Gender Discrimination
According to the United Nations Foundation, 62 million girls around the world are refused education and mentorship programs, such as Step Up, helps to maintain girls in school to get them closer to achieve their dreams. The novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, focuses on the lives of Jem and Scout, as Scout retells three years of her childhood in the span of 372 pages. The story is about growing up in Alabama during the 1930s, after the Great Depression. During this era, there happened to be rampant discrimination, as such, there was also the same level of discrimination in the small fictional location of Maycomb County. Through the eyes of Scout, readers see how her father, Atticus, is very passionate and dedicated to his
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As they were walking past Mrs. Dubose’s house, she accused them of making trouble and disapproved of Scout’s wardrobe by bellowing and saying“...‘And you—’ she pointed an arthritic finger at [her]—’what are you doing in those overalls? You should be in a dress and camisole, young lady!’ ” (Lee, 135). As far as the reader is aware of, Scout’s usual wardrobe consists of overalls and she is not a big fan of dresses, another indicator that she despises acting ladylike. Like Mrs. Dubose, Aunt Alexandra disapproves of Scout’s attire and is constantly telling her to change the way she dresses and acts, so she can act more like a girl and less like a boy. This is another situation from the book where a character is treated unequally from the others, simply because of their gender and because of the way they carry themselves. In attempts to convince Scout to dress more like a girl, Aunt Alexandra feeds her lies by telling her that dressing up in dresses would allow her “to be a ray of sunshine in [her] father’s lonely life” (Lee, page
Throughout the novel Scout was faced with many gender prejudice. Because she was a tomboy, Aunt Alexandra told scout that she can even hope to be a lady if she wore trousers. She expects Scout to play with stoves necklaces and tea pots. Aunt Alexandra wasn't the only person being prejudice against women. Atticus was also prejudice against women, even though he doesn't judge people. On page 221, he told Jem that women are not allowed to serve on juries in Alabama because the court might never get a complete case because the women would interrupt just to ask questions. Scout also showed gender prejudice to Francis. Francis told Scout that his grandmother was going to teach him how to cook and Scout said boys are not suppose to cook.
In To Kill a Mockingbird, and in the world today there is racial and social inequality going on all around us. I am sure that there will never be true racial and social equality, but I think that it will get dramatically better. Just like it has gotten better since the 1930’s, which is the time that To Kill a Mockingbird is set in.
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
Defeating racism, tribalism, intolerance, and all forms of discrimination will liberate us all- victim and perpetrator alike." -Ban Ki-moon. In To Kill a Mockingbird, there are many characters who are victims of all kinds of discrimination. The novel took place in the 1930's where this was a major part of towns across the country.
Mrs. Dubose complains to scout “what are you doing in those overalls? You should be in a dress and camisole, young lady! You’ll grow up waiting on tables if somebody doesn’t change your way--a Finch waiting on tables at the O.K. Cafe--hah!” (Lee 117). She judges and almost shames Scout for wearing overalls and not wearing clothes that a “real lady” wears. Jem tells scout that she's turning into a girl “Scout, I’m tellin’ you for the last time, shut your trap or go home--I declare to the Lord you’re gettin’ more like a girl every day!” (Lee 58). When Jem says that it hits Scout kinda hard and it was kind of offensive to her she doesn't want to be a girl or called a girl. That was kind of a strong thing that Jem said to Scout because it really hurt her. She said that she would “find other girls to play with” but when she was doing that she was with Miss. Maudie but she really misses playing with Jem and Dill. Miss. Maudie also got told rude thing from people like her and her flowers were going to hell because she wears
Not much has changed in almost a century. Minorities are still being treated poorly. Harper Lee shows this many times throughout To Kill a Mockingbird. In her novel Lee portrays racial prejudice by showing the relationship between whites and blacks.
Although someone might appear to be free, events or situations in life can restrict one in ways that others cannot see. The novel To Kill a Mockingbird, set in Maycomb, Alabama in the early 1930s, Harper Lee illustrates the experiences of several characters who are both literally and metaphorically imprisoned. It focuses on Atticus, an attorney, defending an African American charged with the rape of a white girl, Mayella Ewell. In a society like Maycomb, racism, sexism, and poverty affect the lives of minorities, as African Americans are seen as inferior to white people and women are treated less than men. Both Tom and Mayella find themselves in the real world and figuratively in prison. Tom is in jail, and Mayella is stuck in her father’s
When she is first introduced into the story she is all over Scout to be a perfect lady. Is there really one definition of what a lady should act like or dress like? As the book unfolds Scout starts to get used to Aunt Alexandra saying things to her like “put on a dress” or “talk more like a lady.” She does not understand why she can not just be herself and why she has to pretend to be someone else just to please others. One scene from this story really stands out the most, is when Aunt Alexandra is having a party and pressures Scout into dressing up just to please her friends and protect the Finch name.
Discrimination, prejudice, verbal and physical assault. To Kill a Mockingbird is written by Lee,Harper. It will show how the community of Maycomb Alabama will react and behave to racism during a court case. This book is narrated by a young girl nicknamed Scout, real name Jean Louise Finch. This book takes place in Maycomb Alabama around the 1930’s. In To Kill a Mockingbird it will show how racism affects black people in Maycomb Alabama.
Prejudice is an opinion based on stereotypes and not actual experience and discrimination is unjust treatment of people based on race, sex and age. In “To Kill a Mockingbird” there are multiple cases of discrimination and prejudice. One example is the trial of Tom Robinson. Some might think that prejudice and discrimination lead to positive outcomes in the novel but in fact, it leads to the opposite. Prejudice and discrimination lead to negative outcomes because it provides a way to judge people based on stereotypes and not actually meeting the person, people who did discriminate get angry with people who don’t, and it causes people to lose their innocence.
According to the United Nations Foundation, 62 million girls around the world are refused education. Mentorship programs, such as Step Up, helps to maintain girls in school to get them closer to achieve their dreams. The novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, focuses on the lives of Jem and Scout, as Scout retells three important years of her childhood where she learns a lifetime’s worth of valuable lessons. To Kill A Mockingbird is about growing up in Alabama during the 1930s, after the Great Depression. During this era, there happened to be rampant discrimination, as such, there was also the same level of discrimination in the small fictional location of Maycomb County. Through the eyes of Scout, readers see how
People are discriminated against because of the color of their skin or because they don’t have nice things. We as humans were created equally in the eyes of the Lord, and it should stay that way. In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee very well portrays how people can get past social inequalities by looking at the other people the same way you look at yourself. Evidence for this includes how Tom Robinson was accused of rape; even though he didn’t. People with less money get treated differently, and people with less things also get treated differently.
There are many forms of discrimination that are present in the novel to kill a mockingbird. Through many of the discriminations themselves, some give examples of mockingbirds. In this novel a mockingbird is an animal that only sings to make other feel happiness and it is a sin to kill them because they do not bother anyone. However, not every scenario consists of a mockingbird.
When you first think of the law legal system here you think justice. But in Maycomb County’s legal system many innocent lives are taken because of close-minded judges and racist juries.In this award-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, we learn a lot about this poor town. In this novel, a very smart white lawyer named Atticus defends an innocent black man but unfortunately, he got wrongly accused. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, The legal system is very unjust because it takes away innocent lives this is strongly demonstrated in the Tom Robinson’s trial.
Discrimination: a noun that is defined as, “the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex”. There are many types of discrimination in To Kill a Mockingbird. To Kill a Mockingbird is a story that is taken place during the Great Depression . Scout is the main character and her father Atticus is defending a man named Tom Robinson, who is a Negro. There are three main topics that are discriminated in To Kill a Mockingbird. The three main topics that are discriminated are socioeconomics, gender, and most importantly, racism.