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Examples Of Sexism In To Kill A Mockingbird

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Maycomb County is an oxymoron. It is connected by racist views but divided because some people did not believe in racism. In the movie, “To Kill a Mockingbird’, the absence of important scenes, key characters and subtle details that were found in the book minimize the extreme views of the racists in Maycomb County Society. The missing elements minimize racism, conceal sexism, and suppress the importance of the Southern aristocracy.
In “TKAM”, the absence of the Finch Landing Christmas scene eliminates a significant aspect to the racism displayed in Maycomb County. A moviegoer is shortchanged because “TKAM” does not show the intensity of the racism during that time. In TKAM, Aunt Alexandra, Atticus’s sister, is hosting everyone for Christmas including her grandson Francis. During the gathering, Francis shouts at Scout, “He’s nothin’ but a …show more content…
For the moviegoer however, the issue of sexism is barely touched upon. Yes, the movie shows an all male jury, and Scout dressed in pants and acting tomboyish, but the constant struggle to develop Scout into a stereotypical southern girl is completely missing. This is because Aunt Alexandra is left out from the movie and the focus is on Atticus and the trial, not Scout. Sadly, the moviegoer does not get to learn that Aunt Alexandra came to Maycomb County to ensure that Scout has “some feminine influence” (page 170). Nor does the moviegoer get to witness Aunt Alexandra’s constant attempts to change Scout into “Jean Louise” (page 307). And by determining what she could wear, “I could not hope to be a lady if I wore my breeches…” (page 108). Or how she played, “my deportment involved playing with small stoves, tea sets, and wearing the Add-A-Pearl necklace she gave me when I was born;”(page 108) Unfortunately, Harper Lee’s brilliant emphasis on sexism in Maycomb County was not worthy enough to make it onto the movie

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