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To Kill A Mockingbird Hypocrisy Analysis

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Hypocrisy In To Kill a Mockingbird Hypocrisy is the "moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess." In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, there are many instances of hypocrisy. Many people, at the time were very prejudiced against African-Americans and as a result there were many hypocrites in the Southern States. Some examples of hypocrisy and hypocrites in the book are Aunt Alexandra, Miss Gates, and Mrs. Merriweather. To begin, Aunt Alexandra is one of the many voices of hypocrisy in the book. Aunt Alexandra is a symbol of old southern charm and what woman were supposed to act like in the 1930s. She lives by the fact that family is the most important thing in life. She judges …show more content…

Merriweather is a hypocritical person in To Kill a Mockingbird. Mrs. Merriweather is the "most devout lady in Maycomb"(146). She even helped sober up her husband and made a "useful citizen of him"(146). When Scout stays at her Aunt's afternoon tea party, she hears Mrs. Merriweather talking about the Mrunas tribe in Africa and how J.Grimes Everett is their white saint. She oftens talks about Everett and how saintly he is because he is the only white person that will go near them. On the other hand, she does not treat the blacks in her town nicely and tries forgiving them although they did not do anything. Also, Mrs. Merriweather makes a comment saying "at least we don’t have the deceit to say to ‘em yes you’re as good as we are but stay away from us. Down here we just say you live your way and we’ll live ours”(149). What Mrs. Merriweather doesn't know is that blacks can't just go about their way of life in Maycomb. All these Jim Crows laws prevent them from doing anything equally like the whites. Harper Lee is trying to explain that a lot of whites didn't realize how bad the colored people had it in the South. Therefore, Mrs. Merriweather is a hypocrite because of her opinion about the blacks in the South and blacks in …show more content…

Gates, and Mrs. Merriweather. Hypocrisy is a major theme in To Kill a Mockingbird and Harper Lee leaves an underlying message to explain what the times were like. Aunt Alexandra was hypocritical because her statements about Cousin Joshua and the Cunninghams. Miss Gates was also hypocritical because of her statements about Hitler and the black people in Maycomb. Lastly, Mrs. Merriweather is a voice of hypocrisy because of her opinion about blacks in Maycomb and blacks in Africa. In Maycomb, Alabama, deeply rooted prejudice thrived and influenced citizens to be

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