Chapters 26 & 27: 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? (Rhys)
Scout is confused in class because of Miss Gates’ hypocrisy about the persecution of minority races and religious groups. During current events, Miss Gates explains Adolf Hitler’s, prejudice towards the Jewish people, but she does not acknowledge the prejudice in Maycomb. Miss Gates is hypocritical when she compares the U.S to Germany. She says, “ We are a democracy and Germany is a dictatorship… Over here we don’t believe in persecuting anybody” (Lee 281). Miss Gates claims that the Nazi Germans are prejudiced towards Jews, but she doesn’t include that the people of Maycomb are prejudiced towards African Americans. Scout is confused on how people can “hate Hitler so bad and then turn around and be ugly about folks right at home” (Lee 283). Scout also wonders how the people of Maycomb can say that the Germans are prejudiced without noticing that they have prejudice themselves. Prejudice is also significantly involved in the Tom Robinson case as the verdict voted in favor of Mayella Ewell without definitive evidence. Harper Lee includes this scene because she wants to illustrate that Scout is aware of prejudice in Maycomb because of her father; however, Miss Gates is not. Scout is confused in class because of Miss Gates’ hypocrisy and prejudice towards African Americans.
Scout is confused in Miss Gate's class because she doesn't understand how Maycomb is a democracy while Germany is a dictatorship while the similar and almost the same things are happening in both places. In Germany, it was the time of the Holocaust so the Jews were being mistreated by the Nazis while in Maycomb, African American people were being mistreated as well. She is being a hypocrite because she only acknowledges what the Germans are doing wrong, almost as if she is considering African American people as nonexistent. Scout is confused because she doesn't understand her teachers hypocrisy and disagrees with her.
ReplyDeleteScout is young and not yet tainted by racism. Therefore while Miss Gates likely doesn't realize her hypocrisy, Scout sees it clearly, to the point of being confused. This shows how children see the world through a different lens. While adults are often biased by their experience, children are naive. It also shows that even though Scout has matured a bit through the trial she still does not completely understand racism.
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