mirror at Rotten Tomatoes
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Snow White and the Huntsman
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Snow White and the Huntsman
Snow White and the Huntsman Poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster

Directed by
Rupert Sanders
Produced by
Sam Mercer
Palak Patel
Joe Roth

Screenplay by
Evan Daugherty
John Lee Hancock
Hossein Amini

Story by
Evan Daugherty
Based on
Snow White by the Brothers Grimm
Starring
Kristen Stewart
Charlize Theron
Chris Hemsworth

Music by
James Newton Howard
Cinematography
Greig Fraser
Gavin Free
Editing by
Conrad Buff
Neil Smith

Studio
Roth Films
Distributed by
Universal Pictures
Release dates
May 30, 2012 (United Kingdom)
June 1, 2012 (United States)

Running time
127 minutes[1]
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$170 million[2]
Box office
$396,592,829[3]
Snow White and the Huntsman is a 2012 American fantasy, adventure and action film based on the German fairy tale "Snow White" compiled by the Brothers Grimm. The film is directed by Rupert Sanders and written by Evan Daugherty, Martin Solibakke, John Lee Hancock, and Hossein Amini. The cast includes Charlize Theron, Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth, Sam Claflin, and Bob Hoskins (in his final role before retiring from acting). The film received two Oscar nominations for Best Visual Effects and Best Costume Design at the 85th Academy Awards. It was a success at the box office. Although critics praised the production design and the performances of Theron and Hemsworth, Stewart's performance received mixed to positive reviews, and Daugherty, Hancock and Amini's script was heavily criticized.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast 2.1 The Dwarves
3 Development 3.1 Casting
3.2 Production
4 Release 4.1 Home media
5 Reception 5.1 Box office
5.2 Critical reaction
6 Accolades
7 Sequel
8 See also
9 References
10 External links

Plot[edit]
While admiring a rose blooming in the winter, Queen Eleanor of the Kingdom of Tabor pricks her finger on one of its thorns. Three drops of blood fall onto the snow covered ground and she wishes for a daughter as white as the snow, with lips as red as the blood, hair as black as a raven's wings and a heart as strong and defiant as the rose. The Queen gives birth to Snow White, but then falls ill and dies. After her death, Snow White's father rescues Ravenna from an invading Dark Army of glass soldiers, becomes enchanted with her beauty, and marries her.
Ravenna, who is in fact a powerful sorceress and the Dark Army's master, kills Magnus on their wedding night and usurps control of the kingdom. Snow White's childhood friend William and his father Duke Hammond escape the castle but are unable to rescue her, and she is captured by Ravenna's brother Finn, and locked away in the north tower of the castle for many years.
Tabor is ruined under Ravenna's rule as she periodically drains the youth from the kingdom's young women in order to maintain a spell cast over her as a child by her mother which allows her to keep her beauty. When Snow White comes of age, Ravenna learns from her Magic Mirror that Snow White is destined to destroy her unless Ravenna consumes the young girl's heart, which will make her immortal. Ravenna orders Finn to bring her Snow White, but she escapes into the Dark Forest, where Ravenna has no power. Ravenna makes a bargain with Eric the Huntsman, a widower and drunkard, to capture Snow White, promising to bring his wife back to life in exchange. The Huntsman tracks down Snow White, but when Finn reveals that Ravenna does not actually have the power to do what she promised, the Huntsman fights him and his men while Snow White runs away. When the Huntsman catches up with her, she promises him gold if he will escort her to Duke Hammond's castle. Meanwhile, Finn gathers another band of men to find her, and Duke Hammond and his son William learn that she is alive. William leaves the castle on his own to find her, joining Finn's band as a bowman.
The Huntsman and Snow White leave the Dark Forest, where she saves his life by charming a huge troll that attacks them. They make their way to a fishing village populated by women who have disfigured themselves to save their own lives, becoming useless to Ravenna. While there, the Huntsman learns Snow White's true identity, and initially leaves her in the care of the women. He soon returns when he sees the village being burned down by Finn's men. Snow White and the Huntsman evade them and eventually meet a band of eight dwarves namely Beith, Muir, Quert, Coll, Duir, Gort, Nion, and Gus. The blind Muir perceives that Snow White is the daughter of the former king, and the only person who can defeat Ravenna and end her reign.
As they travel through a fairy sanctuary, the group is attacked by Finn and his men. Eric battles Finn and kills him, and William reveals himself and helps defeat Finn's men. However, Gus is killed when he sacrifices himself to take an arrow meant for Snow White. William joins the group which continues the journey to Hammond's castle.
Halfway to Duke Hammond's castle, Ravenna disguises herself as William and tempts Snow White into eating a poisoned apple, but is forced to flee when the Huntsman and William discover her. William kisses Snow White, whom he believes to be dead. She is taken to Hammond's castle. As she lies in repose, the Huntsman professes his regret for not saving Snow White, who reminds him of his wife, and kisses her, breaking the spell. She awakens and walks into the courtyard, and rallies the Duke's army to mount a siege against Ravenna.
The dwarves infiltrate the castle through the sewers and open the gates, allowing the Duke's army inside. Snow White confronts Ravenna, but is overpowered. Ravenna is about to kill Snow White and consume her heart, but Snow White uses a move the Huntsman taught her and kills Ravena, and Duke Hammond's army is victorious.
The kingdom once again enjoys peace and harmony as Snow White is crowned Queen.
Cast[edit]
Kristen Stewart as Snow White[4][5] Raffey Cassidy as young Snow White
Charlize Theron as Queen Ravenna, Snow White's evil stepmother Izzy Meikle-Small as young Ravenna
Chris Hemsworth as Eric, the Huntsman
Sam Claflin as William, son of Duke Hammond Xavier Atkins as young William
Lily Cole as Greta, a young girl who befriends Snow White
Sam Spruell as Finn, Ravenna's brother and enforcer Elliot Reeve as young Finn
Vincent Regan as Duke Hammond, William's father
Noah Huntley as King Magnus, Snow White's father
Liberty Ross as Queen Eleanor, Snow White's mother
Christopher Obi as the voice of the Magic Mirror
Rachael Stirling as Anna
Hattie Gotobed as Lily
Greg Hicks as Black Knight General
Peter Ferdinando as Black Knight
Anastasia Hille as Ravenna's mother
The Dwarves[edit]
The Dwarves were played by actors who had their faces digitally transmuted onto small bodies. This caused a protest from the Little People of America.[6]
Ian McShane as Beith, the leader of the Dwarves.
Bob Hoskins as Muir, the blind, elder Dwarf, who possesses the powers of premonition.
Johnny Harris as Quert, Muir's son.
Toby Jones as Coll, Duir's brother.
Eddie Marsan as Duir, Coll's brother.
Ray Winstone as Gort, an ill-tempered Dwarf.
Nick Frost as Nion,[7] Beith's right-hand man.
Brian Gleeson as Gus, the youngest of the Dwarves who develops a bond with Snow White.
Development[edit]
Casting[edit]



 Theron & Stewart at Wondercon 2012 in Anaheim, California on March 2012.
Film producers considered casting a lesser-known actress for the role of Snow White, with mention of Riley Keough, Felicity Jones, Bella Heathcote, Alicia Vikander, and Rachel Maxwell as possible picks. This idea became less likely as known actresses Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart were later rumoured to be short-listed for the role.[8] On March 4, 2011, the casting rumors were fuelled even more by a series of tweets from co-producer Palak Patel that confirmed that Stewart was offered the role.[9] The tweets also stated that an official confirmation would be coming out later that week, but it would be several weeks before her casting was officially confirmed by the studio.
At first, Winona Ryder was considered to play Ravenna, before the role went to Charlize Theron.[10] Tom Hardy was first offered the role of Eric, the Huntsman, but turned down the offer. The role was then offered to Michael Fassbender,[citation needed] and then Johnny Depp, but both declined as well.[11] Viggo Mortensen was in negotiations with Universal for the part, but ultimately turned down the role, too.[12] Hugh Jackman was briefly offered the role, but also declined.[13] In 2011, Thor star Chris Hemsworth was eventually cast in the role of the Huntsman.[14]
Production[edit]



 The Marloes Sands filming location for Snow White & the Huntsman
Principal photography took place in the United Kingdom.[15] The beach scenes were predominantly filmed in Pembrokeshire, on the Marloes Sands beach near the village of Marloes between September 26 and 29, 2011.[16] Though the beach was not closed to the public during filming, as filming progressed, certain parts were advised to be off limits. A computer-generated castle was set on nearby Gateholm island. A field above the beach was used for production purposes, and a special wooden ramp was built for vehicles and horses to access the beach.
The English singer Florence and the Machine recorded "Breath of Life" exclusively for the film, which was reportedly inspired by Theron's character Queen Ravenna.[17][18]
The film utilised academic consultants from the University of Chichester and the University of Oxford for back-up research on fairy tales and medieval battles.[19]
Release[edit]
The film had its premiere on May 14, 2012, at the Empire, Leicester Square, in London.[20]
Home media[edit]
The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray in Region 1 on September 11, 2012.[21] The film was released on the same formats in Region 2 on October 1, 2012.[22]
Reception[edit]
Box office[edit]



 Hemsworth at the Snow White and the Huntsman movie premiere, Sydney in June 2012.
Snow White and the Huntsman earned $155,136,755 in North America, along with $241,260,448 in other territories, for a worldwide total of $396,397,203.[3]
In North America, the film earned $1,383,000 from midnight showings.[23] For its opening day, the film topped the box office with $20,468,525.[24] It debuted in first place at the box office during its opening weekend with $56,217,700.[25] It is the seventeenth highest-grossing 2012 film.[26]
Outside North America, Snow White and the Huntsman had an opening of $39.3 million, ranking second overall for the weekend behind Men in Black 3; however, it ranked number 1 in 30 countries.[27]
Critical reaction[edit]



 Stewart at the Snow White and the Huntsman premiere, Sydney in June 2012.
Snow White and the Huntsman received mixed reviews; the film has a 48% "rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 209 reviews with a consensus reading, "While it offers an appropriately dark take on the fairy tale that inspired it, Snow White & the Huntsman is undone by uneven acting, problematic pacing, and a confused script."[28] CinemaScore polls conducted revealed the average grade that filmgoers gave the film was a "B" on an A+ to F scale.[29]
David Edelstein of New York praised the film's revisionist tone and said the film was "strongly influenced by a lot of smart, feminist thinking",[30] and Roger Ebert gave the film 3.5 stars out of 4.[31] A.O. Scott of The New York Times praised Theron's performance and also wrote, "Though it is an ambitious – at times mesmerizing – application of the latest cinematic technology, the movie tries to recapture some of the menace of the stories that used to be told to scare children rather than console them."[32] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly wrote, "Ravenna hates living in a world where men can feed on women's beauty and then toss them away. She's a fascist of feminism, and Theron's acting has the blood of operatic anger coursing through it."[33] Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times said the film is, "an absolute wonder to watch and creates a warrior princess for the ages. But what this revisionist fairy tale does not give us is a passionate love – its kisses are as chaste as the snow is white."[34] Rolling Stone's Peter Travers called it "a visual marvel" while noting that Stewart "morphs convincingly from a skittish girl into a determined warrior princess."[35] MSN news said that Stewart "grows into her character, it seems, and eventually got this reviewer completely on her side.[36] Colin Covert of the Minneapolis Star Tribune gave the film 4/4 stars.[37]
Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian said that while the film is "less jokey than the recent Mirror Mirror", "this Twilightified fairytale has the same basic problem," and that, "The result is tangled and overblown."[38] Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle called it "[a] slow, boring film that has no charm and is highlighted only by a handful of special effects and Charlize Theron's truly evil queen."[39] Michael O'Sullivan of the Washington Post also gave the film a negative review: "Overlong, overcrowded, overstimulating and with an over-the-top performance by Charlize Theron as the evil queen Ravenna, the movie is a virtual orchard of toxic excess, starting with the unnecessarily sprawling cast of characters."[40] Lisa Kennedy of the Denver Post gave the film two out of four stars and said, "Only Bob Hoskins as the blind seer Muir comes close to making us care. We can almost glean Snow White's heroic possibilities through his clouded eyes. As much as we'd like to, we certainly can't from Stewart's efforts."[41]
Accolades[edit]
List of awards and nominations

Year
Recipient
Award
Category
Result

2012 Charlize Theron Teen Choice Award Choice Movie Hissy Fit Won
2012 Kristen Stewart Teen Choice Award Choice Summer Movie Star: Female Won
2012 Chris Hemsworth Teen Choice Award Choice Summer Movie Star: Male (also for The Avengers) Won
2012 Sam Claflin Teen Choice Award Choice Movie Breakout Nominated
2012 Charlize Theron Teen Choice Award Choice Movie Villain Nominated
2012 Charlize Theron Teen Choice Award Choice Summer Movie Star: Female (also for Prometheus) Nominated (she lost to Kristen Stewart)
2012 Chris Hemsworth GQ Award GQ Men Of The Year Award for International Breakthrough Won
2012 Colleen Atwood Gucci Award Best Costume Design Nominated
2012 Florence and the Machine World Soundtrack Awards Best Original Song Written Directly for a Film Nominated
2012 Chris Munro and Craig Henighan Satellite Award Best Sound (Editing & Mixing) Nominated
2012 Wild Card and Universal Pictures Golden Trailer Award Best Action (for "Forever") Won
2012 Universal Pictures Golden Trailer Award Best Summer Blockbuster 2012 TV Spot (for "Ravenna") Won
2012 Universal Pictures Golden Trailer Award Best Motion/Title Graphics (for "Domestic Trailer 2") Nominated
2012 Universal Pictures and Wild Card Golden Trailer Award Best Summer Blockbuster 2012 TV Spot (for "Bound") Nominated
2012 Universal Pictures and Aspect Ratio Golden Trailer Award Best Summer Blockbuster 2012 TV Spot (for "Kingdom") Nominated
2012 Universal Pictures and Wild Card Golden Trailer Award Best in Show ( for "Forever") Nominated
2012 Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould and Michael Dawson St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Best Visual Effects Nominated
2012 Greig Fraser San Diego Film Critics Society Awards Special Award Won
2012 Film People's Choice Awards Favorite Film Nominated
2013 Chris Hemsworth People's Choice Awards Favorite Action Movie Star (also for The Avengers) Nominated
2013 Charlize Theron People's Choice Awards Favorite Dramatic Movie Actress (also for Prometheus) Nominated
2013 Kristen Stewart & Chris Hemsworth People's Choice Awards Favorite On-Screen Chemistry Nominated
2013 Kristen Stewart People's Choice Awards Favorite Face of Heroism Nominated
2013 Colleen Atwood Academy Awards Best Costume Design Nominated
2013 Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould and Michael Dawson Academy Awards Best Visual Effects Nominated
2013 Kristen Stewart Golden Raspberry Awards Worst Actress (also for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2) Won
2013 Film Saturn Awards Best Fantasy Film Nominated
2013 Charlize Theron Saturn Awards Best Supporting Actress Nominated
2013 Colleen Atwood Saturn Awards Best Costume Nominated
2013 Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould and Michael Dawson Saturn Awards Best Special Effects Nominated
2013 Kristen Stewart 2013 MTV Movie Awards Best Hero Nominated

Sequel[edit]
A sequel was planned, with director Rupert Sanders in talks to return.[42] However, in August 2012, it was announced in the aftermath of the scandal involving Sanders cheating on his wife with Stewart the sequel was shelved, and a spin-off film concentrating on the Huntsman was planned instead, which would not star Stewart.[43] Universal announced a few days later that they were not shelving the sequel.[44]
A recent report has stated that Universal has authorized a sequel[45] and Stewart is set to reprise her role, but without Sanders to return as the director because of the scandal.[46] The script has been written and production is set to begin at some point in 2013.[45] The film will be released in 2015.[47]
In September 2013, Chris Hemsworth has said that he does not know anything about the sequel while speaking to E!.[48]
See also[edit]

Portal icon Film portal
Mirror Mirror, another 2012 film based on the tale of Snow White with Lily Collins as Snow White and Julia Roberts as the Queen.
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "Title « British Board of Film Classification". Bbfc.co.uk. 2012-05-30. Retrieved 2012-06-20.
2.Jump up ^ Masters, Kim (May 23, 2012). "Battleship Fallout: Lessons From a Box Office Sinking". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
3.^ Jump up to: a b "Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)". Box Office Mojo. Amazon.com. Retrieved September 13, 2012.
4.Jump up ^ "We are pleased to confirm the Snow White and the Huntsman cast will be Kristen Stewart, Charlize Theron, Chris Hemsworth and Sam Claflin". Twitter. Retrieved 2011-07-25.
5.Jump up ^ "The epic action-adventure Snow White and the Huntsman starring Kristen Stewart, Charlize Theron, Chris Hemsworth & Sam Claflin opens 6/1/12!". Twitter. Retrieved 2011-07-25.
6.Jump up ^ Dwarfs threaten '100-midget march' over Snow White and the Huntsman film, Guy Adams, The Independent (UK), Thursday 07 June 2012
7.Jump up ^ Fischer, Russ (13 July 2011). "Nick Frost is the Final Dwarf in 'Snow White and the Huntsman'". /Film. Retrieved 25 July 2011.
8.Jump up ^ "Kristen Stewart: 'Snow White And The Huntsman' Casting Talks". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2011-07-25.[dead link]
9.Jump up ^ "Kristen is Officially Playing 'Snow White'". BlogSpot.com. Retrieved 2011-07-25.
10.Jump up ^ "'Snow White' Lands Julia Roberts As Evil Queen, So How Does She Stack Up Against Charlize Theron?". MoviesBlog.MTV.com. Retrieved 2011-07-25.
11.Jump up ^ "Exclusive: Johnny Depp Offered a Date With 'Snow White'". The Wrap. Retrieved 7 June 2012.
12.Jump up ^ Labrecque, Jeff (2011-03-26). "Viggo Mortensen dumps Snow White ... for Superman?". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2011-03-28.
13.Jump up ^ "Hugh Jackman no longer in talks for 'Snow White'". InsideMovies.EW.com. Retrieved 2011-04-14.
14.Jump up ^ "IMDb entry with Chris Hemsworth as Hunstman". Deadline.com. Retrieved 2011-07-25.
15.Jump up ^ Thomas, Holly; Watkins, Jade; McCormack, Kirsty (2011-11-11). "Kristen Stewart looks all worked out as she continues to film Snow White And The Huntsman". DailyMail.co.uk (London). Retrieved 2011-11-10.
16.Jump up ^ McDowell, Martin (21 September 2011). "Filming Snow White and the Huntsman at Marloes Sands". Retrieved 14 May 2012.
17.Jump up ^ "Florence And The Machine debut new song 'Breath Of Life' – listen". NME. IPC Media. 26 April 2012. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
18.Jump up ^ Bell, Crystal (26 April 2012). "Florence And The Machine, 'Breath Of Life': Singer Releases New 'Snow White And The Huntsman' Track". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
19.Jump up ^ Nick Clark (2012-03-20). "Philip Pullman to publish new adaptations of Grimm’s Fairy Tales - News - Books". London: The Independent. Retrieved 2012-06-20.
20.Jump up ^ "Watch Snow White and the Huntsman world première LIVE on MailOnline". Daily Mail (London). 2012-05-14.
21.Jump up ^ Hertzfeld, Laura (24 July 2012). "'Snow White and the Huntsman': Watch an exclusive clip from the upcoming DVD/Blu-ray release -- VIDEO". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
22.Jump up ^ "Snow White and the Huntsman [DVD] [2012]". Amazon.com. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
23.Jump up ^ Subers, Ray (31 May 2012). "Forecast: 'Snow White' Goes to War This Weekend". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2 June 2012.
24.Jump up ^ Subers, Ray (2 June 2012). "Friday Report: 'Snow White' Conquers the Box Office". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
25.Jump up ^ Subers, Ray (3 June 2012). "Weekend Report: 'Snow White' Takes Big Bite Out of Box Office Apple". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
26.Jump up ^ 2012 Yearly Box Office Results
27.Jump up ^ "'Snow White and the Huntsman' takes $20.3M bite of Friday box-office apple, eyes $55M weekend". Chicago Tribune. June 2, 2012.
28.Jump up ^ "Snow White and the Huntsman". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2012-06-20.
29.Jump up ^ Young, John (June 2, 2012). "Box office update: 'Snow White and the Huntsman' leads with $20.3 mil on Friday; 'The Avengers' becomes third biggest movie of all time". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved June 2, 2012.
30.Jump up ^ Edelstein, David. "Grim and Grimmer". New York Magazine. Retrieved 30 May 2012.
31.Jump up ^ "Snow White and the Huntsman (PG13) Review". Roger Ebert.com. May 30, 2012.
32.Jump up ^ Scott, A. O. (May 31, 2012). "Movie Review The Darker Side of the Story ‘Snow White and the Huntsman,’ With Kristen Stewart". The New York Times. Retrieved June 2, 2012.
33.Jump up ^ Gleiberman, Owen (1 June 2012). "Movie Review: Snow White and the Huntsman". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 20 July 2012.
34.Jump up ^ Sharkey, Betsy (May 31, 2012). "Movie review: Forget fair, 'Snow White and the Huntsman' is fierce". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 2, 2012.
35.Jump up ^ Travers, Peter (31 May 2012). "Snow White and the Huntsman | Movie Reviews". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
36.Jump up ^ Kenny, Glenn. "'Snow White' Saved by Dwarves". MSN Movies. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
37.Jump up ^ Covert, Colin (1 June 2012). "Folk tale meets fabulous blockbuster in 'Snow White'". Star Tribune. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
38.Jump up ^ Bradshaw, Peter (May 31, 2012). "Snow White and the Huntsman – review". London: The Guardian. Retrieved June 2, 2012.
39.Jump up ^ "'Snow White and the Huntsman' review: Dwarfed". San Francisco Chronicle. June 1, 2012. Retrieved June 2, 2012.
40.Jump up ^ "Snow White and the Huntsman Review". Washington Post. June 1, 2012. Retrieved June 2, 2012.
41.Jump up ^ Kennedy, Lisa (June 1, 2012). "Movie review: Something awry in serious "Snow White and the Huntsman" Grimm fairy tale remake". Denver Post. Retrieved June 4, 2012.
42.Jump up ^ Josh Wilding (June 7, 2012). "Work Moving Ahead On SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN Sequel". ComicBookMovie.com.
43.Jump up ^ Kim Masters (August 14, 2012). "Kristen Stewart Dropped from 'Snow White' Sequel Plans (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 15, 2012.
44.Jump up ^ Ann Lee (August 14, 2012). "Kristen Stewart hasn't been dropped from Snow White sequel, says studio". Metro. Retrieved August 16, 2012.
45.^ Jump up to: a b Sieczkowski, Cavan (December 21, 2012). "Kristen Stewart Confirmed For 'Snow White And The Huntsman' Sequel: 'I'm So Excited'". Huffington Post. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
46.Jump up ^ Sen, Abhijeet (20 November 2012). "Kristen Stewart to star in 'Snow White' sequel sans cheating director". RealBollywood.com. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
47.Jump up ^ Chitwood, Adam (16 April 2013). "Universal Aiming for 2015 Release for SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN 2; "Actively Working" on Next BOURNE". collider.com. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
48.Jump up ^ Malec, Brett; Malkin, Marc (September 9, 2013). "Chris Hemsworth Talks "Awkward" Naked Movie Scenes, Snow White Sequel With Kristen Stewart". E!. Archived from the original on September 17, 2013. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
External links[edit]
Official website
Snow White and the Huntsman at the Internet Movie Database
Snow White and the Huntsman at allmovie
Snow White and the Huntsman at Box Office Mojo
Snow White and the Huntsman at Rotten Tomatoes
Snow White and the Huntsman at Metacritic


[hide]
v ·
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Snow White


Versions
Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree ·
 Snow-White-Fire-Red
 

Films
Snow White (1902) ·
 Snow White (1916) ·
 Snow White (1933) ·
 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) ·
 Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs (1943) ·
 The Seven Dwarfs to the Rescue (1951) ·
 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1955) ·
 Snow White and the Three Stooges (1961) ·
 Snow White (1962) ·
 A Snow White Christmas (1980) ·
 Neberte nám princeznú (1981) ·
 Snow White (1987) ·
 Happily Ever After (1993) ·
 Snow White (1995) ·
 Snow White: A Tale of Terror (1997) ·
 Snow White (2001) ·
 7 Dwarves – Men Alone in the Wood (2004) ·
 Snow White: The Sequel (2007) ·
 Sydney White (2007) ·
 Happily N'Ever After 2: Snow White Another Bite @ the Apple (2009) ·
 Blanche Neige (2009) ·
 Grimm's Snow White (2012) ·
 Mirror Mirror (2012) ·
 Snow White and the Huntsman (2012) ·
 Blancanieves (2012)
 

Television
The 10th Kingdom (short series) ·
 The Charmings (sitcom) ·
 The Legend of Snow White (anime series) ·
 Prétear (anime series) ·
 Once Upon a Time (drama series)
 

Other media
Fables (comics) ·
 Mirror Mirror (novel) ·
 Schneewittchen (opera) ·
 Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (attraction) ·
 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (ballet) ·
 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1912 play) ·
 Snow White's Scary Adventures (attraction) ·
 Snow White Grotto (attraction) ·
 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (musical) ·
 Snow White: Happily Ever After (video game) ·
 "Snow, Glass, Apples" (short story)
 

Characters
Snow White (Disney) ·
 The Queen  (Evil Queen (Disney) ·
 Queen of Fables)
   ·
 Seven Dwarfs  (Names)
   ·
 Magic Mirror
 

 


Categories: 2012 films
English-language films
Films based on Snow White
British films
2010s adventure films
2010s fantasy films
American films
American epic films
American fantasy adventure films
Directorial debut films
Dark fantasy films
Films set in the Middle Ages
Films shot in England
Universal Pictures films
Dolby Surround 7.1 films
Film scores by James Newton Howard








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This page was last modified on 12 January 2014 at 14:19.
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