To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee demonstrates to us how gender and class affects people in a myriad ways. The social issues are shown through the eyes Jean Louise 'Scout' Finch, our young female protagonist. Through her eyes, the effects of class and gender in the 1930's are revealed so they can be compared to the issues society has today. Gender and class issues impact people in the time time period of To Kill a Mockingbird as well as in the present day just in different ways. In the novel, the characters deal with problems caused by sexism. Scout despises wearing dresses which makes her different than what her town of Maycomb expects of her. Women in this society are supposed to behave properly and "should be in a dress and camisole
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The men do not have to be genteel but the women do. After the trial against an innocent black man, Tom Robinson, Scout questions "why don't people like us and Miss Maudie ever sit on juries" (Lee 221). Her father, Atticus, replies that "Miss Maudie can't serve on a jury because she is a woman... I doubt if we'd ever get a completed case tried- the ladies'd be interrupting to ask questions" (Lee 221). Back in the 1930's when this story takes place, women do not posses the right to serve on a jury; they do not obtain this right until 1966. Women such as Miss Maudie, Scout's cordial neighbor, may likely have made a better decision than to convict a man based on his race as the men on the jury did. The stereotype that Atticus portrays in his statement is that all women like to chit- chat, and because of this, they cannot get any work done. These are not fair assumptions and shows how reveals their world is. Scout wants women to be allowed to do the same things as men. Throughout the novel, Scout is told many times that she is "being a girl" because "girls always imagined things" and if she does not toughen up she will have to "just go off and …show more content…
Children are effected by this class discrimination today too. There education is effected because "you can't assume they have books at home, or they visit the library" (Layton). These lower class children are not stupid and "can learn at the highest levels" (Layton), but they don't do as well as other kids in higher classes. They do not have as many resources. More and more students a growing up in poverty in each year so the problem is continuing to become worse and worse. When a person grows up in a household that has less money they may "develop academic skills more slowly compared to children from higher SES groups" (Education). If the kids at the lower class do not receive a good education, then they cannot obtain good jobs and may not be able to have a higher class family of their own thus continuing the cycle and widening the gap. This gap is wider than it has ever been. In the 30's, people had different amounts of wealth, but for the most part, everyone was poor. Today's world has a large lower class, a small middle class, and the wealthiest have the majority of the money. The gap between the highest and the lowest classes is the largest is has ever been. Many people are doing much better than in the Great Depression, "but the people at the bottom are not doing better at all." (Layton). The depression caused everyone to be poor but now there is a more clear distinction between the blue-collared
The men do not have to be genteel but the women do. After the trial against an innocent black man, Tom Robinson, Scout questions "why don't people like us and Miss Maudie ever sit on juries" (Lee 221). Her father, Atticus, replies that "Miss Maudie can't serve on a jury because she is a woman... I doubt if we'd ever get a completed case tried- the ladies'd be interrupting to ask questions" (Lee 221). Back in the 1930's when this story takes place, women do not posses the right to serve on a jury; they do not obtain this right until 1966. Women such as Miss Maudie, Scout's cordial neighbor, may likely have made a better decision than to convict a man based on his race as the men on the jury did. The stereotype that Atticus portrays in his statement is that all women like to chit- chat, and because of this, they cannot get any work done. These are not fair assumptions and shows how reveals their world is. Scout wants women to be allowed to do the same things as men. Throughout the novel, Scout is told many times that she is "being a girl" because "girls always imagined things" and if she does not toughen up she will have to "just go off and …show more content…
Children are effected by this class discrimination today too. There education is effected because "you can't assume they have books at home, or they visit the library" (Layton). These lower class children are not stupid and "can learn at the highest levels" (Layton), but they don't do as well as other kids in higher classes. They do not have as many resources. More and more students a growing up in poverty in each year so the problem is continuing to become worse and worse. When a person grows up in a household that has less money they may "develop academic skills more slowly compared to children from higher SES groups" (Education). If the kids at the lower class do not receive a good education, then they cannot obtain good jobs and may not be able to have a higher class family of their own thus continuing the cycle and widening the gap. This gap is wider than it has ever been. In the 30's, people had different amounts of wealth, but for the most part, everyone was poor. Today's world has a large lower class, a small middle class, and the wealthiest have the majority of the money. The gap between the highest and the lowest classes is the largest is has ever been. Many people are doing much better than in the Great Depression, "but the people at the bottom are not doing better at all." (Layton). The depression caused everyone to be poor but now there is a more clear distinction between the blue-collared