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The community separation in To Kill A Mockingbird
People are often classified into groups based on their status in a community. Although nowadays people are treated as more of a whole, the subject of social division is evident in Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird. Gender is a huge factor that can lead to multiple judgments. Your social class also plays a part in the way you are treated, such as the family you belong to. However one of the more common social division factors is race and that affects many. Therefore, social division has a negative effect on a town or community. Gender roles play a huge part in the classification of status. Firstly, Jem questions the reason for never seeing people like Miss Maudie on the court jury.
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Thus making it seem as though women can’t handle tough situations. This does not reside well with Scout because she is a woman and knows she could handle it. This shows how females are classified into a group that is delicate and incapable of doing things. Secondly, Scout is told many times that she is not enough like a girl but she does not really care. Scout proclaims, “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” (Lee108). This puts an idea in Scout’s head that she must wear a dress to be accepted as a woman and that it is wrong for her to do adventurous things outside like she does with Jem. If Scout wasn’t such a happy and confident person, this could make her feel like there is something wrong with her and that she is different in a bad way. Nonetheless, she doesn’t listen to Aunt Alexandra because she really does not care what people think of her. Scout does not allow the stereotypes of being a lady classify her into that specific status. Thirdly, Scout doesn’t like being called a girl because the characteristics …show more content…
However, Jem says, “Scout, I’m tellin’ you for the last time, shut your trap or go home—I declare to the Lord you’re gettin’ more like a girl every day!” (Lee69). Jem treats Scout being more like a girl as a bad thing. Due to the fact that Scout is the opposite of a typical 8-year-old girl, she takes offense to being called a girl. Jem is implying that if Scout doesn’t come, she’s cowardly like a girl but boys can be cowardly too. It’s just that girls are known to be gentle and soft and not tough at all. Scout hates this so she ends up going with the boys. The classification of being a girl is so specific and degrading towards women as a whole, and that puts a huge negative toll on a town. Someone is treated differently depending on their social class and the way other people see them. In Maycomb County there are known to be three types of white people in different social classes: the Finches, the Cunninghams and the Ewells. The Finches are known to have a reputation and are more socially important. Under the influence of Aunt Alexandra, Atticus explains to Jem and Scout, “She wants to talk to you about the family and what it’s meant to Maycomb County through the years, so you’ll have some
The Southern women were told and obligated, by some code of southern conduct, to mature into fair-smelling, perfect "ladies." By "ladies" they meant women who were well mannered, good at embroidery, and wore frilly, lacy dresses. One example of this southern tradition occurs when Aunt Alexandra comes to the Finch residence to help Atticus raise his children during the trial. When first arriving she says to Scout, "We decided that it would be best for you to have some feminine influence. It won't be many years, Jean Louise, before you become interested in clothes and boys." This comment implies that the only subjects girls are expected to understand are boys and clothes. Aunt Alexandra makes no mention of Jean Louise's intelligence, education, or personality. Her diction suggests that the only thing Jean Louise is capable of pursuing is her attire and a man. Scout discovers what a "southern lady" is as she notices how Aunt Alexandra "chose protective garments that drew up her bosom to giddy heights, pinched in her waist, flared out her rear, and managed to suggest that Aunt Alexandra's was once an hour-glass figure." Scout was considered to be very improper, wearing overalls and pants, but Aunt Alexandra would still try and introduce her to other ladies. I assume that she did this to try and influence Scout. She hoped Scout would form lady-like habits by watching others. Another example takes place after the trial, when Jem is appalled at the decision the court makes in response to Tom Robinson's case.
The book To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee gives insight to society's prejudice against age, gender and especially race and how it impacts communities and individuals in a destructive way. Lee establishes how women did not have the same rights as men when she writes, ""For one thing, Miss Maudie can't serve on a jury because she is a woman-" "You mean women in Alabama can't-?" I was indignant." The use of aposiopesis is effective in conveying how shocked Scout felt after hearing this discriminating rule. The hyphen also displays the way Scout precipitously interrupted Atticus in disbelief. This reveals how Scout knew if Miss Maudie could be on the jury, Tom might have been ruled fairly. It proves that gender prejudice made the difference
Scout Finch, the main character of the book, is a nine-year-old girl who is the narrator of the story. Scout’s Aunt Alexandra stereotypes Scout in the book many times. She says that Scout was born un-ladylike and that she could never be a lady because of the way she dresses. This point is proven when Scout says, "I suggested that one could be a ray of sunshine in pants just as well, but Aunty said […] that I was born good but had grown progressively worse every year" (Lee 81). Also, Scout’s br...
Therefore, through the uses of character foil, characterization, and the theme of society in equality, Lee was able to accurately depict her view of the white society in Maycomb by the characters in this novel. The difference in level of politeness, occupation, and behaviors implies how people like the Finches are representing higher social class in Maycomb, because they do not prejudge people based on their skin color.
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...
Most girls that grew up in the time that Scout did would be wearing dresses and acting in a more feminine manner. Some of this can be credited due to Atticus’s hands-off parenting style, he doesn’t push Scout towards stereotypical gender roles. Scout seems to represent a very early and mild form of feminism in the south. When problems arise in the book she often questions or examines them as a personal responsibility and seeks a resolution. This is a key difference because in feminism ethics, men often view something right or wrong instead of seeking a resolution. Scout’s moral development is probably a blend of feminism and Atticus’s ethics of virtue (Solomon, 323-325). As morally developed as she is at such a young age, Scout doesn’t always grasp basic social etiquette (she tells her teacher that one of the students is too poor to pay for lunch). Human behavior can confuse her, this is especially true in the case of race and racism. She is
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
The setting affects the character development of Scout as she faces the troubles of acting like a “girl” (4.41) because she dislikes acting in the ladylike manner that is expected of women in the 1950s. Furthermore, Scout fears that acting like a “girl” would lead Dill and Jem to stop interacting with her due to the feeling of the subtle
As a growing young girl, Scout was learning and experiencing things just like any other child would though growing up. She got older and was able to understand things a lot better as well as being able to apply lessons she had learned in her everyday life. She began to act slightly more grown up in situations such as Aunt Alexandria's dinner party. Scout forgot how much she despised her Aunt and how much she disliked dresses and joined the group of women in their conversations. Despite how she didn't want to "act more like a lady", she played along with her Aunt's "campaign to teach me (Scout) to be a lady" made an exception to please her Aunt and to create some peace between them. Upon hearing the news of Tom's death she concludes "if Aunty could be a lady at a time like this, so could I." This shows how Scout was beginning to act more ladylike for her Aunt.
After the jury decided that Tom would be sentenced to death Jem and Scout are confused why “you never see anybody from Maycomb on a jury-they all come from the woods” (221 Lee)” Atticus honestly answers,”For one thing, Miss Maudie can't serve on a jury because she's a woman-’ Scout says ‘You mean women in Alabama can't-?’" (221 Lee) Scout believes that men and women are equal and aren’t smarter than one another. Normally women or girls don’t question if they can be on a jury or not, they just accept it. However, Scout breaks gender roles by questioning why someone can’t be on a jury just because of their gender. She’s in awe when she realizes someone as smart as Miss Maudie can’t be in the jury just because she’s a woman. Jem and Scout first meet the 7 year old Charles “Dill” Baker Harris reading a book at his Aunt Rachel’s house. Dill introduces himself and that he can read and if Jem needed anything to be read he can do it for him. That caused him to show off his little sister. “Scout yonder's been readin’ ever since she was born and she ain’t even started school yet (7 Lee)” In the south during the 1930s women weren’t expected to read. School wasn’t supposed to care or be the focus. They were supposed to have other things on their minds like how the look, making sure they act like a proper lady and being able to cook.
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 ...
In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the obvious lack of the female gender is surely evident. The main character in this novel, Scout Finch becomes influenced in the wrong way as a result of the lack of female rolls in her life. Although she hangs out with males most of the time, the times she hangs out with mother-like figures opens up her eyes for only a short bit of time and makes her realize that being a girl isn’t half as bad as she has been influenced to think.by the men in her life. She is impacted by Atticus’s views on how women should be treated, Jem’s teasing towards Scout for being a girl, and she is influenced by certain women in her life when she accompanies them that being a lady isn’t all that bad. If Scout were to have more women figures around her, she would have known better during all the times she was being downgraded for being a girl.
In most countries, women only earn between 60 and 75% of men’s wages, for the same work. Sexism is still a problem in today’s society, but it has improved since Scout’s generation in “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Scout believes from an early age that girls aren’t good, and that she can avoid the judgement that comes with being a girl by not acting like one. Being a girl for Scout is less a matter of what she's born with and more a matter of what she does. Scout’s elders influence her perception of womanhood by putting preconceived sexist views in her head. In “To Kill a Mockingbird” Harper Lee shows the reader how all women are expected to act lady like and be proper through the actions of Mrs. Dubose, Jem, and Atticus.
...ut, who is a girl, also feels the gender discrimination when Jem and Dill won't let her do something or play with them because she is a girl. So, although gender issues do not play a large role in this novel, they are very obvious and noticed and can still be seen throughout the world today.
All three main characters in each of these stories fail to fulfill society’s idea of beauty and femininity. The lead character of To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout, is a nine year old tomboy, during a time when girls aren’t supposed to be tomboys. She receives much criticism by her aunt and many others for not being the ideal young little girl. Harper Lee, the author, expresses through the view point of Scout, “Aunt Alexandra was fanatical on the subject of my attire. I could not possibly hope to be a lady if I wore breeches, then I said I could do nothing in a dress, she said I wasn’t supposed to be doing things that requi...