Breaking Social Norms In To Kill A Mockingbird Essay

Cultural norms are what make and shape a society. They are the guidelines, and or patterns, that are to be followed, in order to be considered a normal, typical, everyday citizen. As such, it does not matter if the norms are right or wrong. As long as the citizen is still a part of their society, right and wrong does not matter, as far as they are concerned. In the case of To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, the cultural norm, of Maycomb County, embraces the wrong, in the form of extreme prejudice behavior. A behavior, of which, presents itself heavily while either talking, and or mentioning, the topics of religions, racism and classism.

Harper Lee touches upon many social issues in To Kill a Mockingbird. Among these issues is the matter of racism in America during the 1930s. This novel focused on the issue of racism through the case of Tom Robinson which conveyed the strong hostility towards African-Americans in Maycomb, Alabama. Other various occasions in the novel exhibit racism’s potential and influence in this country including Aunt Alexandra's disapproval of Calpurnia, and Mr. Dolphus Raymond’s hidden life. Through the results of these instances, Harper Lee shed a new light on racism and how it will always persist in America.

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954), was a landmark case impacting the public school system with making segregation within the school system a violation against the law. It showed how separate but equal no longer made sense in America. Leading up to the groundbreaking court case, the country was divided by segregation. In the south, there were Jim Crow Laws and the white population tried to limit the power the African-American population had within the community. In the north there was a large migration of African Americans looking for a better life in the larger cities.

Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird famously said in his closing arguments: "You know the truth, and the truth is this: some Negroes lie, some Negroes are immoral, some negro men are not to be trusted around women- black or white. But this is a truth that applies to the human race and no particular race of men." (pg 232) What Atticus is trying to convey is a foreign concept to most people in Maycomb county. Atticus is trying to convey a point of equality and no prejudice in a world of social inequality which, as one can imagine, didn 't go over so well. To kill a mockingbird tells a story of a county whose morals are masked by the great depression, a county whose judgment is masked by racism and social stigma. In to kill a mockingbird,

Final Essay Outline: Thesis Statement/opening paragraph: In the story To Kill A Mockingbird, discrimination and the act of being prejudice is common among the main characters, on both the receiving and serving end. Certain characters, like Scout and Jeremy Finch, Bob Ewell, and the town folk truly create the main problem and set the theme of the story. For example, when Bob Ewell accuses Atticus Finch of being an african-american lover, because he is defending Tom Robinson. Tom Robinson was accused of raping Mayella Ewell, according to Bob. Boo Radley is accused of being dead by Scout, Jem and Dill.

The act of civility is demonstrated by Judge Paul Heath Till in the essay Morals, Manners, Customs, and Public Perception in regards to Southern culture. Civility is defined as the formal courtesy shown through one's behavior towards others. Every culture portrays this act through their morals, manners, and customs. These three characteristics allow people to socialize with constricted confrontation, However, Till believes that this isn't shown through what was the public perception of the South. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is just one example of Till’s belief. The novel shows an increase in confrontational and aggressive conduct in specific chapters. Judge Paul Heath Till's explanation of Southern civility is reflected in Harper Lee’s

In 1957, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas’s decision, segregation in public education violated the Fourteen Amendment, but Central High School refused to desegregate their school. Even though various school districts agreed to the court ruling, Little Rock disregarded the board and did not agree to desegregate their schools, but the board came up with a plan called the “Blossom plan” to form integration of Little Rock High despite disputation from Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus. Desegregating Central high encountered a new era of achievement of black folks into the possibility of integrating public schools, and harsh resistance of racial integration. Although nine black students were admitted into Little Rock harsh violence and

Without social injustice and the harsh situations created by it, humanity would have no measuring stick as to their progress forward. Despite the fact that social prejudice causes many dark tragedies, investigating the individual lights of humanity in the midst of this darkness is the best way to see how humanity as a whole is transitioning forward. One ray of light amid racial prejudice is Atticus Finch, who exemplifies how humanity’s court of law is slowly improving. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Atticus proves himself to be a social hero when he is describing courage and his rationale for taking on the case to his children: “I want you to see what real courage is[...]It

“Don't trade your authenticity for approval” stated an unknown author. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird Scout is a young girl who breaks the social norm of wearing proper clothes such as dresses. In the town called Maycomb, the social norms are for whites to separate from African Americans along with women dressing a certain way and men dressing another. Those social norms don’t just exist in Maycom they are also in the real world. Ellen DeGeneres is a woman in the real world who breaks those social norms. Ellen has decided to make her own style and wear what she likes and some accept it and others don’t. Instead of wearing gowns and dresses she wearing suit and blazers. Ellen has become very successful being herself she now has her own T.V

Since the late 1950s, when the case for African American rights to receive the same education as their graduates began and ended, or so we thought. Schools today still remain widely segregated throughout the U.S. nation. In 1954 in Topeka, Kansas, the supreme court began to review many cases dealing with segregation in public education. Oliver Brown was one who went against the supreme court for not only his daughter, but for many other African American children to receive equal education in the ray of society. The Brown v. Board of Education case marked the end of racial discrimination in public schools which impacted African Americans to get an equal education in the American society.

Separate But Not Equal - How Brown v. Board of Education Changed America Brown v. Board of Education was a court case to desegregate schools. During this time over one-third of states, mostly in the south, segregated their schools by law. Most people don’t know that the lawsuit actually started off as five, in Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia, Delaware, and the District of Columbia. Unfortunately all the lower court cases resulted in defeat (Greenspan 1). The bigger issue was still at hand though, it wasn’t only the schools being segregated, it was everywhere.

The book "To Kill a Mockingbird" describes different classes of people as been rich and poor. People classify themselves differently because some people are in poverty, while some are wealthy. Most wealthy people help the poor, but the main people they help are the Cunningham 's family. They help the Cunningham 's family because they are willing to work and they are hard working. People never help the Ewell 's family because they are rude, lazy, and they waste their money on alcohol. The Finch 's family help the African American because racism occur during that time. The people treated the African American as low self esteem people. The poor people are in poverty because of the Great Depression and they couldn 't have enough money to provide

The Supreme Court case, Brown vs. Board of Education 349 U.S 294, dealt with the segregation of black children into “separate but equal schools.” The Brown vs. Board of Education was not the first case that dealt with the separating of the whites and blacks in schools. This case was actually made up of five separate cases heard in the United States Supreme court concerning the issue of segregation in public schools. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Briggs v. Elliot, Davis v. Board of Education of Prince Edward County (VA.), Boiling v. Sharpe, and Gebhart v. Ethel were the five cases that made up the Brown case. Thurgood, Marshall, and the National Association for the Advance of Colored People (NCAAP) handled these cases.

A historic case in the U.S. supreme court was called the Brown vs. the Board of Education. Getting a good education is essential and we can see diverse population of students from different nationality in the classroom. However, this wasn’t always the case in the United States. Up until 1954, classrooms were very different than they are today—not allowing African American students to attend schools with white students. This was allowed because of the previous court case of 1896 of Plessy vs. Ferguson.

In society, there are very few people who have the unwavering dedication to stand up for what they believe. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, a black man was convicted and accused of a crime he didn 't commit, raping a white women, which is not in anyway tolerable in society. In Harper Lee 's To Kill A Mockingbird, the author used point of view and symbolism to acknowledge how the the several social divisions which make up much of the adult world are shown to be both irrational and extremely destructive.