Integrity In To Kill A Mockingbird

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In the fourth chapter of “To Kill A Mocking Bird” Harper Lee delineates a mood of Heroic integrity. The setting of the story is in the fictional town of Maycomb Alabama. This epic adventure begins with three children’s curiousness of the Radley’s house. One day Scout, her brother Jem and cousin Dill are playing in the front yard of their house with a really old tire. Scout is fooled by her brother to be the first to ride in it unaware that he was furious for her offensive comment on hot steams. Eager for revenge Jem pushes the tire with all the power in his body, nauseated and dizzy Scout gets up and finds out she is in the Radley’s front yard. Jem retrieves the tire from the petrifying house and is seen as hero. Harper Lee’s statement “Jem…show more content…
Men were seen as superior to woman for the fact that they were the ones with jobs, and the college degrees. The author however depicts Scout as clever because she does not believe the theory of hot steams. On the other hand Jem is smart because he tricks Scout into getting into the tire. Jem was born a hero shows that the author favors Jem because of his gender. So in all the author not only conforms to stereotype of woman but also men in a positive and negative way. At the end of the scene Jem is sent to retrieve the tire from the Radleys yard, it is certain that the author would choose him over scout because of their gender. Jem criticizes Scout by saying “Scout you’re such a girl it’s mortifying.” Lee conforms to male stereotypes because Jem is a boy he must be the dominant one. On the other hand she also conforms to feminine stereotypes by making Scout stay and making her afraid of the house. Finally, there is much evidence to suggest that the author does conform to not only male but feminine stereotypes. Through Harper Lee’s statement “Jem was born a hero” she illustrates clearly that she favors males in the novel. These inferences are sustained through stereotypical forethoughts of men and
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