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Role of woman society
Role of woman society
Conclusion/reflection on gender bias
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Gender Inequity According to “Want to See Pay Discrimination Against Women? Look at the Top” by Bryce Covert, “Male-dominated fields pay nearly $150 more each week than female-dominated ones.” Women all over the world are treated differently because of their gender. This is clearly visible in To Kill a Mockingbird through Scout’s childhood. Scout’s aunt Alexandra encourages her to be calmer and more ladylike, but she doesn’t understand the appeal of being perfect. Throughout the book, Scout questions whether to be polite and refined or to run around with the boys. Atticus, her father tries to let Scout make her own decisions, but Alexandra is set on making Scout the perfect little girl. Women in To Kill a Mockingbird are treated as fragile …show more content…
Gender inequity is caused by old stereotypes that no longer apply in society, but still exist.
One way Harper Lee develops gender inequity through stereotypes is through Scout’s experiences with the women in Maycomb. Scout is laughed at for wearing pants under her dress. Scout prefers pants over dresses because she’s a tomboy and can be more active in “britches.” On Sunday, Scout dressed up, but still had pants under her dress. When Scout is at the gathering with the women, Miss Maudie says, “‘You’re mighty dressed up, Miss Jean Louise,’ she said. ‘Where are your britches today?’ ‘Under my dress.’ I hadn’t meant to be funny, but the ladies laughed. My cheeks grew hot as I realized my mistake” (Lee 307). Because Scout is laughed at for wearing pants and not for something she thought was funny, she feels singled out and degraded. The ladies of Maycomb laughed at her because she had done something “wrong” in their eyes. She wore
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The trial between Mayella and Tom Robinson is a case where Mayella accused Tom of taking advantage of her. It is hinted that the only reason Tom is convicted is because of the color of his skin. Even though all substantial evidence pointed away from him, he was still found guilty. When the trial between Mayella and Tom Robinson became more heated, women and children are asked to leave. This is offensive not only because it depicts women as too timid to handle a trial, but also because women should have an equal opportunity to witness what’s happening in Maycomb during the trial. In the trial scene, Judge Taylor says, “There has been a request...that this courtroom be cleared of spectators, or at least women and children” (Lee 232). Women are portrayed as frail because they “can’t handle the intensity of the trial,” which is completely absurd. The ladies in Maycomb deal with more gossip and drama than the men do. Not only are women recognized as delicate, but they’re also recognized as being completely incapable of being involved in the law. “‘For one thing, Miss Maudie can’t serve on a jury because she’s a woman-’ ‘You mean women in Alabama can’t-’ I was indignant. ‘I do. I guess it’s to protect our frail ladies from sordid cases like Tom’s. Besides,’ Atticus grinned, ‘I doubt if we’d ever get a complete case tried-the ladies’d be
Even though many social forces impact Scout in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, gender impacts Scout the greatest. It affects her in how other people treat her. Unexpectedly, Aunt Alexandra shows up at the Finch household, and Scout asks why she had just shown up. Aunt Alexandra replies, “We decided that it would be good for you to have some feminine influence. It won’t be many years, Jean Louise, before you become interested in clothes and boys” (127). After Alexandra says this, Scout becomes puzzled because she does not think she needs a “feminine influence”. But, as she becomes older she is expected to act more lady like. Since she is a girl, she is expected to act prim and proper. Her being raised around men is acting against these stereotypes. Certainly, it is obvious that boys are more daring than girls. So while Jem and Dill want to get a sneak peak inside of Boo Radley’s house, Scout gets a little apprehensive. Jem shouts out, “Scout I’m telling you for the last time shut your trap or go home. I declare to the lord you’re getting more like a girl every day,” (51-52). After Jem said this, she decides she has no option but to join them. She does...
Sometimes, people discriminate one thing, but strongly oppose the discrimination of another thing. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, this issue is very much expressed throughout the story. This thought-provoking story takes place in Maycomb, Alabama during a time when there’s a rape trial against a falsely accused African American named Tom Robinson. There is also a discrimination, of sorts, towards a man named Boo Radley, by three young children named Jeremy “Jem” Finch, Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, and Charles “Dill” Baker Harris. Both Boo Radley and Tom Robinson are similar in their own ways through their inherent goodness.
While the women in Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird come in a variety of personalities and backgrounds, all of their lives are led by one constricting factor; their gender. Scout's upbringing as a young woman greatly contrasts that of her brother Jem. Jem is educated as a young boy growing into a man while Scout’s journey is taken as a woman. The manacle of womanhood is but a concept if one does not consider the harsh faults and inhibiting limits of men or rather the struggle for “masculinity” that men are similarly constrained. Though she is repeatedly told to have ladylike manners and to dress in more feminine way, Scout mostly denies this norm but is still able to become a young
Racial prejudice is shown greatly in this novel in Maycomb County. In the court scene in To Kill a Mockingbird there is a black section and a white section, which are segregated. The colored balcony ran along three walls of the courtroom like a second story veranda, and from it we could see everything (Lee 219). That shows an unfair segregation for the blacks because they have to sit in the balcony but the whites don’t. If a white man had committed the crime that Tom Robinson was accused of, the investigation would’ve been much more thorough. “Did you call a doctor, Sheriff?” asked Atticus. “No Sir,” said Mr. Tate (Lee 224). Just because he was a black man, they accused Tom of being guilty just because people said that he was. Although it isn’t directly related to the court scene, it is shown that there is racial prejudice when Tom runs from Mayella Ewell instead of staying so they thought him guilty for that. He would not have dared strike a white woman under any circumstances and expect to l...
To Kill a Mockingbird - Equality & nbsp; Since the Civil War, civil rights of African Americans, as they are now called, have been fought over and disputed. During the Reconstruction era which followed the death of Lincoln, Blacks possessed the same rights and privileges as the whites. "But with the return of white man's government to the southern states, the blacks suffered under unfair rights and privileges compared to whites; (World 357). On June 7, 1892, Homer Plessy, a 30-year old shoemaker, was put in jail for sitting in the "White" car of an east Louisiana Railroad train. Although Plessy was only one-eighth black, he was still required to sit in the colored car according to Louisiana state law.
However, it is understandable that one can argue that Mayella’s two disadvantages trump her one advantage, socially, and make her a less powerful character in the story. Although it can be debated that women were looked at as a minority and class drives a person’s reputation (which can also lead to the amount of power one possesses), this topic’s evidence is irrelevant to the time that this story took place. Maycomb, Alabama was a very small town filled with conservative and stereotypical people who were stuck in their old ways and were very stubborn when it came to changing their ideas. Race was such a social hurdle that no one could overcome, due to it being a physical trait, during the 1930’s. Even if there was a poor, white woman, she would be automatically respected at a higher level than a wealthier black man. If one’s cultural group were to be ignored in this scenario, a wealthier man would have been at a higher advantage compared to a poor woman. However, race played a large role in this society, and during the court case, “(The Ewells had) presented themselves to you gentlemen (the all white jury), to this court… confident that you gentlemen would go along with them on the assumption- the evil assumption- that all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral beings, that all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women.”
In to Kill a Mockingbird, author Harper Lee uses characters to explore the different stereotypes in the Southern United States of the 1930s. Told through the eyes of Scout Finch you learn how these stereotypes are so absurd and fabricated they really were. The novel also portrays numerous examples of racism, sexism, in creative ways. The stereotypes and themes portrayed in this novel are exactly what makes it so relevant to today’s society.
Gender Roles and Feminism in Killing a Mockingbird. When the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, was written by Harper Lee, the Southern United States was still clinging tightly to traditional values. Southern societies pressured men to behave as gentlemen, and women were expected to be polite and wear dresses. These stringent gender roles were adhered to in small southern towns because they were isolated from the more progressive attitudes in other areas of the United States.
In a desperate attempt to save his client, Tom Robinson, from death, Atticus Finch boldly declares, “To begin with, this case should never have come to trial. This case is as simple as black and white” (Lee 271). The gross amounts of lurid racial inequality in the early 20th century South is unfathomable to the everyday modern person. African-Americans received absolutely no equality anywhere, especially not in American court rooms. After reading accounts of the trials of nine young men accused of raping two white women, novelist Harper Lee took up her pen and wrote To Kill a Mockingbird, a blistering exposition of tragic inequalities suffered by African Americans told from the point of view of a young girl. Though there are a few trivial differences between the events of the Scottsboro trials and the trial of Tom Robinson portrayed in To Kill a Mockingbird, such as the accusers’ attitudes towards attention, the two cases share a superabundance of similarities. Among these are the preservation of idealist views regarding southern womanhood and excessive brutality utilized by police.
The trial between Mayella and Tom Robinson is a case where Mayella accused Tom of taking advantage of her. It is hinted that the only reason Tom is convicted is because of the color of his skin. Even though all substantial evidence pointed away from him, he was still found guilty. When the trial between Mayella and Tom Robinson became more heated, women and children are asked to leave. This is offensive not only because it depicts women as too timid to handle a trial, but also because women should have an equal opportunity to witness what’s happening in Maycomb during the trial. In the trial scene, Judge Taylor says, “There has been a request...that this courtroom be cleared of spectators, or at least women and children” (Lee 232). Women are portrayed as frail because they “can’t handle the intensity of the trial,” which is completely absurd. The ladies in Maycomb deal with more gossip and drama than the men do. Not only are women recognized as delicate, but they’re also recognized as being completely incapable of being involved in the law. “‘For one thing, Miss Maudie can’t serve on a jury because she’s a woman-’ ‘You mean women in Alabama can’t-’ I was indignant. ‘I do. I guess it’s to protect our frail ladies from sordid cases like Tom’s. Besides,’ Atticus grinned, ‘I doubt if we’d ever get a complete case tried-the ladies’d be
During the 1930’s, there was this evil assumption that Atticus draws attention to which is that “....all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women…”( Harper Lee TKAM 273). With that in the minds of all the townspeople, Mayella being a “helpless” female amongst the lowest of the low gave her continuous power in the case against Tom Robinson. Moreover, being a female prompted the town to want to protect Mayella even more. The white to black ratio was unwavering in the 1930’s. Even though white people look down upon her, when it came time for Mayella’s case against Tom Robinson her class was disregarded and her race and gender trumped all.
Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird has remained tremendously popular following its publication in 1960.
Sexism is not as common a topic in comparison to racism, but does play a role in the development of the novel. This type of discrimination is expressed towards women from men and women alike. Men feel compelled to protect women from unsightly things, (Lee 221), and the women in Maycomb have the mind set that, to be a lady, they must conform to society's expectations of them. They believe they must dress, act, and speak a certain way to appease the community. Aunt Alexandra is a big believer in acting the way society expects her to and attempts to impose these values on her niece, Scout, who becomes mortified, as she has always been a tomboy and prefers spending time in the dirt. “Aunt Alexandra was fanatical on the subject of my [Scout's] attire. She said 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 ...
Atticus responds by saying, “ I guess it's to protect our frail ladies from sordid cases like Tom's. Besides," Atticus grinned, "I doubt if we'd ever get a complete case tried—the ladies'd be interrupting to ask questions" (296). Jem and Scout react to Atticus’s answer by laughing. Atticus plays into the stereotype that women are weak and frail. Atticus thinks that women do not have the depth to handle a case as depressing as Tom’s. He is making a claim about all women that is not true. He is not teaching Scout how strong a woman can be. Atticus’s comments influence the sexist tone of the conversation. In Maycomb men have the rigorous, and back-breaking jobs that that women “can not” perform. When Atticus said "I doubt if we'd ever get a complete case tried—the ladies'd be interrupting to ask questions" (296) it shows ignorance. Atticus demonstrates basic sexism by assuming ladies cannot keep their comments to themselves in a courtroom. Atticus’s comments confirm Scout’s thoughts that girls are weak and not as good as boys.
'Democracy,' she said. 'Does anybody have a definition?' ... 'Equal rights for all, special privileges for none' (Lee 248).