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Essay On Mob Mentality In To Kill A Mockingbird

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“I’ve been very mindful that things can change quickly, without warning...” (McCabe 14). Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird was greatly influenced by The Great Depression. There are many major historical connections to book, including the Jim Crow laws, mob mentality and the Scottsboro trials. One of the first historical connections to Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird was The Jim Crow laws. The Jim Crow laws were laws enforcing strict segregation among Blacks and Whites (Pilgrim). The Jim Crow laws included laws such as Blacks were not allowed to show affection toward each other in public, Whites did not use courtesy titles when referring to Blacks, and Whites and Blacks were not to use the same public facilities (Pilgrim). People in the …show more content…

Mob mentality is a term used to describe how certain negative characteristics surface when people are combined in large groups (Smith). Mobs usually portray an aggressive image, since people feed off of other’s negative emotions toward the victim of the mob. People were influenced by mob mentality for many reasons. Being apart of a mob alters people’s thinking, since they feel invincible whilst in the middle of a mob (Edmonds). People think that if they are in a group of people they will not be held responsible for the crime being committed (Edmonds). Mob mentality can be seen in To Kill a Mockingbird in many ways. An example of mob mentality in the article, What is Mob Mentality, is when there is a department store sale and loads of shoppers are rushing to the racks, pushing each other out of their way (Smith). This situation could cause snowballing violence and could cause people to get trampled (Smith). In To Kill a Mockingbird, there are a few examples of mob mentality. One of those examples is when the mob of men showed up at the jail to kill Tom (Lee 241). Mob mentality shows how being in a group of people can bring out the worst characteristics of people. Jim Crow and mob mentality are not the only two connections to To Kill a Mockingbird, the Scottsboro trials are as

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