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Scout shows she realizes what being a girl really is while watching others. “Calpurnia seemed glad to see me when I appeared in the kitchen, and by watching her I began to think there was some skill involved in being a girl”(Lee 115/116). Scout has had her standards of what women should be by her brother, but once Scout sees Calpurnia working she realizes otherwise - to show her womanly traits instead of hiding them. “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”(Lee 41). Scout has always been taught that girls are bad, and boys have everything that could ever be good - she can not be one of the bad girls if she doesn't act like one.
One of the pressures Scout experiences was the death of her mother, being raised without a female figure. Scout was very young when her mom died, and didn't remember much. Atticus is raising Scout and Jem alone. Most of the time Atticus does not put pressure on Scout to be more ladylike. Scout asked Jem once, what their mother was like.
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.
Throughout the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, one can see double standards for men and women frequently. Gender expectations took a hold of the Maycomb, Alabama; the fictional county in which this novel takes place. Looking back in history, it was always the women staying home, cleaning, cooking and taking care of the children. Men were always perceived as the superior sex. It was abnormal to see females wearing breeches or pants.
To Kill A Mockingbird - Literary Analysis One significant theme conveyed by Harper Lee throughout the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, is the destruction of innocence. This theme is conveyed throughout the novel with two main characters, Scout and Jem. Their childhood innocence began to fade as they grew older, finding out that not everyone is good even though they had never seen evil before. Tom Robinson and Boo Radley were both misjudged and had no intentions of hurting anyone, yet they both got hurt. The mockingbirds can be used to represent innocence, and several characters can be represented as mockingbirds that have been killed such as Jeremy “Jem” Atticus Finch, Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, Tom Robinson, Arthur “Boo” Radley, and Charles
Women had to abide by certain rules and principles in the Puritan Society. If they did not obey the specific rules they would be severely punished, or even killed. The women who did not obey the rules were also seen as dangerous. “The husband is called the head of woman. It belongs to the head to rule and govern.”
In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee portrays Scout a tomboy who contradicts the stereotype of the southern ideal little girl during the 1930’s. As Scout is a fighting, masculine, and cursing tomboy. For instance, Scout gets angry at Walter Cunningham, and she starts “rubbing his nose in the dirt” fighting Walter Cunningham (Lee 30). An act forbidden by the social norms of the southern belle. Furthermore, the ideal little “girls didn’t resort to violence” or profanity (Johnson 152).
Life is overfilled with messages, like weeds in a sea in unmaintained grass. Whether it’s warning a person, or pointing out a flaw; these little lessons are there to further grow the positive parts of that person’s personality. A simple demonstration of this is To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. An old, children’s book serving no meaningingful purpose is what it may seem, nevertheless, it actually is a novel that offers a unique outtake on all aspects of human life. In the book, two children Jem and Scout, who learn about equality, racism, and social class through court cases, tea parties and more.
Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, is set in the 1960’s, a time when men and women had specific and restrictive roles in society. Men were the ones to work and earn money for their families and women were expected to a caring and obedient homemakers. In many ways, those gender stereotypes are still very present today. The contrasting opinions of Atticus Finch and Aunt Alexandra provide the reader with the different views on how men and women should be raised, which in turn, affects the readers thoughts and opinions on the gender expectations and roles that are present in today’s society.
In the title of the book To Kill a Mockingbird, gender roles play a big part in the time that the book was written. There are many examples of people being told what they could and couldn’t do based on their gender, and insults thrown around that are gender-based. One example of gender roles in the book are Jem’s comments on Scout’s behavior, especially when Jem and Dill are about to break into the radley’s. As they are discussing it, and Scout comes up and starts pestering them about what they are doing, Jem remarks that Scout is “gettin’ more like a girl every day!” pg.
The belief that each gender should have its own roles and behaviors is something that has been deeply rooted in the mind of Aunt Alexandra. When she moves into the Finches’ home, she makes attempts to change the family in a way she saw fit. Quickly, she notices that Scout does not abide by her idea of how a girl should be acting. After only a short time of living in their home, she confronts Scout, making an attempt to alter her personality. As if it was an intervention, she says she “decided that it would be best for you to have some feminine influence.”
In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, undoubtedly there is more than one type of discrimination displayed. Before we get into that, what exactly is discrimination? Well, to discriminate means to treat someone differently based on what they believe, their age, gender, who they love, even their appearance. The forms that I will be talking about are Sexism, (Prejudice actions based on gender) Racism, (Prejudice actions based on race) classism, (Prejudice actions on those of a different social class) and discrimination on those with a disability.
“The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience.” This is a quote from Atticus Finch, a courageous and wise character from Harper Lee 's novel, To Kill A Mockingbird. The story is told through the perspective of a young girl, Jean Louise ¨Scout¨ Finch. She lives with her older brother, Jeremy, and widowed father and prominent lawyer, Atticus, in Maycomb, Alabama during the time of the Great Depression. Throughout the novel, the children experience the injustice and prejudice of society through a tough case that their father was appointed to and are taught to respect and tolerate all people, despite their differences.
He wants Scout to change who she is to fit his idea of what being a woman is about. In Jem’s mind, women and girls should not be opinionated and “rough”, they must be feminine and frail.
Killing a Mockingbird What would it feel like to be a woman who is undervalued by the other men and women around her? To Kill a Mockingbird is about a family who lives in the South in the 1930’s. It is told by a young girl named Scout Finch. Throughout the book we learn many things about her family and the other people around her. Females in this novel are undervalued and looked down upon because of the roles they are expected to portray.