ipl-logo

Breaking Social Norms In To Kill A Mockingbird

766 Words4 Pages

Breaking Social Norms In To Kill A Mockingbird In To Kill A Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, Lee depicts the main character Scout Finch as the primary feminist who defies social norms despite several influences in Maycomb County. Scout displays her feminist qualities throughout several occurrences in the novel. She continues to stay true to herself and fights for how she desires to act, while occasionally experimenting with her femininity. Ultimately, Scout overcomes the social norms placed upon women when she punches Francis in the face, picks a fight with Cecil Jacobs and chooses to spend most of her time playing with Jem and Dill. First and foremost, Scout escapes the restrictions imposed upon women by continuing to play with Jem and Dill instead of indulging herself in learning how to cook or drinking tea with other women. Although she will sometimes sit with Calpurnia in the kitchen and drink tea with her aunt …show more content…

At school, Scout nearly starts a fight with a classmate named Cecil Jacobs after he declares that her “daddy defends niggers” (Lee, 74). Scout being too young to fully understand this statement automatically denies it. Atticus, who has been asked to defend Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a white woman has received many controversial remarks on his take of the case. Although Scout does not initiate the fight with Cecil, her “fists [a]re clenched and [she is] ready to let [them] fly” (Lee, 74). This depicts another one of Scout’s un-ladylike reactions because the ladylike response would be to simply ignore the boy and to remain prim and proper. In spite of Scout’s inability to fully comprehend the significance of what Atticus is doing for Tom, she readies herself to defend Atticus, which ultimately portrays that she does not regard society’s expectations on how she should

Show More
Related
1875 Words | 8 Pages

Would you rather do the right thing and be alienated by your community for being different or do what everyone tells you to do and regret it for the rest of your life. In Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird, a story about coming of age and the loss of innocence, we dive into the mind of a young woman by the name of Scout Finch. Scout is different from the people of her small town of Maycomb, located in the state of Alabama in the two decades following the First World War. Scout is a oddity in the town, as well as the era in general, with a mind that chooses to see what others in the town choose to turn their eyes away from. In the story we follow the three main themes of naivety, hypocrisy and alienation.

Read More
866 Words | 4 Pages

To Kill a Mockingbird Essay Harper Lee’s Book To Kill a Mockingbird has had a lot of controversies over the years. This is because of the many different themes it covers in the book. The novel is narrated by a little girl named Jean Louise Finch, also known as Scout. Scout is driven, mature, and wise for her age. There is a lot of changes that happen throughout the book for the community and also the children in the book because of what their father is doing.

Read More
977 Words | 4 Pages

The African-American community of Maycomb respects Atticus for doing his best with what he is given and for treating everyone with respect. Scout may not realize at first why she must stand up while her father is leaving, but since she is sitting with the community of African-Americans, she quickly realizes that it is a sign of respect, and it makes the audience feel proud. On the contrary, Mayella Ewell makes a remark that can lead the audience into thinking a variety of things, one of which is terrifying. While Tom Robinson is giving his testimony and explaining what happened while he was in the Ewell house, he states, “She says what her papa do to her don’t count,” (260). Someone could read this and think that her father is raping her, which is very alarming.

Read More
900 Words | 4 Pages

Scout Finch, a once disorderly girl, changes a lot when her father, Atticus, takes the responsibility of defending a black man. Scout matures quickly when she is faced with discrimination and hatred towards her father. The atmosphere of discrimination in the novel To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee affects Scout, by creating a hostile environment that teaches her important lessons, forcing Scout to protect herself and her father, and learning that challenging the traditional way of life was not always wrong. It must have been a confusing time for Scout Growing up in Maycomb, because once her father took the role as an attorney for a black man, everything started to change.

Read More
533 Words | 3 Pages

All throughout this book Scout shows how strong she is, for her family, for her friends, and for herself. She acts likes its ok sometimes but, she just wants her family to be happy. “ Aunt Alexandra’s fingers trembled as she unwound the crushed fabric and wire from around me. “Are you all right darling?”

Read More
1258 Words | 6 Pages

To Kill a Mockingbird Prejudice exists everywhere, but not with everyone. Some people choose to defy it, especially if it seems unreasonable, or immoral. This is found throughout the book To Kill a Mockingbird. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout learns to defy unreasonable social norms, and unfair ones as well, by the action of adults around her, namely Atticus and Miss Maudie Atkinson. By gardening while wearing men’s overall, Miss Maudie shows Scout that you do not always have to conform to the social norm of women only wearing dresses to be respected.

Read More
593 Words | 3 Pages

To Kill A Mockingbird is a classic written by Harper Lee, published in 1960 by Harper Perennial Modern Classics. The story unfolds as Jean, better known as Scout is talking about her ancestors and what they did in their lives. The story moves on as Jean Louise Finch has begun her school year. She had begun first grade with Miss Caroline and had begun the school year with the wrong foot. In school, Miss Caroline is introduced with many new people and their social boundaries.

Read More
1395 Words | 6 Pages

The victim in the To Kill a Mockingbird trial took advantage of this, with pressure from her father, and falsely accused a black man of rape. Despite obvious holes in evidence and a general public opinion that the victim was lying, jurors convicted the black man because to do otherwise would have been unheard of, and viewed as not fulfilling the duty of protecting Southern womanhood. Although the main character, Scout, does not understand much of the trial and its workings and themes, she does understand that there is a definition of Southern womanhood, which she is supposed to fulfill. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout rebels against the idea of becoming the ideal Southern woman embodied by her Aunt Alexandra by becoming a tomboy in every way. Many people view To Kill a Mockingbird as a novel about Scout growing up and embracing what it means to be a Southern woman, when at heart, it is a novel about Scout redefining Southern womanhood and embracing the definition shown to her by three women with great influence in her life.

Read More
947 Words | 4 Pages

Many individuals within To Kill A Mockingbird are able to identify him as innocent of beating and raping Mayella Ewell based on the abundant supply of sufficient evidence in his favor. Yet the inhabitants of Maycomb cannot allow a colored man’s word to be held above that of a white man. Through Atticus’ choice to defend Tom Robinson, doing so to the best of his ability, the Finch family is even subjected to verbal brutality and the name of “nigger-lovers.” Atticus explains to Scout that it is “just one of those terms that don’t mean anything” (107) but simply something “slipped into usage with some people like ourselves, when they want a common, ugly term to label somebody” (107). Others feared being labeled as such which was one of the reasons Tom Robinson was a sacrificial lamb for themselves.

Read More
1724 Words | 7 Pages

No society is perfect. As much as we strive for the best, it is impossible to be impeccable. Both authors and musicians lean towards writing about events that are affecting them directly, or the society at which they live in. That being said, the literature and media at which many produce, highlight key social issues that individuals are faced with everyday. Literature and forms of media; including music reflect society's flaws in hopes to make the culture aware of the damages they are bringing on to others.

Read More
915 Words | 4 Pages

The way the people and the town influence Jem and Scout make the characters more realistic and the overall story much more interesting. To Kill a Mockingbird is an exceptional novel that conveys many positive messages throughout. In her novel, Lee creates honest and relatable characters that take the reader on a journey through life in the south during the Great Depression. Readers are impressed by Lee’s eloquent writing and amazing characters, all of which make To

Read More
996 Words | 4 Pages

“Don't trade your authenticity for approval” stated an unknown author. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird Scout is a young girl who breaks the social norm of wearing proper clothes such as dresses. In the town called Maycomb, the social norms are for whites to separate from African Americans along with women dressing a certain way and men dressing another. Those social norms don’t just exist in Maycom they are also in the real world. Ellen DeGeneres is a woman in the real world who breaks those social norms.

Read More
273 Words | 2 Pages

Although men may hold the primary bias toward women, it is fair to say that the women, however, “perfected” it. From the men around Scout, readers can see that they mostly just made earnest advises on Scout’s need of feminine behavior, but it was the women who emphasized on her lack of decency and aggravated her suffering on the “education of ladyship”. Aunt Alexandra, a textbook paragon of the ideal “southern belle”, the kind of woman who wore a corset even under her bathrobe; she had been Scout’s “tormenter” since the death of her sister-in-law (the Finch kids’ mother) and took on the role of instructing moderate behavior to the children. To her, the boyish attires of Scout was a disgrace that showed how “lack of discipline” the Finch family

Read More
106 Words | 1 Pages

Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, illustrates how women are restricted by societal expectations. Women and girls are expected to act a certain way, to be feminine and docile. After an argument between Jem and Scout, Jem goes as far to shout, “‘It’s time you started bein’ a girl and acting right!’” (Lee, 153). Jem believes that Scout should be cooperative and malleable to be a typical girl.

Read More
849 Words | 4 Pages

To Kill a Mockingbird suggests that women should be able to have equal opportunities to men. Through Scout’s tomboyish attitude,Harper Lee is able to highlight to wrongs in forcing a girl to

Read More

More about Breaking Social Norms In To Kill A Mockingbird

Related Topics

Open Document