Women In To Kill A Mockingbird

If one imagines traditional female stereotypes, they may picture a timid stay-at-home mom who cooks and cleans for her husband and kids and is financially dependent upon her spouse. However, it is explicit that the novel The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver and the autobiography I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, work to subvert traditional gender roles. Both authors tend to challenge traditional female stereotypes by portraying the woman in their books to behave like the “man of the house”. These women are written as strong, independent characters who do not have men in their lives that they depend on or need. In The Bean Trees, the protagonist, Taylor Greer, decides to choose a path that scarcely any other girl in her town takes

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.

For gender roles in To Kill a Mockingbird, they typically apply to the women, as it is a story told by Jean Louise. She wouldn’t have seen how gender roles effected her brother so strongly that he began to feel the need to tell her what to do. It mainly outlined her experience with female figures in the community that she interacted with. From her being best friends with Miss Maudie. To her questioning Calpurnia’s judgement. To her being hostile towards Mrs. Dubose. To her disputed, questioned, and accepted relationship with her

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

Historically, men have held every position of power and status in known societies, civilized or otherwise. Men have been the fore-runners, the providers and the respected warriors of every age since the dawn of recorded time. These cultures did not confuse their identities or cultural roles in regards to gender; men were expected to win fame and fortune for themselves and their families, tribes or clans while women were expected to support their men in domesticity and child-rearing. Men knew what was expected of them since birth as they were often surrounded by masculine role-models in their own societies. However, modern masculinity has become something else entirely. Too much has been written about these time periods to rehash any of the

When Jem tells Scout that she is “gettin’ more like a girl everyday.” he means that she use to be able to withstand playing with them but slowly she's being kinda questioning things or not all in. When she was not sure about going to look into the window of the Radley residence at night with them he was aggravated and told her shut up or go home. In my opinion, girl just simply means female. Back then girls were suppose feminine ladies that cleaned,cooked, and took care of the children. Now girls can be and do whatever they want.

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.

In "Oppression" by Marilyn Frye, Frye discussed how a bird cage symbolizes the systematic oppression of women. Frye explains that if you look at a single wire in a bird cage you cannot understand why the bird, is unable to simply fly around the wire and be free. But, when you step back and look at the cage as a whole system of interlocking wires you realize that the bird has no chance of escaping because of all the barriers put in their way (Frye). This is exactly the same case for women. When somebody tries to see the oppression of women. they look only at one problem women face, refusing to step back and see there is no one cause for their oppression. If instead they looked at all the barriers women face at once, they would finally see that women have no way of escaping oppression without continuous efforts of every person involved in the oppression, including the woman being oppressed and the sexist men doing the oppressing.

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

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.

Women should be caring, humble, quiet, intelligent. These are some of the generic characteristics of a stereotypical "women". If you opened a newspaper from the 1950s you would be bombarded with advertisements about women being the perfect housewives and men being strong leaders. A survey taken in the mid-1980s by British Social Attitudes showed that close to half (43 percent in 1984 and 48 percent in 1987) of people supported a gendered separation of roles, where the female was a caring mother and the male the masculine handyman. If you were to go to any social media site these days, you would see women that are changing the game with twenty-first-century texts posted everywhere that significantly challenging gender stereotypes for women.

The poem “Caged Bird” by Maya Angelou tells the story of two birds: one bird has the luxury of freedom and the second bird lives its life caged and maltreated by an unknown tyrant. Maya Angelou wrote this poem during the Civil Rights Era, the period when black activists in the 1950’s and 1960’s fought for desegregation of African Americans. This poem parallels the oppression that African Americans were fighting during this time period. In “Caged Bird”, Angelou builds a strong contrast that shows the historical context of discrimination and segregation through the use of mood, symbolism, and theme.

Social status and structures have definitely shaped the construction and experience of gender inequality. Men and women are constantly analyzed, compared, and grouped together in society. The result of this yields discrepancies in how sexes are viewed by society. Throughout my examination and explanation of gender inequality, I concluded both men and women are victims to gender inequality.

Traditional society believes that men are more powerful than women. How society put men as the leaders in the society proves it. It causes men to have power over women. For example, in traditional society, men become the acceptable leaders who are responsible for making decisions. The decisions mostly disadvantage women. Meanwhile, women are destined to agree all of the decisions made by men. For instance, husband tells his wife to stay at home instead of taking part in society. Husband also warns his wife to not speak