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Examples Of Stereotypes In To Kill A Mockingbird

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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. The main character in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird is Atticus Finch, a middle aged man living in Maycomb Alabama. Even though he is a southerner he isn’t racist and he believes that everyone should be treated equal, Atticus teaches his children empathy and not to discriminate against other people, he does his by telling them “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” Even though Atticus treats everyone as equals he gets affected by the town and their prejudice way of thinking. Because Atticus accepts Tom Robinsons case he gets called a “nigger lover” and him and his children get treated differently by the town. …show more content…

Another person who is stereotyped in this novel is Mrs. Dubose, a woman who is also known as “The meanest old woman who ever lived”. Mrs. Dubose is one of the many people who are against Atticus and she is one of the people who call him a “nigger lover”. At the beginning of the novel Mrs. Dubose is depicted as an angry old lady, who is an overall seems to be bitter and has a horrible attitude. In reality Mrs. Dubose is an old woman who is suffering from an addiction that she is trying to break. She knows that she isn’t going to win her battle with addiction but she tries anyways and uses Jem reading to her as a distraction to make it easier for her. After Jem realizes what happened to Mrs. Dubose he understood what her problem

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In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee conveys that prejudice divides communities and that persecution of innocent people is evil; furthermore; these two minor themes reinforce the major thematic idea that a simple assumption can divide people. When Tom Robinson is put on trial for supposedly raped Mayella Ewell, the racism in Maycomb surfaces and creates conflict. In the novel, a stranger says, “You know what we want,” ‘another man said.’ “Get aside from the door, Mr. Finch.”(172). Some drunken men want to harm Tom Robinson for the wrong that he did.

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592 Words | 3 Pages

Stereotyping is a general idea that someone uses to view someone before they actually get to know them. In To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Scout, Jem, and Dill stereotype people until Scout’s father tells her to stop stereotyping. Harper Lee suggests that in order to fully understand someone, you must learn to see the world from their point of view. Mrs. Dubose is an example of Harper Lee’s idea because at first she acts mean towards the Finch family which cause Jem to destroy her camellia flowers. When Mrs. Dubose dies, Atticus tells the kids that the reason she was so mean was because she had a morphine addiction.

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In the book To Kill a Mockingbird the author, Harper Lee, uses the character of Atticus to represent Moral and Truth. In many situations, Atticus's actions differ from the rest of the prejudice society of the 1930s south and represents how the south would change in the next 30 years. The reason why Atticus’s actions were unusual in this time period was because anyone who publicly challenged the system of segregation was in danger of being killed. When the book was written in the 1960s, many anti-segregation movements had happened since the 30s, changing laws and making it much more common for people to act out against segregation like Atticus. One major example of this was during Tom Robinson’s trial where Tom was convicted of a crime

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The theme of prejudice is a main topic throughout the novel. The novel takes place before the civil rights movement in Maycomb County, Alabama. The story follows Atticus,Scout,Jem, and Dill as they journey through a world of prejudice towards black people. Atticus who is a lawyer is defending Tom Robinson who is accused of rape. The trial seems rigged as Tom is black and the accuser saw that as an opportunity.

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There were many characters in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird that were victims of stereotyping. Some of these characters include Jean Louise Finch, or Scout, Atticus Finch, and Tom Robinson. Scout is often stereotyped by her Aunt Alexandra, and by her neighbor, Mrs. Dubose for not being ladylike. Usually, Scout is wearing overalls, and is outside throughout the day with her brother Jem, and her friend Dill, instead of following the expectation for a lady and wearing dresses, and doing housework. Scout is aware of the stereotype that is held against her.

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757 Words | 4 Pages

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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1230 Words | 5 Pages

As punishment, Jem is forced by Atticus to go to her house every day and read to her for an entire month. Under the conditions of Jem reading to Mrs. Dubose, he gains a glimpse of her real life for the first time. After a month of Jem reading to her, Scout and Jem discover that Mrs. Dubose has died. Jem does not seem to care at first until Atticus reveals Mrs. Dubose's unfortunate truth, ‘“Mrs. Dubose was a morphine addict, [. . . ] she took it as pain-killer for years.

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Atticus tells Scout “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, until you climb into his skin and walk around in it,” (p. 39). because he wants her to know that to understand the things Miss Caroline does, Scout must try and look at it from their perspective. Scout does this when she remarks, “She had learned not to hand something to a Cunningham, for one thing, but if Walter and I had put ourselves in her shoes we’d have seen it as an honest mistake on her part.” (p. 40). Atticus is attempting to make Scout realize Miss Caroline won’t know everything about Maycomb in a day.

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In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, we follow along as the author leads us through Maycomb’s towns people’s lives in the 1930’s. As we shadow Atticus and his family we learn some background on his family as well as other characters. As we read along we experience some of the problems in the town like stereotyping as well as other ones. Although not being like others in this case not being stereotypical it may lead to some consequences, but in the end things won’t be that bad. Think about it there may be some obstacles

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Appearance and stereotypes can make us judge someone, because of something such as skin color. These perspectives can keep people from seeing the consequences and results of their actions. By learning how to open our minds, we can broaden our own perspectives. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses conflict and plot to illustrate that judging someone without knowing them can eliminate the opportunity to understand their point of view. Lee shows this through Boo Radley and the theories that people have about him.

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645 Words | 3 Pages

In the book ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ written by Harper Lee, the concept of fear is presented and based on stereotypes. Maycomb County lives are mainly based upon stereotypes and fiction stories. Besides, being scared of Boo Radley was all because of what the children have heard from others about the Radley’s past and present. Furthermore, fear is what we find in books because people will believe everything they see and read about.

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1138 Words | 5 Pages

This is when he went out of control and lost all of the maturity he had. He could no longer take Mrs.Dubose’s insulting comments. This was a terrible decision yet others would have been tempted to do the same thing. As a punishment, Jem is forced to read to

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930 Words | 4 Pages

(Lee 115). Jem's reaction entirely justified Mrs. Dubose had psychologically tortured Jem, speaking ill of himself, Atticus, and Scout, and this was the last straw. But Atticus doesn't seem to care about how she affected his kids, "Jem, everything’s all right. You know, she was a great lady." (Lee 115).

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588 Words | 3 Pages

Jocelyn Travis Mrs. Ducolon English 10 10 April, 2023 Social Exclusion in To Kill a Mockingbird Overall, people part of groups that have negative stereotypes are more vulnerable to social exclusion than others. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee characters of all kinds of social groups face discrimination and excluded from society. Prejudice based upon race, mental illness, and gender ultimately lead to the creation of negative stereotypes and social exclusion. An important character, Mrs. Dubose faces struggles with addiction which causes her to act harshly towards others.

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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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