Through the horribly wrong, racially skewed trial of Tom Robinson, to the brutality in the racist words of Mrs. Dubose to Jem and Scout about Atticus, to the thoughts of Aunt Alexandra not thinking of Scout as a regular girl, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee has two major themes of race and gender differences and roles. Through these events we see a shift in the maturity and thoughts about race and gender in our main character, Scout. With the help of minor characters, such as Mr. Raymond, and with the help of the idea that your gender and race decides your role in society during this time period, we see Scout develop an understanding that factors such as race and gender will, in a way, decide what your role in society is and what people
…show more content…
To prove this fact, I took the converse that happened between Scout and Mr. Raymond during the beginning of chapter 20. Here we see Mr. Raymond explaining to Scout, and to Dill, why he always “[does] like [he] [does]”, and why “[he] pretends” about his interracial life (Lee 228-229). While explaining why he acts so drunk, so he has an excuse to be married to a negro, and so he doesn’t have to deal with people's anger towards him because of his marriage, we see Scout start to realize that he acts a certain way because of the extreme racial tension during this time. Along with Mr. Raymond, Atticus helps Scout develop an understanding about race in their time period when he said to her that “cheatin’ a colored man is ten times as worse as cheatin’ a white man” (Lee 230). Even Atticus, a man with no hate towards the black race, knows that because of the time period, the color of blacks’ skin, and the racial tension that blacks would be worse off if they got caught doing something wrong, over a white man, which is an idea that we see Scout develop as well. By connecting what Mr. Raymond told her, and what Atticus had said to her in the past, Scout begins to expand and understand on the sad truth that in this time period people think of you and deem you a role in society, no matter the length and kindness of your
To prove this fact, I took the converse that happened between Scout and Mr. Raymond during the beginning of chapter 20. Here we see Mr. Raymond explaining to Scout, and to Dill, why he always “[does] like [he] [does]”, and why “[he] pretends” about his interracial life (Lee 228-229). While explaining why he acts so drunk, so he has an excuse to be married to a negro, and so he doesn’t have to deal with people's anger towards him because of his marriage, we see Scout start to realize that he acts a certain way because of the extreme racial tension during this time. Along with Mr. Raymond, Atticus helps Scout develop an understanding about race in their time period when he said to her that “cheatin’ a colored man is ten times as worse as cheatin’ a white man” (Lee 230). Even Atticus, a man with no hate towards the black race, knows that because of the time period, the color of blacks’ skin, and the racial tension that blacks would be worse off if they got caught doing something wrong, over a white man, which is an idea that we see Scout develop as well. By connecting what Mr. Raymond told her, and what Atticus had said to her in the past, Scout begins to expand and understand on the sad truth that in this time period people think of you and deem you a role in society, no matter the length and kindness of your