...Stereotypes are saying bad things about someone because they belong in a certain group or race Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird both are based on the theme of stereotypes. In the next 3 paragraphs I will talk about stereotypes in To Kill a Mockingbird, The Merchant of Venice, and finally compare the stereotypes in both. There are many stereotypes and these 2 stories contain many that are alike. One big theme in To Kill a Mockingbird is stereotypes. First of all there is a stereotype that scout should wear a dress and act more like a girl because she is a tomboy. Aunt Alexandra says this. “Aunt Alexandra was fanatical on the subject of my attire. I could not possibly hope to be a lady if I wore breeches”(81). This shows that Aunt Alexandra wants Scout to be more like a lady. Secondly there’s Tom Robinson who is black and wrongly accused. Tom was accused of raping Mayella Ewell and in the end the jury voted him guilty even though Atticus explains the evidence is in Tom’s favor “To begin with, this case should have never come to trial”(203). This quote shows that Atticus’s evidence is perfectly clear and Tom isn’t guilty but in the end because Tom is black the jury assumes he is bad and votes him guilty. Finally black people don’t have the same rights as white people. For example Calpurnia brings Scout and Jem to church and a lady gets mad and asked Calpurnia why she brought white kids to the black church day. “I wants to know why you...
Words: 861 - Pages: 4
...Stereotypes are saying bad things about someone because they belong in a certain group or race Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird both are based on the theme of stereotypes. In the next 3 paragraphs I will talk about stereotypes in To Kill a Mockingbird, The Merchant of Venice, and finally compare the stereotypes in both. There are many stereotypes and these 2 stories contain many that are alike. One big theme in To Kill a Mockingbird is stereotypes. First of all there is a stereotype that scout should wear a dress and act more like a girl because she is a tomboy. Aunt Alexandra says this. “Aunt Alexandra was fanatical on the subject of my attire. I could not possibly hope to be a lady if I wore breeches”(81). This shows that Aunt Alexandra wants Scout to be more like a lady. Secondly there’s Tom Robinson who is black and wrongly accused. Tom was accused of raping Mayella Ewell and in the end the jury voted him guilty even though Atticus explains the evidence is in Tom’s favor “To begin with, this case should have never come to trial”(203). This quote shows that Atticus’s evidence is perfectly clear and Tom isn’t guilty but in the end because Tom is black the jury assumes he is bad and votes him guilty. Finally black people don’t have the same rights as white people. For example Calpurnia brings Scout and Jem to church and a lady gets mad and asked Calpurnia why she brought white kids to the black church day. “I wants to know why you...
Words: 360 - Pages: 2
...Society has a collection of rules. One of those rules are the way a person should look, dress, act, etc. this is known as gender roles. Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird has heaps of them. From Aunt Alexandra’s view of how a lady should look/act, to Scout saying that boys don’t cook. Scout is a character that defies these gender roles. Aunt Alexandra and Scout do not see eye to eye. Aunt Alexandra has her own idea of how a lady should look and act, and so does Scout. Alexandra is known as a lady to the women of Maycomb, she dresses nicely, and she hosts neighborhood tea parties. “Aunt Alexandra was fanatical on the subject of my attire. I [Scout] could not possibly hope to be a lady if I wore breeches; when I said I could do nothing in a...
Words: 520 - Pages: 3
...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....
Words: 1080 - Pages: 5
...Stereotyping or “a stereotype” is either a negative or positive preconceived thought towards a certain gender, race, religion, or a particular age group, etc. Stereotyping can slip in without a second thought & people frequently never realize they’re stereotyping since they’re used to it. Individually, we all stereotype things whether we notice it or not. That is called unconscious bias. Where our brain makes automatic judgements. For example; from thinking certain animals are always extremely aggressive or the thinking that a person is up to no good because of their skin color or area they live in. Basically, people who are not the same skin color, are of a different religion, different gender, or age can be affected by stereotypes no matter...
Words: 253 - Pages: 2
...According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, the definition of stereotype is “to believe unfairly that all people or things with a particular characteristic are the same.” Stereotypes are always around in literature. It adds to the conflict to the story, to make it more entertaining. In any story there will always be a stereotype involved. This holds true for To Kill a Mockingbird. Every element is affected by stereotypes. Every character and situation has a stereotype in the novel. The characters of To Kill a Mockingbird each have a stereotype about them that affects their lives and the stereotypes of the story is one of the main themes. Scout, Jean Louise Finch, is Atticus’s daughter, who is a tomboy. She is often told to be a young lady....
Words: 1641 - Pages: 7
...Thesis: Lee’s philosophies of hypocrisy, the difference between right and wrong, and the symbolism of the mockingbird is shown by the use of dialogue, and characterization. In the novel, Lee expresses hypocrisy within the Society through the use of three characters. Lee shows hypocrisy with the use of Miss Gates, Scout’s third grade teacher. Miss Gates teaches the class about all the evil things Hitler does to the Jews in Germany. Showing her students why she disagrees with Hitler, Miss Gates tells the class that “over here we don’t believe in persecuting anybody. Persecution comes from people who are prejudiced” (208-209). However, while at the Missionary Society meeting Scout overhears Miss Gates talking about how Tom Robinson's conviction...
Words: 1076 - Pages: 5
..."Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird... Mockingbirds don't do one thing except make music for us to enjoy." To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is such an important and inspiring book with so many significant characters. Among the many characters is friend, brother, and father, Atticus Finch, one of the most influential characters in literature. Atticus Finch is such an exceptional role model for readers because he gives wise and loving advice, is determined and respectful to all blacks, and can look past stereotypes and be welcoming. Atticus Finch is an caring and intelligent man who knows right from wrong and helps people, especially his kids, out in difficult situations, by reminding them or being a role model himself. "You just hold your head high and be a gentleman whatever she says to you, it's your job not to let her make you mad." Atticus told his kids how to properly behave in front of Mrs. Dubose, so they don't get hurt or do the wrong thing. They learned from this because later Jem reminds Scout of this when she is getting worked up by Mrs. Dubose. Atticus looks out for his kids and reminds...
Words: 583 - Pages: 3
...experiences. This prejudice appears a great deal in the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The charters within the novel will judge someone just based on age, race or sex. This leads conflict within the small community of maycomb county, within the days leading up to a major trial between an african american and white man. Society often will label people based on age, sex and race; leading to stereotyping and a false prejudice...
Words: 1181 - Pages: 5
...People make up a lot of things about Autism people that are not true. Some stereotypes are that they don’t have emotion and that all autism are good at math. Those things are different for different people with autism. An example that a person with autism can have emotion is that there was a girl named Alaina and she grew up with autism her whole life and she experienced all the normal emotions that all people have. She says that she crys when she watches sad movies. She also cries when she see other cry. She even said that she is more emotional than most of her friends so that shows that even though she is autism she has emotion (5 Autism Stereotypes I Fit, and 5 I Don't). It is a fact that autism doesn’t affect what your personality. Also being autism doesn’t affect how you act. With autism everyone experiences it different like some could struggle at showing emotion but someone else with autism doesn’t. So this is a big stereotype about autism people. Assuming this can make you treat them different and anyone with autism wants to fit in and wants to be treated the same so saying they don’t...
Words: 616 - Pages: 3
...In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, many characters represent mockingbirds, one symbolic mockingbird is Scout Finch.In this case, a symbolic mockingbird is a person or thing that has done nothing to be harmed, yet is harmed. This book takes place in the 1930’s when racism was a huge issue and women had certain standards from a young age. Scout’s father (Atticus) was an attorney appointed to cover Tom Robinson (an African American), who was convicted of rape, to insure he had a fair trial.Several times in the novel Scout was put in situations that show she represented a mockingbird such as being picked on by other children,being attacked by Bob Ewell, and being shamed for attending a African American church. Early on in the...
Words: 560 - Pages: 3
...Have you realIzed you are just bothered by something that someone is doing or acting but you don’t know why. During the time period in To Kill a Mockingbird everyone ( The Townsfolk) looks at everyone and if you do something wrong you're going down for it. During To Kill a Mockingbird throughout the book scout gets criticized by wearing what she wants and to other people's point of view she needs to act and look like a girl. Scout struggles with this because she wants to act and look her own way. In To Kill a Mockingbird no one will get in scouts way to be herself. Atticus has to deal with everyone thinking about him in a certain way because everyone is criticizing him for defending a black man. During this book there are a lot of stereotypes that the finches and Tom Robinson has to deal with. To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee shows that people criticize other people's lifestyles if it isn’t normal to them, which make them feel better about their life. In this book a lot of people seem to criticize people on how they live and how they do things in their own way. Some...
Words: 794 - Pages: 4
...In the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, there was plenty of misunderstanding, prejudice, stereotype, and bias. But misunderstanding was an idea that came up the most. To Kill A Mockingbird shows misunderstanding in society from a child’s point-of-view and not an adult’s point-of-view because adults are more mature and they don’t have as much imagination as a child does. This is shown from a child’s point-of-view because children have more creativity and are more energetic than adults. In society, misunderstanding can be seen when people do unusual things. This can be seen on page 24 where Scout, one of the main characters in the novel, doesn’t know why Walter, another character in the novel, pours syrup on his vegetables. The reason why Walter pours syrup on his vegetables is because Walter is poor and he has never tried sugar. People do things like this because they’re hungry or they’ve never tried sweets. Misunderstanding shows how people don’t understand...
Words: 419 - Pages: 2
...Have you ever wondered what a short story is? Well let me tell you. A short story is when you stereotype someone or something based on a story or stories. It is like hearing that broccoli tastes bad from the internet so you never eat broccoli, even though you have never tried it. You don’t truly understand something until you try it or understand someone unless you walk in their shoes. Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird, the theme of a single story is shown through Boo Radley, Tom Robinson, and Dolphus Raymond. A single story is first shown with Boo Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird. He is a man that is feared by the whole town of Maycomb. People think of him as the monster of town. A short story is first shown when the kids, Jem, Scout, and Dill, are talking about what Boo Radley looks like. Dill says that he looks like a monster and that if you see him, it will give you nightmares. Dill spoke with fear, “Boo was about six and a half feet...
Words: 899 - Pages: 4
...Symbolism in To Kill a Mockingbird Whether it is in literature or even shown in pictures, when people use things to represent something with a deeper meaning, it is called symbolism. By doing this, the reader is able to obtain a better and deeper sense of what a writer is trying to convey. In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, different symbols are used that are reflective throughout the book relating to equality either directly or indirectly. Often, the symbols that she uses are tied to the ultimate theme of the book, which is being able to understand someone from his or her point of view. The most apparent reoccurring theme is equality that is symbolized through the people, the birds, and even the inanimate objects that...
Words: 881 - Pages: 4
