Masculine versus Feminine in To Kill a Mockingbird In novels, masculine against feminine has been a popular writing technique throughout many writing achievements. Writers have displayed the masculine side as well as the feminine to express the setting of the story in which they are trying to write. Female writers have been suggested to have a difficult time in the interpretation of male characters within their writing. As Peter Shwenger states, “To suggest a similar assessment of writing by men is to remind us that the rich variety of writing alone” (621). However, in the book To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee is able to express the underling roles of masculinity and femininity within the story using Atticus Finch and Calpurnia.
Atticus Finch is the ideal father and a well esteemed lawyer. Becoming widowed when his children, Scout and Jem, were very young; he is still able work and provide a stable environment to raise his kids. Lee illustrates Atticus as the intelligent male role model he is intended to be He treats his kids the same way he treats adults. He does not talk down to them; and when discussing Scout going to school he tells her, “I’m afraid our activities would be received with considerable disapprobation by the more learned authorities” (Lee 35). Scout is used to him talking to them that way but still asks him what he means. Atticus allows his children to learn from him which in turn allows them to appreciate him more. He only wants them to do right and holds them to the same principles that he goes by. When he believes that Jem stabbed Bob Ewell, instead of trying to get Jem out of trouble he tells Sherriff Heck Tate,
“Thank you from the bottom of my heart, but I don't want my boy starting out with something like this over his head. Best way to clear the air is to have it all out in the open. Let the county come and bring sandwiches. I don't want him growing up with a whisper about him, I don't want anybody saying, 'Jem