Hypocrisy is when someone tells another person not to do something, yet they do it themselves. Miss Gates is a hypocrite because she says, on page 329, " Over here we don't believe in prosecuting anybody. Persecution comes from people who are prejudiced." This shows that Miss Gates doesn't believe in hatred to a specific race or religion. Yet, on page 331, it says, " I heard her say it's time somebody taught 'em a lesson, they were gettin' way above themselves, an' the next thing they think they can do is marry us." Miss Gates is a hypocrite because she doesn't have religious prejudice but she has racial prejudice. She thinks that it is wrong for the germans to treat the Jews harshly, but yet she thinks that it is ok for her to treat the black people harshly because of the color of there skin . Mrs. Merriweather is a hypocrite because on page 309, it says, " the ladies of the Maycomb Alabama Methodist Episcopal Church South are behind you one hundred percent." Then on page 310, it says, " Gertrude, I tell you there's nothing more distracting than a sulky darky. There mouths go down to here. Just ruins your day to have one of 'em in the kitchen." These two quotes shows how much of a hypocrite Mrs. Merriweather is. In the first quote, she's pretending that she would want to help the Mrunas tribe in Africa, yet in the second quote, she is complaining about how one of her black helpers are mad that Tom was convicted.
Harper Lee added the scenes of Miss Gates and Mrs. Merriweather caught in the act of being hypocrites because she wanted to show the difference sides of people and how they act when there with certain people. When Miss Gates was teaching she was saying that being a hypocrite is wrong. Yet when she was talking to Miss Stephanie Crawford, she was being a hypocrite in relations to blacks. When Mrs. Merriweather was talking to J. Grimes Everett, she was saying how she would love to help the Mrunas tribe in Africa, but when she was at the tea party, she was saying how she thinks so little of the emotions that the black people have.
Why do you think that people act different when they're with two different groups of people?
The reason that people act differently towards two groups is because they want to please both groups. This is the same reason why Ms. Gates says she doesn't think it is right to persecute anyone, but then she makes another statement that comes across as racist. By lying when she says that it is wrong to be prejudiced against a religion, she is trying to look good in front of her peers. But then she thinks differently by saying that black people are always complaining. Ms. Gates is a person that wants to please all of her peers by changing opinions. This is why Ms. Gates shouldn't be trusted. She is a hypocrite.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your thoughts and want to focus on Miss gates. It is easy to be an outsider and reflect on how mistreated the Jews were by the Hitler and the Germans. A famous quote made by Hitler is as follows, "If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed." Although Miss Gates is being a hypocrite with her racial prejudice, we have to think about the world she has grown up in. Miss Gates was taught that whites are superior to blacks, she grew up in an environment of racism and possibly even slavery. It is easy for us in the present day to reflect on slavery and how terrible it was, but if you grow up in a lie, will it be believed?
ReplyDeleteCharlie stated above that Ms. Gates shouldn't be trusted because she is a hypocrite, but I don't think that she intends on being one. I think that Ms. Gates strongly believes in equal rights for all people because of how angry she got when they were discussing Hitler in class. She states, "There are no better people in the world then the Jews, and why Hitler doesn't think so is a mystery to me," (Lee 329). I think that Ms. Gates, and most people in Maycomb, think of blacks as trash and not people, therefore, they don't deserve equal rights. They were brought up thinking that way, and can't be totally blamed for thinking this way.
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