Reading Response

To Kill A Mockingbird

“Boy’s don’t cook.” Phrases like this and many others are loosely tossed around, especially in the 30s. The main character of Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird”, Scout, is a girl, (a bit of a tomboy), and often gets told by various people that she can’t wear pants or be tough. Sexism is one of the main themes in this book. Even though she gets told these things, she still believes some gender roles, as did most people back when the book was written.

Every Christmas, Scout and her family go to visit Aunt Alexandra and her grandson, Francis. Aunt Alexandra forces Scout to wear a dress instead of pants every year. When Scout argues that it is difficult for her to play wearing a dress, Aunt Alexandra says that the kind of playing she should be doing should not have need for pants. She thinks that Scout should be playing with tea sets and dolls, instead of outside, with her brother. Aunt Alexandra believed that girls and boys each have specific clothes they need to wear and games they need to play. She says that Scout “could not possibly hope to be a lady if [she] wore breeches” Aunt Alexandra doesn’t respect Scout’s tomboyish personality, she judges people based on gender.

Also during Christmas, Francis told Scout that Aunt Alexandra was going to teach him how to cook. To this she replied, “Boy’s don’t cook.” This shows that back in the 30s there were defined gender roles for people. Everyone might not have believed in all of them, but everyone believed in some, whether they realized it or not. Scout didn’t agree with Aunt Alexandra saying that girls have to wear dresses and play with tea sets, but she still thinks that girls should be doing the cooking.

Before Scout and her family go to visit Aunt Alexandra and Francis, Scout’s Uncle Jack comes to visit them. Around this time, Scout begins to curse, saying things like damn and hell. Uncle Jack noticed this, and told Scout to stop. “You want to grow up to be a lady, don’t you?” he asked her. Uncle Jack thinks thinks that Scout should stop cursing because she’s a girl, and is supposed to be a ‘lady’ and have perfect manners. this shows that Uncle Jack doesn’t think she should be allowed to be tough, just because she’s a girl.

All of these unfair stereotypes prove that its important to respect everyone and their personality. Don’t just assume they are one way because they are a boy or a girl. Aunt Alexandra told Scout what type of games she was supposed to be playing and what she should be wearing, all based on her gender. Uncle Jack told Scout that she had to have nice manners because she was a girl. Scout told Francis he couldn’t cook because he was a boy. A lot of these stereotypes are part of the time period of the book and not modern day. We have made so much progress in terms of stereotypes and sexism from the 30s, and hopefully we can make more until there are no more left.