Stereotypes Essay, Research Paper

Stereotypes

Pretend you are driving along on the highway. You see a person on the side of the road having car problems. This is person is wearing an Armani suit and driving a Porsche. The next day, you encounter the same incident but, this time, it is a man wearing baggy jeans with holes in them, a dirty shirt and he looks very unclean. Would you be more likely to stop for the man in the Armani suit, or the the second man? I know that I would stop for man #1. The reason I and most of our society would do so, is because we have a horrible habit. The habit is unintentional and we do it not meaning to hurt anybody This habit is stereotyping people by the way they look or talk based on what society considers normal. In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, Scout, Atticus and Tom Robinson are victims of being stereotyped by others. Each has to cope with being stereotyped. Scout and Atticus have the ability to change their ways in order for people to respect them, unlike Tom Robinson, who is stereotyped as a mutant to the town of Mayberry simply because he is black. For example people are preaching to Scout that she should act like a typical girl. Atticus is stereotyped as a traitor to his people, the white race, because he stands up for a black man, Tom Robinson, who is accused of raping a young woman. Last but not least, Tom Robinson is stereotyped as being a flaw in the human race because he is black. When he is accused of committing a rape, he is not given a fair trial, due to the fact that he is an African-American.

During a Sunday brunch, Scout s aunt, Alexandra, forces Scout to wear a skirt and help her to cook. Being a proper lady, Aunt Alexandra does not want the town ladies to think that she was raising her niece to be a tomboy. Therefore, she has Scout put on a facade. Against her will, Scout does everything a typical polite girl would do. She serves the ladies, wears a skirt, and brushes her hair. Scout goes through this tremendous effort because she does not want to be known as a tomboy simply because she would choose to climb a tree rather than bake a pie. Scout is able to make a deception. Should she change her ways to prevent getting a bad name or should she stick to her beliefs and deal with being called a tomboy. Unfortunately, Scout ignores

her morals and changes her ways.

Scout is not the only character having to rise above stereotypes. Her father, Atticus, must do so as well. Atticus, a white man, is asked to be a lawyer for Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell.. After carefully examining evidence, Atticus realizes that Tom Robinson is 100% innocent. Therefore, Atticus goes to court, where he stands up for a black man in front of a white jury. Atticus gives sure proof arguments and evidence to prove that Robinson is innocent. Unfortunately, after a long recess, Robinson is found guilty of rape. Because Atticus stood up for the truth, and went against his own race, he is stereotyped as a traitor and a blacks lover by the Ewells.. It is truly unfortunate that both Atticus and his

daughter, Scout, are cast aside by the population of their town because they go against majorities beliefs and do what they believe is decent. Although, there is one factor that separates Scout from Atticus in this situation. Both Scout and Atticus are able to control what people think of them in these particular situations. Scout becomes a conformist, while Atticus continues to stand up for his beliefs and does not change despite the fact that he will get a bad reputation.

Unlike Atticus and Scout, Tom Robinson does not have the ability change his ways in order for him to be seen as an equal because Tom s fault was that he was born black. This was not his choice or decision. When Tom Robinson was accused of committing a rape, every person knew that no matter how good Atticus s arguments were, Robinson would be found guilty simply because he was black. Blacks were considered as flaws in a wannabe-utopian society. They were treated as if they were rodents, some inferior animals that were not human because they had a dark skin tone. Being a black man, Robinson lived with this stereotype his entire life. Even though people treated Robinson worse than they would treat an animal, Robinson felt no hate towards these people. He was very polite towards them; he was always willing to lend a helping hand. Unfortunately, Tom Robinson could not change the outlook of the people.

It is obvious that Scout, Atticus, and Tom Robinson had to face the world knowing that nobody looked at their character but they looked at the title, an ignorant stereotype, given to them by society. Scout preferred to be comfortable and not wear skirts, therefore, she was a tomboy. Atticus defended an innocent man that was of color, therefore, Atticus was a black

lover. Lastly, Tom Robinson was marked guilty in the minds of the people before they even knew what he was accused of because he was born black. Unfortunately, only Scout and Atticus had the ability to change their ways to lose their bad name. Scout, Atticus, and Tom Robinson are only three examples of how society handles issues that contrast the primitive belief of normalcy. We label the object and teach our offspring s to stay away from this object.

Unfortunately, in the process of stereotyping, we ourselves are becoming a stereotype.