Examples Of Conformity In To Kill A Mockingbird

Lorelei England

English 9H 4th Hour

Mrs. Eichorst

11 April 2023

Conformity Can Create Issues In Society: To Kill a Mockingbird

Conformity changes our society and how we act in it in a variety of ways. This is especially prevalent in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. To Kill a Mockingbird is a book about Alabama in the 1930s during The Great Depression. In To Kill a Mockingbird the concept of things and people as “mockingbirds” is often brought up. The “mockingbird” as talked about in the book symbolizes innocence due to the fact that mockingbirds only sing and eat things that harm plants.

Conformity is where people change their behaviors or beliefs in order to fit in with others. In an article titled “Conformity” by Charlotte Harrison, she defines conformity as “acting the way most other people in one’s social group act, often grows out of a person’s desire for security and belonging in a group…” This quote shows that conformity can change how we act

He was always kind to the Finches and gave them many trinkets and gifts. He even gave Scout a blanket which is evidenced on pages 81-82 where it says,”’Thank who?’ I asked. ‘Boo Radley. You were so busy looking at the fire you didn’t know it when he put the blanket around you.’” (Lee) This shows that he was kind, helpful and harmless because despite all the rumors he still helped the kids when they were frightened. In the text some of the rumors about him are, “Inside the house lived a malevolent phantom. People said he existed, but Jem and I had never seen him. People said he went out at night when the moon was down, and peeped in windows.” (Lee 9) No one really knew who Boo Radley was or what he was like and yet they still decided that he was horrible and creepy. Boo Radley only wanted to live a quiet life in privacy and yet people continually made up rude and harmful rumors about