To fully understand the complex characters portrayed in To Kill a Mockingbird, one must take a flashback to the sleepy Southern town, Maycomb, Alabama, in the 1930s. A flashback is defined as a transition to an earlier event or scene that interrupts the normal chronological order of the story. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee describes a small, Southern town in the midst of the Great Depression of the 1920s and 1930s. Lee specifies the fact that gender roles and ethnical stereotypes are major themes that are tied together during the story's time period in Maycomb, Alabama by painting vivid pictures of her characters that she creates.
Scout Finch, the narrator, holds the first complex gender role found in To Kill a Mockingbird. Scout is …show more content…
Dubose, who first chastises Scout for speaking out in class and then about Scout's habitual attire. Mrs. Dubose is racist, and she seems to be the stereotypical southern belle. (Meaning all southern belles are racist? ) In her old age, she becomes a morphine addict. Lee makes her readers wonder what happened in Mrs. Dubose's life to lead to this addiction. Mrs. Dubsose was also ridiculed by her friends from church for being stingy with her time. Jem(Do you need to describe all of the characters or are you assuming the reader has read the book?) also has a part in calling Scout out because she does not act like a girl. Scout identifies with more male characters in the book: Jem, Dill, and her father, Atticus. She refuses and hates the frills and flounces of "proper little girls" (Middel, 1). She prefers her overalls, sneakers, games, and fights. She considers her Aunt Alexandra and Mrs. Dubose altogether useless, and she wants nothing to do with …show more content…
These refer to a very helpful tool of racist white people. These tools were portrayed in novels, dramas, and film. Calpurnia does not fit the stereotypical "mammy." Lee uses exaggeration and delirium to create situations surrounding African-Americans. Calpurnia is maternal, caring, and hardworking. Atticus' late wife died two years after Scout was born, and Calpurnia takes the matriarchal role in her absence. She is African-American, but her character also defies the stereotype of being ignorant and uneducated. She is actually the complete opposite. Calpurnia teaches both Jem and Scout to read. The teachers are not happy, but Calpurnia is determined to influence the children positively. She has strength and independence, and gives the children a different view of African-Americans. She is not swayed by other town members. She is not racist toward white people, and she is not a Southern belle. She portrays Atticus Finch in a female body, and she is feminist like Scout.
Mrs. Pecolia Barge was an African-American lady, born in 1923 just outside of Birmingham, Alabama. She grew up around the same time as Scout did in To Kill a Mockingbird. Like Calpurnia, she defied all stereotypes after graduating with a college degree and sending her three children on to college and then to professional jobs. Northern readers find old predjudices about the South replaced by the
Scout Finch, the narrator, holds the first complex gender role found in To Kill a Mockingbird. Scout is …show more content…
Dubose, who first chastises Scout for speaking out in class and then about Scout's habitual attire. Mrs. Dubose is racist, and she seems to be the stereotypical southern belle. (Meaning all southern belles are racist? ) In her old age, she becomes a morphine addict. Lee makes her readers wonder what happened in Mrs. Dubose's life to lead to this addiction. Mrs. Dubsose was also ridiculed by her friends from church for being stingy with her time. Jem(Do you need to describe all of the characters or are you assuming the reader has read the book?) also has a part in calling Scout out because she does not act like a girl. Scout identifies with more male characters in the book: Jem, Dill, and her father, Atticus. She refuses and hates the frills and flounces of "proper little girls" (Middel, 1). She prefers her overalls, sneakers, games, and fights. She considers her Aunt Alexandra and Mrs. Dubose altogether useless, and she wants nothing to do with …show more content…
These refer to a very helpful tool of racist white people. These tools were portrayed in novels, dramas, and film. Calpurnia does not fit the stereotypical "mammy." Lee uses exaggeration and delirium to create situations surrounding African-Americans. Calpurnia is maternal, caring, and hardworking. Atticus' late wife died two years after Scout was born, and Calpurnia takes the matriarchal role in her absence. She is African-American, but her character also defies the stereotype of being ignorant and uneducated. She is actually the complete opposite. Calpurnia teaches both Jem and Scout to read. The teachers are not happy, but Calpurnia is determined to influence the children positively. She has strength and independence, and gives the children a different view of African-Americans. She is not swayed by other town members. She is not racist toward white people, and she is not a Southern belle. She portrays Atticus Finch in a female body, and she is feminist like Scout.
Mrs. Pecolia Barge was an African-American lady, born in 1923 just outside of Birmingham, Alabama. She grew up around the same time as Scout did in To Kill a Mockingbird. Like Calpurnia, she defied all stereotypes after graduating with a college degree and sending her three children on to college and then to professional jobs. Northern readers find old predjudices about the South replaced by the