What kinds of social divisions does Harper Lee show us in her novel PDF

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Social Divisions Isaac Newton once said, “We built too many walls and not enough bridges.”Social divisions are the classification of individuals into “better” or “worse” categories on the basis of characteristics such as gender, age, class, ethnicity and health. Relations between social divisions reinforce a system of hierarchy, the position of people in the hiercharchy system determines the amount of opportunities, respect and challenges they will encounter in the everyday lives. The concepts of social divisions closely ties in with Harper Lee's Novel to Kill a Mockingbird, a southern gothic novel where a Black man is falsely convicted of raping a white woman, the lawyer who defends the black man experiences social conflicts from the white community and a young girl who faces discrimination for being a tomboy. In the novel, Harper Lee analyzes the damaging effects of discrimination through the use of characters with various positions on the hierarchical system who experience racism, stereotyping on gender roles and prejudice on ancestry.

In Maycomb, the societal norms on female gender roles dictates a women’s behavior, depicts women in a delicate manner and the law forbids them to serve on the jury. Firstly, the societal stereotypes demands upper-class women to behave correspondingly to a Southern Belle, behave a certain way, think a certain way and posses certain qualities. Scout's aunt is a typical Southern Belle, she presses Scout to follow these certain attributes and follow her feminine examples. However, Scout is a Tomboy. Scout said, “Aunt Alexandra was fanatical on the subject of my attire. I could not possibly hope to be a lady if I wore breeches; when I said I could do nothing in a dress, she said I wasn't supposed to be doing things that required pants. Aunt Alexandra's vision of my deportment involved playing with small stoves, tea sets, and wearing the Add-A-Pearl necklace she gave me when I was born; furthermore, I should be a ray of sunshine in

my father's lonely life.” Aunt Alexandra doesn’t accept the fact that Scout is a Tomboy, she tells Atticus that her personality is sluggish and ends up hurting Scout's feelings. Furthermore, the society believes that women are delicate and need to be protected. "There has been a request," Judge Taylor said, "that this courtroom be cleared of spectators, or at least of women and children, a request that will be denied for the time being.” The society believes that cases like these would harm the fragile ladies, that they are just as delicate as children and they shouldn’t be allowed to attend these particular hearings. Moreover, laws forbade women to a part of the jury. Atticus said, "For one thing, Miss Maudie can't serve on a jury because she's a woman..." Scout said, "You mean women in Alabama can't-?" Atticus then says, "I do. I guess it's to protect our frail ladies from sordid cases like Tom's,” Scout thought, “Miss Maudie on a jury would be impressive.” Women in Maycomb are not allowed to be on juries and it’s a loss because women like Miss.Maudie would have been more than capable in ensuring that justice is served. To conclude, gender roles on women can have damaging affects on the women and the society.

In Maycomb, the societal norms on female gender roles dictates a women’s behavior, depicts women in a delicate manner and the law forbids them to serve on the jury. Firstly, the societal gender roles demands upper-class women to behave like a Southern Belle. Southern belle are upper class women in the deep south America, they are excellent cook, have perfect manners, dressed well and are family oriented. Aunt Alexandra is a typical southern belle and pressures Scout to follow her examples, however, Scout is a tomboy. She said, “Aunt Alexandra was fanatical on the subject of my attire. I could not possibly hope to be a lady if I wore breeches; when I said I could do nothing in a dress, she said I wasn't supposed to be doing things that required pants. Aunt Alexandra's vision of my deportment involved playing with small stoves, tea sets, and wearing the Add-A-Pearl necklace she gave me when I was born; furthermore, I should be a ray of sunshine in my father's lonely life.” Aunt Alexandra doesn’t accept the fact that Scout is a Tomboy, she tells Atticus that her

personality is sluggish and ends up hurting Scout's feelings. Furthermore, the society believes that women are delicate and need to be protected. "There has been a request," Judge Taylor said, "that this courtroom be cleared of spectators, or at least of women and children, a request that will be denied for the time being.” The society believes that cases like these would harm the fragile ladies, that they are just as delicate as children and they shouldn’t be allowed to attend these particular hearings. Moreover, laws forbade women to a part of the jury. Atticus said, "For one thing, Miss Maudie can't serve on a jury because she's a woman..." Scout said, "You mean women in Alabama can't-?" Atticus then says, "I do. I guess it's to protect our frail ladies from sordid cases like Tom's,” Scout thought, “Miss Maudie on a jury would be impressive.” Women in Maycomb are not allowed to be on juries and it’s a loss because women like Miss.Maudie would have been more than capable in ensuring that justice is served. To conclude, gender roles on women can have damaging affects on the women and the society.

Firstly, the societal gender roles demands upper-class women to behave like a Southern Belle. Southern belle are upper class women in the deep south America, they are excellent cook, have perfect manners, dressed well and are family oriented. Aunt Alexandra is a typical southern belle and pressures Scout to follow her examples, however, Scout is a tomboy. Firstly,...