Stereotypes In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

“What are you doing in those overalls? You should be in a dress and camisole, young lady! You’ll grow up waiting on tables if somebody doesn’t change your ways—a Finch waiting on tables at the O.K. Café---hah!”(Lee 117)In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, people always expect Scout and Jem to behave in certain ways because of their genders. I’ve noticed that in our own modern society, people think a lot about gender and peoples’ gender preferences. But was Harper Lee thinking about these issues before the rest of society was? Scout is a young girl in Maycomb, where people often judge people based on their gender and clothes and how they were born, not their personality. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, as Scout matures, the changing

Scout now tries to change her personality so that she can be “a lady.” “Aunt Alexandra looked across the room at me and smiled. She looked at a tray of cookies on the table and nodded at them. I carefully picked up the tray and watched myself walk to Mrs. Merriweather. With my best company manners, I asked her if she would have some. After all, if Aunty could be a lady at a time like this, so could I” (Lee 271). Now Scout is told that it’s a good thing if she “acts like a lady” and conforms to the female gender expectations. She knows that at the time in order to be respected, a person had to conform to those stereotypes and acted gentle and sweet, so that’s what she does. She wants to impress her Aunt, who has wanted her to be more ladylike for a long time. “‘Stay with us, Jean Louise,’ she said. This was part of her campaign to be a lady” (Lee 262). Aunt Alexandra wants Scout to wear dresses and be gentle and “be a lady” and Scout knows it. She is starting to conform to the stereotypes, just to gain the respect of her family and she’s doing that on

Their friends at school had teased and disrespected the family because Atticus generally hadn’t conformed to traditionally masculine stereotypes. “Our father didn’t do anything, He worked in an office, not in a drugstore. Atticus did not drive a dump truck for the county, he was not the sheriff, he did not farm, work in a garage, or do anything that could possibly arouse the admiration of anyone” (Lee 209). Scout looks down on Atticus because he works in an office and doesn’t play football. She thinks that driving a dump truck is a better job than being a lawyer because people who do that receive more attention. But Atticus is a lawyer so he is not admired by his kids. “Jem became vaguely articulate: “‘d you see him, Scout? ‘d you see him just standin’ there?...’n all of a sudden he just relaxed all over, an’ it looked like the gun became a part of him… and he did it so quick, like...I have to aim for ten minutes ‘fore I can hit somethin’....” (Lee 111). When Jem sees Atticus perfectly shoot a gun, he develops tons of new respect for him and is beyond words. But why couldn’t he have that much respect for Atticus beforehand? I think it’s because he sees the other fathers who play football and are super stereotypically manly and thinks that Atticus has to be like them or he is not