ipl-logo

Examples Of Stereotypes In To Kill A Mockingbird

464 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: How do your stereotypes in to kill a mockingbird

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. Age stereotypes show up in this book mainly when Atticus and Scout are involved. This happens to these two characters mainly because Atticus is too old and Scout is too young. When Jem wants to play football with Atticus he will play keep away for hours but if Jem wanted to play tackle football Atticus would say “I’m too old for that, son.” (Lee 118) With this quote we learn that Atticus is still energetic but can get hurt to easy. I feel that this is …show more content…

Gender stereotypes show up a lot in this book when scout is involved. This is because she is a tomboy and enjoys doing the things Jem and Dill would do. Aunt Alexandra moved in with the Finches to teach scout to be a lady, and that is why Aunt Alexandra says this at the missionary circle meeting “‘Stay with us, Jean Louise,’” (Lee 307) scout then thinks this as a reply “This was a part of her campaign to teach me to be a lady.” (Lee 307) Finally I would like to talk about the Racial stereotyping in this book. In my opinion if there was no Racial stereotyping there would be no book. I feel this because in the trial Tom got treated different than Bob and Mayella Ewell and as Jem says “‘Well, Dill after all he’s just a Negro.’” Hear we learn that not even the people that are nicest to black will think they are equal to whites. This exact line also says why Tom was said to be guilty and that is because a white man can not take a black man's side when there is another white man

Show More
Related
897 Words | 4 Pages

In the book To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee talks about discrimination based on gender role, age, and skin color. The characters in this book all have different personalities that influences others. Maycomb, Alabama in 1930’s is where everything happened with slavery and struggling with being poor. The characters Scout, Jem, and Dill had a strong bond and had lots of courage. Shows that justice means other things to other people.

Read More
587 Words | 3 Pages

Her Aunt Alexandra and several other women in the novel repeatedly stressed the importance of Scout living up to the gender roles that were bestowed upon her at birth. They found it unacceptable that she wore overalls and was not interested in hosting parties or getting dressed up. All of Scout’s friends are boys and her preferred activities are considered to be boyish. She initiates fights in the schoolyard frequently, which is obviously seen as unladylike. They even disapprove of her preference to be called Scout as opposed to her more feminine name, Jean

Read More
413 Words | 2 Pages

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.

Read More
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

Read More
544 Words | 3 Pages

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)

Read More
691 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More
590 Words | 3 Pages

Judgement is often placed on the people of Maycomb. Generally, the women of Maycomb gossip about the people in the town based on stereotypes. Subsequently, the men in the town then act on the statements that were made by the women. Because of the adults the children often join in the banter, which evidently makes the cycle continue even as they get older. People repeatedly judge others based on stereotypes.

Read More
551 Words | 3 Pages

When Tom has to go to prison, he is sent to one with other colored people (Lee315). Another Jim Crow law is that a black man could not assume a white man is lying. In the book,

Read More
743 Words | 3 Pages

Harper Lee uses Characterization to show the reader of her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, how different people and events impact children as they grow up and shape the kind of adults they will turn out to be. She shows how the people of Maycomb influenced Jem and how Scout’s view was changed by a single person. Lee also makes it evident that one event can change children’s entire perception of the

Read More
1355 Words | 6 Pages

In reality, appearance does not define who a person truly is. In To Kill a Mockingbird characters such as Tom Robinson, Mrs. Dubose, and Boo Radely are misunderstood and or misjudged because of their physical appearance. This leads the society to unpleasant judgment such as fear, hate, and injustice. Boo Radely is one of the characters that is misjudged due to his false appearance and reclusive lifestyle. In the novel, Boo Radely is portrayed by other characters as a vicious monster that dines on live animals.

Read More
1131 Words | 5 Pages

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses characterization, symbolism, and irony to express the cloud in judgment prejudice causes when examining the morals of others. Scout is able to understand more about the town folk in Maycomb County through studying her teacher’s ironic and corrupted views of life around her. Lee uses Miss Gates, Scout’s teacher, to allow Scout a chance to understand the complexity of the adult world. While teaching the class about the Holocaust, Gates expresses the injustice being done to the Jews. She teaches the children that the town does not “believe in persecuting anybody” (Lee 329) because of the U.S. democratic government.

Read More
977 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More
857 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More
614 Words | 3 Pages

Finally, as the book comes to conclusion Tom Robinson, a black man, is pleaded quilty with the charge of raping a white women. Throughout the novel, it was proven all he was trying to do and aiming for was to help a young girl. People in society gain the evil assumption that all black men and women aren 't equal to those of a different race. A part in the novel that proves how intolerable the society is; on page 242, "A white man 's word, against a black man 's word, the white man always wins" (Lee). This quote shows how the main reason Tom was guilty was due to the color of his skin.

Read More
803 Words | 4 Pages

To Kill A Mockingbird is influential in American culture through its portrayal of themes of prejudice, racism and innocence.

Read More

More about Examples Of Stereotypes In To Kill A Mockingbird

Related Topics

Open Document