Examples Of Hypocrisy In To Kill A Mockingbird

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A hypocritical comment can be followed with “Don’t be the pot calling the kettle black!” Being a hypocrite can be as simple as shaming someone for watching trashy television and then going home and watching the season premiere of Keeping up with the Kardashians, or it can be complex like a politician's campaign. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee there is great deal of hypocrisy with varying degrees of severity. As the novel is concluding and Scout returns to school, the topic of Hitler surfaced when Cecil Jacobs does a current event on him. As the class and Miss Gates are rattled by the appalling news, Miss Gates explains how lucky they all are to live in America, “Over here we don’t believe persecuting anybody. Persecution…show more content…
“ Well, coming out of the courthouse that night Miss. Gates was she- was talkin with Miss. Stephanie Crawford. I heard her say it’s time somebody taught ‘em a lesson they were gettin’ way above themselves, an’ the next thing they think they can do is marry us. Jem, how can you hate Hitler so bad an’ then turn around and be ugly about folks right at home--” (Page 283) This is a true example of hypocrisy because Miss Gates got shaken up while talking about how Adolf Hitler wrongly victimized innocent jews. She goes on about how Tom Robinson being convicted was a good thing, but really he was in the same position as the Jewish people under Hitler’s jurisdiction. Both were wrongly…show more content…
Not only did Mrs. Merriweather insult the man of the house and his work, she insulted the north for not accepting the blacks as their brothers and sisters. “ At least we don’t have that sin on our shoulders down here. People up there set ‘em free, but you don’t see ‘em settin’ at the table with ‘em. At least we don’t have the deceit to say to ‘em yes you’re as good as we are but stay away from us. Down here we just say you live your way and we’ll live ours.” (Page 267) While Mrs. Merriweather may be right about them not sitting together at dinner and carrying on a normal conversation as if they were both from the same race, she is wrong about black people being able to live their own life in the south. African americans aren’t able to live their lives because of Jim Crow laws or because they aren’t allowed to live near town or drink from the same water fountain. For example, Tom Robinson was trying to live his life, but was eventually framed for raping Mayella Ewell. Mrs. Merriweather, was accusing the people from the north for not accepting and equally treating the blacks but, people in Maycomb are doing the same thing, but the Africans in the south have even fewer opportunities and are treated even worse. Mrs. Merriweather may be recognized as a high class matron of Maycomb but she’s
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