How Does Miss Gates Cause Hypocrisy In To Kill A Mockingbird

Many people would expect Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird to include little to no adult topics considering the narrator is a 6-year-old girl at the start of the novel. However, this is not the case, as many adult topics, such as racism and prejudice, are exposed to the young girl throughout the novel. Miss Gates, who appears only briefly in the novel, suggests that prejudice can lead to hypocrisy, and the way people act around a certain group of people does not always reflect their true nature.

The sophisticated Miss Gates illustrates the idea that prejudice can lead to hypocrisy by looking down on prejudice yet continuing to have a prejudiced mindset. Miss Gates is a woman capable of feeling empathy and sympathy for oppressed people.

It’s one of the most terrible stories in history”’ (Lee 281). This shows that she can look upon Jewish people, an oppressed group of individuals, as humans that have feelings. She looks down on Hitler for how he ignores the kindness and value of Jews and instead chooses to commit violent, harmful acts on them for who they are and what they believe in. Miss Gates is in fact prejudiced, making her a hypocrite. She preaches philosophy such as ‘“Over here we don’t believe in persecuting anybody. Persecution comes from people who are prejudiced”’ (281), and yet, she does not follow what she advocates. After a black man was very unjustly charged falsely because of his race, Miss Gates ‘“was talking with Miss Stephanie Crawford”’ (283), and said ‘“it’s time somebody taught ’em a lesson, they were gettin‘ way above themselves, an’ the next thing they think they can do is

In front of her students, Miss Gates presents herself as a dignified, respectable, and sympathetic woman. Miss Gates is a schoolteacher of multiple years and when a past student of hers, Jem Finch, was asked if she was a ‘“nice lady”’ (282), he replied ‘“Why sure… I liked her when I was in her room”’ (282). This shows Miss Gates is perceived as a kind woman worthy of respect. During her classes, she educates her students with formal and sophisticated phrasing such as when she corrected a student with ‘“Adolf Hitler, Cecil… One never begins with Old anybody”’ (280), after he said ‘“Old Hitler”’ (280). This causes her to look sophisticated and knowledgeable, especially to the young children looking up to her. She also calls the children by their full names, such as when she says ‘“What do you think it means, Jean Louise”’ (281)? where she addresses Scout with her full name instead of her nickname, showing she does not interact with the children in an informal manner. In chapter 26, Miss Gates speaks to her class about Hitler’s treatment of Jews and how they ‘“have been persecuted since the beginning of history, even driven out of their own country”’ (281). She makes it clearly known that she supports the Jews and dislikes Hitler by stating that what is happening to the Jews is ‘“one of the most terrible stories in history”’ (281). This shows she paints herself as empathetic and unprejudiced