Harper Lee lived during a time of civil turmoil, and it is clear that those events affected the plot of her novel To Kill a Mockingbird. The Jim Crow laws, mob mentality, and the Scottsboro trials were all influencing factors in the author’s creative process. Most paramount in this novel is the presence of the Jim Crow laws. The Jim Crow laws were a racist set of legal and societal restrictions placed upon African Americans. While some, like Caucasian motorists having the right of way and the segregation of public places, such as restaurants and buses, were actual laws with legal enforcement, most were putative norms. These conventions manifested themselves in manner of greetings, courtesy titles, public displays of affection, and a man
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Mob mentality can be defined as a mass hysteria that grips a group of people or animals, and instigates behaviors atypical of the group’s denizens under normal circumstances. This kind of behavior is shown in modern examples like a group stampede whilst shopping, or peer pressure to alter behavior to appear more mainstream and thus be accepted socially (Smith). Older examples would be the iconic lynching of two of three black men that were arrested on suspicion of shooting a white man, Claude Deters, in Marion, Indiana. A mob formed and lynched Tom Ship and Abe Smith while they were in jail. While Ship was immediately killed by the mob, then hung, Smith was hung while he was still alive. A radio broadcast on the lynching’s eightieth anniversary recounted the events of the night, which were carried out by everyday citizens without consideration for the fact the white man’s death was never solved (“Strange Fruit: Anniversary of a Lynching”). Tragically, this event was not unique to its time period. It could be argued the sole reason, however this one was important because of a photograph. Taken shortly after the fact, it depicts the two bodies hanging from the tree, but more importantly, the mob itself. All of the members are calm, white, and members of the community. They are young old, woman, man, and child. These people come from all walks of life, and that is what drives home the
Mob mentality can be defined as a mass hysteria that grips a group of people or animals, and instigates behaviors atypical of the group’s denizens under normal circumstances. This kind of behavior is shown in modern examples like a group stampede whilst shopping, or peer pressure to alter behavior to appear more mainstream and thus be accepted socially (Smith). Older examples would be the iconic lynching of two of three black men that were arrested on suspicion of shooting a white man, Claude Deters, in Marion, Indiana. A mob formed and lynched Tom Ship and Abe Smith while they were in jail. While Ship was immediately killed by the mob, then hung, Smith was hung while he was still alive. A radio broadcast on the lynching’s eightieth anniversary recounted the events of the night, which were carried out by everyday citizens without consideration for the fact the white man’s death was never solved (“Strange Fruit: Anniversary of a Lynching”). Tragically, this event was not unique to its time period. It could be argued the sole reason, however this one was important because of a photograph. Taken shortly after the fact, it depicts the two bodies hanging from the tree, but more importantly, the mob itself. All of the members are calm, white, and members of the community. They are young old, woman, man, and child. These people come from all walks of life, and that is what drives home the