Examples Of Conformity In To Kill A Mockingbird

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. A behavior, of which, presents itself heavily while either talking, and or mentioning, the topics of religions, racism and classism. Given the time period is set during the

While, not having to deal with the Great Depression, the act of harassing non-religious people dates back to when being Christian was still considered to be the only acceptable way to live. A action, of which, was especially taken seriously within the southern area of the United States. And sadly, the ones, in Maycomb, who get harassed the most, are Scout’s neighbors, Miss Maudie Atkinson and the Radleys. According to Miss Maudie, some of the townspeople have the nerve to “[pass] by [her] place and [tell her that her] and [her] flowers [are] going to hell,” as a result of her being a Baptist, instead of a Christian (Lee 59). Religious disagreements, like this, should not allow for someone to threaten another person. In fact, the point of a religion is for a worshipper to be able to express their own personal beliefs, without having to deal with the hatred and judgement from the others, who worship something else. In threatening Miss Maudie, the townspeople also threaten Mr. Nathan Radley and Mr. Arthur Radley. They taunt them for the fact that they “[do] not go to church,” and that, like Miss Maudie, they are “Baptists” (Lee 11-59). Two things, of which, in the townspeople's eyes, needed to be punished for. Thus, one of the main reasons of why Mr. Nathan Radley and Mr. Arthur Radley stay inside of their house half of the time. They do not

Considering that the Civil War happened 65 years before the events of this book, people, in the south, were still extremely hostile, towards the African Americans. To best capture this, is the event of Tom Robinson’s case. Tom Robinson was an African American who was accused of “[raping]... Mr. Bob [Ewell’s]” daughter, Mayella Ewell (Lee 223). During his trial, everyone does not even listen to Tom Robinson’s testimony, instead, they listen to Mr. Heck Tate’s, Bob Ewell’s and Mayella Ewell’s. On top of this, the court and jury are biased enough to even overlook evidence that proves Tom’s innocence. According to Mr. Heck Tate, he found Mayella “bunged up on [the right] side of her face,” which would had been his left, while looking at her (Lee 225). The importance of this is, Tom Robinson would had not been able to punch Mayella on the right side of her face. This is because of the fact that he was “crippled… [and] his left arm was fully twelve inches shorter than his right… [and] ended in a small shriveled hand,” thus proving that he would be unable to punch Mayella on the right side of her face, as that required the dominance, and power, of someone who actually had a left hand (Lee 248). Therefore, proving that Tom had no part in harming Mayella. However, it is because of the simple fact that Tom is an African American, that he is charged as being