Breaking The Social Norms In To Kill A Mockingbird

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Everyone essentially lives in their own little fishbowl, surrounded by friends, family, co-workers, etc. All these people influence the way we are judged and perceived. One action and your reputation can go from shining gold to rusty brown. The two novels, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie put this idea into context. Both novels have characters that break the social norms by using courage to overcome racial obstacles.
"Courage is when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what." (124) As stated by Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird, courage is when you know you won’t win, but you follow through with your ideas …show more content…

They were both faced with racial obstacles, and they both got through this obstacle by breaking the social norms with courage. Atticus knew he would not win the case with Tom, but he still chose to try his hardest. By trying his hardest, Atticus broke the social norm of trying to defend an African-American over a White man. “That boy might go to the chair, but he's not going till the truth's told." Atticus's voice was even. "And you know what the truth is." (15.23) Junior like Atticus was faced with the problem of racism. He knew that by leaving the reservation and going to an all-white school, he would similar to Atticus, be subjected to mockery and ridicule. However, identical to Atticus he was willing to be a subject of mockery and ridicule to fight for his cause. Both characters also have major differences.
The key difference between the two characters is their perspective on how they view racism. On one hand, we have the perspective of Atticus who is fighting for the persecuted. On the other hand, we have Junior, whose perspective is from a person who, at times gets persecuted for being an American Indian. Atticus is trying to uphold the idea that all men are created equal. Junior, at first doesn’t realize this, but then comes to the conclusion that every person is unique in their own

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