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Examples Of Mob Mentality In To Kill A Mockingbird

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Examples Of Mob Mentality In To Kill A Mockingbird
Harper Lee’s Inspirations The Pulitzer Prize was awarded to Harper Lee almost immediately in 1960. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee was inspired by real-life events. The Jim Crow laws, mob mentality, and issues with racism are connections with the novel. Firstly, the Jim Crow laws relates to Harper Lee’s novel. Jim Crow was a system of laws that were created to enforce that blacks and whites were not equal. These laws were needed because they thought blacks were not superior to whites. An example of the Jim Crow laws was that black men were not allowed to light a white women’s cigarette. Another law was that African Americans were not allowed to use the same restroom as white people. Also, blacks were also not allowed to go boating with …show more content…
Mob mentality is when a group of people influences individuals to do something they would not normally do. A current example of mob mentality is when people start running in a certain direction; another person will automatically run in the same direction (Smith). The United States past also contains mob mentality. The first incident was the iconic lynching in Indiana. The lynching is famous due to the photographer catching the gruesome acts on camera. The mob had dragged Tom, and Abe out of the jail cell they were inside, then lynched them (“Strange Fruit: Anniversary). The photo taken at the lynching shows two black men hanging from the tree, along with spectators watching the awful event, and they were watching as if it were a show (Beitler). Characters from To Kill a Mockingbird experience mob mentality too. The most obvious event is when the mob shows up at the jail, and they want to hurt Tom. Walter had the mob mentality, but had escaped this when Scout singles him out. A less obvious occurrence was while Scout was getting made fun of by all of the ladies at the tea party. Miss Maudie was the only one who did not fall into that mentality, which helped her stand up for Scout (Lee 308-309). Mob mentality was not the only incident shown during the

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