When in Chapter 26 of Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Miss Gates launches into a discussion of “democracy,” the significance is apparent within the context of the racism endemic throughout this community, and that lies at the core of the criminal charges against the African American defendant, Tom Robinson. Scout is describing her class’s ritualistic “Current Events” period, during which the students are expected to discuss an article from the newspaper describing some event in their community or around the world. Cecil Jacobs, one of Scout’s fellow students, discusses an article on Hitler and Germany’s Jewish population. In response to Cecil’s recitation of the Nazi leader’s atrocious human rights violations, another child asks why that country’s government did nothing to stop this bad man. Miss Gates responds with the following explanation:
“Hitler is the government,” said Miss Gates, and seizing an opportunity to make education dynamic, she went to the blackboard. She printed DEMOCRACY in large letters. “Democracy,” she said. “Does anybody have a definition?”
The teacher then goes on to explain the differences between the United States, a democracy, and Germany, which is ruled by a tyrannical dictatorial regime:
“That’s the difference between America and Germany. We are a democracy and Germany is a dictatorship. Dictator-ship,” she said. “Over here we don’t believe in persecuting anybody. Persecution comes from people who are prejudiced. Prejudice,” she enunciated carefully. “There are no better people in the world than the Jews, and why Hitler doesn’t think so is a mystery to me.”
Miss Gates's discussion of the differences between a democracy and a dictatorship is ironic because only days before an innocent man was convicted of rape and sent to prison where he was killed “trying to escape.” That man’s only crime, in Maycomb, was his race. Tom Robinson was a black man in the virulently racist American South. Miss Gates’s description of the differences between dictatorship and democracy is particularly timely given those recent events.
The significance of Miss Gates's lesson on democracy concerns her hypocritical perspective and the fact that not all Americans have equal rights. After Cecil Jacobs discusses Hitler's persecution of the Jews in Europe, Miss Gates begins to discuss the differences between Germany and America. Miss Gates mentions that America is a democracy and compares it to Germany's dictatorship, which is ruled by Adolf Hitler. Scout raises her hand and defines democracy as "Equal rights for all, special privileges for none" (Lee, 249). Miss Gates proceeds to say that in Germany they persecute Jewish citizens while Americans do not believe in persecuting anybody. She goes on to say that persecution comes from people who are prejudiced. That night, Scout begins to question Miss Gates's lesson and recalls overhearing her make racist comments about black people while leaving the courtroom. Scout takes note of Miss Gates's hypocritical statement regarding prejudice in America and realizes that America is not a true democracy because not everyone has...
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equal rights. Black people are discriminated against and are forced to abide by unjust Jim Crow laws in the South.
This lesson is significant because of when it occurs in the story, and the example that she tries to use to help define democracy.
First, this lesson occurs after the trial is over and after Scout has noticed Miss Gates' apparent prejudice against the Negro community. Scout overheard some of Miss Gates comments about the Negroes when walking down the stairs out of the courthouse that day of the trial.
Second, Miss Gates lets Scout define democracy and then uses the non-example of Germany. In expressing what Germany does through Hitler, Miss Gates actually described what Scout had seen her do to the local Negro people.
In front of DEMOCRACY, she printed WE ARE A. "Now class, say it all together, 'We are a democracy'."
We said it. Then Miss Gates said, "That's the difference between America and Germany. We are a democracy and Germany is a dictatorship.
“Dictator-ship,” she said. "Over here we don't believe in persecuting anybody. Persecution comes from people who are prejudiced. Pre-judice," she enunciated carefully. "There are no better people in the world than the Jews, and why Hitler doesn't think so is a mystery to me."
In this passage, we see Miss Gates lesson on democracy prove how inept the American south was at applying the tenants of democracy at the time in which Lee wrote.
Scout's teacher, Miss Gates, requires her students to present current events in class. Cecil Jacobs brings up Adolf Hitler. Miss Gates takes this opportunity to discuss the value of democracy with her students. According to Miss Gates, democracy is about equality. She believes that Hitler's treatment of the Jews is despicable and condemns his actions as prejudicial and inhuman.
However, her lesson is hypocritical. While she applauds the American values of equality and democracy, and condemns Hitler's actions, she does not recognize the inequalities that are actually present in America. This lesson occurs after Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a white woman, has been convicted in court. The white citizens of Maycomb are extremely prejudiced and one neighbor even says, "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 believes that Hitler's treatment of the Jews is wrong, but refuses to see the prejudice that is alive in her own town. Her lesson emphasizes that the people of Maycomb see nothing wrong with their beliefs about their African American neighbors.