Thursday, October 11, 2018
Explore Scout's confusion in class. What is the root of Scout's confusion about Miss Gates? How is Miss Gates being a hypocrite? Why does Harper Lee include this? What is the purpose? (Sophia)
In class Miss Gates is drilling “We are a democracy” into the students’ third grader brains. The poor students barely know what these words mean, yet they are being taught from a young age that if they are racist it will be overlooked. When Miss Gates asked Scout to define the word democracy, Scout said, “Equal rights for all, special privileges for none”(Lee 328). When Miss Gates agrees with Scout, Scout is very confused, because she is aware of the fact that in their community, whites get special privileges all the time and the black people of the community are never treated as equals to the white community. Miss Gates is being hypocritical by agreeing with Scout’s definition and acting as if the community of Maycomb lives by this definition. Also, as Cecil Jacobs gave a current events presentation about Adolf Hitler and the Jews in Germany, Miss Gates explains how awful it is to mistreat people. Harper Lee found it important to add this because it shows how oblivious the white people of Maycomb are to the fact that they are constantly being racist towards the black people in their town.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I agree with Sophia about how the Maycomb community is not all completely equal. Another way Miss Gates is being a hypocrite is that at the courthouse and Scout overheard Miss Grates talking. "...She was talking with Miss Stephanie Crawford. I heard her say it's time somebody taught 'em a lesson, they were gettin' way above themselves, an' the next thing they think they can do is marry us." (Lee 331) Miss Grates is talking about how wrong it is to treat people badly and then talk bad about the black community. Miss Grates is also trying to make the black community feel below the white community as she talks to Miss Stephanie Crawford. Overall, She was being a hypocrite by hating on Hitler but then turning around and doing the same thing.
ReplyDeleteI think that Sophia is right on that Maycomb county is not equal at all and in this time period there was not a lot of equality anywhere in the world which Scout learns. Miss Gates said," I heard her say it's time somebody taught 'em a lesson, they were gettin' way above themselves, an' the next thing they think they can do is marry us"(331). Mrs. Gates agrees that it is wrong to treat black people worse just because of the color of there skin because everyone is equal. When she is talking about Hitler and the Jewish peoples situation she thinks that what Hitler's actions were justified. Scout overhears Mrs.Gates and Miss Crawfords conversation where she is talking bad about the black community which is why she is a hypocrite. Mrs. Gates thinks all are equal but when one is not treated equal she thinks that it is okay.
ReplyDelete