Analyzing To Kill a Mockingbird By Applying Feminist Criticism

尹媛华　殷萍

【Abstract】To Kill a Mockingbird is Harper Lees only novel which concerns the life and experience of a little girl named Scott. Most of the analysis or essays about this novel focus on the racial issue about the raping case of Tom Robinson. But in this essay， I am going to analyze two of the female characters—Scout and Mayella Ewell by applying feminist criticism， especially the patriarchy aspect.

【Key words】Scout； Mayella Ewell； feminism； patriarchy

【作者簡介】尹媛华，殷萍，河北工业职业技术学院。

The novel TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD is often talked about in terms of racial conflict. But in general they can be divided into two groups representing entirely different females at that time of the Southern America， The first with Scout as the representative and the second with Mayella Ewell.

1. Scout （Jean Louise）

When the novel， To Kill a Mockingbird， was written by Harper Lee， the Southern United States was still clinging tightly to traditional values which pressured men to behave as gentlemen， and women were expected to be polite and wear dresses. These rigor gender roles were popular in small southern towns because they were isolated from the more progressive attitudes in other areas of the United States.

Lee， through Scout， depicts a young girl who is anything but a traditional southern female searching for her identity. Harper Lee establishes and promotes Scouts masculine characteristics through the use of nicknames， fighting， and masculine clothing， while contrasting her with women that fit the stereotypical female models. The reason for the forming of Scouts masculine nature has something to do with her family environment. For instance：

“Jem， please-”“Scout， Im tellin you for the last time， shut your trap or go home——I declare to the Lord your gettin more like a girl every day！”With that， I had no option but to join them.

This is what Simone de Beauvoir intends to express “One is not born a woman； rather， one becomes a woman.”

Having never been oppressed by the surroundings， she can say what she want to say and do what she want to do.

Scouts primary identification with her father and older brother allows her to describe the variety and depth of the female characters in the novel. During her growing up， Scout realizes what being female means， and several female characters influence her development. Apart from these women， Scout also has a right recognition about Mayella Ewell who destroys an innocent man in order to hide her own desire for him.

2. Mayella Ewell

Feminists believe that women are control by men while Harper Lee shares the same point of view. Lee expresses in To Kill a Mockingbird that patriarchy is the cause of womens oppression. Patriarchy in its wide definition means the manifestation and institutionalization of men dominance over women in society in general. It implies that men hold power in all important institutions of society and that women are deprived of access of such power.

With regard of this， Mayella Ewell is the victim of patriarchy and is also a tragic female role who is made to keep house and take care of younger brothers and sisters. She is a drudge， a sufferer of abuse of all kinds at the hands of her alcoholic father. Her life was a hopeless circulation of work and poverty， no chance to go to school， no friends and no hope.

This role was one that sadly reflected the true conditions of many such young women in the rural South at that time， abused， unloved and disregarded， who have no self-concept and dont realize what they really need. Despite her lies that convicted Tom Robinson， we have to feel sorrow at the tragedy imposed on Mayella.

3. Conclusion

As a child， Harper Lee was an unruly tomboy. She fought on the playground. She talked back to teachers. She was bored with school and resisted any sort of conformity. The character of Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird would have liked her. Both of them are not confined by the patriarchy against which Scout is an ideal image created by Lee to fight.

So in this novel the character Scout is the spokesman of feminists who has the courage to fight their own rights and knows their own identities， while women like Mayella Ewell are the victims of patriarchy who have no self-aspect.

References：

[1]Harper Lee.To Kill a Mockingbird[J].London：Pan Book Ltd，1974.

[2]Simone de Beauvoir.The Second Sex[J].1949.

[3]Yang Xi，The Gothic Features in To Kill a Mockingbird. Hebei Normal University，2010.

[4]Zhang Zhongzai，Zhao Guoxin. Selected Readings in Classical Western Critical Theory[M].Beijing：Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press，2006.