To Kill A Mockingbird Essays: The Evolution Of Women

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 theme in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is women and femininity. This theme enhances the story because Scout is reluctant to be feminine because she wants to grow up on her own terms. She looks at femininity as a trap. A quote from the story that illustrates the theme is “well you won't get very far until you start wearing dresses more often.” (Chapter 24, Page 230) The quote I chose from the story that best supports my detail by stating how Scout doesn’t wear dresses and until she set her goal to just being a lady proves that she is a tomboy because instead of wearing dresses she wears other clothes. Another reason the theme enhances the story is because being a girl has been what happens when Scout fails to live up to Jem’s standards

Jane Goodall is a historical woman that has taught human beings not only about chimpanzees, but human nature as well. This primatologist held on to a dream from childhood that advanced into reality. Jane quietly and patiently observed chimps in Africa, and then recorded their every move. Many important discoveries came about because of this. Jane Goodall has remarkably changed the perception of chimpanzees and humans alike.

Jane Goodall is a well known scientist who studies chimpanzees and their behaviors. Jane knew at a very young age that she would want her life long job to be about the study of animals behaviors. She once said “Ever since I was ten years old, I had dreamt of living with animals in Africa.” One time Jane ran off to the chicken coop without telling anyone where she was going. She wanted to know how chickens lay egg, so she sat in the coop with the chickens for four hours. Her mother couldn't find her and ended up calling the police. When Jane came home, excited to tell her mother what she discovered, she wasn't mad and didn’t yell at her, she just listened to her daughter's story. Her mother was very encouraging when Jane would say she wanted to work with animals and she always told her to follow her dreams, so Jane listened to her mother and did. That was when she started her career of the study of animals.

Change is often viewed from a negative perspective but has positive results. In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, some individuals embrace change while others deny it. Change, both personal and social, requires great courage.

In April 1957 Jane Goodall started a journey that would change our understanding of chimpanzees forever. Jane was born in 1934, at an early age she had a passion for animals. Jane’s work had changed our understanding of chimps, the world loved Jane’s work they gave her a character loosely based on here in an episode of “The Simpson”. Jane has benefited us with many adult and youth programs to help the world.

Martin Luther King Jr. once said “our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” However, I will not be silent. Sexism is a thing of the past, present, and future. Women have never been seen as equal to men. This idea and concept affect how women carry out their lives. Women may act different or speak different just based on society's thoughts about their gender. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and in today’s society it is clear that because of women’s perceived “weakness”, men now dominate women legally, physically and financially.

In the third grade, my life was altered when I read an abbreviated biography about Jane Goodall the primatologist. I have always had a passion for discovering the world around me, specifically the animals and environment, but Goodall elevated my own desire for exploration to a new level. I was struck by a young female scientist pursuing her dreams in the field of biology and the significant impact she had in the scientific world. Jane Goodall managed to bring passion and emotion to her observations of chimpanzees at a time when observational science was extremely concerned about remaining objective. She silently proved every critic of hers wrong by showing the world that she was not too young, too inexperienced, or too female to change the

“The emotional, sexual, and psychological stereotyping of a women begins when the doctor says, ‘It's a girl!’” Women are forced to conform to a set place in society, and the pressure they feel to conform starts when they are born.

Jane Goodall Animal Rights Activist British primatologist, ethologist, and one of the three trimates are three words that describe Jane Goodall. Many people know that Jane Goodall is a chimpanzee expert who traveled to Africa and studied animals previously thought to be vicious, but she was so much more. As a well known animal rights activist, Jane Goodall showed Americans that they should treat chimpanzees fairly, shared unknown facts about chimps, and showed us that with hard work, anyone can succeed. Her legacy as an primatologist who went to Africa and defied the stereotype of what a woman should do shows us that no matter who you are, if you work hard and persevere, you can succeed and accomplish your dreams.

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 today’s world power is everything. Power is having control over one’s life, and sometimes even controlling the lives of others. In Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird” power is one huge factor in the story. You see when Tom Robinson, an African-American male, is wrongfully accused and later convicted of “raping” Mayella Ewell, a poor white woman, both his and her’s power is put to the test. This leads to two questions. Does gender, class, and race determine how powerful you are? And if it does; is Mayella powerful? In my opinion, she is both powerless and powerful. She is powerless when it comes to class and gender. Yet she’s powerful when it comes to race.

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 history and today, we women are constant victims of stereotyping from our society. Certain “rules” have to be followed and certain “ideal” women images have to be kept. We are raised in a way to fill certain position where the society wants us to be and as a result, the opportunities are always limited for us and ideas of our importance in the society are diminishing. Even though women gained some independence, where women can work and take various position in society, the society’s idea of typical role of women never seem to change.