To Kill A Mockingbird Feminism

“I felt the starched walls of a pink cotton penitentiary closing in on me, and for the second time in my life, I thought of running away. Immediately.” She felt overwhelmed and felt as though she was being suffocated, even to the point of drowning in expectations. Another example of gender discrimination, or sexism, would be after the jury declares Tom Robinson guilty.

Lianne George was a writer for New York magazine and Metro TV, and a reporter on the arts for the National Post. Currently, she is a senior editor for Maclean’s, in which the article, “Why Are We Dressing Our Daughters Like This” was published. Maclean’s is a popular magazine which covers national and worldwide political and social issues concerning families in the United States and Canada. The targeted audience is educated, in the higher middle class, and around forty years old with an equal men and women reader ratio. In the article, George clearly shows how in society younger girls are shifting towards dressing more provocatively from marketers introducing them to sexual trends. Although George uses generalized ideas and doesn’t seem to have a strong voice on the topic of girls being dressed more sexually, her goal to raise awareness is effectively presented by constructing a common ground with the readers, and allowing the readers to critically think about the problem by providing contradictions.

It is no question that the women of modern American society differ greatly from the women of preceding generations. Until the passage of the 19th amendment, women were not considered equals by the standards of the United States government, and social controversy continued long after. A large contributor to the progression in the area of women’s equality was a group of liberated and notorious women known as Flappers. These women drifted from social norms regarding women in American Society. In the 1920’s United States, the controversial conduct and morality of flappers led to a new generation of independent women, who made significant advancements in women’s social and

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)

Today in the United States, we honor our country for being “the land of the free,” but does everyone in the U.S. feel like they actually live in “the land of the free?” Compared to our past we have improved our prejudice mindset, but not nearly enough. The 19th amendment, allowing women to vote, leads us to believe women are equivalent to men. Students in history classes today, learn about how women gained equal rights as men in the 1920’s, but women are nowhere near close to being considered equivalent to the male gender. Feminist movements have exposed to the country how unfair women and young girls are treated. Sexist dress codes, shaming young girls for our country’s high teen pregnancy rate, sexual harassment, domestic violence are just a few ways how women are treated unjustly in our society.

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.

“The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience.” This is a quote from Atticus Finch, a courageous and wise character from Harper Lee 's novel, To Kill A Mockingbird. The story is told through the perspective of a young girl, Jean Louise ¨Scout¨ Finch. She lives with her older brother, Jeremy, and widowed father and prominent lawyer, Atticus, in Maycomb, Alabama during the time of the Great Depression. Throughout the novel, the children experience the injustice and prejudice of society through a tough case that their father was appointed to and are taught to respect and tolerate all people, despite their differences. To Kill A Mockingbird is influential in American culture through its portrayal of themes of prejudice, racism and innocence.

Imagine one day you wake up and many of your constitutional rights, such as the right to vote, are gone. In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Sexism plays a huge role in many scenarios throughout the story. For example, a quote in the novel states, “ ‘Scout, i’m tellin’ you for the last time to shut your trap or go home- I declare to the lord you’re gettin more like a girl every day.’ With that, I had no option but to join them.”(Lee Pg.69). This quote represents the fear that scout shows while trying to hide her femininity. It shows that scout believes that women have a minuscule amount of power, and that she needs to act like a boy for her to even be recognized by Jem as a member of the group. Gender equality is not fully intact, as shown explicitly throughout the novel.

Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, is set in the 1960’s, a time when men and women had specific and restrictive roles in society. Men were the ones to work and earn money for their families and women were expected to a caring and obedient homemakers. In many ways, those gender stereotypes are still very present today. The contrasting opinions of Atticus Finch and Aunt Alexandra provide the reader with the different views on how men and women should be raised, which in turn, affects the readers thoughts and opinions on the gender expectations and roles that are present in today’s society.

In the title of the book To Kill a Mockingbird, gender roles play a big part in the time that the book was written. There are many examples of people being told what they could and couldn’t do based on their gender, and insults thrown around that are gender-based.

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,

Freedom, as defined in the Merriam-Webster 's Dictionary, is the quality or state of being free. This means by the root word itself, it is when a human experience being free. However, there are plenty of other definition of freedom and not just by being free itself. In this paper, I will be talking about freedom in relation to my chosen topic, feminism, according to different stands and in different aspects.

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. In to kill a mockingbird,

Fashion, or rather the fashion industry, is ageist, sexist, racist, fattist and fascist, but only in so far as today’s society is. This industry is merely an extension of capitalism, and as such its only concern is generating as much profit as possible. Trying to include and represent all different types of people is very low on its priority list, so it continues to perpetuate harmful societal patterns, be it on purpose or not.

There many things in life shape identity but some of the biggests factors that shape identity are race, wealth, gender and the experiences you go through. How is an individual sense of identity formed? Through race, wealth gender and experiences their are countless ways identity is formed.