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Examples Of Gender Inequality In To Kill A Mockingbird

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Surprised, baffled, and angry is how Jem felt when he learned that women weren't allowed to serve on court juries. Women have faced many problems relating to gender equality since the beginning of time and many of these problems are highlighted in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Gender inequality was a large part of the novel, and it is still seen in today. One example of gender inequality in To Kill a Mockingbird is how Aunt Alexandra treats Scout. Aunt Alexandra wants Scout to wear dresses and act more girly and polices her about how she acts. “I could not possibly hope to be a lady if I wore breeches; when I said I could do nothing in a dress, she said I wasn’t supposed to be doing things that required pants”(81). In this quote Aunt Alexandra is scrutinizing Scout for wearing pants instead of a dress and doing ‘boy’ things because dresses are more ‘ladylike’. This relates to gender inequality because Scout is expected to wear a dress and to like female things because she is a girl. …show more content…

Jem is baffled after finding out that kind honest women like Miss Maudie aren't allowed to serve on the jury because they are women. “‘why don't people like Miss Maudie ever sit on juries? You never see anybody from Maycomb on a jury---they all come from out in the woods.’ For some reason he looked pleased with Jem. ‘I was wondering when that occur to you,’ he said. ‘There are lots of reasons. For one thing, Miss Maudie can't serve on a jury because she's a woman---’”(221). This relates to gender inequality because it shows that Jem is stunned by the news of women not being able to serve on a jury when unjust men from the woods

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After Atticus loses his trial, Jem notices that the Maycomb County justice system is broken and it needs help, “Then it all goes back to the jury, then. We oughta do away with juries. ”(294) This shows that Jem now understands that people are racist in everything and racism needs to be fought. On top of realizing that the justice system is in shambles, Jem realized that Tom Robinson’s case was very good at showing that.

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687 Words | 3 Pages

“Not all men are created equal”. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee focuses mostly on Tom Robinson’s trial, first Tom Robinson was caught with Mayella by Bob Ewell, Next he was being sent to trial because he was being accused of raping Mayella. After they send him away and finally he tries to make a run for it and gets shot by a man because the people did not want to do the trial again and because the whites didn’t like blacks. Another focus was on Boo Radley because he first stabbed his dad with a pair of scissors. He was then known as a monster but the children never saw him before,Jem’s description is that Boo was half man, half monster, all teror, about six-and-a-half-feet, dined on raw squirrels and any cats hw could catch.

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883 Words | 4 Pages

In the early 1930’s, when this book took place, racial discrimination was very common. Since Tom Robinson was a black man accused of rape, everybody in the town of Maycomb(where the book takes place) believed that Robinson was guilty. Atticus sadly explains to his kids that “when it's a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins” (Lee 295). The whole town knew Tom Robinson would lose the case, but Atticus being the man he was still had to try, so he chose to be the judge at his trial. Miss Maudie, a friend of Atticus, explains to Jem and Scout, “I simply want to tell you that there are some men in this world who were born to do our unpleasant jobs for us.

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190 Words | 1 Pages

Miss Maudie is a nice, caring, friendly lady. She lives just across from the Finch's house. She refuses to go watch the trial, "I am not 't's morbid, watching a poor devil on trial for his life. Look at all those folks, it's like a Roman carnival" (page 213) Even though Miss Maudie did not go to the trial, she still had an opinion

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970 Words | 4 Pages

She is also made fun of by the other ladies that came. Another victim of gender discrimination is Miss Maudie. After the jury convicted Tom Robinson for the rape of Mayella Ewell, Jem is distraught and wonders why good people like Miss Maudie and himself could not serve the jury. Atticus explains to Jam that Miss Maudie could not serve because she is a women and the jury only consisted of men. This reveals gender discrimination and inequality between the men and women of Maycomb.

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437 Words | 2 Pages

In the novel, gender plays a big part in everyday life. For example when Aunt Alexandra wants to change Scout and make her act like a lady. Also when Jem tells Scout that she always acts like a girl. A quote that explains gender roles is, “I declare to the lord, you’re acting like a girl more and more everyday” (pg 69).

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576 Words | 3 Pages

To Kill a Mockingbird. As a twelve year old, Jem Finch begins to see how crooked the justice system, he begins to “cry” and his face is “streaked with angry tears” because his father’s client, an innocent man, is charged guilty of rape merely because he is black (Lee 284). He is not mature enough yet to handle what he has come to realize about the world and how unfair and corrupt it is. Jem states that “we oughtta” get rid of “juries” (Lee 294).

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Jem, I ain’t ever seen any jury decide in favor a colored man over a white man...” (Lee 279) clearly indicating that Jem still has much to learn about the injustices that exist in society. Because of his confidence that Tom would not be convicted, it is the moment the jury draws out the results that affect Jem the most. “I peeked at Jem: his hands were white from gripping the balcony rail, and his shoulders jerked as if each “guilty” was a separate stab between them” (Lee 282). This moment is symbolic of his innocence and faith in humanity’s goodness almost completely wiped as he hears the word “guilty.”

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553 Words | 3 Pages

To Kill A Mockingbird is a book that explores racial injustice through a court case that allows Jem to explore the idea of racial inequality in Maycomb. It also explores sexism through Scout and Jem's adventures and experiences throughout the book. At the start of To Kill A Mockingbird Jem is a curious boy caring for his younger sister that has little understanding about racial inequality and discrimination in Maycomb. He is then face to face with racial injustice and begins to understand that Maycomb may not be as good of a place as he thought.

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To Kill a Mockingbird comprises various characters who exhibit a clear example of sexism as discrimination on the basis of gender, therefore creating false stereotypes. Sexism is very prominent issue throughout the entirety of the novel as it is set in the 1930’s where

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Negative Feminism In How to Kill a Mockingbird In How to Kill a Mockingbird it is easy to focus on the book's message on racism but one message that is often overlooked is feminism within the book. I believe that in the book there are more negative views on feminism. Some examples of this are how men treat women in the story, Scout’s desire to be less girly, Aunt Alexandria, and other social norms. Some popular social norms include women not being able to handle important things like in the courtroom, boys not wanting to play with girls, women not being able to complete tasks on their own, and men believing that they are more superior than women.

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1891 Words | 8 Pages

The Man’s World: Gender and Race in To Kill a Mockingbird Americans have always engaged in the quest for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Men and women of every race and ethnicity have sought freedom. At times, the struggle was mighty, for just as Americans claim freedom, all too often this country’s history has included grave injustice. American literature has often exposed this struggle, illuminating the plight of those groups who had to wait patiently for full acceptance. Author Harper Lee ranks highly among those authors whose work has served a greater social purpose.

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435 Words | 2 Pages

To Kill A Mockingbird(TKM) is a truth fulfilling book which includes racial and gender injustices that connects to the real world. Even though Martin Luther King Jr. achieved to get civil rights, the United States is still greatly divided just like To Kill A mockingbird. To illustrate, in TKM Tom Robinson is accused of raping Mayella Yule when the whole time he was innocent and was killed. Similar events have occured in past years.

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803 Words | 4 Pages

To Kill A Mockingbird portrays many types of prejudice such as sexism, lifestyle and racism. Sexism is represented through respect and roles of genders. Women were considered weak, they were expected to be elegant and ladylike. It was expected that women stay home and care for the house and children. Jem would often tease Scout for being a girl.

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1229 Words | 5 Pages

Killing a Mockingbird What would it feel like to be a woman who is undervalued by the other men and women around her? To Kill a Mockingbird is about a family who lives in the South in the 1930’s. It is told by a young girl named Scout Finch. Throughout the book we learn many things about her family and the other people around her. Females in this novel are undervalued and looked down upon because of the roles they are expected to portray.

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