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Examples Of Societal Expectations In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

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The pursuit of personal freedom is often hindered by societal expectations regarding their race, social class or gender as well as other factors. Societal expectations is an internalized social norm for individuals and for society as a whole, about what people should do and what they should not do. This can influence an individual and prevent them for pursuing personal freedom. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee showcases how an individual’s pursuit of personal freedom is driven by their current state of life, as well as the beliefs and values they hold to themselves and how sometimes society can prevent them from pursuing personal freedom. Through Mayella Ewell’s actions, Lee reinforces the idea that often society, and their expectations placed on lower classes can stop you from your pursuit of personal freedom, and trying to rise above the expectations of society. For example, the author notes that “One corner of the yard though bewildered Maycomb. Against the fence were six enamel slop jars holding brilliant red geraniums, cared for as tenderly as if they belonged to Miss Maudie Atkinson, had Miss Maudie designed to permit geranium on her premises. People said they were Mayella Ewell’s.” (p. 195) This shows how Mayella wants to create a better life for herself, despite her state of life. This showcases how someone who is isolated, …show more content…

Dolphus represents how he is holding himself back to please society, through the following dialogue: “I try to give them a reason, you see it helps the folks if they can latch onto a reason.” (p. 229) This relates back to the topic because it shows how some people hold themselves back to please society and keep them at ease. Furthermore, this shows how society can stop people from having and pursuing personal

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Seth Esler Honors English Mrs. Jaeger 1/13/23 What Ignorance, Fear, and Tradition can Cause To Kill A Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee is a thriller novel that takes place in the 1930s in Maycomb, Alabama. The main character of the book, Scout is a unique one-of-a-kind. During her time all the women back then acted ladylike, but not Scout. She was an adventurous girl that liked taking risks in life. Living with her father, Atticus, and her older brother Jem.

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Personal values and morals are instilled into children by their parents . Jem and Scout Finch, characters from Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird, are open minded, educated, young children that have a father named Atticus Finch who tries to teach his children to have sound morals and personal values . The children have not been sheltered from life's hardships due to their father Atticus's views on parenting instead they have learned right from wrong. Atticus Finch believes that not sheltering his kids from the world allows them to form strong morals and values. Atticus Finch does what he believes will help make his children into strong citizens with outstanding values and morals.

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Social prejudice is shown throughout Harper Lee’s award winning book, To Kill a Mockingbird. Harper Lee powerfully analyses the theme social prejudice, and its effect on people. Such as how the Social prejudice is discrimination based on your status in society. An example of social prejudice would be the Radley family, which consists of Boo Radley, Nathan Radley and Arthur Radley. As they haven’t been out of their house in years people are lead to believe the rumours.

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Cultural norms are what make and shape a society. They are the guidelines, and or patterns, that are to be followed, in order to be considered a normal, typical, everyday citizen. As such, it does not matter if the norms are right or wrong. As long as the citizen is still a part of their society, right and wrong does not matter, as far as they are concerned. In the case of To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, the cultural norm, of Maycomb County, embraces the wrong, in the form of extreme prejudice behavior.

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Race has always been a part of history, from slavery to MLK, to Barack Obama. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee defines race in the south during the 1930’s. Jean “Scout” Finch, is the narrator of the story. Her brother Jeremy “Jem” and her dad, Atticus, are both main characters. Calpurnia is their house cook and helper, she is also black.

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“‘In the name of God, do your duty’” (Lee 275). It is in this statement that truly shows Atticus Finch 's (Atticus) moral values stand out from everyone else 's in Maycomb. Throughout the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, a multitude of characters influence and radiate their moral values to other people in the novel and to the reader. Moral values are not just things other people believe in, they build on who they are, just like Atticus.

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The novel To Kill a Mockingbird is so titled because there are several characters in the story which could be consisted mockingbirds. Tom Robinson and Boo Radley do not cause any harm, they go about their business without interfering in the lives of others, and however both of them are in turn harmed by the citizens of Maycomb. Harper Lee’s novel examines the dark side of human nature and explores the ramifications of prejudice, racism and bigotry in a time when people were openly hostile to anyone they considered different and inferior. Lee tells her story to highlight the injustices of the South during a time of inequality, discrimination, where the innocent are unfairly punished. Tom Robinson a character in the novel is accused of something

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“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.

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In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee demonstrates that social inequality breaks down a society through the use of conflict, symbolism and irony. Social inequality plays a pivotal role in the novel because the whole conflict between Bob and Tom is wrapped in it. From the first accusation to the final conviction inequality is intertwined in every paragraph, every word. To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel that stands the test of time because while our society has made improvements, inequality will never truly go away. This novel displays characters you relate to, ones you despise, and all that you fall in love with.

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In the novel, ‘To kill a mockingbird, Harper Lee demonstrates the small, imaginary town, the Maycomb County, as a place where racism and social inequality happens in the background of 1930s America. Not only the segregation between whites and blacks, but also the poor lived in a harsh state of living. As Scout, the young narrator, tells the story, Lee introduces and highlights the effects of racism and social inequality on the citizens of Maycomb County by using various characters such as Boo Radley, Tom Robinson, and Mayella Ewell. Firstly, Harper Lee portrays Boo Radley as a victim of social inequality through adjectives and metaphor in the phrase, “There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten;” ‘Long jagged scar that ran across his face’ tells us that Boo Radley has stereotype about his appearance, which forces to imagine Boo as a scary and threatening person. The phrase, ‘yellow and rotten’ make the readers think as if Boo Radley is poor and low in a social hierarchy, as he cannot afford to brush his teeth.

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Harper Lee’s Cultural Point of View represented in To Kill A Mockingbird In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, she uses characters, personality, and language to signify the cultural point of view. Another sign of culture is location, Harper Lee does not allude to Maycomb, Alabama very often, but, this still ensures the cultural point of view. Culture plays a crucial role in To Kill a Mockingbird (TKAM) especially because this novel takes place during the end of the early nineteen hundreds.

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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.

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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.

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To Kill a Mockingbird Essay ¨Inequality is the root of social evil¨ (Pope Francis). In the book To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee shows that social inequality affects everyone. As the book goes on, Lee proves that racial inequality was one of the greater stresses in the 1930’s. Social inequality does not just exist only with race; it interferes with wealth, family backgrounds, age, and even your beliefs.

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