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To Kill A Mockingbird Tradition Analysis

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In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, the theme of the story is just because a person belongs to a certain group, does not mean they agree with their traditions. Scout portrayed this after overhearing a conversation of Aunt Alexandra with her father, Atticus. Scout’s aunt, Alexandra, does not approve of her dressings, however Scout has a different opinion, as she says, “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 …show more content…

Lee’s portrayal of Scout being a tomboy shows how not all people will follow the traditions told to them. Just as Scout being a girl, she does not believe she should have to follow the guidelines, given by her aunt, on how acting like a girl would make people more happy. Scout believes that her way of dressing is quite okay, and wearing a dress should not be a requirement to satisfy others. Although Aunt Alexandra may live by the family traditions, Scout has her own way of living, and portrays this by wearing pants, instead of dresses. Atticus also presents the breaking of traditions after speaking with Aunt Alexandra over family traditions. Atticus went to speak with the kids on Finch traditions because Aunt Alexandra felt the kids did not follow them, but Atticus had a different belief as he said “ “She asked me to tell you you must try to behave like the little lady and gentleman that you are, she wants to talk to you about the family and what its meant to Maycomb County through the years, so you’ll have some idea of who you are, so you might be moved to behave accordingly,” he concluded at a gallop… “You really want us to do l that? I can’t remember everything Finches are supposed to do…” “I don’t want you to …show more content…

Forget it.”” (Lee 177-179) Although Atticus was supposed to follow as Aunt Alexandra wanted him to make the kids be, he did not do so because his beliefs were different. Atticus did not believe in the traditions that ran in his family. This is specifically portrayed in the quote when he told the kids to forget about what he said, and also by the way he raises the kids because he knew what he had said was wrong, and did not follow what his beliefs were. Finally, Lee portrays not all agreeing on their traditions, even though they may be classified into a certain group when Atticus told of his feelings towards white people cheating black people. Even though Atticus is white, he still had harsh feelings to the white people who cheated black people as he said “...you’ll see white men cheat black men everyday of your life, but let me tell you something and don’t you forget it -- whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash” (Lee 295). Lee strongly shows the disagreeance on traditions of white people back in the times of this book based upon the usage of Atticus’s words

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“After all, if aunty could be a lady at times, so could I” (Lee, 318). Scout was a tomboy because there was mostly boy in her life there was no girls in her life to show her what being a girl is like. Once aunt alexandra cAME her daily life she was showing scout what is what like to be a girl she needed aunt alexandra to show her what it would be like to wear a dress. though mostly having males influenced in her daily life, scout only needs one permanent role model to show her what becoming a lady signifies.

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Later, we find out that these things are true. Scout always wears her overalls or jeans, and her aunt hates it. This is someone who is not empathetic to her. Even though she wants Scout to be more like a lady, she never asked Scout why she always wore those things. She certainly never felt what Scout is feeling at this moment.

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Teens reflect the thought of how our younger self did not care about clothes and how we dressed then, but Scout isn’t there yet to realize that. Scout is still young and doesn’t care about other people's opinion. Aunt Alexandra changes and the truth comes to her later on in the book that nothing she says can change the kids. She adapts to the new space she has created, “Aunty brought me my overalls, ‘Put these on, darling,’ she said, handing me the garments she most despised”(303). Aunt Alexandra seems to change and understand no matter what change she wants, there is nothing that matters in times of danger that will tear her niece and nephew apart.

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One of the most important lessons Atticus teaches his children is that it is not moral to take advantage of someone because of their race. He tells them, “As you grow older, you’ll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don’t you forget it—whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter

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Scout compared it to a penitentiary because of the oppression she had to endure when she was made wear it. This is how Lee portrays the expected behavior of young women in the early 1900s. In contrast, from when she was a young girl, she wanted to be friends with her brother, but to be fully accepted by him, she had to be less like a stereotypical girl. “I was not so sure, but Jem told me I was being a girl, that girls always imagined things, that’s why other people hated them so, and if I started behaving like one I could just go off and find some to play with,” is a thought Scout had after Jeremy had told her that she was overthinking things like a girl and she should not act like one. Harper Lee shows the oppression Scout felt when told to act like a stereotypical lady in the

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Of course, Scout is quick to argue with Aunt Alexandra and suggests “one could be a ray of sunshine in pants just as well.” As a girl growing up in the 1930s, Scout can clearly see that the accepted norm for girls is to wear dresses, yet she easily protests against these stereotypes, because she doesn’t believe in or really understand them. In fact, psychotherapist Dr. Corey Yeager notes that although “children begin to acquire prejudices and stereotypes even as toddlers,” they often “don’t understand the significance.” This explains Scout’s defiance and willingness to go against the

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(Lee ). While generally critical of the Finch family, this particular comment of Mrs. Dubose’s highlights the expected roles of girls, even in matters as simple as clothing. Lee uses the dress and camisole that Mrs. Dubose suggests to represent the typical feminine roles that society imposes on girls during the setting of the novel. The overalls which Scout chooses, however, symbolize her individuality and her refusal to let society’s expectations take priority over her personal preferences. In defiance of Mrs. Dubose’s demands, Scout chooses activities deemed inappropriate for girls.

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Like Mrs. Dubose, Aunt Alexandra disapproves of Scout’s attire and is constantly telling her to change the way she is so she can act more like a girl and less than a boy. This is another situation from the book where someone is treated unequally from the others simply because of her gender and because of the way she decided to act. In attempts to convince Scout to dress more like a girl rather than a boy, she feeds her lies by telling her that dressing up in dresses would allow her “to be a ray of sunshine in [her] father’s lonely life” (Lee, page

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In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout acts differently than most girls in her time period. While it is expected that, as a girl, she is supposed to wear dresses and not play with other boys, she often wears overalls and plays outside with Jem and Dill. “Aunt Alexandra was fanatical on the subject of my attire. I could not possibly hope to be a lady if I wore breeches… 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…”

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“Aunt Alexandra was fanatical on the subject of my attire… She said I wasn’t supposed to be doing things that required pants.” (Lee 108). Aunt Alexandra believes that since Scout is a

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Aunt Alexandra explains to Scout about her presence in Maycomb: “We decided that it would be best for you to have some feminine influence” (170). Aunt Alexandra wants to change Scout’s unwonted boyish nature because she doesn’t fit in among the girly ladies. With a hatred of dresses and a bold brave attitude, Scout is the complete opposite of what society expects for ladies; thus, Aunt Alexandra is only here to influence her with feminine virtues. Her wish reveals Aunt Alexandra’s belief in assimilating into society’s standards of how women should act. To add on, Atticus repeats in front of the children the words that Aunt Alexandra insisted on being said: “...So you’ll have some idea of who you are, so you might be moved to behave accordingly...”

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“I could not possibly 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 got me when I was born” (ch.9 pg.108) Scout would much rather get muddy, swear, and shoot her air rifle with her brother Jem. Sometimes she's oddly captivated by her Aunt Alexandra’s mysterious world of ladies' tea parties, which seem to work giving to a totally different set of rules that they follow. Scout at the end of the day should be able to have the option to wear and be herself.

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Anything Scout wants to do that she feels should not be “done by Finches” is immediately followed by a firm no. She believes that the Finches were destined to be superior than everyone else and uses that to help her beat Scout into line although whether it worked or not can be decided by us. Lee uses the contrast between Atticus and Aunt Alexandra to further show the topic of tolerance throughout the book. Aunt Alexandra is very poised and the ideal representation of southern women at that time and if we had such a bad perception of her, imagine living in a society of people filled with people like her.

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Scout said, “"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. I suggested that one could be a ray of sunshine in pants just as well, but Aunty said that one had to behave like a sunbeam, that I was born good but had grown progressively worse every year...." (108). This quote illustrates how Scout pushes against gender stereotypes, and this is the root of conflicts between her and Aunt Alexandra.

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To explain her sudden appearance at their home, Aunt Alexandra states, “‘We decided that it would be best for you to have some feminine influence. It won’t be many years, Jean Louise, before you become interested in clothes and boys’... I could have made several answers to this… but I kept quiet'' (145). Aunt Alexandra assumed– or practically declared– Scout’s future preferences, despite being aware of her tomboy tendencies.

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