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To Kill A Mockingbird Research Paper

716 Words3 Pages

To Kill a Mockingbird is a narrative gothic-fiction novel by Harper Lee; the story involves an esoteric journey, coming-of-age, and narration of the main character, Scout, a 6-year-old girl who lives with her brother Jem and widower father Atticus. While Scout delves into puckish situations while meeting new characters, there is a developing darker drama relating to the roots of prejudice. This darker drama begins to edify and instruct her about the nature and impact of prejudice. This situation gradually develops and becomes more complex as Scout learns about the world around her and confronts the challenges of navigating through a society often marked by discrimination and inequality. Although To Kill a Mockingbird s central idea is the prejudice …show more content…

234. The. Scout is derived/skewed through her altruistic views on femininity. Scout's closest female influences before her second thoughts are Calpurnia, the housemaid, and Miss Maudie, a neighbor whom Scout admired for treating all children with the same respect she treated adults. However, Scout never broadens her perspective on femininity and effeminate ideas until chapter 13, when Aunt Alexandra is introduced. Scout presents Aunt Alexandra with an initial negative perspective portrayed to the audience. But despite that, Scout gets to know Aunt Alexandra (more evidently in chapter 24) after Aunt Alexandra sat down in Calpurnia's chair and put her hands on her face. (236.) The act of Aunt Alexandra taking a seat in Calpurnia's chair and covering her face with her hands serves to emphasize the deep-rooted connection she has with conventional notions of femininity and the role it plays in defining her and Scout's identity as being effeminate; additionally, this action shows Scout that Aunt Alexandra is not all prudish and can express emotions she had not associated with

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Some readers may debate that Scout's Aunt Alexandra’s influences has a stronger effect on her, but those people might not take into account all of the negative effects she had on Scouts mentality. " Aunt Alexandra was fanatical on the subject of my attire. I could not possibly hope to be a lady if I wore breeches; when I said I could do nothing in a dress, she said I wasn't supposed to be doing things that required pants. Aunt Alexandra's vision of my deportment involved playing with small stoves, tea sets, and wearing the Add-A-Pearl necklace she gave me when I was born; furthermore, I should be a ray of sunshine in my father's lonely life" (Lee 81). Aunt Alexandra constantly wanted Scout to be something she was not simply to fit into the typical southern woman mold.

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