Examples Of Mob Mentality In To Kill A Mockingbird

One of the major causes individuals get caught up in mob mentality is because people feel pressured to execute the corrupt actions in order to be accepted in society. Mob mentality can trigger certain emotions to participate in terrible public events in which causes harm to others. In the 1920’s, a horrible incident occurred in Duluth Minnesota which will always be remembered in history.

How would you react if you were falsely accused of a crime when all of your life you had been a good man. However, the catch was you were African American.  A white man’s word against your own. What would be running through your mind? This is exactly the kind of question that was running through Tom Robinson’s mind in this novel. During the 1930s, discrimination against targeted groups of society was prevalent, but small victories occurred to combat this issue in the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. From Tom Robinson’s trial, to various stereotypes being broken, and the incidents that took place in Calpurnia’s church for colored people. All of these factors contribute to the purpose behind this novel’s meaning.

Mob Mentality is strange behavior that is displayed when people are in a large group (Smith). People take part in these mobs because, when a group of people are emotional and angry about something, it takes very little for the crowd to break out in violence (Edmonds). In To Kill a Mockingbird mob mentality is apparent in the book. An example of mob mentality is, typically others will follow the initial rioter’s lead (Edmonds). This is shown in To Kill a Mockingbird when Scout guilts the mob into leaving and Mr. Cunningham tells the rest of the mob lets go and they follow right after him (Lee 206). Along with the Jim Crow laws and mob mentality another influence in To Kill a Mockingbird was the Scottsboro

Throughout the evolution of To Kill A Mockingbird (TKM), events have occurred that occupy current happenings in our world. For instance, mob mentality, courage and justice are by far only meer examples of the real life situations that we endure in our everyday lives today. Although a variety of residence around the world do not encounter these experiences, such topics are surprisingly popular within the thriving community. Therefore, in this essay I will pursue my observations in an attempt to discover corresponding events tied within the world of TKM.

Prejudice and social expectations are the main cause of social outcasts and unfair treatment. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, many examples of unfair treatment and social outcasts are used. Constantly, themes of prejudice and social expectations are accurately displayed by creating outcasts in society and relying on pre-judgments to judge behavior. She also accurately displays the fact that not all people in the South during that time were prejudiced.

“Mob mentality” refers to the idea that an individual reacts to a situation different from the way they would if they were in a group. The idea of “mob mentality” is displayed in the science fiction teleplay, “The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street”, where aliens have supposedly been living with humans and the crowd starts turning against each other to find out who it is. In a place where everyone is turning on each other it is hard to put out your view, so you go along with everyone else to stay safe. Similarly, in “The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street” when everyone starting doubting each other people find it safer to follow the crowd. For example, in the story when Les Goodman’s car starts by itself one person starts asking question and people follow by

In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, the character Scout has the personality trait of being aggressive. Scout also has a character trait of being unladylike. An example of how Scout is aggressive is that after Scout and her brother Jem had gotten there guns for Christmas they were headed to “the Landing”. Before they left their father had said they couldn’t take the guns with, she had already been planning on shooting her cousin. “ He declined to let us take our rifles to the Landing. ( I had already begun to think of shooting Francis)…” (Lee Pg. 106). This is an example of Scout being aggressive because she was thinking about shooting a family member. Shooting someone is considered aggressive behavior because it is purposefully causing

Thomas Fuller once said, “The mob has many heads, but no brains.” In this day in age, mob mentality is seen as having a negative influence on society. Specific behaviors can be triggered by the influence of our peers around us, some of which can cause people to take perilous actions that can have a significant impact on humanity.

Racism is the belief that characteristics and abilities can be attributed to people simply based on their race and that some racial groups are superior to others. This has been a problem in our world forever. In to Kill a Mockingbird there are so many racist events and it reflects on the society as a whole till this day. The book setting was the 1930’s in a small county of Maycomb, where most people were racist and discriminatory. People think racism has died off, but it is still a huge problem. People choose to raise their children and teach them that racism is okay and that is how there is still racism today. There are so many statistics out there based on skin color that right there is even racist if everyone is equal why are there polls being taken separating people by the color of their skin?

Don’t be a conformist. Don’t be common. Be an individual. Conformity, although prevalent in society past and present, is never the answer. As individuals, we were made to be unique. Our insight alone is greater than the elementary principles of the crowd. However, if we conform to societal beliefs, as many of the racists did in “To Kill a Mockingbird” (Harper Lee), then what are we? Uneducated, crowd-pleasing citizens who won’t form our own values. The inability to form our own values causes everyone to cast the same vote. No one expresses different opinions, every white man downgrades African Americans, every male is “superior” to every female, and every child is of lesser value to adults. So, by being an individual, although one may be yelled

Social norms are apart of every society in some way, shape, or form. Issues occur off these social norms when there are outcasters who don’t exactly fit in with society's expectations. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Scout was pressured by many relatives and neighbors to “act like a girl”. Accept, Scout wants to be her own person. She wants to play in the dirt and have fun. Although, one particular person keeps putting her down, and that is Auntie Alexandra. Alexandra tries to play a female role for Scout and tells Scout how she is suppose to act. Scout however is very similar to Juliet capulet in this way. In Romeo and Juliet, Juliet was pressured by her mother to be more like other girls and to get married. Scout and Juliet,

In Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch employs pathos and diction in his closing argument to the jury and people of Maycomb in order to persuade them to see beyond their prejudice and free Tom Robinson.

In the book To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus makes a very powerful speech to the jury. The reason for this is because he uses powerful examples of the 3 main ways how to convince someone something. Those 3 ways are ethos, pathos, and logos. Atticus makes a great pathos statement when he says, “In the name of God, do your duty.” This is such a good quote because the south in the time people were very religious.

In to kill a mocking, Harper Lee uses a range of techniques to present the mob in a bad, and in cases a mocking light. When first coming on to scene, the mob is presented as one shadowy figure, but when actually inspected closely upon, it is seen that that is not the truth at all.

Wolf and Plenzford make an extraordinarily clever use of perspective in offering insight into the consequences the behaviour of the main character has upon those surrounding them: Wolf’s narrator shifts from first to third person, and when she does use the former, what is striking is a constant use of “wir” when the spotlight is turned on the narrator’s own experience, outlining the difference not just between herself and the girl she is speaking of, but indeed of the way the latter stands out amongst a group of people, and from the very beginning against society as a whole. This is highlighted throughout the novel on numerous occasions: “Sie brauchte uns nicht” ( a Leitmotiv of sorts matched by Plenzdorf’s “der konnte niemand helfen”, uttered by Charlie), the author repeats, and “ICH bin anders” scream Christa T’s diaries, as she capitalises words referring to herself, straining to be individual in private whereas she strives to make her aims appear aloof in social circumstances.