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Scout Discrimination Quotes

Decent Essays

Since the very beginning, discrimination has been imminent and abundant. Whether it is telling someone to “man up,” or to “stop acting like a girl,” or making comments about race, it is there. It is the music we listen to, the books we read, the powerful people we listen to- bias, prejudice, it is all there- even in ourselves. To Kill a Mockingbird focuses on discrimination in multiple ways, as does The Help, but a few types of prejudice are imminent- mainly race and gender, even age, discrimination. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, takes place during the Great Depression in the small, southern town of Maycomb, Alabama. Scout, a young girl who knows nothing but the closeness and missed opportunities of the small town, is constantly faced …show more content…

The Help, set in Jackson, Mississippi, features Skeeter, a young adult girl fresh out of college, who faces discrimination as well. However, her older age also brings her a new level of respect and understanding of the world around her that Scout lacks. Scout and Skeeter are both pro-equality for boys and girls regardless of age and races regardless of skin color- and they’re both faced directly and indirectly with all sorts of discrimination. Scout is only a young child, therefore she has a hard time understanding discrimination. However, as an adult, she reflects on how unfair and pointless the affair is. For example, Scout had just begun the first grade, and she was being taught by Miss Caroline. New to teaching and to Maycomb, she was not quite sure what she was doing. She gets angry at Scout for knowing how to read and write, and tries to force her to reform to the norm of the first grade curriculum, even though she’s actually much farther ahead. Later that day, she complains to Jem- “If I didn’t have to stay I’d leave Jem, that damn lady says Atticus’s been teaching me to read and for him to stop it.” (Lee 23). Scout comments on how if she didn’t have to get an education, she

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