Why Does Scout Have Such Poor Follow Through?

In the ending of Go Set A Watchman, scout confronts her father and henry about being members of basically, the smaller and more secretive version of the KKK. She basically gives them the burns of the century, is about to go back to NY, but somehow her uncle hitting her in the face and spewing a bunch of racist-apologetic things make her think that she is the one on the wrong and needs to apologize. 

If I were to try and pull a quote this blog post would be about ten pages long, so I'll just tell you why her backing down and not following through with what she believes in is wrong. 

She shouldn't forgive Atticus and henry, because they go against the moral code that they preach to everyone, and because Atticus Finch believes black people to be a "backwards group of people, and still in their child hood stage as a race" I am not kidding, your dear beloved Atticus finch says this in the book. 

Another much less but still aggravating remark Atticus makes is when he offhandedly says "Now that I've adjusted my ear to feminine reasoning, I think we can find ourselves believing in the very same things" (lee, 243)

This is another quote that shows how sexist Atticus is. Does he imply that "feminine reasoning" is idiotic, or somehow lesser? I believe he is trying to make scout feel like a child. one of the many things that the patriarchy is guilty for. 

Monroe Freedman, you were right. This time... 

Atticus is racist and I just died

Ok, so you know how Atticus is such a cool guy? Of course you do (unless you're Monroe Freedman, but that doesn't matter). Atticus Finch is seen as a role model by many in regards to is moral decisions, "character" and equality things for his children, and women and minorities every where. Well he isn't, he's sorta really racist. I understand that this blog is about patriarchy and stuff and what I'm saying is mainly about racism but it also ties in with patriarchy, so yeah.

"Then let's put this on a practical basis right now. Do you want Negroes by the carload in our schools and churches and theaters? Do you want them in our world?" On first inspection this looks like something a more grammatically adept Bob Ewell would say, doesn't it? Well it's not, it's Atticus, Atticus Finch, the one person in that book who I knew I could trust to have a certain set of opinions that (at least to me) are correct.




 I was wrong and now I can never trust anyone again. This happens in Go Set a Watchman when then 26 year old Jean Louise is confronting Atticus about him going to this weird Town Council thing where a guy from the KKK was going in and organizing it and it's really racist and Atticus is being stupid about it. 

This Completely contradicts everything I (and pretty much everyone else, ever) thought that I knew about Atticus.

"You know the truth, and the truth is this: some Negroes lie, some Negroes are immoral, some Negro men are not to be trusted around women—black or white. But this is a truth that applies to the human race and to no particular race of men. There is not a person in this courtroom who has never told a lie, who has never done an immoral thing, and there is no man living who has never looked upon a woman without desire." This is a quote from Atticus in his closing statements of the T.R. case, even though none of this directly contradicts what Atticus says in GSAWM it helps to build an image of who Atticus was shown as, as a person. Someone who see's no difference in the moral being of a black man or a white man, a woman or man, he didn't judge people from their race or gender, he judged them on who they were as a person, or at least I thought he did.

Something in particular that really contradicts (sorta) what Atticus is saying here is this one quote in GSAWM "Do you want your children going to a school that's been dragged down to accommodate negro children." This is just taking what the previous quote made people think about how Atticus feels about stereotypes and forces it to leave existence. 

What this conversation got me thinking about, is how does this transfer onto his opinions about gender? Throughout TKAM Atticus let's scout dress how she wants and be who she wants regardless of her gender and it isn't until people like Aunt A. come along that anything else is expected of Scout. How he treats scout is something really similar to what happens (at least in what I've experienced) with parents and their kids today. His opinions on race seemed very similar to those of ours today, but in actuality they weren't at all, so is he really sexist and he let scout do all of her "boy-ish" things as a kid to get it out of her system? Does he actually not really care? Do his opinions on gender not effect how he see's his children? I don't know it really is destroying my entire world. I really can't accept anything to be true anymore because of Atticus and GSAWM.

This is why abstinence only education does not work

For those of you that have read "Go Set A Watchman", you will remember when scout is kissed by a boy, given a brief and wildly inaccurate talk on how sex works by a group of middle school girls, then proceeds after several months of thinking she is pregnant, attempt to plunge herself off of a water tower in order to die before the baby is born.

only slightly less stupid then how scout thinks babies are  made 

One reason that the patriarchy or sexism contribute to her attempted suicide can be seen in this quote,
"The idea had been i the back of her mind for a long time, but she recoiled from it instinctively...the thought of any existence without them, no matter how nice heaven was, was untenable. But being sent to mobile  and causing her family to live thereafter with worse; she didn't even wish that on Alexandra. According to her calculations, the baby would come with October, and on the thirtieth day of September she would kill herself." (Lee, p133)

Had Henry not come and saved her, she would have died, and the shame that is forced into our minds from a young age  in regards to teen pregnancy and sexual intercourse, along with the lack of education and general attitude of taboo in regards to the subject would have been to blame for scout's tragic and untimely albeit self inflicted demise.

You might be thinking that now with the internet and the somewhat easier access to birth control, that this would never happen. But it does, especially in countries run by bigoted and stifling religious groups such as the catholic church of El Salvador, where all forms of abortion, even in the cases of rape, incest, or if the mother is going to die in child birth are banned. So naturally, and unfortunately, teen pregnancy and teen suicide are out of control, as is incestual rape.

And on that happy note, have a good weekend everyone!

Pregnancy stuff (name WIP)

http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2015/11/17/at_least_100_000_women_have_attempted_self_induced_abortions_in_texas.html

"According to her calculations, the baby would come with October, and on the thirtieth day of September she would kill herself." (Go Set a Watchman, page 133)

At this point in Go Set a Watchman Jean Louise (now in her mid-twenties) is thinking back to a time in her life as a child. At the time she was 12 and in 7th grade. Nine months prior a boy named Albert randomly french kissed scout as thanks for a really small thing. Later she heard girls talking about how Francine Owen had been french kissed and now she was pregnant so scout figured the same thing would happen to her, and she didn't know any better because she never got "the talk". After doing some research Jean Lousie found some medieval techniques which included throwing the women against a wall, and because of fear from that, just having birth in general and anxiety over the whole thing Jean Louise decided she would just kill herself (and the supposed baby with her) to avoid the whole thing. (and don't worry, scout doesn't die, her friend henry comes along and gets her down)

This is really similar to (though a little bit more extreme (sometimes)) things happening all over the country, particularly in Texas, which is an increase in self abortions. Stemming from the recent increase in closing abortion clinics thanks to things like Texas's HB2 anti-abortion laws, pregnant women with a lack of available opportunities take the abortion upon themselves. In Texas the percentage of pregnant women preforming self abortions has increased from 2008's 2% to 7% of women preforming self abortions before going to a clinic, with an estimated total of 100,000 self abortions in texas alone.

Though there are very few (if no other) references to pregnant, birthing or abortions in Go Set a Watchman or To Kill a Mockingbird, this is sort of similar to the supposed happenings in the trial of Tom Robinson in TKAM. After Mayella was injured, whether it was by Tom Robinson (which it wasn't) or by Bob Ewell,  Bob figured that he could take care of whatever injuries she had without the help of a doctor similarly to Scout (though there were probably no doctors at the time to have preformed the abortion on scout even if she had the baby)

The article -------> http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2015/11/17/at_least_100_000_women_have_attempted_self_induced_abortions_in_texas.html

The patriarchy isn't just harmful to women!

          Women might be the face of feminism, but they aren't the only one who go through these kinds of things. One thing is that men are also supposed to have the same general characteristics. We men are expected to be strong and masculine, but why should that matter to us, there are so many other characteristics that men can have other than being strong. This whole concept is very sexist and stupid, because you don't have to be strong or big and masculine to be a man!
         


          I found this in an article called "6 Ways The Patriarchy Is Harmful To Men, Because Feminism Isn;t Just For Women," which shows how women aren't the only ones who suffer the patriarchy, because men are always being told that they should be strong and to not show feelings. I found a quote from this article..."The standards for men are just as poisonous: From birth, men are discouraged from showing emotion, which is seen as a feminine attribute — boys don't cry, right?" I strongly support this quote because it lets others how we are effect by the patriarchy as much as women are, and that we all suffer from it equally. I think that the whole idea of patriarchy is dumb because no one benefits from it, and in the end everyone is damaged by it, because it only brings our pride, in who we are, and in our gender down!  

Patriarchy got me like...

Post #5

Donald Trump has been a highlight over these last few months. the racist comments over the Hispanic race's, and the bashful comments to women.

18 Real Things Donald Trump Has Actually Said About Women
I feel Donald Trump is reckless in many ways including his decision to speak his thoughts without thinking. A quote from "To Kill A Mocking Bird" that is patric and similar to this topic is
"I was not so sure, but Jem told me I was being a girl, that girls always imagined things, that's why other people hated them so, and if I started behaving like one I could just go off and find some to play with. (4.119)". This shows there are so many patric people now and then.

The poor trial

So with the trial...the poor poor trial...we see Atticus at work. The town is up and around, everyone seems to be interested. The kids go to the colored section , Atticus unaware of them watching. Heck Tate is summoned. with his account, we find out that Mayella was beaten on her right side and no doctor was called. When Bob ewell comes to the stand, he says he saw Tom raping his daughter and ran for the sheriff. With the help of Atticus, we find out he was left handed. Mayella cried, saying Atticus tricked her or is going to. And Tom, being polite, said she forced herself on him. Same time Mr.Gilmer is making comments to Tom as calling him boy. In the End, we find out Tom is guilty because of one man.

"The defendant is not guilty, but somebody in this courtroom is."
The summary of the trial in Atticus words.

I think it was sad that Tom went through so much trouble and was wronged becasue he was black. Even if he didnt die from the actual trial or people upset he 'raped 'Mayella, he did die because of race. Or at least what i think. No man gets shot that many times because he was climbing a fence. They probably didnt warn him and said "hey theres a black man climbing. Lets play target practice."