Analysis Of Stereotypes In 'To Kill A Mockingbird'

Improved Essays
Sander L. Gilman is an American cultural and literary historian known for his contributions to Jewish studies and the history of medicine. Among the ninety books he has written, he wrote Difference and Pathology and introduces many ideas of how people stereotype in the introduction “What Are Stereotypes and Why Use Texts to Study Them?”. In the introduction, he starts to develop many concepts of how people stereotype. Whether it be stereotyping in a good or bad way, we understand that stereotyping isn’t random or made up, but instead, relies on social structures that already exist. Social structures regarding stereotypes were built through historical context. The creation of stereotypes came from what we see in history. Every group has their …show more content…
When a group makes a demand on society, the stereotype is resurrected. In “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, tells the tale about white lawyer named Atticus Finch, who defended an innocent black man for raping a young white lady. In the novel, she had claimed that Tom Robinson, an innocent black man had raped her, in fear that her father would beat and rape her. Black people were not accepted in society and had carried on a bad reputation. The stereotype today of “All black men ae dangerous” still exists and from what we know in history, that stereotype had already existed. An innocent black man was used as a scapegoat in the novel because he was an easy target, for being black. Recently, the stereotype of all black men being dangerous reemerged after “Black Lives Matter”, a movement “is an ideological and political intervention in a world where Black lives are systematically and intentionally targeted for demise” (Black Lives Matter). This movement began a call to action in response to violence and anti-Black racism. Their intention was to connect Black people from all over the world who have a shared desire for justice to act together and prevent racial discrimination. In response to fighting for equality, riots have broken out in response to make a demand that black lives matter. They are standing up for what they believe in and are still getting stereotyped negatively. Because of those riots, black men in society are stereotyped for being dangerous because they have that reputation for being

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Why does the word of an honest man sometime go unnoticed? Martin Luther King Jr. once expressed “The ultimate tragedy is not the opposition and cruelty by the bad people, but the silence over that by the good people.”. In a town where the common opinion and mindset is a preset prejudice of racism, the smaller unheard of belief that is more accurate gets turned down. Atticus Finch, a man who is brave enough to accept a case he know he is going to lose to prove a point. Equally important, someone who stands up to those who want to hurt him to protect others.…

    • 1038 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Stereotypes have been around longer than most believe. A primary example is during the Nazi era in Germany, when the government put out photos of "the Jews" having big pointy noses. They were shown as greedy monsters who smelled bad and whose jobs were to ruin the government. Another example is the "cholo" look. The look is seen on the mexican youth.…

    • 1411 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Stereotypes are a way of categorizing people. This concept is explained in Social Psychology as a way of “thinking about a person not as an individual, but as a member of a group, and projecting what (you think) you know about the group onto your expectations about that person” (Page…

    • 1341 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The title of this literature is Whistling Vivaldi: “How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do.” The author of this literature is Dr. Claude M. Steele who wrote this book as a story of social psychology research and the construct of stereotype threat. Dr. Steele was born in the outskirts of Chicago during the 1950’s (Steele, 2011, p. 1-15). His father was a truck driver and his mother was a social worker. It was at the age of seven or eight years old when Dr. Steele realized he was black.…

    • 850 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    According to a poll conducted by the Associated Press, 56 percent of Americans, whether unwittingly or knowingly, express Negrophobia, which is the irrational fear or dislike of black people (Terbush, Jonathan). Regrettably, most African-Americans are stereotyped just because of their skin color, which necessitates the never-ending cycle of hatred amongst the races. Unfortunately, Brent Staples, a cultural and political writer for the New York Times, knows this horrible feeling of invoking unsolicited fear in people all too well. Born in Chester, Pennsylvania, Brent Staples recalls in this essay the unfounded racial preconceived notions that he, just because he was black, was a low-class thug that was out to harm them in some way, instead…

    • 416 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In today's society is perfectly fine to be who you'd like to be. The judgmental levels with people are dropping; however, some older people still don't believe that you should act any different then how they were raised. In the 1930s there society believed it was inhuman to love or have any form of relationship with another race. Today, gay marriage is legal in all states, where back in the 1930s where the book To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee takes place this was never thought of. Today our society is laid back, it's not expected to see girls in dresses anymore.…

    • 846 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Price of Prejudice Reading old books in seventh grade would not be the most fun activity for most of us, but The Pearl, To Kill a Mockingbird and "Twelve Angry Men" would be an exemption from that category. Each story has racism, which causes the reader to pity the victim and detest the offender. Also in all of the books, the main characters go through a very life threatening and life changing attack, which makes the characters change substantially. Furthermore, all of the stories teach a moral to the readers, which make them learn a lesson and become a better person.…

    • 1483 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Two, dangerous.” Despite the fact that there is nothing inherently more “dangerous” about African American men in comparison to White men, society has given minority men this connotation. It is questionable as to why this is the acceptable norm. Yet, based on the chronological order Wallis has placed the two given characteristics, it is evident that just being African American automatically makes one “guilty” and wrong. “Guilty” implies that a crime was committed, yet all minorities have ever done to receive this judgment was be born.…

    • 705 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The movement black lives matter is a recent phenomenon about issues that have been present for a long time. Blacks have always been oppressed and wrongfully killed. At the same time that black males are in the state of aggression they are also feeling as if they are victims. With the recent shootings of unarmed black males, it has left them feeling as if they are the victims to every everything not realizing that its the lifestyle that’s really doing most of the damage. The average black male paradigm is usually reactive, and passive, and not very proactive.…

    • 1071 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Black Lives Matter Riots

    • 250 Words
    • 1 Pages

    A group known as Black Lives Matter has been created to combat police brutality against minority men and to exclaim these lives should not be taken away or put in harm’s way simply because of the pigment of their skin. However, according to the media, this group has caused more harm than good (McClain, 2016). Not only has it caused a divide between police and minorities but it has also caused a divide between minorities and Caucasian Americans. The riots, while they bring exposure to the incidents, they do not actually change anything. The public perception of something that started out as a positive initiative has quickly shifted to a facilitator of racism.…

    • 250 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Prejudice In the Society of Maycomb County “Prejudice is a learned trait. You’re not born prejudiced; you’re taught it.” Charles R. Swindoll once said. This quote relates to the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, because we see how racism in society influences the kids. Jem, Scout, and even Dill realize how the people of Maycomb treat others who are different than them.…

    • 1009 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As a philosopher, Allan Bloom said, “reason transformed into prejudice is the worst form of prejudice, because reason is the only instrument for liberation from prejudice”. Harper Lee explores prejudice and how it affects society in her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. The main character is a young girl named Scout, growing up in the 1930’s in Maycomb County, Alabama. Her father, Atticus is a lawyer, and tries to raise his kids to be unprejudiced. Having been raised this way, Scout and her brother Jem, struggle to understand the prejudiced ways of their society, sometimes showing their own prejudices themselves despite Atticus’ efforts.…

    • 1998 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Prejudice in To Kill a Mockingbird The definition of prejudice is preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience. There is a lot of prejudice throughout the book To Kill a Mockingbird. The author of this book is Harper Lee. It was published in 1960 and was a book based around the Great depression.…

    • 729 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Racism is an overwhelming problem that impacts our country and ultimately, our world greatly. Although, we are in a much better place than we were at the time of the Jim Crow laws, the United States still has many obstacles to overcome. The first article “Black Men and Public Space,” written by Brent Staples, shows different cultures discriminating against others. Staples explains how people stereotype him as the typical black male, even though he has chosen “to remain a shadow--timid, but a survivor” (348). Consequently, he chooses to try and make people more comfortable around him by whistling classics or waiting until certain people pass, in hopes that one day, racism is a thing of the past.…

    • 1510 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Essay On Stereotypes

    • 710 Words
    • 3 Pages

    We are all the objects of stereotypes at some point in our lives and they affect us in many ways. We are influenced by the world around us to be what everyone wants to see, not who we really…

    • 710 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays