Accepting Differences

An added difference that shows throughout the story is the distinction of gender. She wears “a man’s black hat pulled low down over her eyes, clodhopper shoes, a figured print dress almost completely covered by a big corduroy apron…”(246). Elisa begins to realize that she needs something more in her life than a neat house and a good garden. ” Scout instead strives harder to be the complete opposite, and becomes confused with society’s demanding pressure for her to be a proper girl. I’ve a gift with things, all right”(247). Scout tries to give him his space but doesn’t understand Jem is maturing. Steinbeck smartly narrates this women’s frequent shifts between femininity and masculinity over a short period of time. In essence, the Finch children’s feelings toward each other have changed. She is anticipating a dreadful future in which she continues to cry “weakly like an old woman”(253). For example, Jem thinks that entailment is “having your tail in a crack,”(20) when it actually has to do with the way property is inherited. Additionally, Jem and their friend Dill develop a friendship from which Scout is excluded because she is a girl. Another example of dominance is expressed when Atticus and Aunt Alexandra are arguing over Calpurnia. Near the end of the story, Elisa asks her husband if they might go to a prizefight. Jem gets furious at Scout sometimes for acting like a girl.