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To Kill A Mockingbird Research Paper

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To Kill a Mockingbird: Historical Paper
The Great Depression is often called a “defining moment” in the twentieth-century history of the United States says Gene Smiley. Harper Lee used real-life examples as inspiration when she was writing To Kill a Mockingbird. In this novel, there are multiple connections to the Jim Crow laws and mob mentality. The laws were operated during 1877 through the mid-1960s in the southern and border states. These laws were an official effort for keeping African Americans separate from Whites (“Jim Crow Laws”). For example, in the “ What was Jim Crow?” article, it states that people of color shall not eat with Whites (Pilgrim). Also, in a picture, it shows that White and Blacks cannot drink out of the same water …show more content…

I find it disgusting and wrong. Mob mentality is is used to refer to unique behavioral characteristics that emerge when people are in large groups” (Smith). A main factor in why it happens is because people want to fit in and fall for peer pressure. They want to be liked and be apart of something (Smith). In the article, Smith states “Another factor in mob mentality is the sense of confusion or even panic that can exist in a large group. An example of this can be seen when people in crowds suddenly begin rushing in one direction” (Smith). These factors show some reasons for why these things happen. Mob mentality didn’t just happen in the south. A memorable lynching actually took place in Indiana. As shown in the picture, I saw people who were smiling and they look like they are proud to be involved in such thing (Beitler). Their reaction to the hanging bodies behind them says a lot. It shows how they feel about what was happening to those people and in that time period (Beitler). In the broadcast, people who were still alive, and were there explained what happened. One lady stated “it’s like a county fair, people from all over the county came just to watch” ("Strange Fruit: Anniversary of a Lynching"). That shows how big of a deal it was. For the reasons above, mob mentality is indeed sickening and disgusting to American history. In To Kill a Mockingbird, there some examples of mob mentality. For example, Lee states on page 167,

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167 Words | 1 Pages

Mob mentality is also apart of our country's past. One example is the Marion lynching. A huge crowd was gathered around a jail with 3 black men in it. After a while they got in the jail and one by one hung them (“Strange Fruit: Americanism of a Lynching). Townspeople and people on the poorer side experience mob mentality in the book.

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622 Words | 3 Pages

To Kill a Mockingbird focuses on multiple significant ideas to highlight the main ideas of the novel. One of great magnitude is explained in chapter three of the novel when author Harper Lee simplifies the importance of being able to put yourself in someone else’s shoes to view each different perspective. “First of all,” he said, “if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folk. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view.” Be understanding, realize that honest mistakes happen as in the excerpt with Scout and Walter.

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187 Words | 1 Pages

Outline Thesis: Much of the success of Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, is based upon Lee’s choice of an adult first person narrator Scout Finch, reflecting upon her childhood experiences during the Great Depression. I.Adds more detail to the situation. A.Scout explains the situation with more thorough detail.

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1745 Words | 7 Pages

These ideas would later begin to deteriorate in the black communities due to Jim Crow laws, racial discrimination, and eventually the race riot. Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. After the riot in Atlanta, many African American looked to the ideas of W.E.B. Du Bois. Bois, who help find the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, wanted to force equality for African Americans by all ways possible. He believed this would be a faster approach than Washington’s ideas.

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630 Words | 3 Pages

Mobs also show the flaws in human nature in society by being an example of people without consequences. In the article “Brawls break out over Black Friday deals” by the New York Post (NYP), people desperate to simply save a few dollars for their gifts ended up “punching and slapping each other silly” (NYP par. 2). These people have this opportunity of doing whatever they want without repercussions, then their inner desires for violence arise that are normally suppressed by consequences. This relates (and thus proves Goldings point) to the boys in Lord of the Flies where no adults to punish them leads to the boys hunting, hurting, and even

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896 Words | 4 Pages

Masks, Mantras, and Misleaders: Studying Mob Mentality in Lord of the Flies In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, an intriguing theme is examined throughout the novel: the hazardous nature of a social phenomenon called mob mentality. In a summarized definition of the term, mob mentality is the tendency of individuals to conform to the actions of a larger group. During scenes depicting mob mentality, the boys are detached from their identities and can avoid taking responsibility for their actions as they participate in the group activity. The inclination toward such tendencies is exhibited in multiple scenes in the novel that become increasingly aggressive and violent.

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475 Words | 2 Pages

Hook: "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it." - Atticus Finch Thesis: Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird explores the complexities of prejudice and racism through the perspectives of Scout and Jem Finch, two young children growing up in the deep South during the 1930s. Body Paragraph 1: Topic Sentence: Scout's innocence and naivety initially blind her to the racism present in her community. Quote: "I was starting to learn that a quick temper could get you into trouble faster than anything else."

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795 Words | 4 Pages

Mob mentality is shown is To Kill a Mockingbird many times. An example is the jail scene. An example of mob mentality from the article is teens vandalizing property (Smith). If a

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1217 Words | 5 Pages

I can conclude that mob mentality is the thinking of a person, that doing wrong things with a group is fine because it is a group rather than being alone (Edmonds). The photograph of the lynching, if top part covered looks just like a county fair. This shows just how cruel it was, people gathered around to watch it because they saw other people doing it. The lynching happened so quickly that more and more people kept coming to the act.

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1182 Words | 5 Pages

HOOK.At the beginning of the Civil Rights movement, Harper Lee wrote a book during a very racist period, The Great Depression. This novel is about Scout Finch, a six year old young girl who lived in the South during the 1930s. She and her ten year old brother, Jem, are being raised by their father Atticus, who is a lawyer and puts his all into defending a black man, Tom Robinson. The “Mockingbird” in this story symbolizes a bird on which the children shouldn’t kill because it represents innocence. If you were to kill a “Mockingbird” it would be considered a “sin”.

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1088 Words | 5 Pages

Final Essay Outline: Thesis Statement/opening paragraph: In the story To Kill A Mockingbird, discrimination and the act of being prejudice is common among the main characters, on both the receiving and serving end. Certain characters, like Scout and Jeremy Finch, Bob Ewell, and the town folk truly create the main problem and set the theme of the story. For example, when Bob Ewell accuses Atticus Finch of being an african-american lover, because he is defending Tom Robinson. Tom Robinson was accused of raping Mayella Ewell, according to Bob. Boo Radley is accused of being dead by Scout, Jem and Dill.

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614 Words | 3 Pages

In society, there are very few people who have the unwavering dedication to stand up for what they believe. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, a black man was convicted and accused of a crime he didn 't commit, raping a white women, which is not in anyway tolerable in society. In Harper Lee 's To Kill A Mockingbird, the author used point of view and symbolism to acknowledge how the the several social divisions which make up much of the adult world are shown to be both irrational and extremely destructive. To begin with, the short story To Kill A Mockingbird, used point of view to show how the many social divisions in the world are irrational and destructive. Scout; a first grade student at the time, was telling the story from her point of view and what had occurred from her childhood perspective.

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1560 Words | 7 Pages

Mob mentality occurs in The Lord of the Flies and in To Kill a Mockingbird. A setting with a dictator leadership and deindividuation in the people, is when mob mentality is more likely to occur. Mob mentality in The Lord of the Flies and in To Kill a Mockingbird occurs when people join a group or a mob, they lose their identity and follow the group's actions instead of their own. Mob mentality occurs in many different situations. Mob mentality occurs when people

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1115 Words | 5 Pages

In our society, innocent people, known as mockingbirds, experience prejudice in their lives. A/T: In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Background: Tom Robinson is a black person who’s was accused of raping a white girl named Mayella Ewell which he has never done. For this reason, Atticus Finch was appointed to be his lawyer. As a result, Atticus takes a stand for him by approving his case and standing up for him, but Tom was still found guilty.

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1395 Words | 6 Pages

In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee presents a large social atmosphere that includes many different cultures and extremes. The story takes place in the southern town of Maycomb, Alabama during the Great Depression. This novel illustrates how the southerners perceived different ideas about each other and social norms. It is told through the eyes of a young girl, Scout Finch, as she is growing up and becoming influenced by societal attitudes. Throughout the course of this book Scout learns many lessons including: how a society functions, why there is conflict between different cultures, and what makes cultures different from each other.

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