To Kill A Mockingbird Stereotypes Essay

Great Essays
Metamorphosis
Over the course of time, there have been a great many classical novels written that embalm the essence of humanity. The truly great works of literature capture the human element, confronting prevalent issues in society through their thought provoking messages. Often these works of art challenge sociological stereotypes. Most of these stereotypes are even prominent to this day. A modern day stereotype such as the concept of it being impossible for someone growing up in an abusive or neglected childhood will never be a successful adult is contradicted by Harper Lee’s, To Kill A Mockingbird. This deep contradiction is illustrated through the use of Boo Radley and Mayella, added to the concept of modern day celebrities grown from
…show more content…
The first step towards success is coming to grips with the problems and obstacles. Personally, I view Mayella as a working progress towards a successful adult growing up in a very abusive environment her whole life. In fact, there a very famous, and very successful singer, Christina Aguilera came from an incredibly abusive household that shows what hard work and hope can accomplish. She has released in interviews that growing up with her army sergeant father was no walk in the park. During her time living with her father, she was often beaten and turned to her mother for safety. Christina Aguilera says, “Growing up I did not feel safe. Feeling powerless is the worst feeling in the world.” One particular beating resulted in her face being covered in blood influenced her mother to take the daughters and move away. From that point, Christina turned to singing to block out the pain and trauma. Aguilera revealed in an interview, “I turned to singing as an outlet. The pain at home is where my love for music came from.” As she grew up, she solely focused on making a successful life for herself with a complete separation from her father. Thriving under the spotlight, Aguilera attained a great level of talent and fame. A biography of her states, “Aguilera's work has earned her numerous awards, including four Grammy

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
  • Decent Essays

    Scout and Jem are asked/encouraged to think about Boo Radley as a man, not a monster. Calpurnia makes certain that Scout does not treat Walter Cunningham like he is lesser than the Finches. Atticus advises the children that they are needed/demanded to trear black people and even people like Mrs. Dubose with…

    • 53 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Harper Lee exemplifies the characters using specific archetypes such as Terrorist, Matriarch/ Patriarch, and Sadist. Throughout the story she uses each archetype to plan and organized the novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” and successfully recites the wonderful master piece. Each archetype has their own reason and own description to excite the readers. From the Terrorist being Atticus, to the Sadist being Bob Ewell the novels throws punches using the characters themselves. Although, Aunt Alexandra isn’t considered to be a main character her archetype is the Matriarch/ Patriarch.…

    • 478 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In this day and age prejudice is not as normal as it was in the 1900's. In the mid 1900's prejudice was exceptionally normal, and a large portion of the white Americans were supremacist to the Minorities. In spite of the fact that bigotry was basic in the 1900's it is currently disliked and not extremely normal by any stretch of the imagination. Minorities are currently not dismisses in this day and age, and are acknowledged like whatever other individual.…

    • 1114 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Jem showed how Boo Radley was part of a prejudice society when he was describing his physical characteristics to Dill. “Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that’s why his hands were bloodstained – if you ate an animal raw, you could never wash the blood off. There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten, his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time.” (Lee 13). The kids would also hear stories about Boo from adults who almost brainwashed the younger generation to have the same views of Boo to them, just a little less imaginative.…

    • 430 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Close that curtain, Jessie, I have no wish to regard my garden and examine the destruction caused by that, horrible little boy.” “That’s more appropriate, now where’s my tea, go and fetch it at once!” “Maids, what’s becoming of them, acting as though they are equals to us white folk, it’s simply not allowed!” Crossing my arms I lean back and ponder the situation “It doesn’t help this situation when no one listens to my opinion, sure they believe there’s a difference between themselves and their maids, however they have no idea how alike they appear.” “Finally back Jessie?…

    • 653 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Recently, there have been protests at the University of Missouri about how the school had handled racial incidents, which resulted in the resignation of the university's president. Many people think that racial incidents don't occur today, but that isn't true. The reason racial incidents still occur today is because of prejudice. Prejudice is when people judge others when they only know a little or nothing about that person. People should know another person enough before judging them.…

    • 631 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    People people never wanted to go around the Radley's house because of these roumors. This is a very clear example of prejudice, all of the people of Maycomb believed Boo was dangerous and insane because of something he did in his past. Maycomb's citzens did not try to think of Boo's situation and critizie him and judge him. The fact that he did not come outside gave them more reasons to make up rumors. The citzens made up these roumors because they were not exactly sure what happened when Boo stabbed his dad, so they started to come up with things that could fit the cracks.…

    • 1026 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    He plays video games he must be a loser and it’s not like he really going anywhere in life. This might be true but at the same time it might not. Take Mr. Jordan for example, he is a very successful teacher and he LOVES to play video games. Saying things like this is jumping to unfair conclusion. This is being prejudice to everyone who plays video game.…

    • 1002 Words
    • 5 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

    To Kill a Mockingbird is filled with symbolism used to display different themes. A major symbol is the mockingbird. Mockingbirds are harmless creatures that just sing and make the world a happier place. Lee uses three main characters that resemble greatly to mockingbirds to get her subtle, but imperative points across. One of these mockingbirds is forced to meet his maker, another is forced is forced to kill, and the last mockingbird’s innocence is forced to slowly die.…

    • 1251 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    To Kill A Mockingbird- The Negative Effects of Prejudice Prejudice is disliking someone or having hatred based on something they cannot control in To Kill A Mockingbird this is something that happens in their everyday lives. To Kill A Mockingbird is a story of a small town with a lot of racism between the people who live in Maycomb. Within the story there is trial where in the end it comes down to white vrs black.…

    • 706 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The people that surround her abuse Mayella physically and mentally while treating her as nothing more than an extra hand. Scout even says this about Mayella in Chapter 19, “As Tom Robinson gave his testimony, it came to me that Mayella Ewell must have been the loneliest person in the world. She was even lonelier than Boo Radley, who had not been out of the house in twenty-five years.” It was because of this loneliness that she reached out for Tom Robinson. Mayella saw something in Tom that she hadn’t ever seen in her dismal and secluded life; compassion.…

    • 1065 Words
    • 5 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

    To Kill a Mockingbird Essay - Racism It doesn’t matter what race you are. In the dark we’re all the same color. In Harper Lee's book, To Kill A Mockingbird, there are many examples of racism. During this time in history racism was acceptable.…

    • 797 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays