To Kill a Mockingbird Theme of Women and Femininity

Being called a girl is about the worst thing possible – or so thinks Scout, the female protagonist of To Kill a Mockingbird. Girls wear frilly pink dresses, and don’t get to play outside, swear, or pretty much do anything fun. Even less appealing to the tomboy Scout, at least at first, is the thought of growing up into a lady, and being plunged into a confusing world where no one says what they mean. As the novel progresses, however, so do Scout’s views on femininity, as she realizes that being a lady requires skill, and sometimes even courage.

1. Why does Scout take being called a girl as an insult?
2. What effect does their lack of a mother have on Jem and Scout?
3. What models of femininity do the different female characters in the novel demonstrate for Scout?

To Kill a Mockingbird suggests that questioning the "polite fiction" of "Southern womanhood" (15.39) has the potential to undermine not just gender attitudes, but racial ones as well.

Scout’s reluctance to be feminine both asserts and denies her maturity, and is a way for her to try to grow up on her own terms.