To Kill A Mockingbird Essay “My goal is to be myself,and to challenge stereotypes,and to follow the rules,and break them,and make new rules. It’s not about doing something that’s already been done. That would be silly”(Sasha Grey).This quote relates to the book because traditional roles of men and women were broken by the characters Scout and Jem.Men and women are represented by typical stereotypes and gender roles in the book To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee.
In the book to kill a mockingbird, there is a little girl named Scout she is 6 years old. She is a tomboy and loves to play outside with her older brother Jem. In the 1930’s women and young girls were expected to act prim, proper,wear dresses and skirts. Young girls were to never wear jeans! Scout did not fit the description of a typical young girl. One day Jem and Scout were walking by their neighbor’s house Mrs.Dubose,She was sitting on her porch and did not approve of Scouts clothing choice she then proceeded to say. “What are doing in those overalls?You should be in a dress and camisole,young lady! You’ll grow up waiting on tables if somebody doesn't change your ways-a Finch waiting on tables at the O.K. cafe-hah”(lee 135)! This is just one example of how Scout broke the stereotype that girls have to act a certain way and be feminine.
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Jem was told by his dad Atticus “you just hold your head high and be a gentleman.Whatever she says to you,it’s your job not to let her make you mad”(lee 133). Atticus said this to jem because the neighbor lady Mrs.Dubose had said some mean comment about his father and that made him upset. Jem did not like the fact that being a gentleman meant he had to hide his own feelings to maintain the standard that society had set for
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Show MorePeople now a days think they are being racially profiled for being looked at. They feel they are being judged by everybody. In Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird there are multiple accounts of actual racial prejudice. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee shows racial prejudice through how people around the town treats the black community. Like in today’s society, many people are in fear of being judged because of what they do, but in the book there are many examples of people living in terrible conditions in order to not be judged.
People shouldn’t wear certain clothes or act a certain way just because they are female or male. Scout proves people don’t need to wear more feminine things to be counted as a woman. While Aunt Alexandra is telling Scout to act more proper and lady-like, she tells Scout to be a ray of sunshine in her fathers lonely life, in a dress and heels. Scout doesn’t like it lightly and says she can “be a ray of sunshine in pants just as well.”
In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee explores the concept that when one acts hypocritical or prejudiced, it is hard to identify. An example of this is at the missionary circle, when Mrs. Merriweather says, “I tell you there are some good but misguided people in this town. Good, but misguided. Folks in this town who think they’re doing right, I mean. Now far be it from me to say who, but some of ‘em in this town thought they were doing the right thing a while back, but all they did was stir ‘em up.
Ethan Heitzenrater Becky Crays English 9/10 28 April 2017 Stereotypes Here and Now In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird based in the early 1900’s after The Great Depression Harper Lee uses stereotypes to show the true humanity within a person no matter the age, gender, race, or place in society. This is a subject has impacted people in the past, and is still impacting the people of today. These are tough issues to talk about, but Lee wrote it so all people would understand how important it is not to judge until you understand the person.
To Kill a Mockingbird: Character Analysis Some girls are preppy and love shopping, others are adventurous and love the outdoors. Jean Louise Finch, better known as Scout, the main character in To Kill a Mockingbird by author, Harper Lee is disparate when compared to other females. She is a tomboy at heart and wouldn’t miss a chance to hang out with her brother and other neighborhood boys. Scout tries to find herself throughout the story when tolerating judgemental people, who often tell her to act more genteel. Scout’s conceptions and faith in the understanding of people are modified greatly through the events that endure in her community and her life.
Throughout "To Kill a Mockingbird," Scout experiences various forms of gender expectations, including societal expectations for femininity, masculine expectations for behavior, and the way gender shapes her relationships with others. One of the most significant ways that Scout encounters gender in the book is through societal expectations for femininity. As a young girl growing up in the South, Scout is expected to behave in a certain way, including dressing in feminine clothing and participating in domestic activities. For example, when Aunt Alexandra comes to stay with the Finch family, she insists that Scout wear dresses and behave in a more ladylike manner.
Raman Gupta Mr. Seike Literature and Writing Period 6 30 November 2014 TKAM Essay In "To Kill a Mockingbird" Harper Lee shows the stereotypes created by the different people in Maycomb County, and the views on these stereotypes of a young girl. The young girl, Scout, doesn't understand why people are discriminated against each other, and refers to Atticus, her father. The stereotypes portrayed in the novel are about race, social, religion, and sex.
Stereotypes help form the society in which we live. They affect the outcome of our courts, of how people are treated and what one can and cannot do. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch was likely trying to stop his children from judging people based off of stereotypes or what society expects, specifically the stereotypes of Arthur Radley whom they believed to be some sort of monster because he doesn't bend to society's opinions of socializing. Atticus’ attempts are displayed when he quotes “you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them.” Through the use of Scout’s childlike views and imagery, Harper Lee shows readers that it can be misleading to believe in stereotypes.
Throughout the story To kill a Mockingbird Scout develops numerous distinct personalities. When the book first started Scout was a young girl. She was portrayed as a tomboy. She fought, she got dirty, she refused to wear dresses and that was just who she was. She began to see that there was more to being ladylike and mature, she changed her clothes, activities, how she see’s the society she lives in, and how she acts.
Scout being a female in the 1930’s required her to be a home doing all the housework, putting on dresses to make sure their figure was still intact. SInce Scout, was more of a rebel and wanted to be herself and do things women
I swear, Scout, sometimes you act so much like a girl its mortifyin’.” (38) When rolling around in a tire, Scout found herself petrified, after she landed in the neighborhood legend’s yard. She was too scared of the supposed murderer within the house to move, so Jem then found it necessary to ridicule Scout for her fear and girl-like behavior. Despite Jem and Dill being Scout’s only friends, they still turn her away or shame her from and during their daily games solely for being too much of a girl. Scout thinks being called a girl is a terrible insult because she doesn’t want to identify with the weak image most women supposedly have.
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is the story of a small town named Maycomb Located in Alabama, highlighting the adventures of the finch children and many other people in the small town. The people in this town are very judgemental and of each other and it often leads to people being labeled with stereotypes and people think they know everything about that person however that is not reality. It is not possible to know the reality of a person 's life by placing a stereotype without seeing it through their own eyes and experiencing the things they experience. This happens often throughout the story with many people in the town. People are labeled as many things such a “monster” a “nigger” and many other things that seem to put them in their
Throughout the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, one can see double standards for men and women frequently. Gender expectations took a hold of the Maycomb, Alabama; the fictional county in which this novel takes place. Looking back in history, it was always the women staying home, cleaning, cooking and taking care of the children. Men were always perceived as the superior sex. It was abnormal to see females wearing breeches or pants.
In the book, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” by Harper Lee, the author writes about what happens in the small southern town of Maycomb, in Alabama. Lee uses the influence of belief in traditions such as roles and family bonds to show that they are causes of conflict. Throughout the book, roles such as gender, age, race, and family confines characters to act, look, and even speak certain ways, causing internal, external, and family conflicts. This theme that different types of roles and family bonds are the root of conflict is developed through the use of physical setting, anti stereotype, and historical setting The author shows that Scout faces external conflicts caused by the pressure to fit into the stereotypical gender roles accustomed to girls at this time in history.
To Kill A Mockingbird Characterization of Jem Scout “It is easier to be brave when someone needs your protection” is an excellent quote by Robert Jordan that highly illustrates Jem Finch from the classic To Kill A Mockingbird. This novel by Harper Lee is told through the eyes of Scout Finch, a young girl who is surrounded by racism and poverty. Scout and her more mature older brother Jem go through several challenges in their sleepy and southern town Maycomb, due to their Father Atticus’ important lawyer case defending a black man. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses characterization to portray Jem Finch as protective through him constantly telling Scout uplifting things, stopping her from things she should not be doing, and the act of putting her needs before his.