Essay On Gender Stereotypes In To Kill A Mockingbird

The act of prejudice is one that everyone experiences. Whether it be, a person who is distributing hate, or a person who is receiving hate, everyone has contact with it. Although it is present all over the globe, it is prominent in the United States. Both in the present and the past, endless acts of discrimination have taken place and left a monumental impact on the country. The effect that it leaves can be seen in the novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee. In this story, sexism, racism, and isolation, are demonstrated in the small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama during the 1930’s. As the story progresses, Lee compares these concepts to one another and uses them to make a statement about the problematic nature in America.

The characters of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird are all different in their own way. Sometimes they can seem like the most infuriating people in the world, but then again they can be helpful, loving, and caring. The citizens of Maycomb County are stereotyped a lot throughout the book. They are labeled as many different things, but some of the stereotypes made aren’t entirely correct. A lot of people in To Kill a Mockingbird stereotype others by the way they look or talk based on what society considers normal. Two of the main characters in the book are stereotyped; Scout and Atticus Finch.

Why do people want to change the way we live our life? I don’t fit in, so what? In the book “To Kill a Mockingbird”, Lee uses characterization and tone in order to convey the idea that in society every gender has to follow their code of conduct, consequently it restricts people from being themselves in order to fit in.

In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird the author, Harper Lee, develops the topic of stereotyping and prejudgement as something negative through the characters’ speech and actions. The characters are standardized a great deal throughout the book. They are categorized as different things, but most of them prove the falseness of labelling to emphasise the theme of the novel, as well to teach the reader a moral lesson; to be less judgemental and be willing to accept others. In the novel, stereotyping others is based by the way they look or talk established on what society considers normal.The technique of stereotypes helps create the theme of the coexistence of good and evil. In chapter 20, for example, Scout and Dill find out that Mr.Raymond’s paper bag turns out to be Coke instead of whisky, and his constant drunkenness is fake. He explains, "When I come to town, […] if I weave a little and drink out of this sack, folks can say Dolphus Raymond's in the clutches of whiskey-that's why he won't change his ways. He can't help himself, that's why he lives the way he does" (268). The evidence portrays

there to spread the word of their god, but are being mocked while they do.

Stereotyping was used a lot in to Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee . It was shown a lot against Tom Robinson in the court case. Also, with Dolphus Raymond Supposedly being a drunk. Lastly it was used against Boo being a terrible person and creepy. Those are just some of the ways the book to kill a mockingbird shows the impact stereotyping has on people, and how it can affect their life.

Throughout the book To Kill A Mockingbird Lee discusses the effects of ignorance and the toll it takes on people such as Tom Robinson, Boo Radley, Scout herself, and many more. Through her examples of sexism, prejudice, and racism, from the populist of poverty stricken Southerners, she shows the readers the injustice of many. The victims of ignorance are the ‘mockingbirds’ of the story. A good example of this injustice is the trial of Tom Robinson, who is falsely accused of raping a white girl and is found guilty. The book is from the point of view Scout, a child, who has an advantage over most kids due to her having a lawyer as a dad, to see the other side of the story. Her father tells her in the story, “you never really know a man until

In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the women in the novel feel like they don’t fit in because of the gender stereotypes that have been placed in their lives. Scout is a young girl who lives with her Dad and brother because her mother has passed away. In the novel she misses opportunities to play with her best friend, Dill, and brother Jem, because of the gender stereotypes that are in place. Scout doesn’t understand why being a girl is so bad “[Scout] was not so sure, but Jem told [her] [she] was being a girl, that girls always imagined things, that’s why other people hated them so, and if [Scout] [starts] [to] [behave] like one [she] could just go off and find some to play with.” (54) Scout doesn't realize what being a girl actually means because her information is coming from the opposite gender. She is taking everything that Jem says word for word and doesn't talk to anybody else about it, because she is surrounded by boys. Jem has his own opinions of what a girl means and Scout does not want to meet those standards, because when Jem says these hurtful things to her, she feels like she is being insulted. Consequently Scout thinks that in order to play with the boys she needs to act like one which is changing her overall personality to fit in. Lee uses Scout and Jem to show the differences in the opinion of genders and how gender stereotypes are ruining the relationships between the opposite genders.

Many people in today’s culture have to hide who they really are inside to avoid public humiliation and the fear being different than everyone else, which can lead to many equality issues.

Roger Elbert (1942-2013), a critic, once said, “Teaching prejudice to a child is itself a form of bullying. You've got to be taught to hate.” Harper Lee shows in the award winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird how Tom Robinson a black male, experiences other characters acts of prejudice against him, such as a false accusions of rape by the family of the Ewells. This whole situation occurs in a Town called Maycomb, Alabama, Tom Robinson’s defence attorney, Atticus Finch, who has children named Scout (Jean Louise) and Jem, as well as a friend of Scout’s and Jem’s who comes around during the story named Dill. During this time, in the 1930s, prejudice and racist people exist all over the place putting African Americans at a disadvantage. During

The 1930’s, the era of the Great Depression, is a time where the distinct separation of gender roles in society sees the beginnings of unraveling. In the south, Southern Tradition dictated the ways women and men behaved and what their respective responsibilities were to their family and their community. Black women were expected to take care of their own families and then also raise the white children of the families of their employ. White women were to keep opinions and issues of the day to themselves, as they play hostess to their other female neighbors and their community. Women were praised by society on keeping a proper house, which meant keeping a clean home, providing family meals, and the family being properly attired. However,

To Kill A Mockingbird is an incredible novel that consists of several issues society faces.

Introduction - Paragraph 1 Racism, Sexism. terms that we hear everywhere now a day. In this day and age, these two words are waved around wildly trying to convey and gain sympathy for some form of oppression. Prejudice is another. Literally meaning pre-judgment it is the preconceived opinion which is normally biased or unfavourable towards someone due to how they look, there age, religion or even sexuality.

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view.” –Atticus Finch. People everywhere, no matter what country you are from, are prejudiced but it is the matter of denying it that they are one. People usually confuse it with bias, stereotypes and bigotry. People with different cultures and living in different nations possess negative view and attitudes towards people within their borders or close to them. People say, “where there is a will, there’s a way.” People may think that it is just a saying to encourage and push the young ones to work and try harder but not really. If you have the will to succeed, you will succeed. But to those people who did not make it, it is their fault because they did not try

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, is an ideal display of feminism that takes place during the period of depression in the south. It portrayed the two kinds of women found in the south during this time, the women who were pro the feminist movement, and the average Southern women. Sadly some women mistakenly rebelled against the ideals of society, by just being themselves. Men and women were to conduct themselves as ladies and gentlemen, were men were expected to dress in suit and ties and women were expected to wear dresses and be courteous. Since southern towns were so sheltered from the liberal views of the rest of the world they had no chose but to abide by these gender roles.