Scout Finch: Gender & Prejudice in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird

Tomboy in Maycomb: Scout’s Unique Identity

The book that I read for Marking Period 2 was To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The genre of To Kill A Mockingbird is a novel, thriller, mystery, domestic fiction, and a legal story. The story is about two kids called Jeremy Finch (Jem) and Jean Louise Finch (Scout) and their father, Atticus Finch, who is a lawyer. The Scout and her brother are having a fine life until their father decides to defend a black man who is accused of raping a white woman.

Scout Finch is a spunky nine-year-old who is very intelligent despite her tomboy appearance and personality. She often gets into fights and hates to be looked over, but when the Tom Robinson trial comes around and affects her life, she develops a more grown-up look at things. This different perspective shows her how cruel and unfair humanity is but also shows her the goodness of what a person can be and do. Jem Finch is a playmate and friend of Scouts’ but also is a regular boy who loves to play sports and take dares. Jem is four years older than Scout and starts to mature and separate himself from Scout’s immaturity when the Tom Robinson case comes. Jem’s ideals and virtues of what he knows are right and wrong are strongly shaken by the injustice and evil of the Robinson trial.

Atticus Finch is the father of Jem, and Scout is the lawyer of Maycomb and is one of the only residents who believe in racial equality. When Atticus takes on the role of defending Tom Robinson, he leaves his family vulnerable to all the hate of the white community. Though his children’s eyes are being opened to the injustice and hatred of their racist community, he has taught them his morals of fairness, which help them during their journey and keep as a backbone to the story. The major conflict in the story is between Tom Robinson, a black man who is accused of rapeing a white girl, Mayella Ewell, and her father, Bob Ewell, who is pressing the charges. Another conflict is that Atticus’s sister comes to stay and has much hatred for their cook, a black woman named Calpurnia.

“To Kill A Mockingbird”: Reflections & Recommendations

I genuinely enjoyed To Kill A Mockingbird. It raised a great deal of discussion points and great morality and equality points. It made me uncomfortable in certain parts, but it should because it shows how much wrong and evil there is in the racist townsfolk. It shows how there is evil and people who can act inhumanly in the world. It also shows how there is goodness and that you need to fight for the good and push the evil aside even if things don’t go the right way. I do not like the part during the trial of Tom Robinson. It was unnerving and uncomfortable and just left a bad feeling.

I recommend this book to a much older and more mature audience, no younger than 12, unless you know they can handle it. Some of the topics that they discuss are for a much older audience and would be distressing or confusing to someone younger. I do encourage any gender to read this book, and it would be great for a book club because of the good discussion points.

References

• Lee, H. (1960). To Kill a Mockingbird. J.B. Lippincott & Co.

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