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Stereotypes In To Kill A Mockingbird

645 Words3 Pages

In the book ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ written by Harper Lee, the concept of fear is presented and based on stereotypes. Maycomb County lives are mainly based upon stereotypes and fiction stories. Besides, being scared of Boo Radley was all because of what the children have heard from others about the Radley’s past and present. Furthermore, fear is what we find in books because people will believe everything they see and read about. In the town of Maycomb, people’s lives are based upon stereotypes and made up stories. Everybody, everyday always make assumptions on what someone is like. Assuming what a person is like is wrong unless you have met them, In Miss Maudie’s opinion that is. “The things that happen to people we never really know what …show more content…

Jem is now starting to realize that the people of Maycomb were not the people he thought they were. “It’s like bein’ a caterpillar in a cocoon, that’s what it is… Like somethin’ asleep wrapped up in a warm place. I always thought Maycomb folks were the best folks in the world, least that’s what it seemed like.”(246) Jem sees how unfair his world is, he sees how one little rumor can spread so quickly and ruin somebody's …show more content…

“Don’t you know you’re not suppose to even touch the trees? … You’ll get killed if you do.”(Lee 24)Jem says this to Scout out of concern and love, to try and protect her but scare her away from the Radley house. Jem had then started his own rumors about Boo Radley, by imaginatively describing what Boo would look like. “There is a long-jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped and he drooled most of the time.”(Lee 10) Jem describes Boo Radley as a creepy dangerous person, but his rumor is most likely based on ‘facts’ he has heard throughout the town. Scout is not sure what to think about Boo Radley after hearing all the rumors about him, so she confronted Miss Maudie to ask her what her input on Boo was. Miss Maudie does mention that Boo may be alive, but also adds “Maybe he died and they stuffed him up the chimney.”(Lee 27) Dead or alive, Boo Radley will always have rumors and lies surrounded by his

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While using stereotypes in a literary piece of work can be monotonous, it can be very effectual when getting a point across. Harper Lee accomplishes to get her moral condemnation of prejudice in a precise way by using stereotypes within the story. Lee creates the characters to be judged upon without any knowledge of what is really the truth. Arthur “Boo” Radley is a victim of the stereotype in the story. He is believed to be a crazy monster who should be feared yet his only sins are his lack of communication skills and shyness.

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To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is the story of a small town named Maycomb Located in Alabama, highlighting the adventures of the finch children and many other people in the small town. The people in this town are very judgemental and of each other and it often leads to people being labeled with stereotypes and people think they know everything about that person however that is not reality. It is not possible to know the reality of a person 's life by placing a stereotype without seeing it through their own eyes and experiencing the things they experience. This happens often throughout the story with many people in the town. People are labeled as many things such a “monster” a “nigger” and many other things that seem to put them in their

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Only spoke and listened of him, with rumors being passed down brothers and sisters. One night Scout, Dill, and Jem decided to pay a visit to the Radley house and they went into the yard. Snuck up to the house, and heard a sensation of laughing. The children were terrified, especially Scout because she didn't want to go i the first place. “Every night sound i heard from my cot on the back porch was magnified three-fold; every scratch of feet on gravel was Boo Radley seeking revenge, every passing Negro laughing in the night was Boo Radley loose and after us; insects splashing against the screen were Boo

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Maycomb Alabama, the fictional town To Kill a Mockingbird takes place, has prejudice everywhere. Racism is one of the most obvious forms of prejudice that are present, however other forms such as gender stereotyping; forcing ideas onto Scout because she was a girl, or thinking of someone as a terrible person because they act differently; Boo Radley or Dolphus Raymond. People were grouped together by whom hey associated with and were criticized if they weren 't in the ‘correct’ one. Lee incorporated these ideas and beliefs to help create an accurate and believable setting.

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Jem claims that “Boo was about 6 feet-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch” (Lee 14) This shows some fear and assumption of who Arthur Radley is. Due to this being an earlier example of Scout hearing of him, she doesn't empathize with Mr. Radley. Throughout the book, Boo Radley goes against the portrayal that the residents of Maycomb give him. Some examples of this are in chapter 6 when Jem, Dill, and Scout sneak into the Radley yard and watch through a window.

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At this time in the story, the rumour about Boo Radley being a malevolent phantom is circulating through the town; Jem, Dill, and Scout are preoccupied with their fascination with Boo. The sentence "inside the house lived a malevolent phantom" (Lee 8) creates an eerie atmosphere around Boo's character; the sentence "people said he existed, but Jem and I had never seen him" (Lee 9) proves that the kids are skeptical of the rumours, contrasting the community's beliefs. The quote suggests that even with the rumours about Boo Radley being a malevolent phantom, there is no evidence of his supposed evil nature. This shows the difference between the community's perception of Boo and the children's view of

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The novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee, contains many hard hitting and confronting themes. One of these is social prejudice, throughout this novel Lee opens the reader’s eyes to how life was in the small town of ‘Maycomb’ in 1930, including the towns folk ideas and ideals about specific groups of people. How there is perceived ideas about families, giving them certain ‘social standings’. The fact that there is blind prejudice and sometimes hatred against Negroes and those who choose their company. As well as how children seem to have an innocence, before society’s pressure conforms them to their ideals.

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