Social Inequality: Lula 's comment justifying the segregation of the churches isn 't held by the other churchgoers, but it speaks to the separation that she experiences from white society. Reverend Sykes ' sermon regarding the impurity of women is a classic example of the conventionalism that "seemed to preoccupy all clergy men." He puts more emphasis upon sexual dichotomy than sin; he even says that strange women are worse than bootleggers. Given Robinson 's standing as contrasted to the Ewells, the latter 's accusation should fall upon deaf ears, but this trial has become so major because no one is willing to take a black man 's word as the truth, even though the Ewells are widely known to be repugnant and dishonest. The complexity of …show more content…
She keeps herself busy by directing others and gossiping with other women. The setting begins on the same day that the previous chapter left off and continues for some time in the Finches ' household. Alexandria announces that she and Atticus had decided that a "feminine influence" was necessary in his children 's lives (in spite of Calpurnia 's presence), and that she will be staying with them for a number of years. Atticus affirms this, and Alexandria immediately settles herself within Maycomb 's community, and she hypocritically assesses all other families as being inferior to her own. Scout goes on to explain that the fixation of heredity is justified by the light caste system of Maycomb, which is due to the nature of the county 's foundation. After some time, it becomes apparent that Jem and Scout have little knowledge of their family, and Jem quickly extinguishes Alexandria 's pride in one of their cousins. Atticus tells the siblings that they need to behave like proper Finches, and that Alexandria is willing to move them if necessary. His harshness and unfamiliarity soon pushes Scout break to tears, and his demeanor soon reverts; he tells them to disregard what he 'd just said and not to worry. Social Inequality: Alexandria 's assertion that children need a "feminine influence" in their lives is outdated, but not for the time period. Her assumptions that Scout will become interested in stereotypical
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.
Jean Louise Finch, or otherwise known as Scout, is Atticus’s daughter who Atticus helps develop. In the scene where Scout doesn’t want to go to school because her new teacher is mean, Atticus says “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view – until you climb into his skin and walk around in it” (Lee 39). He tells Scout to pretend that she was in her teacher’s place. Her teacher is new and doesn’t know what the Maycomb ways so they can’t expect her to behave the same as the rest of the town. Scout keeps this in mind when her brother is being moody. “I tried to climb into Jem 's skin and walk around in it” (77). In this scene Scout gives Jem his space because if she had gone through what Jem had went through, she would have wanted to be alone. Then, in the
Before Atticus shot the rabid dog, Jem and Scout, as well as the reader had a difficult time understanding Atticus and his personal values. After the dog is shot, Jem and Scout realize that Atticus hides some of his talents for personal reasons. His background sheds light on the overall development of his character as well as goes hand in hand with the development of Maycomb itself.The town of Maycomb can get trapped in a recurring cycle of habits and ignorance that are usually either carried out by the people, or by individuals that demonstrate habitual behavior. For example, while talking to Jem, Atticus exclaims, “I don’t know, but they did it. They’ve done it before and they did it tonight and they’ll do it again and when they do it-seems that only children weep” (Lee 213). In the above example, Atticus is referring to how the jury convicted Tom Robinson despite clear evidence suggesting inevitably otherwise. The fact that the people on the jury convicted Tom, merely because of his race, shows that they are demonstrating negative habitual behavior as well as ignorance. The people’s instinctive racial discrimination parallels the way in which, despite there being movements against it, Maycomb is still segregated into multiple parts. In fact, the town's area for African Americans is entirely separate from the city itself. The way in which the
In both books, Harper Lee and Marjane Satrapi have built their stories around young female protagonists, Scout a hard-headed and impressionable tomboy from T.K.A.M and Marjane from Persepolis. By having the stories be narrated from a child‘s perspective, it allows readers to understand the characters’ unsophisticated and open minds. While living in different settings and having separate values, both Scout and Marjane come across aspects of sexism and misogyny. From a young age, Scout had learnt from her older brother, Jem, that things associating with girls are bad and things associating with boys are good, “Jem told me I was being a girl, that girls always imagined things, that's why other people hated them so, and if I started behaving like one I could just go off and find some to play with.”(Ch.4, Pg.45) When Scout was two, her mother died of a sudden heart attack so she never had any major female influences or role models growing up.
Scout in the book showed in a child’s point of view of the hatred in Maycomb such as, when scout was watching the trial of Mr. Tom Robinson. She noticed during the trial that there was an all-white jury and all were men. She thought that this was just the way and that was that but discrimination is wrong and Scout knew it. Scout asked Atticus why the court did that and Atticus said that black man wasn’t considered the same as a white man. During the trial Scout noticed that Mr. Ewell and Mayella Ewell talked in a tone that just seemed evil and she could see pure hatred in their eyes, especially when they talked
By treating her family lineage as unimportant, Scout was thought of by many as bringing shame to the Finch name, thus creating chaos within Maycomb. At the time of their Aunt Alexandra’s visit, Atticus said, “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 idea of who you are, so you might be moved to behave accordingly” (Lee 178). After Atticus finished this dialogue, Scout began to cry due to the opposition toward Aunt Alexandra’s ideals about lineage being important in one’s everyday life. The reason for her emotional response was that Aunt Alexandra had turned to heredity to explain behavior and justify actions since her arrival. However, Scout had never been exposed to an environment where her history could be so valued. Aunt Alexandra’s order was disrupted with chaos when she saw how little Scout cared about lineage and believed that Scout’s unruly behavior was a result of her neglect to bring respect to the Finch name. When
Scout is a very strong and independent character who believes in who she is. She does not allow anyone to push her around even if that means she has to settle an argument in an immature way such as fist fights. Scout is unlike many girls in her town. She likes to play outside,wear pants and she doesn’t like to play with teasets or dolls. This appalls many adults who are not understanding of why Scout is different from the other girls. Many neighbors and relatives put the blame on Atticus for “not raising her right”. Atticus is often criticized because he took a different role in life than his siblings and left the Finch landing. The Finch Landing is a huge farm run by workers paid slim to none. Atticus’s siblings, Alexandra and Jack stayed at the farm and took in the money and watched the workers work. Generations and generations of Finches had done this with the exception of Atticus. Instead he felt there was more to life and decided to go to school and become a lawyer. He is now raising Scout and Jem. With Scout’s mom dead, many people feel they need to intervene with Atticus’s parenting to play a mother figure. Alexandra plays a big part in this and sits Scout down to chat. Alexandra tells Scout that she
All of these pre-conceived ideas are prevalent around Maycomb, but the compassion of Atticus is able to save Scout and Jem from the influence of these ideas and prevents them from contracting ‘Maycomb’s usual disease.’ Atticus is able to use his considerable wisdom and life experience to remove Scout and Jem from prejudice’s influence. Atticus is able to stop the influence, from small things, “Do you defend niggers, Atticus?" "Don't say nigger, Scout. That's common.” This shows that, in any way, shape or form, Atticus is determined for his children to avoid the disease for a more happy future. This comes at a cost though, with Scout slowly losing her childhood innocence as the book goes on. After she witnesses all of the things that have happened, she understands why her father is protecting her
The Finch family is hopeful. Atticus has brought his children up by his values. The children, Jem and Scout, are taught to hope, by their father, Atticus. Both are impacted form the work Atticus has done, he has defended an African American. Jem learns from Atticus to never lose hope, and he does not lose hope throughout the novel. The children also show that there is hope in the future for people to be nonjudgmental. They did not understand how a jury could convict a man whom they knew was innocent and this was astonishing for them. Atticus explains to Jem that it has happened before and will happen again, sadly he also told them,"... when they do it - it seems that only the children weep...” (Lee, pg 232). Atticus is the wise one; he explains the problem to the children. He tells them that injustice will always happen. Atticus tells the children that bad things happen in the world, but only children find it hard to understand. The message of hope carries on in the book, is that despite her debut into the adult world, she avoids absorbing the prejudices of the community around her. Scout becomes our hope for a more tolerant future. However all hope is not lost in the end. As Scout realises that Boo is no one to dread and the two become friends, so too do we realise that the town can likewise learn to shed its bigotry and embrace its subject of unfound malice. Jem and Scout learnt that hope is always there, from there father, Atticus in the novel, To
Gender roles are another cause of social divisions and inequality the Harper Lee teaches about. Scout defies gender roles and she is looked down upon by many of the women in her community for doing so. Scout’s Aunt Alexandra is one woman who looks down upon scout for this. “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,” (108). Aunt Alexandra believes ladies are not permitted to be taking place in activities that require pants. She disapproves of how Scout likes to participate in activities she sees as unladylike. This shows the inequality in this society due to gender roles. Another woman who challenges Scouts appearance as a lady is her neighbor Miss Stephanie. When Aunt Alexandra has a
The majority of Maycomb county view Walter Cunningham and his family differently, unaware that there is nothing wrong with them other than being dirt poor. While young Walter is eating “dinner” at the Finch’s home, Calpurnia scolds Scout furiously about not giving respect to her guest. Scout unwittingly replies to her: “He ain’t company Cal, he’s just a Cunningham-” (33). Scout is part of the majority of Maycomb; they all view the Cunninghams differently from the ways they view each other. Giving no respect to Walter, Scout thinks that she is better than him, believing whatever he does is unsuitable. However, once Scout finds out that a relative of the Cunninghams had wanted to acquit Tom Robinson during the trial, her view over the Cunninghams changes dramatically. She then wants to invite Walter over, but Aunt Alexandra opposes this, telling Scout that “he-is-trash . . . I’ll not have you around him, picking up his habits and learning lord-knows-what” (301). Scout finally understands that in reality, the Cunninghams are just like them; they both have no prejudice over black people. However, some people
Aunt Alexandria showed Calpurnia, Scout and Jem’s nanny, disrespect through the overall time she stayed with the Finches. She thought that because Calpurnia’s was African-American, she did not meet the qualifications raise the children. Making her opinions clear to Atticus, Aunt
In Maycomb’s society, women are seen as inferior and, at the same time, have especially rigorous expectations as to how they are suppose to behave and function in society placed on them. When they are unable or unwilling to do so, such women are viewed with contempt from various parties. These archaic views can be damaging to both young girls, such as Scout, who herself declares that she is very unladylike, and older LADIES, such as Mayella Ewell, who cannot fit into society’s mold because SOCIETY WILL NOT LET HER. It is hard to keep one’s dignity when everyone conspires to take it away. It is hard to keep one’s dignity when society teaches that YOU are how not to be. Scout Finch, who is decidedly unladylike (decided by whom?), who doesn’t wear dresses and beats all the boys at school up, is rejected by society very early. Her only vaguely maternal figure is Calpurnia, the family’s maid, who raises Scout with a strict voice and a hard hand. Atticus is good and wise, but detached and completely inept at raising a daughter. Inept at raising a daughter according to Maycomb. He lets her run wild in the summers, clad in dirty overalls, her hair cut short and her feet bare. Most of the ladies in town treat her with a dubious amusement that Scout is completely unaware of, and she’s thoroughly baffled by the inner
Aunt Alexandria explains to the family that she will be staying in Maycomb for a while because she believes that the children need a good feminine influence in their lives. Aunt Alexandria keeps trying to change the children because she thinks that they are not well mannered and they need to work on keeping the good appearance of the Finch family. She also explains to Atticus that he needs to work on disciplining Scout more and making her into a well-mannered young lady. Atticus takes Aunt Alexandria’s advice and goes to talk to Scout, Scout isn’t used to Atticus yelling at her so he begins to
Before saying his closing statement, “Atticus [...] unbuttoned his vest[,...] his collar[,...] loosened his tie and took off his coat. [This is strange because h]e never loosened a scrap of his clothing until he undressed at bedtime” (271). Atticus needs to show the farmers and the Cunningham, that consists of the jury, that they are above him this time. This was a smart idea Atticus had because he wants them to realize that he has to beg them to make the right choice because they have power over him. Scout feels sorry for the Cunninghams, but determines that the Ewells have a craving for power, therefore they accuse Tom of raping Mayella because the only people below them are the blacks, and that makes them bad people, so she does not feel sorry for them. Another significant difference people had during this time was race. Divides were everywhere, and even Scout faced racism when Cal decided to bring the kids to her church one day. Lula, one of the members of the black church, believes that “[Cal] ain’t got no business bringin white chillun’ [to a black church]... they got their church” (158). But Cal understands that “it’s the same God” (158). Lula hates the children because they are white, but Cal says she can live with it because they are not there to cause any trouble, their only desire is to pray to God. Another place Scout sees racism is in school. Her teacher, Miss Gates talks to the class about Hitler.“There are no better people in the world than the Jews, and why Hitler doesn't think so is a mystery to [Miss Gates] (328). She also preaches that “[America] do[esn’t] believe in persecuting anybody” (329). Scout understands that persecuting people is wrong, but does not understand how “[Miss Gates] can hate Hitler so bad an’ then turn around and [act] ugly [to] folks right [in her] home[town] (331), when she witnesses Miss Gates vocalizing her racist thoughts about the trial to Miss