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Essay On Gender Roles In To Kill A Mockingbird

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In To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, it is vivid that gender roles were part of society in the 1930s. Scout Finch, a little girl, shows that being a girl doesn’t define her personality or actions. Although this book was published in 1960 and was set in the 1930s, the contention of gender roles is still prominent in today’s civilization.
All the way through chapter five, it is well known that gender roles are a part of mankind during the Great Depression. Scout narrated, “I was not so sure, but Jem told me I was being a girl, that girls always imagined things, that’s why other people hated them so, and if I started behaving like one I could just go off and find some to play with” (45). Basically, Jem is saying that Scout and him are no longer acting the same. Jem is insisting that if Scout asks like a girl, he will not play with her. In my opinion, this is childish of Jem to say. Throughout adolescence, there is a time when boys begin to enjoy different things than girls and vice versa. Boys and girls may …show more content…

This is just one example of Scout somewhat challenging traditional gender roles. We see many cases of her doing this throughout the story. Scout was not afraid to pummel Cunningham even though he was a boy. Talking to Jem and Dill, Scout said, “‘Will not. This yard’s as much mine as it is yours, Jem Finch. I got just as much right to play in it as you have” (51). Scout is not afraid to tell Dill and her brother how she feels about them excluding her. Scout is what some people consider a tomboy. She is not afraid to beat a boy up, stand up for what she thinks, or speak her mind. Scout is a great example for any girls reading To Kill a Mockingbird. She confronts and tackles traditional gender roles and throws them out the window, sometimes without even realizing is doing

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Scout is a tomboy and she usually solves her problems with her fists. Atticus is one of the only people that accept Scout for who she is. The rest of her family is constantly trying to make her act more like a lady and this is enforced greatly when her

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Scout demonstrates the idea that adversity does strengthen an individual by learning how to take her life situations, furthermore turn them into positive outcomes, resulting in her building an emotional wall in order to prevent her past from breaking her down, leading her to show the world that she is transitioning into a mature, young woman. In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Jean Louise Finch (Scout Finch) becomes exhibited to adversity in her early childhood. Scout begins by having an arduous time trying to be herself without facing the wrath of people narking on her about the way she dresses as well as the way she acts. Without a mother figure present in her life, the only way she feels like herself is by doing what she knows best, acting as well as dressing like a boy.

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Scout looks up to Jem, greatly values his opinion on many different topics and trusts him completely. She follows his lead on may things such as when Atticus enquire about the nature of a game they are playing which depicts Boo Radley , “ Jems evasion told me our game was a secret so I kept quiet.” (Page 45) Jem in turn enjoys spending time with her and adores her.

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Breaking Away Even though Letty Cottin Pogrebin, an American author and social activist, recently stated, “When men are oppressed, it’s a tragedy. When women are oppressed it’s tradition,” in recent times, women decades ago experienced even greater prejudice (Deborah, Golda, and Me). In Harper Lee’s 1930s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee discusses the tradition of inequality between men and women. The protagonist and narrator, Jean Louise Finch, also known as Scout, lives in a time when women are expected to be perfect Southern ladies.

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Pg.69). This quote represents the fear that scout shows while trying to hide her femininity. It shows that scout believes that women have a minuscule amount of power, and that she needs to act like a boy for her to even be recognized by Jem as a member of the group. Gender equality is not fully intact, as shown explicitly throughout the novel. Scout is not the only woman who feels the impact of sexism in the novel.

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Life is overfilled with messages, like weeds in a sea in unmaintained grass. Whether it’s warning a person, or pointing out a flaw; these little lessons are there to further grow the positive parts of that person’s personality. A simple demonstration of this is To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. An old, children’s book serving no meaningingful purpose is what it may seem, nevertheless, it actually is a novel that offers a unique outtake on all aspects of human life. In the book, two children Jem and Scout, who learn about equality, racism, and social class through court cases, tea parties and more.

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“I could not possibly hope to be a lady if I wore breeches; when I said I could do nothing in a dress, [Alexandra] said I wasn’t supposed to be doing things that required pants” (Lee 67). Aunt Alexandra expects Scout to fit into the role of a woman, even at such a young age. Another example of the harsh standards placed on Scout is shown when Alexandra is having tea with her friends in chapter 24. Miss Stephanie says, “well, you won’t get very far until you start wearing dresses more often”

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41, and Atticus finds out. Scout gets worried that Atticus might know that what they were playing was related to the radleys, and tells Scout that she “was being a girl, that girls always imagined things, that’s why other people hated them so, and if I started behaving like one I could just go off and find some to play with.” this is one of the biggest examples of gender in the book, and shows that being a girl is the highest and worst insult, even amongst the children. And a few pages later, Scout says that she tried to avoid Jem and Dill because she was called a girl once and didn't want to be called a girl again. This really cements how much of an insult it is to be called a girl.

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