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How Does Lee Show Masculinity In To Kill A Mockingbird

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Harper Lee foretells the story of a young, precocious tomboy named Scout Finch who is being pressured by society into conforming to the typical “southern lady” in To Kill A Mockingbird. Lee establishes and promotes Scout’s masculinity through the use of nicknames, fighting, and boyish clothing, while comparing her with women that fit the stereotypical female idea. Scout is faced with discrimination throughout the novel by other characters, Aunt Alexandra, her circle of friends, and Jem being the main sources of prejudice. They thought that acting like a “lady” was what was most proper due to their small town mentality.These strict gender roles were popular in small southern towns because they were isolated from the more progressive attitudes in other areas of the United States. Scout lost her mother at a very young age. How she expresses herself and defies gender roles is affected by the amount of feminine influence she has experienced growing up. Her aunt Alexandra, who came to Maycomb to provide a "motherly" influence and help Atticus, is incapable of understanding …show more content…

“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” (119). Being a girl had a negative connotation to it. Scout believes that girl activities are bad and boy activities are good. She convinced herself that she can avoid being a girl by averting feminine characteristics. Being a girl for Scout is less a matter of what she's born with and more a matter of what she does. Her brother Jem also associates girls with negativity. Jem said to Scout, "Don't pay any attention to her, just hold your head high and be a gentleman" (100). Jem is telling Scout that in order to be strong and sure of yourself you need to be a man, because women are

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