Gender Roles In Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird

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. The story offers many ideals, whether to improve upon something that is exist, or throw a new concept into the the air with various techniques,

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee demonstrates that social inequality breaks down a society through the use of conflict, symbolism and irony. Social inequality plays a pivotal role in the novel because the whole conflict between Bob and Tom is wrapped in it. From the first accusation to the final conviction inequality is intertwined in every paragraph, every word. To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel that stands the test of time because while our society has made improvements, inequality will never truly go away. This novel displays characters you relate to, ones you despise, and all that you fall in love with.

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. He wants Scout to change who she is to fit his idea of what being a woman is about. In Jem’s mind, women and girls should not be opinionated and “rough”, they must be feminine and frail.

Alexandra would then make her wear and do things that she didn't want to do and this greatly upset Scout. But it wasn't to long before Alexandra realized that everyone is different and Scout didn't want to live like a lady. Alexandra accepted that idea and backed off of Scout. She would even bring her a pair of overalls to mark her forgiveness.

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.

Scout was more of a tomboy than a girly girl. Aunt Alexandra didn’t like how she didn’t act like a proper lady, and would ask Scout to act more ladylike. As she grew up, she was able to understand things a lot better. She began acting more grown up in situations like Aunt Alexandra’s dinner party.

Jean Louise Finch ‘Scout’ is a headstrong young girl who narrates the novel ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’, set in the fictitious County Maycomb over the span of three years. She is often found sporting dirty overalls or breeches and possesses a rather tomboyish personality, much to her aunt’s dismay. It says, “Aunt Alexandra was fanatical on the subject of my attire... When I said I could do nothing in a dress, she said I wasn’t supposed to be doing things that required pants. ”(Page 90)

You should be in a dress and camisole, young lady!” This scares Scout as a young girl and she struggles with the thought that girls need to dress a certain way and this plays an important role in her individual identity especially since she is so young and she may feel that she needs to change the ways she dresses to follow the implicit gender

Scout’s Aunt Alexandra want her to be more like a girl and start dressing like one. " Women were treated as delicate, fragile creatures, and they were expected to act with that treatment. Scout was anything but delicate and fragile, and a good deal of the story focuses on her attempts to fit into a world that expects tomboys to wear frilly dresses and maintain a dainty disposition. Scout always like hanging with the boys and she really didn’t like wearing girl clothes.

In this quote, Scout is talking about how Aunt Alexandra doesn’t ever let a chance to nag people about how pure her family is and how impure their families are. This, however, is just her facade so she could hide her true self. In the following quote, it will show how Aunt Alexandra really is and this is after Atticus tells her, Scout, Calpurnia, and Miss Maudie that Tom died trying to escape jail. “I thought Aunt Alexandra was crying, but when she took her hands away from her face, she was not.

Influences of Aunt Alexandra and Atticus Finch The main characters in the novel responsible for Scout’s construction/ development would be her Aunt Alexandra and her father Atticus Finch. The Aunt, who tires to manipulate Scout into becoming the conventional lady that society has laid out in front of us; where as Atticus encourages Scout to continuing being who she is. Through out the novel there is a huge focus on Scout 's clothing as it is an important ingredient for her to develop her female sense of self. However her aunt’s pushiness in what she should be wearing, makes Scout hate the idea of being a female even more, as her aunt wishes to mold her into stereotypical southern lady. “Aunt Alexandra was fanatical on the subject of my attire.

I carefully picked up the tray and watched myself walk to Mrs. Merriweather. With my best company manners, I asked her if she would have some. After all, if Aunty could be a lady at a time like this, so could I.” This quote explains how Aunt Alexandra is telling Scout to copy what she does in order to look more lady-like and so that she can conform in to the society. Prejudice is another kind of conformity that is shown in the book “To Kill a Mockingbird”.

Throughout the book, it shows how Aunt Alexandra was trying to raise Scout properly, trying to make her act more like a lady which shows the conformity of the time. ‘“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.”’ (Lee 108 ). all things considered, Aunt Alexandra was a big help to Atticus raising the children, in the film, Aunt Alexandra was not present. Without aunt Alexandra, the movie lost the important lesson of how back then, all girls act with the “lady-like” attitude.

This yard’s as much mine as it is yours, Jem Finch. I got just as much right to play in it as you have.”(61). Scout also learns to wear a dress once in awhile, just like Miss Maudie, to perform her societal duty as a female around others, such as during one of Alexandra’s missionary circle meetings, “I was wearing my pink Sunday dress, shoes, and a petticoat…”(306). It is possible that Miss Maudie is the reason why Scout prefers pants over dresses, and the reason Scout have a sharp tongue at some times. While Miss Maudie have a great effect on Scout, Atticus have a greater effect on

First example of this is when Scout is at their family 's Christmas celebration when her Aunt Alexandra comments on what Scout is wearing. “Aunt Alexandra was fanatical on the subject of my attire. I could not possibly hope to be a lady if i wore breeches…”(Lee 108).