Gender Roles In To Kill A Mockingbird

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The people of Maycomb, in To Kill a Mockingbird, are very racist and we learn this from how they react to the Tom Robinson trial. Everyone instantly believes that he is guilty and does not even want to hear his side of the story. They believe Mayella Ewell’s word against his, simply because she is white. Tom is found guilty despite all the evidence proving otherwise (Lee 1960). Even the children experience the town’s racism when Calpurnia takes them to her church. The people there want to know why she is bringing white children with her. Lula, one of the church members, even verbally attacked them, saying “You ain't got no business bringin' white chillun here—they got their church, we got our'n. It is our church, ain't it, Miss Cal?” (Lee 1960…show more content…
David has the idea that women are obligated to share their beauty with the world and that they should not hide away on a farm, doing a man’s job. Which is exactly what his daughter, Lucy does. She does not care about gender roles and does what she has to survive- she makes a simple living. It is clear that David’s ideas of what women should be and act like are long gone. In Othello and The Merchant of Venice these ideas are still very evident. Women were in the minority and had to do what their husbands told them to. They had to be by their husband’s side and support him, no matter what. Portia could not even decide who she wanted to marry on her own; her father was in control even after his death. Portia says “I may neither choose who I would, nor refuse who I dislike, so is the will of a living daughter curbed by the will of a dead father” (Shakespeare 2011. I. ii:…show more content…
All the while men are portrayed as powerful, hardworking and the sole providers. Portia rebelled against these ideas by dressing up as a man in an attempt to save her husband. She says to Nerissa “they shall think we are accomplished with what we lack” (Shakespeare 2013. III. v. 61-62), knowing that people think men are more accomplished than women. Learners need to see how wrong gender assumptions are. They need to see that girls should not be called manly if they work hard and boys should be able to enjoy art and music without being called gay. Seeing how wrong these preconditioned ideas about gender are, should give them the freedom to express themselves without the fear of being
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