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How Does Harper Lee Use Gender Issues In To Kill A Mockingbird

776 Words4 Pages

I.S. 234 Name: Ying
Date: Class:806

How does Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, combat social issues through moral principles?

In, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, she combats social issues, one of them being Gender norms. Gender norms are a way of saying a job that was assigned and should only be done by that gender. In, To Kill A Mockingbird, Scout is constantly being told she can't do certain like work or be like a man as it's said only men or males should be in working. On the other hand, the men of the family had to make the money for the family and should only be doing that. Scout is combating this social issue as she is the one experiencing gender norms in, To Kill A Mockingbird. Harper Lee uses Scout to demonstrate Gender norms as a social issue by having her go through these experiences. …show more content…

Scout wasn’t or shouldn't have been doing those things as it made it different from others. One instance that took place was when Jem stopped her and told Scout to be more lady-like, Alexandra had said “We decided it best for you to have some feminine influence” Alexandra in this is saying that since she was born a girl, she should do everything a girl would do instead of being a Tomboy. Scout says “Jem told me I was being a girl, those girls always imagined things, that’s why other people hated them so, and if I started behaving like one I could just go off and find some to play with.” Here it shows that people dislike her because of what she thinks and how she looks. Therefore, she is treated differently and looked at differently by the people in Maycomb. This refers to Gender norms and Gender

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