Gender Equality In To Kill A Mockingbird

The best way to sum up the sixties is that it was an era with a multitude of ideological clashes. Americans were split on issues such as race, gender, and sexual orientation while the world was divided between Capitalism and Communism. These views can be found in American pop culture, especially literature. Themes such as gender equality, racial equality, anti-war sentiment, technological advancements, and religion can be found in literary pieces during the 1960s. On August 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment was ratified, granting women the right to vote. From 1920 to the Sixties, even to the present day, women have continuously fought for gender equality. For example, The Feminine Mystique, by Betty Friedan, is about how women are dissatisfied with their lives due to their dependence on their husbands for financial, emotional, and intellectual support.1 Friedan is making the point that because of gender inequality in America, women are …show more content…
One of the most famous pieces of literature during this time period is To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. In her book, Lee illustrates how racism makes people blind to the truth. In the book, Tom, a black man, is accused of assaulting a young white girl. In the trial, the evidence exonerates Tom. But because of assumptions, stereotypes, and flat out racism, the white jury found Tom guilty. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee makes it evidently clear there is no merit to racial inequality.3Another novel, Black Like Me, by John Howard Griffin, tackles the issue of racial inequality. In his nonfiction book, he accounts how he was treated by whites when he dressed up as a black man. The book goes into great details about how Griffin was attacked, turned away by clerks and employers, and bombarded with insults and profanities.4 Griffin’s book revealed to the American people how much hate and prejudice African Americans were up