Expectations Of Women In To Kill A Mockingbird

Throughout the book, To Kill A Mockingbird, one of the main characters, Scout, is impacted by sexism from her family, peers, and community. The book is set in the 1930’s when women were definitely not thought of as equal. There were certain social rules that girls should follow and the ways that society told them to act. The scout is a character that is impacted by sexism throughout the story. She is a young girl that changes because of the oppression that is placed on her by her family and peers. The character Scout is affected by sexism, which Harper Lee uses to develop the reader’s perception of Scout from indecisive and confined to determined, criticized, and conflicted and finally to confident, conflicted, and decisive.

By using characterization in To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee shows how people try to drive others to follow their gender role and makes us wonder, why do people want this? In an argument with Aunt Alexandra Scout says, “I could not possibly hope to be a lady if I wore breeches; when I said I could not do nothing in a dress, she said I wasn’t supposed to be doing things that required pants.” (108). We can clearly understand that Aunt Alexandra is trying to make Scout stop wearing overalls and instead wear girl clothes, in doing so, she is restricting Scout from doing the activities she enjoys like playing and running. Not only does Aunt Alexandra want Scout to stop wearing overalls which are for boys but also wants to make Scout a lady, she wants her to learn a woman's role, which helps prove my claim. In my theses I mention that people try to change others and in this case Aunt Alexandra is trying to change Scout into someone she is not, as can be seen this is not the only time people try to change the way Scout behaves. During Christmas at Finch's Landing Uncle Jack is correcting Scouts behavior, “Scout, you will get in trouble if you go around saying things like that. You want to grow up to be a lady, don’t you? (105). The reason for Scout getting in trouble is a result of her unladylike language, her uncle warns her that she is not to use that sort of language. As the book advances Scout becomes develops into a girl who is learning new skills and expressions every day, but because some aren’t appropriate for her, a woman, she is prohibited from doing so, or she will face ramifications. If Scout doesn’t want to face the consequences, she will behave and act like a lady, which is the last thing she wants to do, she will become one of several who had to adjust their lives in order to be a member of the society they live in.

In To Kill A Mockingbird I found that Scout was very harshly judged on they was she acts and dresses. “What are you doing in those overalls? You should be in a dress” (page 135) This scene was when Mrs.Dubose was screaming at Scout for not wearing a dress. I see that not only kids are telling Scout to change but that almost every adult is telling Scout to change and that she shouldn't be wearing that i the first place. Even if it's a different time period, and every girl was expected to be wearing a dress at all times, Scout at a young age of 6 is confident enough to keep on wearing a dress after everyone told her to change how its not ladylike. “If your scared go home, Scout when did you start acting like such a girl.” (Movie) This is when Scout and Jem were Going to Boo Radley's house, Scout was scared and Jem sees Scout are more like a boy than a girl, so when 6 year old scout got afraid Jem's first reaction wasn’t to go comfort her but to ask her when did she start acting like such a girl. I see this as the opposite of Mrs.Dubose, because instead of someone telling her to be like a girl it so someone telling her to be more like a boy. This puts a lot of pressure on Scout, who is only 6 years old! Weather it being make almost everyone in the town happy with her decision and make Jem sad, or make Jem happy and almost the whole town sad and maybe even a little

First of all, Scout is more a tomboy than a girl. Boys tend to live by the phrase, “Boys rule. Girls drool.” Scout expresses,” I was not so sure, but Jem told me I was being a girl, that girls always imagined things, that’s why people hated them so, and if I started behaving like one I could just go off and find some to play with.” (45). This quote implies that Scout thinks girl things are bad and boy things are good. She has constantly been taught this. Scout believes she can avoid being a girl by not acting like one. Being a girl to Scout is more about what she does than what she is born with. Another example of Scout being more of a boy is how she reacts to the situation with Walter Cunningham and Miss. Caroline. In the text, Scout states, “Ah-Miss. Caroline? Miss. Caroline, he’s a Cunningham.” (22). The gender role of a girl would usually to sit back and watch everything go down. In Scout’s case, she is outspoken and has no filter. She has to tell Miss. Caroline what everyone else is thinking. It is in this sense and others that Scout challenges the traditional gender roles throughout the

Scout had been raised in a masculine environment, with her father Atticus and her brother Jem, after her mother passed away. During the first chapters of the book, many negative comments were made about acting or being a girl from Jem. Jem would say comments such as, “ ’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 everyday!’ “. Comments like this were made throughout the beginning of the book, making it seem that acting feminine was inferior to masculinity. This environment contradicted what many believed a little girl should dress and act like.

As girls grow in life, they mature and change into women. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, Scout, the main character, begins to mature into a woman. In the beginning of the book, she is a tomboy who cannot wait to pick a fistfight with anyone, but at the end, she lowers her fists because her father, Atticus, tells her not to fight. Scout's views of womanhood, influenced by how Aunt Alexandra, Miss Maudie, and Calpurnia act, make her think more about becoming a woman and less of a tomboy.

“‘You want to grow up to be a lady, don’t you?’ I said not particularly” (Lee). Jean Louise Finch is a tomboy growing up in a world where a girl is expected to become a lady. Submissive housewives and proper ladies were the expectations set for women in the time To Kill A Mockingbird took place. Scout Finch lived in a household that had a strong male influence; aside from Calpurnia, she had no real present example of what she was supposed to become. Because of this, Scout refused to conform to the ways of the rest of the women in Maycomb and the world (Lee 84).

Scout does not like the frilly and girly way of life and resists the pressures put on her. When her uncle asks her if she “want[s] to grow up to be a lady,” Scout responds with “not particularly”(Lee 90). Even adults in her own home encourage her attune to the standards of femininity. To Scout, “Aunt Alexandra offers criticism, she is still more

Racism is a big issue in this novel, Even though racism is not as bad as it used to be it is still something that is causing a lot of pain to dark-skinned people.

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. Harper Lee documents the life of one young girl growing up in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama. Jean Louise Finch, also known as "Scout," is a young girl searching for her identity. Scout, a young tomboy, is pressured by adults who insist she should conform to the

In the case of Jean Louise Finch or Scout, the main character from To Kill a Mockingbird, throughout the book she experienced many situations where people tried to enforce certain behaviors onto her because she was a girl. As a young lady in the 1930s, a time in which the

The theme in To Kill a Mockingbird is that one shouldn’t be sexist. Towards the end of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the reader learns that the women are sent away from the men in the book due to natural occurrences. When Scout overhears her aunts missionary circle talking she tells us “They put the women out in huts when their time came, ..”(Lee 305)Sending women away from the house when their occurrences came is disrespectful and out of women's control. Men and women should be treated equally, if the women need to leave so should the men. In addition, the reader also discovers that some characters connect the word ”girl” with something bad. Scout says “Jem told me I was being a girl”(Lee 54). Jem said this to Scout as if being

Throughout the book, Lee identifies Scout as a tomboy. Scout accepts her tomboy like self, but struggles so others can accept it as well, Scout’s Aunt Alexandra is constantly pushing her to be a lady and fit in. When Aunt Alexandra says, “What are you going in those overalls? You should be in a dress and camisole, young lady! You’ll grow up waiting on tables if somebody doesn’t change your ways…”(pg. 135), her disapproving tone and somber mood when she speaks to Scout of her choice of clothing, conveys that she disapproves of Scout’s tomboy self and demands her to be a lady, beginning with wearing a dress. This belief of Aunt Alexandra shows her closed-minded way of thinking due to the way she was raised. Aunt Alexandra was most likely raised in a conservative family where she had to be this “perfect woman”, while her brother Atticus had to be this perfect “gentleman” in society. Unlike Aunt Alexandra, Scout was raised with a family consisting of a father, brother, and female maid that all accepted her for who she was and wanted to be. Her supportive family influences her to resist her Aunts pressure of being a proper lady. Scout “...suggested that one

She questions women’s role in society and the different social class depends on race. When Scout’s Aunt Alexandra came to Macomb, she tried to force Scout to wear a dress and not play in the mud, and be more ladylike. This is shown when the story describes Aunt Alexandra’s opinion. “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 could not do nothing in a dress, she said I wasn’t supposed to be doing things that require pants”(Lee

In spite of her good intentions, Aunt Alexandra gives Scout the wrong views of being a woman. Aunt Alexandra is harshly outright and makes it clear to Scout that she disapproves of her behavior, friends, and attitude. Aunt Alexandra’s materialistic values do not foster an appreciation of girlhood in Scout, rather, they skew her idea of gender