To Kill A Mockingbird-Mob Mentality And Lynch Culture

Using the lens of racial discrimination, is the discourse of the dominant culture over another still very familiar in our society? Mob Mentality and Lynch Culture The predominant culture (white) in the 1930s, specifically lynch culture and mob mentality, significantly influenced Harper Lee’s defeatist perspective in To Kill a Mockingbird. In chapter 15 of the novel, Atticus Finch, the lawyer of the minority, represented by Tom Robinson, who is falsely accused of rape, camps outside his client’s jail room, in an attempt to protect him from a possible lynch mob. The metaphoric phrase: "In one and two, men get out of the cars. Shadows became substance as light revealed solid shapes moving toward the jail door." emphasises the intimidating nature

Get aside from the door, Mr. Finch,” which shows the relentlessness of the mob, determined to enforce their definition of justice through violence and intimidation, all to assassinate an African American, who was merely accused of rape. This chapter demonstrates the realistic events that occurred in the 1930s and the act of contravention between the ‘white’ people and a ‘black’ man. This shows that when becoming part of a mob, a person loses all signs of their individuality and will develop a mob mentality. Even though the men acted frighteningly like a mob, there were some exceptional people individually, like Walter Cunningham. This can be seen when Scout approaches her dad, recognises Cunningham, and starts talking to him. While doing that, she unknowingly reminds him of his individuality. Walter’s face breaks out once Scout says: “ “I go to school with Walter,” I begin again. “He's your boy, ain't he? Ain’t he, sir?” Mr. Cunningham moved to a faint nod. He did know me after

Just like how the Scottsboro boys were wrongfully accused of rape against two white women, Tom is also accused of sexually assaulting Mayella Ewell on baseless evidence. This demonstrates the systematic racism present in the American South during the 1930s and 1960s. Personification: "Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy." They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird," symbolises the black community, specifically Tom Robinson, as he was the prime focus of the time. Lee uses a mockingbird to symbolise Robinson because his innocence is used against him, and his voice is silenced, just like a mockingbird when they are killed. Reflecting on these cases, it can be seen how deeply racism is ingrained in the judicial court, influencing the legal system to believe the word of a white man over a black man, which is precisely what Atticus said: “In our courts when it's a white man's word against a black man's, the white man always wins.” Even in circumstances where there are no solid pieces of evidence, the white man’s accusations always prevail. Through both these unjust cases, Harper Lee exposes the racism ingrained in the legal system against African