And by writing a book based on secret interviews, she tries to understand the lives and relationships between black maids and white housewives, during the Civil Rights Movement. Celia Foot is also an important character; she is the new “white trash” woman in town who is childless and rejected by the other women because of her immodesties. Indeed, both of these women have strived to overcome the stereotypes of their time by refusing to conform to the traditional gender role of women in
The Flaws of Adult Society The novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, demonstrates a young child’s perception of adult society, making it a fascinating point of view to read it from. This leads the story from being a love story, to becoming something far more marvelous. To Kill a Mockingbird, is set in Maycomb County, Alabama, United States of America, after the Great Depression, when the farmers were hit the hardest. Jean Louise Finch, also known as Scout, is a young girl who is the narrator of the novel . Scout has a father named Atticus Finch and a brother named Jeremy Atticus Finch, while her mother passed away when she was two.
To Kill A Mockingbird portrays many types of prejudice such as sexism, lifestyle and racism. Sexism is represented through respect and roles of genders. Women were considered weak, they were expected to be elegant and ladylike. It was expected that women stay home and care for the house and children. Jem would often tease Scout for being a girl.
Judging a book by its cover is an often used term that people use to describe a situation where many people are stereotypical. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, a book written about racism and discrimination, is projecting this lesson. This story is written in the narrative of a woman named Scout, who tells her tale of a specific story when she was a young child. It takes place in the 1930’s in Maycomb County of Alabama, where discrimination is typical and normal for the town to do. Jem, a mysterious, curious, and maturing brother to Scout, gets fascinated by what Atticus, his father, does for a living.
Because Frado is of mixed race, she experiences an even worse sort of degradation than she would have if both of her parents had been black, a situation which leads to her position as a societal outcast. For example, Mrs. Bellmont’s hatred for Frado and the strength of her cruelty progressively increase throughout the story in part because Frado “was not many shades darker than Mary now,” suggesting that Mrs. Bellmont fears the power that black people could gain if they were treated as equals to whites in the North (Wilson 39). For example, Mrs. Bellmont forbids Frado from sheltering her skin from the sun in an attempt to make Frado darker. She fears that her peers will notice that Frado is not much darker than Mary: “what a calamity it would be to ever hear that contrast spoken of.... Mrs. Bellmont was determined the sun should have full power to darken the shade which nature had first bestowed on her as best fitting” (Wilson 39). Although Mrs. Bellmont has already alienated Frado as a result of her skin color, she attempts to further remove Frado by attempting to expel Frado from the liminal space she occupies as a mulatto by making her darker skinned.
Jean Louise Finch (Scout) is the daughter of Atticus Finch and the sister of Jem, she is also the main character and the narrator of the story, and she grows physically and morally throughout the book in positive and negative ways. There are multiple events in the story that changes her, they develop her morality too. For example her fear of the Radleys, Atticus’ parenting and how Jem and Dill’s friendship is larger than her with them. The world of ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ was placed in the past, when there is still racism. There are the poor families, and they are treated like garbage, and there are the very unfortunate families.
They also portray historically accurate information with a bit of creepiness to the tale. In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, she precisely recounts the 1930s south with a story of a young girl finding the truth about life and society. Other sources such as poems in the Southern Gothic genre also convey relatable stories that demonstrate the traditional southern culture. Violence in the 1930s were horrific especially towards blacks. Imprisonment was both figurative and literal not only in the South but everywhere.
Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird famously said in his closing arguments: "You know the truth, and the truth is this: some Negroes lie, some Negroes are immoral, some negro men are not to be trusted around women- black or white. But this is a truth that applies to the human race and no particular race of men." (pg 232) What Atticus is trying to convey is a foreign concept to most people in Maycomb county. Atticus is trying to convey a point of equality and no prejudice in a world of social inequality which, as one can imagine, didn 't go over so well. To kill a mockingbird tells a story of a county whose morals are masked by the great depression, a county whose judgment is masked by racism and social stigma.
“Hypocrisy is the mother of all evil and racial prejudice is her favorite child” (Don King). In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, a young girl named Scout is receiving a first hand experience of racism and its brutality. In Chapter 26, during school, Scout’s teacher, Mrs. Gates explains what a democracy is and how it differs from the events taking place in Germany with Hitler and the Jews. Using her biased opinion, Mrs. Gates shows Scout that the world can be a cruel place in more ways than one. During the scene, “Mrs.
Ruth Lynch was a young girl when she read “To Kill a Mockingbird”. Lynch said that it gave her hope that not all Caucasians were evil and eased her fear of living in a racist world. Laura Bush, the former first lady, says Lee’s novel was created to bring the country together despite the many different backgrounds. Actress Tina Sloan explained how her and her friends were awakened and realized just what racial prejudice was. Anna Strasberg, another actress says that she believes the novel will teach people to trust others more and not judge a book by its cover.