Societal Norms In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

787 Words2 Pages

A byproduct of a working society are the generally accepted ways in which one is supposed to act. These societal norms tend to put pressure on the populace to act in such a way that is socially accepted as to escape the ire of the public eye. And the voice of the public has the power to suppress those who cut across the grain, if they are not strong enough to withstand it, demonstrated by the book To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. Lee’s novel explores the idea that societal norms attempt to suppress people who go against them through the characters Dolphus Raymond and Atticus Finch. In To Kill A Mockingbird, it is shown that societal norms try to suppress the ones who go against them through Dolphus Raymond. Raymond is an enigmatic character to most of …show more content…

In the form of Atticus Finch, Lee’s novel again gives an example of how societal norms may attempt to suppress one who defies them. A lawyer tasked with defending the black man Tom Robinson in a case, Finch takes it upon himself to defend him with as much ability as he can muster, much to the chagrin of the town. Maycomb has decided that what Finch is doing is wrong with them, and endeavors to ramp up the pressure on him. After the news about the case gets out, Atticus’s daughter Scout has an altercation at school with a boy named Cecil Jacobs about Atticus defending a black man. Later, Scout asks Atticus about him defending Tom and he admits there has “been some high talk around the town to the effect that [he] shouldn’t do much about defending [that] man”(9.86), showing that right after the people found out Atticus intended to try, they had already started circulating rumors about him and looking upon him in disapproval, as their norms state that black people are beneath them. Later, during her Christmas visit to the Finch estate, Scout encounters Francis, her once-removed

Open Document