Stereotypes In To Kill A Mockingbird

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Gender Stereotypes From The Past and How They’re Viewed Today In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, readers are introduced to characters that voice their opinions on how Scout, the main character, should act and dress like a typical lady. However, the reader is meant to end up ignoring the people who disagree with how Scout acts and accept Scout for who she is and even praise her for being different. People should accept each others’ differences in regards to gender. Throughout the book To Kill a Mockingbird, there is an image portrayed by supporting characters that expresses what a proper woman looks and behaves like. Many of these ideas are required by the reader to infer the stereotype, but many of them are blatantly stated. The …show more content…

Children at young ages were taught that some things that boys could say and do should not be said of or be committed in front of a girl. “This ain’t a polite thing for little ladies to hear (Lee 177).” There is even a point in the book where a group of boys get in trouble and are charged with, along with many other things, “abusive and profane language in the presence and hearing of a female (Lee 6).” In today’s society, things said and done are either appropriate or inappropriate for children despite their gender. Being born a boy, does not automatically make someone a man and capable of handling any type of adult affairs. Jem, Scout’s brother, was the one who cried when hearing the unfair verdict of Tom Robinson, not Scout (Lee 180). He knew what the accepted outcome was most likely to be, but he was too immature to understand that the court case was capable of being unfair and had took some time to get over what happened. Children are children and no matter what gender they are it depends on who each one is individually as a person to determine whether or not they can handle a certain situation maturely. Little boys are often made to consider themselves as stronger and superior to girls during this time period. Jem, being only a few years older than Scout, believed that he was considered a part of the grown folk and deemed himself capable of spanking Scout because he was a grown boy (Lee 116). However, the book suggests that girls are not forced to be subjected to these stereotypes. Scout proves to be just as strong as Jem by putting him in his place when he threatens to spank her (Lee 116). She fights him, wins, and is told by Atticus that she only has to listen to him if Jem can make her, which shows how not everyone in society believes that

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