Hypocrisy In To Kill a Mockingbird Hypocrisy is the "moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess." In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, there are many instances of hypocrisy. Many people, at the time were very prejudiced against African-Americans and as a result there were many hypocrites in the Southern States. Some examples of hypocrisy and hypocrites in the book are Aunt Alexandra, Miss Gates, and Mrs. Merriweather. To begin, Aunt Alexandra is one of the many voices of hypocrisy in the book. Aunt Alexandra is a symbol of old southern charm and what woman were supposed to act like in the 1930s. She lives by the fact that family is the most important thing in life. She judges …show more content…
Merriweather is a hypocritical person in To Kill a Mockingbird. Mrs. Merriweather is the "most devout lady in Maycomb"(146). She even helped sober up her husband and made a "useful citizen of him"(146). When Scout stays at her Aunt's afternoon tea party, she hears Mrs. Merriweather talking about the Mrunas tribe in Africa and how J.Grimes Everett is their white saint. She oftens talks about Everett and how saintly he is because he is the only white person that will go near them. On the other hand, she does not treat the blacks in her town nicely and tries forgiving them although they did not do anything. Also, Mrs. Merriweather makes a comment saying "at least we don’t have the deceit to say to ‘em yes you’re as good as we are but stay away from us. Down here we just say you live your way and we’ll live ours”(149). What Mrs. Merriweather doesn't know is that blacks can't just go about their way of life in Maycomb. All these Jim Crows laws prevent them from doing anything equally like the whites. Harper Lee is trying to explain that a lot of whites didn't realize how bad the colored people had it in the South. Therefore, Mrs. Merriweather is a hypocrite because of her opinion about the blacks in the South and blacks in …show more content…
Gates, and Mrs. Merriweather. Hypocrisy is a major theme in To Kill a Mockingbird and Harper Lee leaves an underlying message to explain what the times were like. Aunt Alexandra was hypocritical because her statements about Cousin Joshua and the Cunninghams. Miss Gates was also hypocritical because of her statements about Hitler and the black people in Maycomb. Lastly, Mrs. Merriweather is a voice of hypocrisy because of her opinion about blacks in Maycomb and blacks in Africa. In Maycomb, Alabama, deeply rooted prejudice thrived and influenced citizens to be
Double Entry Journal “ ‘… the evil assumption- that all Negroes lie , that all Negroes are basically immoral beings, that all Negro men are not trusted around our women, an assumption that one associates with minds of their calibre.’ ” (Lee 232). What I think Harper Lee creates Aunt Alexandra’s prejudice towards other social groups, and Maycomb’s prejudice towards African-Americans to illustrate the bias opinions of others, and the impact that they have on the town’s southern society throughout the 1930’s.
The prejudice in Maycomb is so strong that a clear line has been
Throughout the book there are many different sins that the people of Maycomb show. The whole town is full of everything wrong with society many of the characters represent how we are failing in life while a few others show what we are doing right. From racism to being rude to people who are different this book outs everything that we have done wrong with history and all the mockingbirds that we have killed. Racism is a misdeed that keeps on showing up in the book, Calpurnia keeps on showing Jem and Scout about how the African American society is treated.
Many people would expect Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird to include little to no adult topics considering the narrator is a 6-year-old girl at the start of the novel. However, this is not the case, as many adult topics, such as racism and prejudice, are exposed to the young girl throughout the novel. Miss Gates, who appears only briefly in the novel, suggests that prejudice can lead to hypocrisy, and the way people act around a certain group of people does not always reflect their true nature. The sophisticated Miss Gates illustrates the idea that prejudice can lead to hypocrisy by looking down on prejudice yet continuing to have a prejudiced mindset.
To start, within the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, there is the idea that prejudice will always exist in society. Within the book, Maycomb, at several different points within the story, demonstrates their intense hatred against the colored population within the town itself. One key point with this idea is within chapter 26, where Scout’s teacher, Miss Gates, revealed how human’s always ostracized their kind because of a variable external trait that they held through the example of Hitler. In this chapter, on page 249, she states, “There are no better people in the world than the Jews, and why Hitler doesn’t think so is a mystery to me.” In this quotation, Miss Gates states that Hitler detested Jews and spurned the Jewish
Argumentative Essay “Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win”. Atticus Finch decided to defend Tom Robinson when he was accused of raping a white woman. I would’ve done the same thing as Atticus because I believe that back then it wasn’t a very fair world. As soon as a white person blamed a black person Police or the Judge would automatically take the word or the white person.
In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses characterization, symbolism, and irony to express the cloud in judgment prejudice causes when examining the morals of others. Scout is able to understand more about the town folk in Maycomb County through studying her teacher’s ironic and corrupted views of life around her. Lee uses Miss Gates, Scout’s teacher, to allow Scout a chance to understand the complexity of the adult world. While teaching the class about the Holocaust, Gates expresses the injustice being done to the Jews. She teaches the children that the town does not “believe in persecuting anybody” (Lee 329) because of the U.S. democratic government.
To kill a mockingbird has the theme it is important to recognize all humans deserve respect regardless of their place society. Not all citizens of Maycomb weren't treated equally and with respect. For instance Arthur, “Boo” Radley was treated unequally and badly because no one knew about him so they began with rumors and pictured as an evil monster. Bob Ewell was born into racism and abuse and people judge him thinking he wants to do what he does but he was raised this way. And last but not least Tom Robinson was disrespected not because he did something but due to the color of his
In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, the entire town of Maycomb accepts and contributes to maintaining the racial status quo. The narrator, Scout, tries to make it seem as though Maycomb, Alabama is a better place than other southern states in the United States. Although, they tolerate racism just as much as any other southern state. Some characters are aware of this, like Atticus Finch and Dolphus Raymond and others are not. Dolphus Raymond even states “Things haven’t caught up to that one’s instinct yet.
As the book goes on and the characters change, ethical dilemmas about fear, and racism are seen. Additionally, what the book has to say about moral values and how things are done is mentioned in this essay. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee depicts the crude reality of Ethical Dilemmas in Maycomb, Alabama during the 1950s. One of the first Ethical Dilemmas presented in the book is what are the morals of the people in Maycomb. It is clear that Maycomb has differences in how people act, but that is different on what their moral values are.
In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee teaches us about the town of Maycomb County during the late 1930s, where the characters live in isolation and victimization. Through the perspective of a young Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, readers will witness the prejudice that Maycomb produces during times where people face judgement through age, gender, skin colour, and class, their whole lives. Different types of prejudice are present throughout the story and each contribute to how events play out in the small town of Maycomb. Consequently, socially disabling the people who fall victim from living their life comfortably in peace. Boo Radley and his isolation from Maycomb County, the racial aspects of Tom Robinson, and the decision Atticus Finch makes as a lawyer, to defend a black man has all made them fall in the hands of Maycomb’s prejudice ways.
The Co-existence Of Good and Evil In Human Morality: To Kill A Mockingbird Analysis Essay Set in the rural southern town of Maycomb, Alabama, To Kill A Mockingbird is seen through the eyes of Scout Finch and her older brother Jem, Maycomb appears to be friendly and peaceful. However the children are exposed to the dangers and the truth of their community. As they mature and learn important lessons from others, they’re exposed to prejudice, inequality, racism, social class and injustice.
The testimonies reveal how deep-rooted the racism within Maycomb runs, as it is present even in court rulings and how casually present it is. The court is taking place, and the order of prosecutor’s witnesses who are: Mr. Heck Tate, the sheriff; Mr. Bob Ewell, Mayella’s father; and Mayella Ewell, the one who is accusing Tom Robinson of raping her. When it’s Mr. Ewell’s turn to speak, he does so with many racial slurs and slang embedded in his accusations. When relaying what he saw to the jury, he points at Tom and yells “―I seen that black n*gger yonder ruttin’ on my Mayella!” Mr. Ewell, who, although, has never been a part of a court case or viewed one, doesn’t truly care, or notice, that so far into the formal case, not one person has used racial slang to talk about Tom, and uses the term n*gger quite casually.
To Kill a Mockingbird is a book written by Harper Lee about racism and justice during the Great Depression. In Maycomb County, most people still aren’t over the confederate days, but Atticus Finch, a very ethical lawyer, and his family have to undergo a case over a black man. The thematic statement found in this book is,”A person’s surroundings will affects their choices and disregard morals.” This tells how the people in this book disregard some base morals and make choices. In To Kill a MockingBird there are examples of people disregarding their morals in mob mentality and letting society influence them, but keeping to a strict line they wouldn’t cross like Atticus defending Tom.
The black and white communities of Maycomb hardly ever come across one another, and in the rare occasion of such occurrence, the black individual most likely will get punished. Maycomb County is filled with so called “laws” that punish the black individual with