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Examples Of Stereotypes In To Kill A Mockingbird

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Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is one of the greatest novels of its time period. Throughout the book, several stereotypes appear within many of the characters and events that happen. The story of To Kill a Mockingbird is primarily about a young girl named Scout whose father is a lawyer defending a black man accused of raping a white woman. She lives in a small Southern town that is shaken by the trial, because the man could not have physically committed the crime. However, he is convicted anyway, and Scout learns a lesson about life in the South in the Great Depression. With the ongoing event of the Great Depression, several occurrences of stereotyping affects many within the town; however, it is well known that stereotyping still occurs …show more content…

Being said, stereotyping, even though displayed in the early 1900s, still occur in today’s era through American stereotypes, religious stereotypes, and even gender roles.
As Stereotypes become more apparent in today’s era, Stereotypes also appear in To Kill a Mockingbird. Lee describes the harsh life of one man named Tom Robinson whom is greatly affected by several racial stereotypes within the story. After carefully defending Tom Robinson throughout the case of his own, Atticus Finch describes and delivers the wrongness of the color of the defendant’s skin to the Jury in the final statement before the commencement of a verdict. “In the cynical confidence that their testimony would not be doubted, confident that you gentlemen would go along with them on the assumption- the evil assumption- that all Negroes lie…basically immoral beings…Negro men are not to be trusted around our women, an assumption one associates with minds of their caliber” (204). This statement reveals that with the justification of Atticus’s ending statement, he still has to bring up the part that the colored stereotype …show more content…

These are just some of the several examples of how stereotyping is categorized for men and women in today’s society. This type of generalization of each gender has been around for centuries and continues to be used. One source argues that “Conscious and unconscious motives of having the family race continue… Guns and cars are bought for him, preferably blue and never pink! While growing up, if he cries he will be told ‘don’t cry like a girl!’...learns to suppress his emotions as he thinks it is ‘girlish’ to express them.” (Srichand, "TalkItOver RSS"). Srichand disputes that gender roles are quickly assumed at the moment of birth. As soon as the gender is announced expectations and generalizations come in to where the stereotyping takes place. Although, this doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing to stereotype for us as humans. It is quite normal based on many sources that stereotyping is normal and part of brain to organize things. “The use of stereotypes is a major way in which we simplify our social world; since they reduce the amount of processing…we have to do when we meet a new person” (McLeod, 2008). This quote gives great insight to what makes stereotyping in new situations more normal. Stereotyping in some cases is a logical response to what us as humans make us

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In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee one of the essential questions is: how do our own personal stereotypes help shape how we experience the world. The stereotypes in this novel had affected the people of Maycomb’s thought process. Stereotyping is the process of generalizing people and broadly categorizing them based on narrow minded observations of characteristics that they have. Most people are stereotyped due to their race, gender, age, unknown identity, or social class.

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Every person young or old, is labelled with either a positive or negative stereotype. Stereotypes affect one’s social life, emotions, and how one interacts with the community. In the 1940’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee, there are many stereotypes that are destructive and can prevent individual growth. The three stereotypes that will be focused on are, people who supposedly do bad things are evil and scary, people should not judge others by their actions, and black people are treated poorly based on their skin tone.

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Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch makes many comments in relation to the events in the book and the 1930s. For instance, he talks about blatant and immoral segregation between black and white people, especially during the trial of Tom Robinson. However, many of Atticus’s statements can be related to any period in history, even today. Namely, rape and sexual harassment in Hollywood and strict ideals in cultures. All in all, the most important events that can relate to Atticus’s quotes in the book is the generalizations and stereotyping of Muslims in society today.

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To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is the story of a small town named Maycomb Located in Alabama, highlighting the adventures of the finch children and many other people in the small town. The people in this town are very judgemental and of each other and it often leads to people being labeled with stereotypes and people think they know everything about that person however that is not reality. It is not possible to know the reality of a person 's life by placing a stereotype without seeing it through their own eyes and experiencing the things they experience. This happens often throughout the story with many people in the town. People are labeled as many things such a “monster” a “nigger” and many other things that seem to put them in their

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Racism and Prejudice in the Novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” EQ: Examine how Harper Lee addresses conflicts of prejudice , racism , classism , discrimination , and/or gender bias through the characters in her novel to kill a mocking bird. In the novel To Kill A Mocking Bird there were many indications that there were racism in the story. These indications is not easily to sight but there are not easy to sight. According to the novel, there were the trial of Tom Robinson.

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Stereotypes influenced the characters in To Kill a Mockingbird by how Scout and the members of the Maycomb community viewed themselves and others, and impact readers by creating a sense of inferiority around the stereotyped group. The stereotypes in the novel influenced the characters and plot, as members of the Finch family felt the impacts of racial, gender, and behavioral stereotypes from Atticus’ court cause and Scout’s tomboyish behavior. To begin, Atticus stated: “I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway

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Different stereotypes were discussed in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, such as the stereotype of Arthur Radley, Tom Robinson and Jean Louise Finch. Arthur Radley is stereotyped as cruel when he is kind, Tom Robinson is racially stereotyped as a criminal due to his skin color and Jean Louise Finch is sexually stereotyped. Arthur Radley or Boo Radley was stereotyped as creepy and cruel, though his true personality isn’t that. For example, “As Mr Radley passed by, Boo drove the scissors into his parent’s leg, pulled them out, wiped them on his pants, and resumed his activities.” (Lee, 12)

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To KIll a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. This is a book about segregation in the 1930s and how blacks got treated as well as how whites got treated for trying to help them. I feel this is a book that show many examples of stereotypes. Three stereotypes in the book are Age, Gender, and especially Racial stereotypes. Without these three stereotypes the book would not be nearly as good if it could have been made without the stereotypes.

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To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee is an amazing and heartwarming story. The book is set in Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930’s. Two siblings, Scout and Jem Finch, live a laid back and simple life. Most of the neighbors near the Finches are nice and helpful, except for one person, Boo Radley. He is confined inside his house.

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To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is one of the most influential novels of the 20th century. To Kill a Mockingbird is set during the Great Depression in Maycomb County, Alabama and is centered on a young girl named Scout Finch. Throughout the novel, Scout grows and witnesses the destruction of innocence through the trial and unjust conviction of Tom Robinson, an African-American man, his death, and how it affects her family. One of the major themes in To Kill A Mockingbird is the intentional delusions of people to avoid accepting a harsh truth in relation to race. This message is shown through the racist attitudes of the citizens of Maycomb County and is still prevalent today.

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Why are people biased against others? In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows the stereotypes created by the different people in Maycomb County and Scout's perspective of these stereotypes. Scout doesn't understand why people discriminate against each other, and refers to Atticus, her father, to understand the discrimination in Maycomb County. People have many stereotypes about, social status, religion, and women. The people of Maycomb are judged wrongly by these stereotypes because the hate towards others and the lack of respect they have for each other.

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He says, “As you grow older, you 'll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don 't you forget it—whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash." (Lee 250) Atticus explains the harshness of the way white men treat and act around black people. He tells them that there is not excuse for behavior like that, and so the children choose not to act that way. This method of combating prejudice can be very effective on the children being taught,

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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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Essay In the novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee, there are many important messages shown throughout the book. However the primary focus was set on racial prejudice that existed in the 1930s-1940’s in the fictional town of Maycomb County. The racism in the novel was very much a reality in 1930s-1940s America. A very good example of the racial prejudice that existed was in the courtroom during Tom Robinson’s trial, an innocent Negro man held against his will for a crime he did not commit.

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“To Kill a Mockingbird” is a book about a young girl named Scout and her troubling times in Maycomb. Atticus scout 's dad is a lawyer who takes on a case the average white man wouldn 't even think about accepting because Tom Robinson a local negro is being accused of rape. During this case the family goes through sadness, courage, and harassment. The family has mixed emotions on how the case ended.

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