Scout is confused by Miss Gates because Miss Gates is a hypocrite. While explaining why Adolf Hitler is persecuting the Jews, Miss Gates says that persecution is wrong and "Persecution comes from people who are prejudiced," (Lee 329). However, Miss Gates is one of those people that are prejudiced. Miss Gates is just against black human rights instead of Jewish human rights. This confuses Scout because she doesn't see how someone can get so angry about persecution of one race or religion, and then turn around and do the same thing to another race. Scout tries to get a better understanding, but when she asks Jem, "How can you hate Hitler so bad an' then turn around and be ugly about folks right at home..."(Lee 331), Jem freaks out and never answers her question. Scout knows that Miss Gates supports persecuting blacks because Scout overhears her teacher talking after the Tom Robinson trial that "it's time somebody taught 'em, (the black community), a lesson," (Lee 331). Most of the other school children understand Miss Gates point of view because they have been raised in a racist household. Scout, on the other hand, has been raised by Atticus. Atticus has taught Scout that all men are created equal and to think for herself, so it causes her a lot more confusion then her other classmates. Harper Lee included this scene to show that almost all humans are hypocrites, whether they realize it or not. Humans opinions make them blind to the truth sometimes. This scene also helps connect the history of African Americans and the Holocaust. These two stories both cast dark shadows on the worlds history, but at the time the population of the US felt much more empathetic towards the Jews because the Jews were white. Neither blacks nor Jews had ever done anything wrong, and both were punished for reasons they couldn't control; either their skin color or their beliefs.
Do you think Miss Gates is a bad person for only sympathizing with the Jews and not the blacks? Do you think that Scout's naivety helps her understand this situation better than the other children who have had their opinions pushed upon them by their parents?
Miss Gates is definitely a bad person for being a hypocrite. On one hand, she is sympathetic to the Jews, and, "she got real red in the face about it". But later, she is talking to Stephanie Crawford about how glad she was that some of the blacks were taught a lesson. It's like she said you shouldn't eat junk food, and was literally eating through a bag of Doritos! However, it is not Scout's naivety that lets her see what is happening. It is that she has Atticus as a father. Before the trial, Cecil Jacobs insults Scout by saying, " My folks said your daddy was a disgrace an' that nigger oughta hang from the water tank!"(Lee 102) Cecil Jacobs and other children weren't raised the same way as Scout and Jem were. They were raised basically the opposite. Because of this, they won't understand what's wrong with racism like Scout does.
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Deleteoliver ROctober 9, 2013 at 7:27 PM
I respectfully disagree with you. You say she is definitely a bad person for being a hypocrite, yet I don't believe being a hypocrite makes her a bad person just, as Carly said, a good but misguided person. That being said I don't believe she is a good person either, she's just like most of Maycomb, neutral. I also believe part of Scouts confusion, maybe a minimal part, comes from hearing Atticus talk about Hitler. On page 329 Atticus calls Hitler a maniac, but later he says "It is not okay to hate hitler, it is not ok to hate anyone (Lee,330). She is not old enough to think in more shades than black and white, so she can't comprehend Atticus' openly insulting and being disgusted by Hitler, yet saying of course he doesn't hate Hitler. While not at all the main source of Scouts confusion, I thought this was important to point out because it puts in perspective that, although yes she has grown a lot throughout the book, Scout still has a lot of growing to do.
I believe Miss Gates is one of the "good misguided people in this town," (Lee, 311). Like many of the people in Maycomb Miss Gates is a bit confused. She believes in the right things but does not know it yet. She says that it is wrong what Hitler is doing but it is a very similar situation to what people are doing to black people. She just can't put that part together yet. I believe that she is a good representation of most people in Maycomb, because she like most of the community believe the idea of what is happening to blacks is wrong but she doesn't see how the Jewish are related to black people in this sense.
ReplyDeleteHarper Lee added this scene to the story to show that the people of Maycomb are hypocrites, and that they apply social rules and morals only to who they choose. After Cecil presents his Current News report about Hitler persecuting the Jews, Miss Gates explains how Hitler is a dictator who wants to rid Germany of Jews because in Germany, it isn't a democracy like it is in the United States. "Over here we don't believe in persecuting anybody... persecution comes from people who are prejudiced," (Lee 329), Miss Grant tells the class, when in fact, she is very prejudiced herself... Scout overheard her insulting black people when she was leaving the courthouse. Miss Grant is being hypocritical by using an "all men are created equal" approach to teaching her class about Hitler, while she doesn't apply this belief to black people. "...they're white, ain't they?" (Lee 329) Cecil asks Miss Grant when he's wondering why Hitler would want to hurt the Jews. This shows the readers that Miss Grant isn't the only person in Maycomb who believes that "all white men are created equal" instead of "all people are created equal". This allows us to see that Maycomb is on it's way to reaching an acceptance of different groups of people, but it also still has a long way to go.
ReplyDeleteThrough this scene Harper Lee is able to show that people are not all bad because they do not support blacks, and are in fact equally kind and thoughtful. Ms. Gates does not support the murder of innocent people, yet is blind to see people of different races being killed for no reason in her own town, such as Tom Robinson. Ms. Gates clearly states persecution in her class room while talking about Hitler brutally killing innocent people for their different views, "Persecution comes from people who are prejudice," (Lee 329). Ms. Gates is not able to look past the fact that people who are black are bad. Overall prejudice is unjust when it is being directed to a group of people based on race, religion, skin color etc. If the people of Maycomb can make the connection of the holocaust to the discrimination of black people in their own community, Maycomb will be a more fair place. In time Maycomb will accept blacks into society, but the next generation must become more liberal like Jem and Scout for this to happen in the future.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that Ms. Gates is a bad person but she has been taught the wrong lessons like many of the children growing up in the heart of the south in the 1900s. The reason why she is hypocritic is because she doesn't know better. The thought of black people being unequal has been seared into her personality and everyday life. She doesn't even realize that what she's saying is wrong. "They contribute to every society they live in, and most of all, they are deeply religious people" (Lee 329). Ms. Gates is explaining to the class the reasoning behind Hitlers thoughts and from the way she is describing it she seems like a woman with good morals. She just doesn't understand and she hasn't looked into the similarities between the Jews and Blacks. She's been misguided for years that now it is second nature,
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