Historical influences on To Kill a Mockingbird The Great Depression was a time of devastation and uncertainty (McCabe 12). The great depression was a time when the stock market crashed causing many people to lose their jobs and homes. This novel is based on the time around the Great Depression. There were many historical influences in the book To Kill a Mockingbird such as the Jim Crow laws, mob mentality and the Scottsboro trials.
Mob Mentality in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Passion around a subject can easily stir up a heated crowd. One action or word can cause a group to take up arms against the rival party. The collective opposition can lead to inhumane actions, violence, and the skewing of one’s moral compass.
Breaking Social Norms In To Kill A Mockingbird In To Kill A Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, Lee depicts the main character Scout Finch as the primary feminist who defies social norms despite several influences in Maycomb County. Scout displays her feminist qualities throughout several occurrences in the novel. She continues to stay true to herself and fights for how she desires to act, while occasionally experimenting with her femininity.
The popular home team broke out from their tight huddle and separated throughout the field. Their anguished faces concentrated on the last quarter; they are only 5 points up. The earnest and intoxicating energy transfers into the equally tense crowd. The fierce competition begins to boil up into the fans. Someone yells a blind comment within the rage and before anyone knows it, fights break out throughout the crowd.
When Harper Lee was asked about her book, To Kill a Mockingbird (TKAM), she stated “it’s a love story, plain and simple.” Despite the lack of romance between couples, Harper Lee’s statement couldn’t have been truer. TKAM features a different type of love than most love stories, a love called agape. Agape is love for all people, and instead of typical romantic actions, it is shown by treating everyone nicely, regardless of what they do. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote six pillars of nonviolent resistance which show both how to exhibit agape and nonviolently protest.
One example of mob mentality in the book would be the jail scene(Lee 205). In this scene Atticus goes to the jail to guard Tom Robinson, and Scout and Jem follow him. Farmers and townspeople show up later to try and take Tom and kill him but as soon as things get bad Scout and Jem run into the crowd. As the argument gets heated Scout pics out Mr. Cunningham and tries to talk to him, but he ignores her.
The novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” was written in 1960 by Harper Lee in the point of view of a young innocent girl named Scout. One of the main messages that Lee has (need a new word than – indicated or set out) is racism, it plays an important role which strongly impacts many character’s lives unfairly and changes the relationship between two. Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird” shows that it is wrong to hurt someone who does no harm to you, for example, black people are innocent but no way did they have as many rights as white people did. Black people lived hard lives because society was judgemental, irrational and most importantly, racist. As Scout and Jem grow older they learn to cope, take responsibility and are introduced to new aspects of life, one of which is racism.
Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird shows the prejudice creates distrust within community with how Bob Ewell treated the Finch family after Tom Robinson’s trial. This is shown throughout the book, like after the trials Bob Ewell came up to Atticus Finch and spit in his face because he did not agree with Atticus, “Mr. Bob Ewell stopped Atticus on the post office corner, spat in his face, and told him he’d get him if it took the rest of his life” (290). Bob did this because Atticus stood up for Tom Robinson and Bob did not agree with Atticus for doing so. This proves that Atticus, who was a trustworthy lawyer, had become distrusted by members of the community because he stood up against prejudice.
Mob mentality occurs in The Lord of the Flies and in To Kill a Mockingbird. A setting with a dictator leadership and deindividuation in the people, is when mob mentality is more likely to occur. Mob mentality in The Lord of the Flies and in To Kill a Mockingbird occurs when people join a group or a mob, they lose their identity and follow the group's actions instead of their own. Mob mentality occurs in many different situations. Mob mentality occurs when people
The issue of mob mentality happens frequently as people depend too much on one another and easily get influenced by what the majority of the people think and decide. The internal or hidden pressure among the group is another factor that leads to why people follow the majority. As everyone started to change when “All at once the crowd swayed towards the island and were gone-following Jack. Even the tiny kids went and did their best among the leaves and broken branches” (Golding 38). Once Jack had become a stubborn dictator, one by one people started to follow him.
“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.
The novel To Kill a Mockingbird is so titled because there are several characters in the story which could be consisted mockingbirds. Tom Robinson and Boo Radley do not cause any harm, they go about their business without interfering in the lives of others, and however both of them are in turn harmed by the citizens of Maycomb. Harper Lee’s novel examines the dark side of human nature and explores the ramifications of prejudice, racism and bigotry in a time when people were openly hostile to anyone they considered different and inferior. Lee tells her story to highlight the injustices of the South during a time of inequality, discrimination, where the innocent are unfairly punished. Tom Robinson a character in the novel is accused of something
How is the racial problem of the southern states of USA in the 1930s portrayed in To Kill a Mockingbird? INTRO In the 1930s the Southern states of America suffered from a strong discrimination and racial hatred towards colored people. They had no rights, no respect and were not allowed to go places white people went. In other words they were segregated from the rest of the society.
Essay In the novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee, there are many important messages shown throughout the book. However the primary focus was set on racial prejudice that existed in the 1930s-1940’s in the fictional town of Maycomb County. The racism in the novel was very much a reality in 1930s-1940s America. A very good example of the racial prejudice that existed was in the courtroom during Tom Robinson’s trial, an innocent Negro man held against his will for a crime he did not commit.
Social prejudice is shown throughout Harper Lee’s award winning book, To Kill a Mockingbird. Harper Lee powerfully analyses the theme social prejudice, and its effect on people. Such as how the Social prejudice is discrimination based on your status in society. An example of social prejudice would be the Radley family, which consists of Boo Radley, Nathan Radley and Arthur Radley. As they haven’t been out of their house in years people are lead to believe the rumours.
