Gossip Impacts In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

Gossip Impacts

The phenomenon of spreading rumors is especially prevalent today as society has evolved and technological advancements as well as new outlets are concocted each year, although the impacts of spreading rumors has remained the same. This topic is very important due to the impacts it has, not only on the victim, but on the rumor-monger as well. One result that many people do not realize is that both parties face the negative connotation associated with their names after the situation is over. Over time, gossip has been extremely prominent throughout American history, however, the consequences and impacts have not changed since the 1930s because the fundamental concept of gossip has not changed since then. Some impacts include

In the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, Miss Stephanie Crawford was known for her gossiping habits. Scout explains, “so Jem received most of his information from Miss Stephanie Crawford, a neighborhood scold, who said she knew the whole thing” (Lee 11). Stephanie Crawford was referred to as the “neighborhood scold” which is clearly an insult and shows the negative connotation associated with her. The people of Maycomb call her this because she is extremely nosy. “According to Miss Stephanie, Boo was sitting in the living room cutting some items from The Maycomb Tribune to paste in his scrapbook. His father entered the room. 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 11) In this quote, she accuses Boo of stabbing his father. Even though it had already occurred , discussing the issue can be seen as an attempt to make him look bad which directly substantiates the clear pattern of individuals being perceived in an unfavorable light when observing circumstances relating to gossip and slander. In total, you can see that all parties involved with the gossip were associated with a negative connotation whether it was the rumor-monger or the victim of

An article written by Sara Mohammed and her colleagues explains, “our findings indicate that among Qatar University students, cyberbullying and cyber-victimization are prevalent behaviors that could be associated with the high reported rates of depression symptoms” (Sara Mohamed et al, 2021). This quote shows almost all students associated with cyberbullying and cyber-victimization have signs of depression. These common impacts have already been extremely pervasive since the 1930s, but were ignored by society. The authors continue with additional analyses, “The rate of students who reported being worried of online bullying was 24% while only 50% reported knowing what online bullying is” (Sara Mohamed Alrajeh et al, 2021). This quote shows that cyberbullying has the impact of causing “worry” or in other words, anxiety. If only the students that knew what cyber-bullying was had participated, the ratio would’ve been closer to approximately 50% of victims having anxiety. Overall, both of the quotes show that the impacts of cyberbullying and rumor spreading, variations of gossip, all have the same impacts of anxiety, depression, low-self esteem, and