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How Does Lee Show Masculinity In To Kill A Mockingbird

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Harper Lee foretells the story of a young, precocious tomboy named Scout Finch who is being pressured by society into conforming to the typical “southern lady” in To Kill A Mockingbird. Lee establishes and promotes Scout’s masculinity through the use of nicknames, fighting, and boyish clothing, while comparing her with women that fit the stereotypical female idea. Scout is faced with discrimination throughout the novel by other characters, Aunt Alexandra, her circle of friends, and Jem being the main sources of prejudice. They thought that acting like a “lady” was what was most proper due to their small town mentality.These strict gender roles were popular in small southern towns because they were isolated from the more progressive attitudes in other areas of the United States. Scout lost her mother at a very young age. How she expresses herself and defies gender roles is affected by the amount of feminine influence she has experienced growing up. Her aunt Alexandra, who came to Maycomb to provide a "motherly" influence and help Atticus, is incapable of understanding …show more content…

“I was not so sure, but Jem told me I was being a girl, that 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” (119). Being a girl had a negative connotation to it. Scout believes that girl activities are bad and boy activities are good. She convinced herself that she can avoid being a girl by averting feminine characteristics. Being a girl for Scout is less a matter of what she's born with and more a matter of what she does. Her brother Jem also associates girls with negativity. Jem said to Scout, "Don't pay any attention to her, just hold your head high and be a gentleman" (100). Jem is telling Scout that in order to be strong and sure of yourself you need to be a man, because women are

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508 Words | 3 Pages

I declare to the Lord you’re gettin’ more like a girl everyday” (51-52). Jem said this when Scout was too scared to go to the Radley’s house. She doesn’t want them to go because she is scared they will get killed by Boo, but after he said that she felt like she has no choice but to go because she doesn’t want them to see her differently and can’t convince them not to go. In both the movie and the book, Jem says many things about Scout being a girl, making her seem different from them by

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778 Words | 4 Pages

Throughout the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee has her protagonist, Scout, explore the southern expectation of women. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Aunt Alexandra tells Scout to act like a lady and wear dresses so she can “Be a ray of sunshine in her father’s lonely life.” (Lee, 108). Scout takes this harshly, claiming that she can “be a ray of sunshine in pants just as well” (Lee, 108) Actually, Scout does not respond well to any suggestions of femininity, preferring to read instead of sew, pants instead of dresses, and playing with balls instead of dolls.

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776 Words | 4 Pages

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.

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712 Words | 3 Pages

Imagine one day you wake up and many of your constitutional rights, such as the right to vote, are gone. In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Sexism plays a huge role in many scenarios throughout the story. For example, a quote in the novel states, “ ‘Scout, i’m tellin’ you for the last time to shut your trap or go home- I declare to the lord you’re gettin more like a girl every day.’ With that, I had no option but to join them.”(Lee

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630 Words | 3 Pages

Man versus man conflicts often drive people apart, but they can result in reconnection and building of new understandings with others. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Aunt Alexandra invites herself into the Finch's home to help around the household. Frustration arises between Scout and Aunt Alexandra when she tries to change Scout’s behavior. The tension over whether or not Scout should change her boyish behavior between these two characters represents their opposing views, and this will not only show that Scout believes in being independent, but also that Aunt Alexandra believes in fitting into societal standards—revealing the struggle of defying gender roles. Faced with her aunt’s wish for her to act more like a regular lady, Scout

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737 Words | 3 Pages

In the novel, Lee uses Scout to demonstrate how the expectations of society are pushed onto girls at a young age. One of the characters who forces these expectations onto Scout is Aunt Alexandra. Often times she ridicules Atticus for allowing Scout to wear breeches and be “unladylike.” During the Christmas party at Finch’s landing, Scout and Alexandra have a conversation about what is proper to wear.

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295 Words | 2 Pages

Seeking an escape from gender prejudice, similar to Scout’s actions toward social class prejudice, Scout will do anything to keep from being called a girl. Scout believes from an early age that girl things are bad and boy things are good, and that she can avoid the girl side by not acting like one. Being a girl for Scout is less a matter of what people say and more a matter of what she does. When Scout questions her brother, Jem replies with a very sarcastic statement and yells, “Scout, I’m tellin’ you for the last time, shut your trap or go home – I declare you’re gettin’ more like a girl every day!” (Lee 69).

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645 Words | 3 Pages

41, and Atticus finds out. Scout gets worried that Atticus might know that what they were playing was related to the radleys, and tells Scout that she “was being a girl, that 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.” this is one of the biggest examples of gender in the book, and shows that being a girl is the highest and worst insult, even amongst the children. And a few pages later, Scout says that she tried to avoid Jem and Dill because she was called a girl once and didn't want to be called a girl again. This really cements how much of an insult it is to be called a girl.

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1099 Words | 5 Pages

In the book, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” by Harper Lee, the author writes about what happens in the small southern town of Maycomb, in Alabama. Lee uses the influence of belief in traditions such as roles and family bonds to show that they are causes of conflict. Throughout the book, roles such as gender, age, race, and family confines characters to act, look, and even speak certain ways, causing internal, external, and family conflicts. This theme that different types of roles and family bonds are the root of conflict is developed through the use of physical setting, anti stereotype, and historical setting The author shows that Scout faces external conflicts caused by the pressure to fit into the stereotypical gender roles accustomed to girls at this time in history.

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1223 Words | 5 Pages

In “To Kill a Mockingbird,” there are many different ways people treat others, and associate reputations with people. One certain factor is gender, like how Aunt Alexandra thinks Scout should be acting “like a lady.” The rights and roles of women in the South during the early twentieth century were often biased and based societal gender roles. Women were judged on and placed in certain positions in the South during this time. Now for the most part women were not involved in or part of government.

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2087 Words | 9 Pages

In Jem’s opinion, she is acting like a girl because if she were to act like a boy, then she would be brave enough to go to the Radley house. Ever since a young age, Scout has been brought up around her brother Jem which causes her to become more like a “tomboy”. She feels pressure to act more masculine to avoid getting poked fun at by Jem. Scout is not only made fun of by her brother, but she is also made fun of by Aunt Alexandra’s missionary ladies. During the missionary ladies meeting, Miss Maudie proceeds to say, “Where are your britches today?””Under my dress”(Lee 307).

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531 Words | 3 Pages

Scout changed a lot over the course of this story. She was exposed to many events that led to her gradually changing her way of life. She doesn’t change as much as Jem does or as fast as him, but she still changes. She learns to mature, understand things better, and treat people with respect.

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766 Words | 4 Pages

Breaking Social Norms In To Kill A Mockingbird In To Kill A Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, Lee depicts the main character Scout Finch as the primary feminist who defies social norms despite several influences in Maycomb County. Scout displays her feminist qualities throughout several occurrences in the novel. She continues to stay true to herself and fights for how she desires to act, while occasionally experimenting with her femininity.

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106 Words | 1 Pages

Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, illustrates how women are restricted by societal expectations. Women and girls are expected to act a certain way, to be feminine and docile. After an argument between Jem and Scout, Jem goes as far to shout, “‘It’s time you started bein’ a girl and acting right!’” (Lee, 153). Jem believes that Scout should be cooperative and malleable to be a typical girl.

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1324 Words | 6 Pages

In the story, Scout proves to us that she does not want to be treated like a girl. Though, this does not mean that she wants to be a boy. In the middle of the book, Aunt Alexandra begins to stay at the Finch household. This has an affect on Scout because she is starting to be taught to be like a young women. Scout shows us that she doesn’t like the idea of this and continues to refuse to become more feminine.

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