Breaking Social Norms In To Kill A Mockingbird Essay

Out of the Normal Society has a set of actions as what they see as “normal” and socially acceptable. They define this set of unspoken rules as social norms. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, a reader will often find many characters breaking the social norms of Maycomb County, Alabama. The defiance of these social norms help the young protagonist, Scout, learn valuable life lessons of equality. When Atticus chose to defend Tom Robinson in court, he violated the social norm of colored people being inferior to whites and became a maverick in Maycomb community. Social norms are again broken when Calpernia decided to take both Jem and Scout to the First Purchase, an African American church. Atticus’ defiance of believing in equality leave

Similarly, as time passes, society can be seen “maturing” by changing its ideals. When a group of people break the social norms of their communities, the defiance of these social norms eventually become the new social norms. One can look at the civil rights movement as an example. Prior to the civil rights movement, discrimination and segregation of colored people had alway been a part of the norm. It was normal to see separate facilities for the white and the colored. The famous Brown v. Board of Education demonstrates the presence of racial segregation in public schools. Prior to 1957, Central High School, in Little Rock, Arkansas, had never had African American students, despite a 1954 ruling from the Supreme Court stating that racial segregation in public schools in unconstitutional. In September of 1957, nine African American students This sparked angry backlash from a mob of 1000 white protestors. The Supreme Court ruled in the Brown v. Board of Education that Central High School must integrate. (History.com staff) In today’s society, one would rarely see the segregation of races in public facilities such as stores, restaurants and schools. A typical student attending a public school would have classmates of many different races. It would be against the social norm to protest for racial