To Kill A Mockingbird Injustice

Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, is a realistic story that deeply discusses issues involved with the 1930’s that still resonate today. The struggles of life are evident within the believable characters of Maycomb County which is a microcosm, reflective of universal issues. Along with the authentic characters, setting and style also helps to convey Lee’s controversial notions of racial and gender prejudice, and persecution of the innocent, discussing many other ideas within.

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 was particularly affected by gender discrimination as she was a girl. She was told she acted too much like a boy when she should be acting like a girl. Scout described Aunt Alexandra as “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 pant” (108). Aunt Alexandra discriminated Scout for not wearing lady like attire and told her that if she continued to dress that way then she could not be a lady. Aunt Alexandra soon became determined to put an end to Scout’s non-feminine behavior. Atticus tried to explain to Scout that "She asked me to tell you must try to behave like the little lady and gentleman that you are. 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"(178). Atticus decided to take his sister’s word and told his children what they should act like despite him not approving of this. Scout’s behavior is what leads her Aunt Alexandra to discriminating her and telling her she will never be a lady if she continues to not dress

Harper Lee highlighted America’s discrimination, prejudices, and social hierarchal issues and created To Kill a Mockingbird, a semi-biographical novel. Even though the novel is set in the fictitious town of Maycomb, Alabama, it addresses some very real issues that are, unfortunately, still present in modern society. America has made many positive strides since 1930 to ensure equality and freedom for all, making the Dream more attainable for citizens, but we still have more improvements to make before the Dream is available to

Later in the novel when both the children have matured since the beginning, Scout has found herself involved in the ladies meeting by Aunt Alexandra and realises what it is like to be a lady. After hearing the horrid announcement of Tom Robinson’s death, Scout sees how affected by the news Aunt Alexandra is she till retains her lady-like manners as she has company. Scout thinks, “After all, if Aunty could be a lady at a time like this, so could I.” Scout allows herself

For many years, America has struggled with equality. Through all the assumptions and stereotypes, America has been beaten. The amount of inequality in America has dramatically decreased throughout the years. Social equality is something that everyone has always wanted. One of the biggest inequalities is African American rights. Constantly there is always a change being made that has made African American rights much better. Within Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, the audience is introduced to social equality by Scout Finch in Maycomb, Alabama. Consequently, since she is so young, she struggles to understand why there is inequality in the 1930s. Through all the harsh comments and assumptions of character interaction in the novel and

Imagine a place where the verdict of a rape trial stems from racial prejudice rather than the proper evaluation of proven evidence. This is Maycomb, Alabama, the strange, Southern town where Scout and Jem Finch grow up during the 1930s in the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. In short, the novel travels a thin line between a light-hearted narrative of the siblings’ childhood with their single father, a defense attorney named Atticus Finch, and the injustices that arise within their close-knit community. The complexities include extreme racism, a peculiar social hierarchy, and general misunderstandings of certain people within the small town. These are all seen as “Maycomb ways”, almost as if they are considered facts. Through her writing, Lee conveys an important message that an essential part of a child’s education often takes place in a home or community rather than a classroom by utilizing the characters, Atticus Finch and Tom Robinson, a black man accused of rape whom Atticus is defending.

Harper Lee uses contradicting characters to reiterate the theme of morality and ethics. To begin with, Scout grew up motherless and is mostly surrounded by men or boys; therefore she is not exactly the most feminine child. On the other hand there is Aunt Alexandra who cannot be more lady-like and traditional. This contradiction supports the theme of ethics, where one might think that ethics are reflected by your appearance and others might not. The way Scout was raised by Atticus (which Aunt Alexandra completely disagrees with) who led her to the feeling of independence as well as taught her to be herself with nothing to be ashamed of be it feminine or masculine. Scout narrated, "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. Aunt Alexandra’s vision of my deportment involved playing with small stoves, tea sets..”. The fact that Aunt Alexandra stresses so much on a child and probably thinks that Scout is a disgrace to the family since she wears overalls and goes out, shows exactly the kind of morals she has - stereotypical and sexist. Why is playing outside or outerwear associated with gender? This juxtaposition focuses solely on different views of gender and the embracement of one’s uniqueness. Moreover, the symbolic

The white, upper class ladies of Maycomb, such as Miss Dubois and Aunt Alexandra were considered to be healthy and wealthy. During the 1930’s, the ideal girl was an image of pure femininity. In To Kill a Mockingbird, there were many gender role issues that were demonstrated with the narrator, Scout such as her training that was focused mainly on language, appropriate dresses, and elegant hats. Scout was an independent woman who was ridiculed by the Southern belles of society, which was a symbolic element in the novel to show Scout’s promise a failure to act like a proper southern lady. According to Dominguez, “A proper young lady learned to dance properly in white gloves and wore a long dress and was part of the many socialite clubs in society” (1). The female role in the novel was to uphold their professional appearance and keep up with the status quo. The expectations of little girls were to be refined in their speech and portray soft-spoken

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.

“To Kill A Mockingbird” has many big ideas throughout the story that have to do with justice, being prejudice, and courage. The word prejudice is one of the key ideas throughout the story because in many examples characters in the story have a preconceived opinion towards many different ideas. Another big idea in the story is justice. Justice has to do with being fair, however in many cases throughout the book people are treated anything but fairly. And lastly, courage played a major part in the lives of many characters throughout the story. In the story,”To Kill A Mockingbird,” by Harper Lee, it states that it states that people from the 1930’s had many problems to deal with regarding being prejudice and having justice, however Scout and many

The book To Kill A Mockingbird is a book that describes a family with struggles; this book shows a good situation of justice versus injustice. In To Kill A Mockingbird justice is displayed when Boo Radley kills Bob Ewell; Injustice is exhibited when Bob Ewell attempts to kill Jem and Scout.The most prevalent is the injustice the because this leads to why Boo Radley kills Bob Ewell.

1 of every 4 African-American males can expect to go to prison in this decade. Racism and Injustice take place in many aspects in life, the justice system being one of them. The book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee explores this through the eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, two children who live in the times of the Great Depression. Throughout the book, people show their aversion for colored people in many ways. One large chunk of the book is devoted to the trial of a black man named Tom Robinson, and the broken law system.

In her childhood, Scout is faced with different challenges as to how women should act and what they should spend their everyday lives doing. She is introduced to the fact that not all women are given jobs due to their gender and due to what her aunt tells her, she needs to act more like a lady. Scout’s aunt disagrees with the way Scout’s father is raising her. She believes that Scout shouldn’t act like tomboy and should be wearing dresses and playing with tea sets. Aunt Alexandra believes that Scout will ruin the family due to the fact that she can’t act how a real lady should. After the Tom Robinson case, Scout wonders why there aren’t any Maycomb folks on the jury. Atticus, her father, explains to her, “For one thing, Miss Maudie can’t serve on a jury because she’s a woman-” (Lee 296). Throughout her childhood, Scout grows up learning stereotypes on what women should do with their lives. To add to this explanation, Scout didn’t grow up with a mother, which has caused her to dislike the “lady ways”. Gender roles are a key part in the growing up of

Harper Lee's ‘To kill a Mockingbird’ explores the prejudicial issues which plague over the town Maycomb. Harper Lee uses the trial of Tom Robinson a black man accused of rape on a young white girl, Mayella as a central theme to portray the prominence of racial discrimination in Maycomb. The racial prejudice is also widely shown through the characterisation of Atticus. Having Scout as the narrator allows Harper Lee to highlight the gender inequity through a youthful unbiased perspective. The chauvinistic attitudes and prejudiced views of most of the town’s folk leaves Maycombs social hierarchy in an unfair order, victimising many of the town’s people due to their socially non-conforming habits some ‘socially unaccepted people’ including Boo