Gender stereotypes in The Crucible, Huckleberry Finn and To Kill a Mockingbird
Despite Western culture’s progress beyond dueling, chastity belts, or smelling salts, most of us can agree that we have work to do before we can scratch “gender equality” out of the picture. old to-do list. The popularity of many gender stereotypes is certainly not helping, especially when you consider how long some of them have been around. For a quick survey of some American stereotypes, let’s take a look at three American literary classics.
Set during the Salem witch trials in Puritan New England, Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” begins when two girls become ill after being caught dancing in the woods at night. The locals immediately jump to the conclusion that they are involved in witchcraft, and since denial is more dangerous than confession, the girls have no choice but to agree… After which they implicate a bunch of other girls. people just for fun.
As the witch hunt spirals out of control, it is interesting to note that the suspects are almost exclusively women. This sets up an interesting chain of logic: woods; witchcraft; women. The seventeenth-century association between femininity and wild nature implies that, on the contrary, structured and civilized society falls under the domination of men. Which shouldn’t surprise you, considering how few women on The Crucible hold positions of political power. (See also: none). We guess that’s why they call it Mother Nature and not Uncle Earth.
Another familiar gender stereotype can be found in Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn. After taking off down the Mississippi River, Huck must keep his identity hidden from him to prevent people from realizing that he is a lost and endangered boy. During his first foray into town, Huck poses as a girl on her way to visit her relatives. Although the woman Huck stays with is not fooled, he willingly decides to give her some tips on how to pass as a girl.
Important in this list of female attributes is throwing clumsily and inaccurately, implying that physical prowess is primarily a male trait. (And if the expression “throw like a girl” has anything to say about it, the stereotype is alive and well today.) Acknowledging that men are, on average, stronger than women is one thing, but insisting that women are physically inept is another altogether.
Which brings us to Harper Lee’s civil rights masterpiece, To Kill a Mockingbird. The novel’s beloved narrator is a six-year-old tomboy named Scout with a quick mind, a sharp tongue, and a wicked right hook. She stands up for herself with her brother’s friends and sometimes has to avoid fighting with kids older than her. Her frilly aunt Alexandria struggles in vain to teach her dresses, polite language, and tea, but with little success: Scout is hell-bent on never becoming “girly.”
While it can easily be argued that a little girl emulating her boisterous older brother is no more of a non-conformist than a little girl emulating, say, her prissy, proper mother, this is exactly the point: much of human behavior is mere nonsense. As a matter of conformity to a given social atmosphere, it is difficult to say what unadulterated masculinity or femininity could really be like, or whether these states exist in the first place.
Leave a Reply