...Racism, Social Class, and Gender Issues: A Look Into 1930s Maycomb, Alabama. The film, To Kill A Mockingbird directed by Robert Mulligan, portrays a message of racism, social class, and gender issues faced by southern towns post Civil War era. The 1962 film adaptation of the classic book, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee was masterfully captured being placed on the American Film Institute’s list of greatest American movies of all time and taking home many countless awards. The black and white portrayal from text to film is exquisitely captured turning pages to picture while reveling a heartbreaking reality. Through camera, lighting, and sound Robert Mulligan creates a mood to communicate the vision of Harper Lee. The film takes place in Maycomb, Alabama during the 1930s. Robert Mulligan illustrates the story of the lives of Scout and Jem, children growing up in this small town with their friend Dill who stays for the summer. The youngsters become infatuated with getting a glimpse of Boo Radley the unseen hermit of a neighbor. This summer also entails issues facing, their attorney father, Atticus Finch. Atticus Finch defends Tom Robinson, an African American man falsely accused of raping a white woman from town, Mayella Ewell. The children catch wind of the trial and for the first time witness evil realities of the world. Jem and Scout, Atticus’s children become the targets of Bob Ewell, the father of Mayella Ewell. Bob Ewell tries to kill them one Halloween night...
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...to think, not what to think.” (Margaret Mead) To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a story told from the point of view of Scout Finch, a young tomboy. Her father, Atticus, is the judge for the trial of a young black man accused of raping a white girl. This trial reflects the Scottsboro Trials of the 1930s. Scout’s brother, Jem, grows up alongside her and is an influence on how she acts as she grows. Their Aunt, Alexandra, moves in to give their family a stronger “feminine influence”. Other people in Scout’s life help to develop her character over time including a old woman named Mrs. Dubose. Gender roles of society shape who we are and the development of character Scout Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird does not...
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...Society’s Impact On Growth And Understanding In her novel To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee demonstrates how society shapes our understandings of others, but that this can be mitigated by strong role models. Scout Finch is strongly impacted by the “old traditions of the south” during her growth into womanhood and when she pushes against the stereotypes placed on her as a southerner and a young lady to find her gender identity. The beliefs of Atticus Finch and his involvement in the courtroom have had a big impact on Scout’s growth. Atticus’ beliefs were different than the beliefs of most people of Maycomb and he “bestowed a benevolent order on the Finch household by his example” which slowly shifted Scout’s views on their society’s division....
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...Throughout the book To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee discusses the effects of discrimination and the toll it takes on people. Through examples of sexism, prejudice, and racism, from the townsfolk of a small town in Alabama, she shows the readers the injustice of many. The victims of discrimination serve as the ‘mockingbirds’ of the story, as said by Atticus,“Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” (Lee, 94). In essence, this story demonstrates the loss of innocence of many, especially Scout who is affected by sexism and racism most of all. By far, one of the most evident forms of discrimination present in To Kill a Mockingbird is racism. It impacts the actions of every single character in the book and formulates...
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...initiative, is an ideal that most people strive to achieve. Unfortunately, in the past and in modern day, the population that surrounds us has been propelled by conceptions such as racism and gender roles which avert us from obtaining our visions. Classic works of literature including To Kill a Mockingbird, Of Mice and Men, and A Raisin in the Sun accurately display a lack of equality and fair treatment in the sharing of wealth and opportunities by incorporating racism and gender roles into the lives if the characters in the novels. The authors of To Kill a Mockingbird,...
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...Resisting Gender Roles “We've begun to raise daughters more like sons... but few have the courage to raise our sons more like our daughters.” Said Gloria Steinem. In Maycomb County a small fictional town, it shows a realistic reflection of 1930’s America. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Author Harper Lee introduces more complex characters by deconstructing stereotypical gender roles of the time period. This can be seen through a young tomboy named Scout, a feminized boy named Dill, and a respected housekeeper named Calpurnia. Scout is a very unusual little girl. While women are expected to be quiet and polite, Scout is quite the opposite. She doesn’t mind getting dirty or loud. And she will stop at nothing to make sure her voice is heard. "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!" (Lee42) When Scouts older brother Jem uses Scouts gender as an insult, the reader begins to feel conflict Scout is having with in...
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...be fair or respectful if someone said to you “you’re a guy/girl you shouldn’t be doing that.” I believe that gender roles should not be in our society. Everyone may have different perspectives on this issue but they keep it themselves, and not be disrespectful to others. Ones who have a passion of something that the other gender is ‘supposed’ to do, should be able to share that passion with others without the fear of teased or told not to do that, from those who think they shouldn't do that. In our society today people have the fear of being teased or bullied because they are not follow the roles of their gender. Perspective one states that being a girl is bad and that you can avoid the badness of being a girl if you don’t act like one. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout’s brother, Jem, teaches her that being a girl is bad. However, being a girl is not a bad thing, to some people I can see why they think that. Some girls are snotty and mean, but others aren’t and saying that it is bad to be a...
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...Gender Stereotypes Common phrases frequently repeated in American households such as, “Girls don’t do that!”, often reflect a cultural and physical distinction between males and females. From the very moment children are born, they are labeled with predisposed gender characteristics— boys receive a blue cloth and are put into a room decorated with cars, and girls receive a pink cloth and are put into a room decorated with flowers. As they mature, many children start to recognize both physical and mental differences thus increasing the fixed gap between genders. In fact, gender has also hindered the progression of America regarding freedom of expression- a right included in the very first amendment of our Constitution. Currently, gender is...
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...“ To kill a mockingbird” by Harper Lee and “Antigone” by Sophocles are both dramas having to do with justice, the main characters in both dramas are struggling to bring justice to a society or situation that was lacking. In Sophocles’ drama, Antigone was trying to bring justice by burying her brother Polyneices against the kings, Creon’s, orders. While in “To kill a mocking bird” Atticus is an attorney in a case where race is a major issue and he is trying to save Tom Robinson from being convicted of a crime where there’s overwhelming evidence of his innocence. Both “Antigone” and “To kill a mockingbird’s” themes seem to revolve around justice which is proven when Antigone buries her brother and Atticus agrees to take on Tom Robinsons case. Another large theme in both dramas is the idea that women are somehow ‘lesser’ because of their femininity, a cause of this might be because of the era that the dramas are set in. Throughout “To kill a mockingbird” Scout does her best to avoid ‘girly’ things so that she can keep playing with her brother Jem, its only later in the novel that Scout begins to realize that being a girl is more about having positive traits than lacking them. This theme continues in “Antigone”, most pointedly when Ismene states “Bethink thee, sister, we are left alone; Shall we not perish wretchedness of all, If in defiance of the law we cross A monarch's will?--weak women, think of that, Not framed by nature to contend with men. Remember this too that the stronger...
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...In To Kill a Mockingbird, there are many characters who have power, but the one who stands out is Mayella Ewell. Many will say Mayella is not a powerful character even though she is white, she is very poor and lives on the bad side of town. Mayella does not have much control over her life and does not get to make her own decisions. Mayella Ewell’s dad is a drunk and abuses her. In the little town of Maycomb, Alabama class, gender, and race all determine how much power someone has. Class refers to a person’s level of income and education and often boils down to how much money one is able to earn. Mayella and her family are very poor. They live in an old cabin, where African americans use to live. The only thing nice in Mayella’s yard was her red geraniums. Scout refers to Mayella as the “loneliest person in the world” (Lee, chap. 19). White people would...
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...To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a chilling historical fiction novel that centers around the trial of an innocent black man who is accused of raping a white woman. The novel is set in Alabama during the 1930s, and it follows an old lawyer and his family in the small town of Maycomb. Atticus Finch, the lawyer and father, is often called upon by the town for help due to his stature. He is level headed and focuses on the belief that everybody deserves to be treated equally. It is this belief that leads him to being chosen to represent Tom Robinson, the accused black man, in court. Because To Kill a Mockingbird is set in Alabama during the 1930s, the odds that he will be found innocent are exceptionally low, so Atticus must do everything...
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...Despite the drawbacks for his own family, Atticus was wise to defend Tom Robinson. The author of To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee, states the issues of courage, class, gender roles, and compassion. The character, Atticus defends Tom Robinson’s case. Atticus had his own values and beliefs for what he was willing to fight for. No matter what the circumstance was, he was always confident for what he believed in. Although Atticus knew that he would lose, he would always stay determined to show his town that Tom Robinson is a human being with equal rights, like everyone else. Since his message did permeate the society as well, everyone in the courtroom stood in respect as he passed by them. Unlike most of the white folks in his town, Atticus...
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...achieving success in life are dreams, because they add guidance to one’s life. From small-scale to large-scale, people accomplish things on a daily basis. What sets people’s dreams apart from each other? Ambition. As defined by Oxford Dictionary, ambition is “a strong desire to do or achieve something.” As mentioned before, the complexity of dreams and ambitions can have various difficulty. Cohesively, To Kill a Mockingbird, A Raisin in the Sun, and American Denial provide examples of dreams from small-scale dreams to large-scale dreams; however, what determines the value of these dreams is not how elaborate they are or outsider’s opinions on their dream, but how important the dreamer’s passion is to them and how they...
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...Racism has for a long time been a worldwide problem and does still exist to this very day. Although several protagonists of rights has accomplished a lot of success throughout the time by defending blacks, some people still think that the color of a man’s skin is connected to his status as a human being. But what happens when a white man stands up to defend a black man, in a society which is based on prejudices against blacks? And does moral even interfere? That is some of the question the author, Harper Lee, is answering in his novel "To kill a Mockingbird", published in the year of 1960. The story is about the siblings Scout and Jem Finch living in a small town called Maycomb. They have lost their mother but as a replacement they have their nanny, Calpurnia, to look after them. Their father, Atticus, does also take care of them while being one of the only lawyers in the county. One summer, the siblings become fascinated by their neighbor, Boo Radley, who never seems to leave the house. Scout and Jem spend most of the summer, in company of their friend Dill, trying to get a glimpse of their mysterious neighbor. After several attempts of getting near the house they must conclude that Boo Radley remains a puzzle as Jem and Scout goes back to school. The subsequent summer Atticus is struggling with a case, in which he is defending the black man Tom Robinson. Tom has been accused of raping the white girl Mayella Ewell. Atticus, as well as Jem and Scout, is assured that...
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...According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, the definition of empathy is the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings of another without having the experiences fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner. Empathy is conducted internally; it is a mindset. When empathy is combined with action, the power of our convictions can be used to effect change around us. Atticus Finch, in To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, does this in excess. Atticus has so much empathy for others that it actually clouds his judgement. Excessive empathy leads Atticus to make excuses for other’s behaviors, and to justify their wrongdoings. Atticus also lacks confidence to stand up for what and who...
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