What Is The Role Of Women In To Kill A Mockingbird

Harpers Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, is a literary classic that talks about racism as well as femininity in the town of Maycomb, Alabama. The story told from the perspective of Jean Louise Finch, who also goes by Scout, although she is only eight years old. Throughout the book, Scout realizes that her beloved hometown of Maycomb is not that great as it seems. While realizing this, Scout has a change of mindset. She is constantly told to "act like a lady" but she does not want to become something she is not. Scout initially has a negative opinion on being a lady but the women in Maycomb are essentially what grows Scout's opinion. The roles of Calpurnia, Miss Maudie, and Aunt Alexandria are the key influences to changing Scout's mindset.

There are many people throughout Scouts life that have shaped her the way she and who have influenced her in many ways. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, there are two main characters that helped teach and influence Scout’s life. First, Calpurnia influenced Scout’s life by teaching her new way into how to be “ladylike,” and was a huge woman figure to Scout. Second is Boo Radley, and he taught the valuable lesson of walking in someone else's shoes.

“‘You want to grow up to be a lady, don’t you?’ I said not particularly” (Lee). Jean Louise Finch is a tomboy growing up in a world where a girl is expected to become a lady. Submissive housewives and proper ladies were the expectations set for women in the time To Kill A Mockingbird took place. Scout Finch lived in a household that had a strong male influence; aside from Calpurnia, she had no real present example of what she was supposed to become. Because of this, Scout refused to conform to the ways of the rest of the women in Maycomb and the world (Lee 84).

As a child grows, many people influence their development as a person. Some people impact more than others, and a select few really leave their mark. In Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird,” several characters play this role. Among them, Miss Maudie Atkinson, a woman who proves herself a strong character, prevails as the one who has the greatest impact on Scout Finch, the protagonist of this novel. As Scout matures and grows up, her views on the world around her change. Through subtle yet effective ways, Miss Maudie teaches Scout many life lessons about being humble, judging, and attitude, all of which ultimately have a great effect on the kind of person Scout develops into and her outlook on the world.

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.

As girls grow in life, they mature and change into women. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, Scout, the main character, begins to mature into a woman. In the beginning of the book, she is a tomboy who cannot wait to pick a fistfight with anyone, but at the end, she lowers her fists because her father, Atticus, tells her not to fight. Scout's views of womanhood, influenced by how Aunt Alexandra, Miss Maudie, and Calpurnia act, make her think more about becoming a woman and less of a tomboy.

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.

Throughout the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, author Harper Lee challenges the societal norms of gender roles, within the character “Jean Louise,” also referred to as her tomboy name “Scout.” Scout battles the society-defined roles in many ways throughout the text. Many factors lead to Scout redefining femininity, including Jem and Dill’s coming-of-age dilemma. An exploration of gender roles and inequality throughout the text and this time period will allow one to understand how Scout was able to overcome gender stereotyping.

PRACTICE ESSAY: What does Scout learn? (TKAM) In Harper Lee’s novel ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’, the main character Scout’s journey of maturation is charted as she progresses in her moral education and gains a broader, more adult perspective of the world around her. Scout learns the vital need for utilising tolerance, compassion and empathy when dealing with others, no matter an individual’s reputation or the circumstance. She is also exposed to the terrible injustice and racial prejudice that overcomes Maycomb’s community, and sees how this outright bigotry has severe consequences. Atticus also teaches Scout the meaning of true courage, in both a physical and a moral sense, and how true bravery is often not appreciated by the majority. Harper

Scout and Mayella both lost their mothers at a young age, thus leaving them with their fathers, but the difference lays with their fathers and it says a lot about why the two young ladies are the way they are. Scout’s father, Atticus Finch, is a very respected attorney in Maycomb and he teaches Scout and her older brother Jem tolerance, good manners, and respect. As time goes on, Atticus gets criticized by the people of Maycomb because he is defending an African-American man who was accused of raping Mayella Ewell. Mayella’s father, Bob Ewell, doesn’t bother to take care of the rest of his children and to the Maycomb community, he’s is considered the lowest of the low, or “white trash.” Instead of going out to find a job and support his kids, he drinks all day and collects his welfare cheques. Due to him not being very much of a fatherly figure, Mayella has to support herself and her siblings in their small home close to the landfill and she has no time to go to school, town, meet new people and make friends. Mayella is looked down upon by those around her because of her father’s poor reputation. Young girls generally look up to their

Women commonly performed all the work that had to be done around the home. They rarely did other jobs and if so, they would work during the night. In the novel, Scout and Jem do not a have a mother so their father is required to help out more than a male usually would: “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” (Lee 179). Atticus was doing his best to live up to what a female would do, but it was very hard for him. Women work long and hard hours to keep up with their families needs and still have to work during the night to help provide money for their household. Sometimes women worked up to twenty hour days: “At twelve thirty sharp we have our dinner… one washes and irons here

Feminism has played a big part in American history. For the more than seven thousand years of human history since settled agriculture and early states emerged, male dominance has controlled the world. Feminism has decreased over the years, but women around the world still struggle with it. Within Harper

Harper Lee demonstrates the gender inequity In to Kill a Mockingbird through the description and words of the female narrator, Scout. The prejudice of Maycomb is shown so clearly, even an innocent child like Scout can see the raging extent of gender prejudice that surrounds her. Scout having traits that are more masculine in quality automatically makes her an outcast and disliked by Maycomb's many conforming ideals. Scouts innocence allows the novel to develop through an unbiased perspective. Women had little to serve in juries and there was the constant expectation all women had to act and dress like a Lady. Aunt Alexandra an evident example of having strong beliefs on how separate genders should behave, constantly scolding Scout for wearing her overalls and behaving too tomboyish." I was not so sure, but Jem told me i was being a girl, that girls always imagined things, thats why other people hated them so, and if i started behaving like one i could just go off and find some to play with. (4.119) Scout is raised to believe boys were better than girls, raised in a bigoted and heavily bias community, scout finds it a difficult and unfair experience trying to understand the unjust perceptions of the adults around her. Having Scout narrate the whole novel allows Harper lee to highlight the gender inequity in Maycomb.

Feminism In To Kill a Mockingbird To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, is an ideal display of feminism that takes place during the period of depression in the south. It portrayed the two kinds of women found in the south during this time, the women who were pro the feminist movement, and the average Southern women. Sadly some women mistakenly rebelled against the ideals of society, by just being themselves. Men and women were to conduct themselves as ladies and gentlemen, were men were expected to dress in suit and ties and women were expected to wear dresses and be courteous. Since southern towns were so sheltered from the liberal views of the rest of the world they had no chose but to abide by these gender roles.

In To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee, there are many examples of how women are limited in society. One example of how women are limited in society is when Aunt Alexandra says "We decided that it would be best for you to have some feminine influence" (170). This shows that women are treated differently by the way that they say she needs to act. They really believe that Scout needs to act more like a women which is not fair that women must act different. The novel also states "when I said I could do nothing in a dress, she told me I wasn't supposed to be doing things that require pants." This means that Scouts aunt disagrees with a girl wearing pants. This is because the women in society all wear dresses. This shows that women are limited