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To Kill A Mockingbird Influences

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To Kill A Mockingbird Influences
Historical Influences on To Kill a Mockingbird
The Great Depression was a very depressing time for millions. Nearly 25 percent of America’s population was unemployed, which means that many lost their homes and had to use food wisely (McCabe). This shows up in To Kill a Mockingbird in the Cunningham family’s lifestyle. They are very poor and try to make ends meet with the farmland they have (Lee). Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is based on three main historical influences. The Jim Crow laws, mob mentality as well as racism are the three influences on Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. One of the influences of To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee is the Jim Crow laws. The laws were a way to keep the African American’s second-class …show more content…
Mob mentality is a mind set of a person that is not one they would normally have as an individual (Smith). One modern day example of this would be the crowds on Black Friday. People have been trampled and hospitalized due to the mindset of the ones surrounding. Another example would be from the 1930’s, when lynching was a type of entertainment for a crowd as well as a mob (Beitler). This one lynching in particular where a white man was shot and three black teenagers were arrested for his murder. While at the jail the three boys were attacked by the mob of people who broke into the jail with sledgehammers and crowbars. The first boy was stabbed to death before he was hung. The second boy was dragged to the same tree as his brother and pulled up but resisted the rope so the mob broke his arms and raised him back up. They spared the third boy (“Strange Fruit: Anniversary of a Lynching.”). This example shows how a mob can start as something simple and then take a quick turn and become a fatal occurrence. People do not normally chose to go against the grain when it’s so much easier to go with the flow and with the grain. Mob mentality is evident in To Kill a Mockingbird when the group of men comes to the jail that Tom Robinson was currently at and tried to get past Atticus to get to Tom. Mob mentality is only one out of three main influences the last one is
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