How Does Lee Use Mob Mentality In To Kill A Mockingbird

In the modern world, we are surrounded by judgement and discrimination. Nearly everyone is faced with hardships and insults based on their beliefs, habits, interests, and appearance. In a time of such hatred, there is a handful of pieces of literature that have spoken truth through the ages. One such book is To Kill a Mockingbird, a novel by Harper Lee. To Kill a Mockingbird takes place during the Great Depression in the fictional southern town of Maycomb, Alabama.

During the 1930’s, racial tension and discrimination had been widespread throughout the South. In the year before, the stock market had crashed, causing the Great Depression. Meanwhile, the Dust Bowl was also going on, affecting farmers and workers in the mid-east. Although life was already hard for many, Jim Crow Laws were created. They were laws written to segregate Blacks and Whites.

Rayah Min Ms. Davis English 1 Honors/Pre-IB 28 March 2023 To Kill a Mockingbird Socratic Seminar Questions 3. In what ways is the 1930s era, with WWII looming on the horizon and the Great Depression in full swing, relevant to the events in the novel? How does what was happening in Nazi Germany at the time parallel relations between Blacks and Whites in the American South? In relevance to the novel, the period of nearing WWII and the Great Depression at its peak shows the racism of the time and that things must get bad again before it gets better.

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view” (Harper Lee). Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is a wonderful book that is enjoyed by many people. The book was published in 1960 but is set in the 1930’s during the Great Depression. Lee shows many different ways of what was wrong with society during that time.

To Kill a Mockingbird In chapter 15 of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, the author uses many ways to develop her message about mob mentality and human nature. Harper Lee uses multiple ways to develop her message including repetition and dark and light imagery. Harper Lee is showing us that mobs play a big role in protests in Maycomb County, Alabama. What this shows us about human nature is that humans tend to forget the consequences of what they do when acting in a group and feel almost invincible against punishments. A person that is part of a mob will act differently than they would act on their own.

There were many white spectators, who did not look sad or disgusted. Mob mentality happens throughout To Kill a Mockingbird. The main example of mob mentality in the book is when a mob shows up to the jail to talk to Atticus. This is an example of a mob that wanted to get something. Mob mentality has occurred many times throughout history, and of those instances one of the most notorious was the Scottsboro

The demonstration of Jim Crow Laws in To Kill a Mockingbird suggests that Lee was influenced to write her novel by real events and laws. Jim Crow Laws stated it would be unlawful for a black person to be in the company of a white person. Black people had different places to sit, eat, learn, and buy things (“Jim”). In the novel, many people went to Tom Robinson’s trial. The black people have to enter through a separate door to go up to the balcony to sit and watch the trial.

“Many Blacks resisted…indignities… and, far too often, they paid for their bravery with their lives” (Pilgrim). The novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, utilized many historical events in order to provide life to the narration. There are accounts relating to the Jim Crow laws, mob mentality, and racial dilemmas of the Great Depression Era. To start, one connection of between the novel and American history is the Jim Crow laws. These were a set of rules that limited the respect blacks received in society.

Later that night, Scout got up to get some water. She heard Uncle Jack and Atticus talking. She listened to their conversation and heard all the things Atticus was saying, things like that he hoped that Scout and Jem would come to him for answers instead of the town. After Scout was “caught,” she said, “It was until many years later that I realized he wanted me to hear every word he said,” (Lee,

Name: Cejay Kyle J. Eduave Date: 6/4/2023 Section: 9-Fadz Score: /100 To Kill a Mockingbird A. Author: Harper Lee Number of pages: 324 Date of Publication: July 11, 1960 Place of Publication: United States Genre: Fiction, Coming-of-age, Southern Gothic B. Settings The novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" is primarily set in the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the 1930s. Maycomb is a small, close-knit community deeply rooted in Southern traditions and plagued by racial prejudice. The story unfolds against the backdrop of the Great Depression, which significantly impacts the lives of the townspeople.

Harper Lee caused herd behavior in "To Kill a Mockingbird" when Atticus disrupted the ways of Maycomb by defending an African American. First, mob mentality, or herd behavior, refers to the tendancy of people to do over reactive things that they would not normally do with others. This tells us that people will act differently when they are part of a mob. When someone joins a mob, they can lose their individuality and adopt a mob mentality, such as killing a person. In chapter fifteen of "To Kill a Mockingbird", the mob outside the jailhouse were planning to kill Tom Robinson so their would be no trial.

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.

The first influence on Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird are the Jim Crow laws. The Jim Crow laws were cruel to colored people. “Jim Crow laws were an official effort to keep African Americans separate from Whites in the southern United States for many years” (“Jim Crow Laws”1). The Jim Crow laws were put in place to keep Blacks below Whites. People thought that they needed theses laws because they did not believe that there where equal to them.

Scout decides that that she would stop talking and continue to join the group of boys she was with. Scout’s behaviors show that she was willing to forget about her own beliefs to be part of the mob of boys. Mob mentality in this scene occurred when Scout joined the mob of boys and lost her identity. She instead followed the mob of boys actions instead of her

Harper Lee composed To Kill a Mockingbird, a top selling novel in 1961. This book is positioned in a very ingenious way from the perspective of Scout Finch. It contemplates the relationship between the Great Depression and the people of that time. Harper opens her book with careful description about the main characters, and how relevant they will be in the story ahead. This helps the reader understand the reasoning behind each event.