MASCULINITY, FEMININITY AND THE ANDROGYNOUS MIND IN HARPER LEE'S TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (original) (raw)
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INTERPRETATION OF WOMEN CHARACTERS IN HARPER LEE'S TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
It is a widely accepted fact that literature reflects society. Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird is the reflection of 1930's America. Lee meticulously captures the issues, beliefs, prejudices of the Americans in this time period in the setting of a fictitious town, Maycomb, Alabama. Maycomb is a small town of close-knit families living for decades in that town. Though this is her first and the only novel (1920) till she would go on to publish Go Set a Watchman (2015) in 2015, Mockingbird received rave reviews and critical acclaim for her novel. Mockingbird received the Pulitzer Prize and went on to become a classic American novel which is prescribed in American Schools. The narrative is partly autobiographical as it is vaguely based on the incidents Lee witnessed in her hometown in 1936. The novel though deals with a very critical issue, racial prejudice, is simultaneously warm and educative of human values. The protagonist, Scout Finch, learns her lessons of compassion and courage at the hands of her father, Atticus Finch and their domestic help, Calpurnia. The present paper deals with the portrayal of women in Mockingbird. Lee portrays her women as strong, assertive, ethical and nurturing. Simultaneously, we have certain social characters who are stereotypes and the accuser, Mayella of Tom Robinson, a negative character. It is interesting to note the strong roles, both positive and negative, the women characters play in this novel. The paper makes a note of the strikingly contrasting characteristics and attempts to study the autobiographical elements behind the portrayal of women characters in the Mockingbird.
A STUDY ON THE VARIOUS FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION IN HARPER LEE’S “TO KILL A MOCKING BIRD”
Everyone has their own prejudice that leads to differentiate certain set of people in the society and they are subjugated in the name of race, class, colour, ecomonic condition and so on. This discrimination leads to societal imbalance and creates a void in human relationship. This dissertation focuses on various kinds of discrimination in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. The work analyses the discrimination faced by Black community in the White American society. It also analyses the class struggle prevailing within the White community and the societal prejudices upon poor Whites. The novel breaks the colour stereotypes of White people, that Blacks are bad. The research focuses on the psychological depression and the traumatic journey of certain characters.
Racism and Cultural Clashes in Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird.pdf- Copy
This thesis presents Harper Lee’s view about prejudice, race racism and cultural clashes of social life in To Kill A Mockingbird. The aim of the thesis is to analyze deeply about the concept of prejudice and racism and cultural clashes of Harper Lee from the point of view of Scout as the main character in this novel. The discussion began by analyzing intrinsic and extrinsic elements. The intrinsic elements novel such as character and characterization, conflict and setting and the extrinsic element taken from the social conflict America at glance in 1930s. From the intrinsic and extrinsic elements, the reflection of Harper Lee’s view a struggle of a white man who defend a nigger which is in that time defending nigger such a disgrace for white people from the social judgments. The methods used are library research method and approach. The library research method is to gain information related to discussion. The approaches used here are structural and sociological approach. Structural approach is used to analyze character and characterization, setting, conflict, while sociological approach was applied to analyze Racial Prejudice in this novel. The result of the analysis shows that Scout as the main character is described as a person who is naïve, understanding girl, smart, emotional, lovely. She experiences the internal conflict, person against herself. The external conflict overwhelm Scout against some others characters and the society. In this novel Harper Lee’s shows her point of view on prejudice ,racism and cultural anarchy. She tries to tell people in the novel if Alabama in 1930s was full of prejudice and racism action from white people to black people. So, because of the prejudice black people always become the victim or person that blamed as a criminal when there was a case between white and black before or after the court. And the way the mocking voice of race people were sung by the narration of Harper Lee through her novel To Kill A Mockingbird.
Segregation in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird Hamza Koudri Reviewed
SEGREGATION IN HARPER LEE’S TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD: A CASE OF RACE, CLASS AND GENDER, 2017
This dissertation constructs a comprehensive reading of race, class and gender as portrayed in Harper Lee’s 1960 novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, and attempts to separate those forms of segregation in order to better understand their interaction. This work aims to investigate to what extent To Kill a Mockingbird is an anti-racism novel. While race is at the heart of the novel, Lee strives to denounce different forms of bigotry such as class and gender. This dissertation also explores the extent to which Harper Lee’s novel can be considered to be a progressive novel by analyzing the author’s use of narration techniques and critiquing the solutions she suggests for social ailments. A question that is often brought up in this context is how well can a white author write black stories? The dissertation uses two main literary theories to reach the said objectives. The first one is Stephen Greenblatt’s New Historicism, a theory that explains a literary work reconnecting it with the time period in which it is produced and identify it with the cultural and political movements of the time. The second approach used in this work is Kenneth Burke’s Sociological Criticism, which aims at placing literature within its economic, political and, especially social context, and seeks to find social flaws by looking into the structure of society. Following the guidelines of these two theories, this works revolves around four main axes. The first chapter compares between the representations of black and white characters in the novel. Lee deals with blacks mostly in terms of masses, with little emphasis on individual agents, whereas whites receive much more developed characterization, raising intriguing questions regarding her ambivalent attitude towards race. The second chapter aims at determining the extent to which the author succeeds in highlighting the individuality of blacks, and their role as individual agents of change. Third, the dissertation highlights the author’s view on a decaying old South that clings to old perceptions of class, and her vision for a more progressive society. The fourth and final section of this thesis looks at gender as another basis for segregation, underlining the intersection of gender, race, class and religion and emphasizing the role of women in negotiating their roles in an oppressively prejudiced society. While Lee follows her progressive precedents, Mark Twain and Ralph Emerson, both in their dependence on the individual agents and their call to give up old traditions and follow human ethics and principles in order to bring about salvation for the Old South, it so happens that Lee’s individual agents are white male elite.
The power of stereotypes in the construction of meaning in to kill a mockingbird by harper lee
Peer Reviewed Article, 2024
Harper Lee's novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" serves as a compelling exploration of the profound influence of stereotypes on the construction of meaning within the narrative. This study explores the complex dynamics of racial and societal stereotypes predominant in the fictional town of Maycomb, illuminating their persistent impact on character development, plot progression, and the broader thematic significance of the novel. Through a comprehensive analysis of the characters' interactions, societal power dynamics, and the overarching narrative themes, this research highlights the ways in which stereotypes shape readers' understanding and perception of the story. Additionally, the study examines the author's nuanced message regarding the dangers of stereotypical thinking and the transformative potential of empathy and critical reflection in challenging societal prejudices. By digging into the complexities of stereotypical representations and their implications for contemporary society, this article contributes to a deeper understanding of the intricate interplay between literature, stereotypes, and the construction of societal meaning.
Acts of Anti-Racism Reflected in Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird (1960
IJMRAP, 2022
This research aims to identify and analyze acts of antiracism as reflected in Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird (1960). The method used in this study is a descriptive qualitative method to elaborate the acts of anti-racism occurred in the novel. The results showed the acts against racism in the novel can be encountered in Atticus Finch character which served as a lawyer to defend a black man which has been accused as a white woman rapist. Another act against racism found is how Atticus Finch taught his children about equality.
Veda's Journal of English Language and Literature (JOELL), 2024
https://www.joell.in/vol-11-issue-3-2024/ https://www.joell.in/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/78-82-THE-EXPERIENCE-OF-OTHERING-ANALYSIS-OF-HARPER-LEES-TO-KILL-A-MOCKINGBIRD.pdf Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird (1960), written at the height of Civil Rights Movement in America, occupies an iconic status in the American cultural imaginary. Thematically revolving around the adventures of the nine-year old Scout, Jem, and Dill in their hometown, the racially-segregated Maycomb, and Atticus Finch's defense of a Black man named Tom Robinson who is falsely accused of raping a White woman, the novel deals with the perennial questions of identity, its intersections with race, class and gender, and its implications on the individuals' right to freedom and life. While the events of the novel are firmly rooted in the context of specific time and place, this paper argues that it profoundly resonates with the contemporary experience of racial, gender and class-based "othering". The paper explores the ways in which the process of "othering" and marginalization manifests in the novel by delving into specific instances from the lives of characters like Tom Robinson and Boo Radley. Amidst these difficult experiences, the novel probes into the possibility of social justice that the power of law can uphold. This paper examines how Atticus Finch, both as a lawyer and a father, upholds law as a means of delivering social justice as well as advocates his belief in each individual's judicious sensibility that allows him/her to be generous, tolerant and humane towards fellow beings. The proposed paper makes a case for To Kill a Mockingbird as a text of enduring value that exemplifies the futility of legal change if not accompanied by fundamental shift in prejudiced mindsets that sow the seeds of institutionalized "othering" and oppression of those different or opposite to oneselves.
2015
Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof was written during a period of immense prosperity as well as socio-political upheaval in 1950s North America. The feminist as well as the Civil Rights movements were gaining rapid ground in many states in the USA. However, the Southern states of America seem to have been left in a time warp. This paper will attempt a racially sensitive and feminist re-reading of Tennessee Williams' popular play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in order to gauge the extent to which the Southern women in the play are victims of patriarchy and also to reveal the racial prejudice casually and comfortably implicit in the narrative.