To Kill A Mockingbird Identity Analysis

For as long as I can remember, I have traveled between two houses. I live with my mom and every Tuesday and Thursday I visit my dad. Often when I describe my situation people assume I must be “broken” or “troubled” because my family isn’t normal. However, this is my normal and it would be strange to me if this was not how I lived my life. An identity has a dictionary definition, but is difficult to define. My identity has been and continues to be shaped by the social forces of gender, technology, and family.

One’s gender has a great influence on their identity. Their actions, opportunities, and most commonly, roles in society. I identify as a female and thus by preset standards should have certain talents and interests. I am a huge hockey

fan but, because of my gender, I am often not taken seriously. This has gone as far as me browsing the NHL website in search of my team’s jersey but only coming up with pink, bedazzled versions for twice the price of the originals.

Not to say that some may enjoy said options, but they perpetuate the double standard that exists in the sports world. In order for a male to be a sports fan, he must root for the team and know a few statistics, but if a female is a true fan of a team she has to know the name of every past coach, every year the team has made the playoffs, the schedule must be memorized, and know every member of the 1983 roster. Someone who I feel can relate to my situation is Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird. Throughout the novel, she is told by her Aunt Alexandra to stop wearing her overalls because they are not ladylike and once Scout puts on her dress, she earns the approval of her aunt and the other ladies in the missionary society (Lee 229-234). Scout does not fit the typical “Southern belle” mold and is reminded of it quite frequently. She mentions that she felt “more at home in my father's world. People like Mr. Heck Tate did not trap you with innocent questions to make fun of you; even Jem was not highly critical unless you said something stupid...There was something about them, no matter how much they cussed and drank and gambled and chewed; no matter how undelectable they were, there was

something about them that I instinctively liked” (Lee 234-5). I am lucky I am part of the generation that I am because I may have found myself in quite a predicament if someone told me to “stop acting like a girl” Not everyone can have such Atticus-like composure. However, boys also feel the wrath of societal pressures as described in Jon Kratz’s 1993 article, “How Boys Become Men.” In this passage, Kratz mentions the unspoken “Code of Conduct” males must follow. Some of the rules mentioned include “Don’t be a goody goody. Never admit fear...Asking for help is for sissies.” (4-5) So while women feel the harsh effects of societal gender roles we mustn't forget the males who suffer under the burden of enforced masculinity. Modern gender roles are a burden anyone of any identity must carry, and only as a society can they be lifted.
Technology has shaped my life in a way I don’t think I’ll ever be able to comprehend; my phone, my computer but most importantly, my camera. On the first day of school, I showed up to my sixth period class in room 138. In a room full of people I didn’t know in a class I knew nothing about. I was mistakenly placed in media tech but that mistake was one of the greatest things that ever happened to me. Everything from the teacher to the relaxed curriculum to the four-week announcement rotation has been one of the most positive experiences I've ever had. I now hope to enter the broadcast journalism field and a world of possibilities has been opened. I am not sure what I would be doing if I lived during Scout and Jem’s time. The only mention of technology in the novel is when Atticus has his radio up a bit too loud. (Lee 268) However, I now understand Miss Stephanie’s character a bit more. Maybe investigative journalism was her calling, but because of money or education conflicts, she resorted to word of mouth gossip about her neighbors. Technology has a positive effect on many other peoples as stated by Henry Bauerle and Nick Biagini in their presentation of the social force. They mention how technology has allowed us to enter a new era of communication and has even gone as far to help the paralyzed be able to function normally. Technology has had an incredibly positive effect on many people’s lives and I hope the world continues to use it for the better.
My family is quite complicated to say the least.

I often have a difficult time describing my situation to others, but I wouldn’t want it any other way. Three divorces have taught me what successful and not so successful relationships look like. My younger sister with autism has taught me empathy, compassion, and patience. My step siblings have been there for me when did not have to be and for that I am grateful. No matter the family situation, every family has an undeniable sense of pride. For example, my family, most of whom were born in Ireland, throw the loudest St. Patrick’s day parties and keep our Irish flags up all through March. We are proud of our incredibly fair skin and abundance of freckles and redheads. My family’s pride is similar to that of Aunt Alexandra’s and her obsession with heredity and the certain “family streaks” in the novel’s Maycomb county. Scout mentions said streaks in chapter 13. “Everybody in Maycomb, it seemed, had a streak: a drinking streak, a gambling streak, a mean streak, a funny streak,” (Lee 129). I again feel Scout and I could relate to each other through our unique family situations, hers of course being her family’s cook Calpurnia and her neighbor Miss Maudie as her mother figures. Another unique family are the Pritchett’s on the show Modern Family. I was elated when this show came out because, while dramatized for comedic effect, it is a break from the straight, white, “we all get along fine” families usually depicted on TV.

The Helmers, Finches, and Pritchetts all have different definitions of normal and each family embraces it in their own way.
The social forces of gender, technology, and family continually shape my character. Just as they did for Scout. Without my unique family, introduction to media technology, or female gender, I could not imagine the person I would be. I would much rather be seen in a Toews jersey than a Versace dress. This is my life, and this is my normal. Everyone has their own definition, and thus their own identity.