Hypocrisy in To Kill a Mockingbird Hypocrisy is the practice of claiming you have moral standards to which your behavior does comply to. In To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee there are many examples of hypocrisy by different characters. In To Kill a Mockingbird the main character Scout(Who is 6 years old at the beginning of the book) and her brother Jem are exposed to her town’s racism and hypocrisy when her father, Atticus, is defending a black man against a white women in the 1930’s fictional town of Maycomb. The hypocrisy of the town is shown by three different characters that Scout meets and knows.
The first example of hypocrisy in the town of Maycomb is Scout’s 3rd grade teacher Ms. Gates. Ms. Gates is first shown on page 244 teaching
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Mrs. Merriweather starts off the missionary circle by talking about J. Grimes Everett and what is doing to “help” the Mruna tribe which is a black tribe who don’t live by “family values” meaning the tribe is all one big family. Mrs. Merriweather after explaining what Everett is going then says,”… there’s nothing more distracting than a sulky darky.”(Lee Pg. 264) This quote shows how she can feel sorry for the blacks only to then do the opposite and insult them. Another example is from another essay from 123Help me called To Kill a Mockingbird(No Author). In the essay the author explains Mrs. Merriweather and her Missionary circle by saying,”This clearly conveys the hypocrisy of these women, as they go from sympathizing for the blacks, to completely disregarding and insulting them.” and also says,”This is deceiving because the whites’ racism in Maycomb is what is causing African Americans to suffer in their own town. This doesn’t happen to concern Ms. Merriweather, as she turns a blind eye to the maltreated in her own backyard.” The author explains that Mrs. Merriweather feels sorry for Black outside her town, but then seems to not care about the blacks in her own community which shows how big of a hypocrite Mrs. Merriweather
Racism is the belief that characteristics and abilities can be attributed to people simply based on their race and that some racial groups are superior to others. This has been a problem in our world forever. In to Kill a Mockingbird there are so many racist events and it reflects on the society as a whole till this day. The book setting was the 1930’s in a small county of Maycomb, where most people were racist and discriminatory. People think racism has died off, but it is still a huge problem. People choose to raise their children and teach them that racism is okay and that is how there is still racism today. There are so many statistics out there based on skin color that right there is even racist if everyone is equal why are there polls being taken separating people by the color of their skin?
They are already not a big fan of their Aunt Alexandria from the start, but they learned one good lesson from her. That is to always stick up for family. Aunt Alexandria shows this when she sticks up for cousin Joshua when she supposedly tried to kill the president. But when one of the children´s friends, Walter Cunningham comes into the picture she suddenly changes her opinion. ¨The fact is, he is not kin to us, but if he were my answer would be the same¨ (Lee 256). Aunt Alexandria goes one to explain how dirty Walter is and says he should never be allowed in the house as long as she is there. Basically Aunt Alexandria will stick up for someone if it will personally benefit her or if she likes them. The most obvious hypocrite in To Kill A Mockingbird in society in Maycomb. In the south, the blacks do what the whites order them to do. Blacks even sometimes, take the blame for what the whites do. They are so easy to blame because the African American community is seen as poor and bad. In the story, an example of this is Tom Robinson's conviction of raping and abusing Mayella Ewell. Atticus gives strong evidence, that proves the innocence of Tom, good enough that Jem tells Scout they should win. But sadly, the jury went in already knowing that Tom Robinson was guilty, except the one Cunningham on the jury. He gave Atticus hope. In the end, Tom is convicted. ¨There's something in our
As children, people learn to never judge a book by its cover. But they are also taught other things through their societies—that all black men are violent, that all Muslims are terrorists, that all Hispanics are illegal immigrants—that a single glance can determine who a person is. So, which is it? How can a society be so contradictory? In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee used hypocrisy and characterization in the tea party scene to develop the theme that appearances do not reveal a person’s true character.
One more example of prejudice and hypocrisy is when Scout
To Kill a Mockingbird took place during the 1930s, a period shortly after the American civil war in Maycomb County, Alabama, the deep south where black people suffered from racism and discrimination. In this book, Tom Robinson was accused of raping a white woman, which was something that he’s never done, even though all the evidence proved that he did not violate that white woman, Tom was judged guilty because he was a black man. Racism is presented throughout the entire book especially when Scout got teased by her family about Atticus taking Tom’s case, and the townspeople's perception about Atticus, as well as during the trial of Tom Robinson.
You see your best friend laughing with your other friend, sharing cherished moments and having a blast. She then comes up to you and starts off the conversation with how ugly your other friend looked today. You get that feeling of nausea wondering if that's how she spoke about you behind your back. When someone is being two-faced you can´t even think to trust them anymore. The town of Maycomb suffered not only the sickness of prejudice but also the disheartening of hypocrisy. Maycomb was left with a lack of sympathy along with the absence of tolerance and considering one´s feelings. In Harper Lee´s To Kill A Mockingbird, hypocrisy is a major factor in why people have problems in the town, especially concerning the prosecution of Tom Robinson, Scout´s third-grade teacher, and the harsh conversation in Aunt Alexandra's missionary society meeting.
The characters in, To Kill a Mockingbird, a novel by Harper Lee, often use prejudice against people of controversial issues. Many of the townspeople of Maycomb use prejudice on the families who are on the less wealthy end of the spectrum. Issues are still displayed because of the racial prejudice used against African Americans and those of other races. Lastly, gender is a clear issue in Maycomb because of women’s and girl’s rights and lack of respect towards them because they are female. All of the types of prejudice show that Maycomb has many problems all throughout the town between other families and townspeople.
Morality is not a virtue that many can tolerate without a conscience. It was considered the critical awareness of humanity's standards of conduct that are accepted as proper. Yet, for Scout, morality becomes not only a principle, but also a necessity in order for her to survive in the prejudiced society of Maycomb County. It is solely the essence of ethics that causes her to frown upon the injustices brought about by intolerance. Thus, Scout's maturity towards understanding the vitality of morality allows her to become a noble individual in an unjust social order.
Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird, said, “I think there’s just one kind of folks. Folks.” If more people would aspire to Harper Lee’s idea of folks, there would be less prejudice and resulting hypocrisy in the world. People are people, no matter their skin color, socio-economic status or educational level and deserve to be treated fairly and with dignity and respect. Hypocrisy happens when one claims to have high moral beliefs and virtues without consistent behaviors. To Kill A Mockingbird is the story of Scout Finch, her brother Jem, and their father Atticus set in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930’s. Atticus is a lawyer and has agreed to defend Tom Robinson, a black man, who is accused of raping a white girl, Mayella
The slave mindset of white families and slaveowners continued after the abolishment of slavery in 1865 in the form of segregation which was enforced by state and local governments through the use of Jim Crow laws. The levels of racism in the 1930s versus the lower levels of racism in the present correspond with the decline of Jim Crow laws beginning in the mid-20th century, which affected the societal status of black people, their economic status, and their continued effect on today’s laws.
Racial prejudice can be seen when one is not in their own society. Calpurnia experiences racial prejudice by being a black person who works in the white community. When talking with Jem at the black church Calpurnia says, “Suppose you and Scout talked colored folks’ talk at home it’d be out of place, wouldn’t it? Now what if I talked white folks’ talk at church, and with my neighbors? They’d think I was puttin’ on airs to beat Moses” (Lee 167). This shows that Calpurnia lives a double life to fit
Prejudice is an opinion based on stereotypes and not actual experience and discrimination is unjust treatment of people based on race, sex and age. In “To Kill a Mockingbird” there are multiple cases of discrimination and prejudice. One example is the trial of Tom Robinson. Some might think that prejudice and discrimination lead to positive outcomes in the novel but in fact, it leads to the opposite. Prejudice and discrimination lead to negative outcomes because it provides a way to judge people based on stereotypes and not actually meeting the person, people who did discriminate get angry with people who don’t, and it causes people to lose their innocence.
In the book ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee, racism and social inequality are two central themes. Many different forms of social inequality coexist in the society depicted in the book, as the people of Maycomb are very rigid in their ways. This is because the book takes place in a time at which there was much racism and social inequality. In Maycomb, firstly there is discrimination between rich and poor white people, who do not often interact with each other. There is also racism against blacks by all white people in society, both rich and poor. Black people are denied basic rights and discriminated against in this town. Lastly, there is racism between the lowest classes of the community: poor white people and
José Emilio Pacheco says “We are all hypocrites. We cannot see ourselves or judge ourselves the way we see and judge others.” Hypocrisy is demonstrated and observed on an everyday basis in our society, and even in the rural town of Maycomb in the 1930s it is evident as well. In To Kill a Mockingbird, two children by the names of Scout and Jem start to see hypocrisy more and more frequently because of the events that happen to unfold. This includes , including an african american young man accused of something he did not do. This amazing novel by Harper Lee shows that hypocrisy is closely linked to privilege, and a dominating opinion about others. The characters Miss Gates and Mrs. Merriweather are great examples of hypocrisy and Atticus is a great counterexample, showing an effort of being larger than others in Maycomb.
In Harper Lees’s masterpiece, To Kill a Mockingbird, moral education is a theme that only seems to bloom within the Finch household and is severely lacking in all of Maycomb County. The main character, Scout Finch, is growing in an environment where manners and education matter, this is a quality that can be attributed to the teachings of Atticus Finch and Calpurnia. In a world that is corrupted by prejudice, moral education is form of behavior that stands out, Harper Lee provides examples of this in Calpurnia’s discipline at home, Atticus’s ethical guidance and explanations for the reasoning behind his defense of Tom Robinson, and Scout’s bewilderment at Ms. Gate’s hypocrisy. Moral education is a theme that plays a core role in the development of the title characters as well as the deterioration of the town’s moral standards.