“The world is full of people who think different is synonymous with wrong” - David Levithan. In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, she writes about a county named Maycomb that is fearful of anyone that is different from them. Jean Louise Finch, often called scout in the book, grows up in a xenophobic society. Scout grows up alongside her older brother Jem, her father, Atticus and their family’s mother-figure caretaker named Calpurnia. When Scout’s father is asked by Judge Taylor to defend a black man named Tom Robinson, he faces harmful backlash from the community.
In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, one of the themes is that people should not be quick to judge others based on the labels given by society. During the story, the children judge Boo Radley based on what other people have gossiped about him and what comes from their imagination. “Jem gave a reasonable description of Boo: Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that’s why his hands were bloodstained-if you ate an animal raw, you could never wash the blood off. There was 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.”
Although To Kill A Mockingbird was written in the 1960s, Harper Lee incorporated her views on women and created characters that depicted different views on femininity in the 1930s, like Alexandra who believed in society’s view of a woman, and Miss Maudie, who managed to find a balance between her true self and society’s ideas and images.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky wrote in his novel, White Nights, “But how could you live and have no story to tell?” Atticus Finch is a perfect example of this quote. The realistic fiction novel To Kill a Mockingbird, crafted by none other than Harper Lee, contains multiple coming-of-age events. These events affect the two main characters, Scout and Jem, and the lessons they learn within the novel. Especially when their father, Atticus Finch, shoots a rabid dog to save the town of Maycomb, Alabama.
Pg.69). This quote represents the fear that scout shows while trying to hide her femininity. It shows that scout believes that women have a minuscule amount of power, and that she needs to act like a boy for her to even be recognized by Jem as a member of the group. Gender equality is not fully intact, as shown explicitly throughout the novel. Scout is not the only woman who feels the impact of sexism in the novel.
Growing up in the early 1930s as a tomboy can be hard, especially in a prejudice society where there is gender discrimination and people constantly telling children and young adults to dress a certain way or to act a certain way. Through Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, Scout confronts gender stereotypes with her dedication to remain a tomboy. She does not act like the typical, young Southern lady whose ways are always proper, causing women, such as, Mrs. Dubose and Aunt Alexandra, to take the situation into their own hands. For example, on Dill’s last night in Maycomb County, Jem and Dill decide to take a walk south, towards the Radley house.
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.
Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peter discovery of the dead bird explains the reason for Mrs.Wright in killing her husband. Once, like the bird Minnie Foster was a bright lady who was always singing and cheerful, however after she married Mr. Wright all of this soon changed. She felt caged and unimportant, hardly communicating with others, she had no freedom anymore. The bird symbolizes Mrs. Wright loss of happiness that she once had. In the play, Mrs. Hale says, “She, come to think of it, was kind of like a bird herself-real sweet and pretty but kind of timid and fluttery.”
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.
To Kill A Mockingbird portrays many types of prejudice such as sexism, lifestyle and racism. Sexism is represented through respect and roles of genders. Women were considered weak, they were expected to be elegant and ladylike. It was expected that women stay home and care for the house and children. Jem would often tease Scout for being a girl.
Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, illustrates how women are restricted by societal expectations. Women and girls are expected to act a certain way, to be feminine and docile. After an argument between Jem and Scout, Jem goes as far to shout, “‘It’s time you started bein’ a girl and acting right!’” (Lee, 153). Jem believes that Scout should be cooperative and malleable to be a typical girl.
“Brother, brother, brother, there’s far too many of you dying,” said Marvin Gaye. There are many cases where there has been black on black crimes over something so little. Too many people have been killed over a small altercations. One out of a million people had been killed or injured from an argument. There 's been situations where teenagers argued over video games, over basketball games or in a situation in which someone is forcing you to go to school rather than just dropping out just to rap.
To Kill a Mockingbird suggests that women should be able to have equal opportunities to men. Through Scout’s tomboyish attitude,Harper Lee is able to highlight to wrongs in forcing a girl to
Females in submissive roles were proved by giving examples of when females were looked down upon. An example was when Scout was when Scout wanted to play but was told she could not because she was a girl. Women undervalued was proven by giving the readers examples of when they were treated poorly because they didn’t meet societies standards. Finally, a difference in roles between females and males was shown by informing the readers about the ways that females were told to act compared to males and how it was unfair. Females were treated poorly and had unfair standards they were told they need to meet.
