Imagine being back in the Great Depression and being accused of something that did not happen and being found guilty. This is what happened to Tom Robinson in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. In the novel, Harper Lee used real life stories as a guide to help her write her novel correctly and accurately. The novel is tied to a few stories such as, Jim Crow laws, mob mentality, and the issues of racism in that time period. One of the first connections to America’s history of racism in To Kill a Mockingbird is the Jim Crow laws. To begin, Jim Crow was a racist system that promoted inequality between the races. A bountiful number of people believed the laws were necessary to keep black people in their place. In addition, they used the Jim Crow …show more content…
Most of the time, mob mentality would tend to happen because people would get the mindset that if someone else were doing something it must be worthwhile (Smith). This would result in large group rallies where sometimes could ignite violent scary events. One example of mob mentality is when people would be lynched. Mob mentality can commence by issues such as peer pressure and the need of acceptance (Smith). Large groups would gather and lynch, most of the time, innocent people. Most of the people at the lynching would only be there to feel a part of a group (Smith). In the novel, mob mentality is present when Walter Cunningham and the rest of his group surround Atticus. In addition, they use power in numbers and try to intimidate Atticus, but it does not work. Another example of mob mentality is when men stood in front of the Finch’s house and tried to go after Atticus (Lee 196). These men formed a mob and tried to convince Atticus to change the location of Tom Robinson’s hearing. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, mob mentality is present as well as …show more content…
Lee used the Scottsboro boys as an inspiration for her book, and to help her understand racism during the time period. Racism was a big deal during the Great Depression and several years after that. In the video lecture talking about the Scottsboro boys, Anderson recalled that two white women yelled rape and then nine black boys were taken to trial as soon as possible (Anderson). The trial was one day long and it ruled the boys guilty. This resulted in eight out of the nine boys sentenced to the electric chair and one boy sentenced a life in prison (Anderson). In the end, all of the boys were innocent because the women who yelled rape were prostitutes who did not want to go to jail for prostitution (Anderson). Some reasons people tend to be racist are to boost their self-esteem and to feel dominant. Routledge discusses how racism can appear and writes, “When people’s self-esteem is threatened, prejudicial actions such as racism appear to restore esteem”(Routledge). Numerous studies have shown that prejudicial attitudes can be apparent when human beings want a boost of self-esteem. Dominance also can promote prejudicial attitudes. Routledge discusses how dominance is present in racism and writes, “These high dominance individuals are also more inclined to hold prejudicial attitudes towards members of minority groups”