Dress Code In To Kill A Mockingbird

The novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, is set in Alabama in the 1930s. The narrator is Scout, she has an older brother Jem, her dad, Atticus, is a lawyer, and they have a cook Calpurnia. Throughout the story there are many plots and themes. One part of the story is the constant struggle between Scout and her Aunt Alexandra, where Scout's aunt tries to make Scout a proper southern lady. Though, she fails and Scout is the perfect example of a girl who is unladylike. She never wears dresses, breaking the dress code of a lady, she also swore, which was very uncommon and improper, lastly, she commonly fought with the boys at her school, a childish act which she should have already outgrown.

For a lady in the south there is a strict dress code. Girls are expected to wear dresses to school, and if they do not they are considered to be unfeminine and tomboyish. In the interview Mary Ann states, “We definitely weren't allowed to wear pants to school” (Starrett, 150). Mary Ann in the interview talks about how ladies are not allowed to wear pants or overalls, anywhere in public, out of respect to others. Scout wears overalls most of the
Camille says “It was alright for boys to fight, but girls weren’t supposed to” (Starrett, 152). The three ladies explain that even though it was common for the boys to fight, a woman was not allowed to, if she wants to become a civil lady. Scout, often got into fights, especially with Cecil Jacobs. In To Kill a Mockingbird Scout states, “Atticus had promised me he would wear me out if he ever heard of me fighting any more; I was far too old and too big for such childish things” (Lee, 99). Scout repeatedly gets into fights, and the adults remind Scout constantly that she is not allowed to fight because she is a lady. This misbehavior shows Scouts lack of manners that are required to be considered a