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Breaking Social Norms In To Kill A Mockingbird Essay

981 Words4 Pages

Out of the Normal Society has a set of actions as what they see as “normal” and socially acceptable. They define this set of unspoken rules as social norms. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, a reader will often find many characters breaking the social norms of Maycomb County, Alabama. The defiance of these social norms help the young protagonist, Scout, learn valuable life lessons of equality. When Atticus chose to defend Tom Robinson in court, he violated the social norm of colored people being inferior to whites and became a maverick in Maycomb community. Social norms are again broken when Calpernia decided to take both Jem and Scout to the First Purchase, an African American church. Atticus’ defiance of believing in equality leave …show more content…

Similarly, as time passes, society can be seen “maturing” by changing its ideals. When a group of people break the social norms of their communities, the defiance of these social norms eventually become the new social norms. One can look at the civil rights movement as an example. Prior to the civil rights movement, discrimination and segregation of colored people had alway been a part of the norm. It was normal to see separate facilities for the white and the colored. The famous Brown v. Board of Education demonstrates the presence of racial segregation in public schools. Prior to 1957, Central High School, in Little Rock, Arkansas, had never had African American students, despite a 1954 ruling from the Supreme Court stating that racial segregation in public schools in unconstitutional. In September of 1957, nine African American students This sparked angry backlash from a mob of 1000 white protestors. The Supreme Court ruled in the Brown v. Board of Education that Central High School must integrate. (History.com staff) In today’s society, one would rarely see the segregation of races in public facilities such as stores, restaurants and schools. A typical student attending a public school would have classmates of many different races. It would be against the social norm to protest for racial

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In 1954 the Supreme Court had ruled in the case of Brown v. Board of Education that segregated public schools were unconstitutional and had reversed years of standard practice. This had defied deeply-held societal behaviors and thus caused widespread southern opposition. Formerly in 1955 a case known as Brown II ordered schools to desegregate as quickly as possible. Then, in 1957, in Little Rock, Arkansas, they planned to integrate nine African American students to an all-white high school called Central High School. However, after the town had heard about this a group of protestors had shown up outside of the school to protest and withhold the students from going to school there.

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In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, the readers are introduced to Maycomb, a small town in Alabama. Throughout the book the main characters observe society, whilst realizing that the seemingly perfect social norms in the town are acts of prejudice. After viewing the effects these actions have on one another, the children begin to reevaluate their morals by becoming more open minded. When blindly following societal norms, the citizens are unable to realize society’s strong need to visualize themselves from the perspective of others. This renders them unable to understand if their morals are socially acceptable and come to terms with how they affect others.

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Without social injustice and the harsh situations created by it, humanity would have no measuring stick as to their progress forward. Despite the fact that social prejudice causes many dark tragedies, investigating the individual lights of humanity in the midst of this darkness is the best way to see how humanity as a whole is transitioning forward. One ray of light amid racial prejudice is Atticus Finch, who exemplifies how humanity’s court of law is slowly improving. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Atticus proves himself to be a social hero when he is describing courage and his rationale for taking on the case to his children: “I want you to see what real courage is[...]It

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Narrow Minded and Ridiculous Cultural norms are what make and shape a society. They are the guidelines, and or patterns, that are supposed to be followed, in order to be considered a normal, typical, everyday citizen. As such, it does not matter if the norms are right or wrong. As long as the citizen is still considered part of their society, right and wrong does not matter, as far as they are concerned. In the case of To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, the cultural norm, of Maycomb County, embraces the wrong, in the form of extreme prejudice behavior.

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The award winning book by Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, explores various views on stereotypes and defying the standard. Atticus Finch, the father of Scout Finch and the main protagonist, must go against societal standards and follow his personal morals. He fights against the injustice in Maycomb Alabama, all while teaching his children valuable life lessons along the way. Although this book has many anti-racial themes, the characters in the story have racial beliefs that over-power its anti-racial themes, downplaying the book’s value as a teaching school.

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The pursuit of personal freedom is often hindered by societal expectations regarding their race, social class or gender as well as other factors. Societal expectations is an internalized social norm for individuals and for society as a whole, about what people should do and what they should not do. This can influence an individual and prevent them for pursuing personal freedom. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee showcases how an individual’s pursuit of personal freedom is driven by their current state of life, as well as the beliefs and values they hold to themselves and how sometimes society can prevent them from pursuing personal freedom. Through Mayella Ewell’s actions, Lee reinforces the idea that often society, and their expectations placed on lower classes can stop you from your pursuit of personal freedom, and trying to rise above the expectations of society.

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Cultural norms are what make and shape a society. They are the guidelines, and or patterns, that are to be followed, in order to be considered a normal, typical, everyday citizen. As such, it does not matter if the norms are right or wrong. As long as the citizen is still a part of their society, right and wrong does not matter, as far as they are concerned. In the case of To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, the cultural norm, of Maycomb County, embraces the wrong, in the form of extreme prejudice behavior.

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How does Harper Lee vividly capture the effects of racism and social inequality on the citizens of Maycomb county in ‘To kill a mockingbird’? In the novel, ‘To kill a mockingbird’, Harper Lee conveys the theme of racism and social inequality by setting up the story in Maycomb, a small community in Alabama, the U.S back in 1930s. Lee presents some of the social issues of 1930s such as segregation and poverty in the novel. These issues are observed and examined through the innocent eyes of a young girl, Scout, the narrator.

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“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.

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In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee demonstrates that social inequality breaks down a society through the use of conflict, symbolism and irony. Social inequality plays a pivotal role in the novel because the whole conflict between Bob and Tom is wrapped in it. From the first accusation to the final conviction inequality is intertwined in every paragraph, every word. To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel that stands the test of time because while our society has made improvements, inequality will never truly go away. This novel displays characters you relate to, ones you despise, and all that you fall in love with.

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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.

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