What Does To Kill A Mockingbird Have To Do Before Women's Work

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 main issue of the section we are acting out of Chapter 11 in “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee is the prejudice that Ms. Dubose holds. She is both sexist and racist, both forms of prejudice that were common back in her generation, but were finally starting to change at that time. Aunt Alexandra and Ms. Dubose, most likely having been raised in the same time period, were both offended by Scout wearing pants. Ms. Dubose specifically asked ‘What are you doing in those overalls? You should be in a dress and camisole, young lady!’ (Lee, 101), which is greatly reminiscent of what Alexandra said at Christmas. Obviously, they were both raised with the same morals about having to wear dresses, causing them to be unintentionally sexist and myopic.

The men were involved in clearing the land, plowing, digging ditches, fencing, building, and hunting. (Smith 30) This depicted women in the colonial period as weak and inferior compared to the men. The men handled duties that required strength and especially in outside occupations where this was most important. Women in colonial America were excluded from outside occupations because they were seen as weak and incapable to handle responsibilities beyond housework or the household.

Households were strictly patriarchal in which the man of the house made all the important decisions. Women's jobs at the time were mostly relegated to domestic service and occasional work at harvest time. The jobs were always of low pay, low status, and required little training. In addition to this females were not legally permitted to inherit land or property. This was the bleak life of a woman, with little hope or power, and always the subordinate of men.

When manufacturing plants started booming, they found business. Women became valuable factory workers because of their ability to complete complex tasks in the work place. Also, having willingness to labor for an inexpensive pay rate because they were in need boosted their chances of employment. In fact, employers needed them and were happy at the fact that they weren 't too costly to hire. In the document, Morals of Manufactures (1837), it states, “Many of the girls are in the factories because they have too much pride for domestic service.”(Chapter 9 Page 223) As stated before, women were looked over as far being capable of anything else other than a house wife and or mother. Some women worked for pay, as well as to prove that they were more than what society labeled them. This allowed women to make their own money and not be forced to completely live off their husbands. Also, this gave women a freedom and sensibility to become more independent.

Women weren't allowed to go to school or act in plays (Davis 91). “Women had little rights and were considered property of their father or husband and not as their own person” (Davis 90). Rich women that had servants spent their time gossiping to one another and playing cards (Davis 91).

A woman had a busy domestic life. A woman played the role of wife, mother, teacher and manager. She had to please her husband, bear and raise children, educate her children, and manage all daily household activities. In the home, the woman was the jack of all trades. Part of the role of the female was to take raw goods, and turn them into useful items, such as food, candles, and clothing. Women had to clean, butcher and prepare all game brought home to the family. A woman was a household factory. Many items in the home were created by women. All clothing was made by spinning, weaving and stitching. All cloth was washed by hand without the aid of any machines. Candles were made at home by weaving a wick and pouring hot wax into a mold. A woman had to be educated enough to teach her sons and daughters the skills of life. Women spent the majority of their time performing daily tasks, but still were able to have leisure activities such as painting, embroidery, and charity work. Women had very few legal rights. In the majority of colonies, women had no legal control over their lives. It was the consensus among society that

Why do people want to change the way we live our life? I don’t fit in, so what? In the book “To Kill a Mockingbird”, Lee uses characterization and tone in order to convey the idea that in society every gender has to follow their code of conduct, consequently it restricts people from being themselves in order to fit in.

Even though women did not have a lot of social rights, they had two very important roles. They were to run the house and reproduce children. Even Euripides, a well known Greek playwright, stated , “Women run households and protect within their homes, and without a woman no home is clean or prosperous” (Neils 78). This shows that women were the ones who controlled the home. The wives would maintain the house and perform chores such as weaving, baking and cooking, cleaning, and fetching water. The women’s daily roles were simplified if they house had slaves. If there were slaves, they would do all of the chores and the wife would supervise

Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird, prejudices against gender roles are evident in a multitude of ways. For example, Scout states, “Until it happened I did not realize that Jem was offended by my contradicting him on Hot Steams..” (41). Scout saying this establishes the idea that girls are not to suppose to contradict boys. Dill is embarrassed and ashamed that a girl is not believing him and he takes offense to that. Miss. Maudie Atkinson is faced with the stereotypes of being a woman. Everyone expects her to stay inside and do housework. In fact, Miss. Maudie Atkinson declares, “I hate my house: time spent indoors is time wasted.” (47). Here it is evident that Miss. Atkinson is breaking her gender role. During this time period, women were viewed in a way

Women helped with the load of the work that men did. They helped with clearing the land in addition to watching over the chores of the house. The women didn’t expect the cold as the old country as said from the interview of Mary Prokop,”That first winter was the very hardest mother had ever experienced and, as she later told us children, at least in the old country, through the food was scarce, they had been been warm. He they were cold and isolated in the unfinished house for the entire severe winter.”(Interview #4)”

Cleaning, cooking and worshipping would be a few of the little jobs that can be performed by a woman. Not only would women be doing these things, but in the past it was very difficult for a woman to have a real job. It was the husband who had to bring home the money and the wife, who had to get groceries, cook and clean for her husband and their children. “This debate over women’s capacities was theoretical, of course, and few colonists, male or female, had the time or inclination to engage in it” (pg. 4). The funny thing about this is that it has not changed and some women still think they are supposed to do these frail actions while some take further steps into life. But however this plays out, I believe some women worked as hard as the men during the time of war. “As their men went off to war, these women took on the task of managing shops and farms in addition to caring for large families and coping with shortages of food and supplies…many spoke with satisfaction about how well they had adapted to new roles”(Making America: pg. 156). So what exactly was the role of women in the

However, one thing women could not do is they could not hold an office. The woman in the house was essentially the housekeeper. She cooked, cleaned, and raised children. The freedom of the woman depended upon the wealth of the family. Often times higher status women were not tasked with as many household oriented chores.

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

“Most girls were trained from childhood for the traditional roles of wife, mother, and housekeeper. They learned how to grind grain, how to cook and make beverages, especially beer, and how to spin and weave cloth for clothing. If a woman worked outside of her home, her job usually grew out of her household