Gender Roles In To Kill A Mockingbird And Orange Is The New Black

Prejudice is one of the world’s greatest struggles. It does not only hold society back, but is harmful to the people who do good .In Harper Lee’s book To Kill A Mockingbird, Scout and Jem live through and witness prejudice and racism in the small town of Maycomb. They see someone wrongly accused of a crime because of his race. Scout and Jem also witness and take part in prejudice against a man no one knows anything about. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird Harper Lee uses characterization to show the negative effects of prejudice and racism.

As individuals judge and criticize things, they come to a realization that those actions can have an effect. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses literary elements in order to develop the theme with Mrs. Dubose. Conflict, character, and symbolism develops the theme that criticizing others can have consequence.

The entire world views and is affected by many immoral and cruel behaviours. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee, the citizens of Maycomb County are harmed or troubled by vices that are seen throughout the text, such as racism, sexism and prejudice. It is obvious that throughout the work of To Kill a Mockingbird, the vices of racism, sexism and prejudice harm and negatively affect the community and it’s people.

In The Odyssey by Homer, many characters feel prejudiced toward others. Many of these characters have opinions solely based on rumor. Such characters are influenced by many factors,, but all of them lead to improper judgement. In the same context, many characters in Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird also possess such prejudiced thoughts. Through her use of the characters within Maycomb, in her novel To Kill A Mockingbird; Harper Lee shows how injustice and prejudice between African American and white people was impossible to beat at this point in history, however some characters attempt to fight it anyways.

In Harper Lee’s book “To Kill a Mockingbird” Jem , Scout , and Dill live in Maycomb , Alabama around the time of the 1930’s they all were struggling through racism and poor family’s trying to get by. Harper Lee’s first and only novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” was published during the civil right movements. In this book Jem, Scout, and Dill tend to have courage and loyalty through life and in their relationship toward one another . Jem and Scout are brother and sister, Dill is a friend of the family but they accept him as a brother. Although, Jem and Dill have the most exceptional relationship out of them all. “ To Kill A Mockingbird” the impact racism had on society shows through the setting , characters , and town of Maycomb , Alabama .

Society influenced every character in To Kill a Mockingbird in many more ways than one. People in the everyday world feel the stress and pressure of the world to conform to its standards, even if those standards aren’t who the people see themselves as being. Harper Lee and her protagonist, Scout, in To Kill a Mockingbird truly capture how, in such a short time, society can pressure playful girls into becoming the standard southern bell or rowdy boys into men. In the days of this setting, people weren't always given a choice or option of who they wanted to be. Too often in that time children were pressured to be exactly how they were expected to be in society. Men and women traded the flow of children's creativity for conformity instead.

The novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, is a very controversial, yet influential book in American history. The book is based around two, sometimes three, children, and their adventures in the county in which they live. On the website vic.edu.au, the book is reviewed in depth, and one of the main points is the upbringing of children. This novel has influenced today's society by showing how neglect, cruelty, and uninterest can damage a childhood, while tolerance, reason, and compassion do more to raise a child.

When reading books, readers will occasionally find that some books will have historical influences in them. In the book To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee there are three different historical influences. Lee used real life historical events in her book To Kill A Mockingbird to help make her story more Inspirational. The three different historical influences that Lee used were mob mentality, Jim Crow laws, and the Scottsboro trial.

As the United States “progresses” in economic, educational and technological advancements we still are fighting for racial equality. With more than 50 years since the brown vs. board of education case there is still incidents like Ferguson, Baton Rouge, and Phiando Castile where many questions are still unanswered. However, Harper Lee dealt with these same problems in 1960 when she wrote To Kill a Mockingbird. Lee created an emotionally confronting story. Lee writes through the eyes of “Scout” a lawyer’s daughter in a small sleepy town of Maycomb in Alabama during the great depression. Throughout the book “Scout” learns coming of age lessons from Atticus and her own experiences. But when Atticus takes on a case defending a black man (Tom Robinson) convicted for rapping a white woman (Mayella Ewell) and is found guilty. “Scout” her brother Jem begin to understand the effects of the prejudices in society. Therefore, Lee applies the literary concepts of diction and tone to revel the truth that prejudices in society negatively affect the way people treat each other in To Kill a Mocking Bird.

Aunt Alexandra wants Scout to be a lady, although Scout does not understand why she cannot wear her overalls all day. Throughout the novel, Scout begins to understand that a woman’s role in society has challenges too. Scout says,”I know now what he was trying to do, but Atticus was only a man. It takes a woman to do that kind of work,” which shows her childlike innocence disappears as the times get tougher.

Harper Lee used this cultural issue in her book in several ways. The first is Jem, Scout and friend Dill meet Dolphus Raymond and learn that he has several biracial children. Mr. Raymond is a white man that distances himself from other white men and hangs around blacks. He cannot marry his black partner because it is illegal. He gives Scout, Jem and Dill his view about how most whites treat blacks. ‘"Cry about the hell white people give colored folks, without even stopping to think that they're people, too,"’ (Lee 201). During these times the Supreme Court passed a “separate but equal” law however the two races were not treated the same. Blacks were treated as less than human. Tom Robinson was a black man accused of raping an impoverished white

The last type of social inequality is the disparity between men and women. During that time, women were not considered equal to men and as such, there was a particular way in which women were expected to act and certain practices they had to follow. For example, women had to act in a very proper and ladylike way. This is evident through the treatment of Scout by Aunt Alexandra. Aunt Alexandra is very familiar with the expectations of women and how women are supposed to act. She attempts to shape Scout into the kind of lady that society will approve of. Aunt Alexandra believes that Scout is too boyish. Also, Mayella Ewell’s sexual relations with Tom Robinson are unacceptable on two levels: interracial relations were evidently forbidden, as previously mentioned. However, this relationship was also unacceptable because for a woman to make advances towards a man was not socially acceptable at that time. Furthermore, if a man were to make advances towards a woman, it was her duty to stop him. As is evident, women had a predefined role that they had to fit into that society had created for them.

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.

It is commonly acknowledged that Literature is the reflection of the society. It is indeed true that literature reflects the attitude and perception of the society where it is written. Literature mirrors the vices of the society with an intention to make the society realize its mistakes and make amendments. The vast literature, produced from time to time, bears evidence to the fact that man is prone to discrimination. Treating a person or particular group of people differently, especially in a worse way from the way in which you treat other people, because of their sexuality, skin, and class has, been core theme of the Harper lee’s master piece To Kill a Mocking Bird. The novel is told from Scout’s perspective; through Scout, we witness the social construction of race, class, and gender. The novel continues to be taught in classrooms due to its illustration

To begin with, gender bias becomes an apparent problem in Scout’s life due to the setting, when her Aunt Alexandra moves in. Aunt Alexandra constantly criticized her niece about her choice of attire saying, “What are you doing in those overalls? You should be in a dress and camisole young lady”(Lee 117). In Alabama, during the 1930’s women were thought of as inferior to men and they were expected to act in a “ladylike” way. While men wore pants, portrayed as masculine , women wore dresses and skirts. There was a strong wall between the habits of women and men in the 1930’s. It is clear