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To Kill A Mockingbird Gender Inequality Analysis

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“As long as poverty, injustice and gross inequality persists in our world, none of us can truly rest” - Nelson Mandela. Nelson Mandela is saying that we are all responsible for the issues that occur in our society. Furthermore, he is saying that we can't stop fighting against the issues until they are all gone. Issues in society often occur because hierarchies can cause inequality and leave people at a disadvantage. This can be seen in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee which is a coming of age story where Scout, a nine year old girl begins to recognize gender inequality. Similarly in Bifocal by Deborah Ellis and Eric Walters, a Persian boy named Haroon begins to experience racism because he appears the be Muslim. Finally, in the East Los …show more content…

One example of this can be seen when the main character, Scout, is influenced greatly by the gender roles that occurs in her society; the town of Maycomb. Scout is the daughter of a lawyer, Atticus, is a tomboy, and the family has an African American maid named Calpurnia. As seen in To Kill a Mockingbird, “She [Calpurnia] seemed glad to see me when I appeared in the kitchen, and by watching her I began to there was some skill involved in being a girl.” (Pg. 154) Scout feels that in order to be a girl it means that you spend your time doing things like cooking. She feels this way because of the hierarchy that occurs in Maycomb. In this hierarchy, white men are at the top, they have jobs and are the one who provide for the family. They are then followed by white women on the hierarchy who cook and spend their time being lady like. As a result, the women and girls in Maycomb feel that this is they way they need to act. Even a person like Scout who is confident in her identity feels the pressure to change who she truly is. This significant because it shows that hierarchies in society can cause people to change who they truly

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