To Kill a Mockingbird is the story of Scout and her adolescence in Maycomb, Alabama, in the 1930s. Her social environment is colored by traditional and contemporary gender roles and the demands and expectations that accompany them. Aunt Alexandra is the character in Scout’s closest circle of influence who embodies such ideals. However, Scout also has the nuanced influence of her father, Atticus, and her neighbor, Miss Maudie, two characters that can act as role models for Scout when it comes to conformity to gendered expectations or the rejection of the same. As such, these characters also demonstrate that agency is a factor, even in such instances as gender. Beauvoir, Butler, Wittig, and Jay, to mention some of the research referenced in this essay, contribute to a reading of the novel and of Scout from the perspective of socially constructed gender, or more specifically, socially constructed femininity. Scout is biologically female, but this essay argues, with the aid of the above-mentioned scholars and their work, that this fact does not mean that there is such a thing as inherent femininity. Instead, Scout personifies the agency within socially constructed gender as she chooses to conform or reject the expectations based on her due to her sex. Furthermore, she is able to do so in part because of her tomboy appearance and the insight she gains regarding the stereotypes surrounding her, as well as the role models she finds in Atticus and Miss Maudie and their androgynous approach to life and their surroundings in turn.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:hig-44566 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Grottling, Amanda |
| Publisher | Högskolan i Gävle, Avdelningen för humaniora |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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