The Concept Of Individuality In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

This concept of hatred spreads past, even the bounds of individuality. Notably, this collective hatred shows in the moment the mob comes by the Jailhouse to lynch Tom Robinson, for a crime that he has not even been found guilty of by a court. This attitude and contempt stemming from the collective hatred of the mob. This proves itself to be more true when looking at the definition of the collective unconscious, which “is a level of unconscious shared with other members of the human species comprising latent memories from our ancestral and evolutionary past.”(McLeod). The men who are coming by to lynch Tom are doing so because he is not like them. He is black. In the end, it takes a little girl to calm them. Atticus says “That proves something—that a gang of wild animals can be stopped, simply because they’re still human.”(Lee 210). Their rage and anger directed collectively towards Tom Robinson is only quelled by remembering their own individual humanity. This scene incorporates the sense of bigotry that encompasses the whole mob, while having it quelled by the aspect of enlightenment through the understanding of an individual’s humanity. Ultimately this illustrates the inherent ability to grow out of groupthink and into an individual understanding and power for goodness. While the individual has the ability to do good, they also have the ability to do wrong. Atticus points

Whether it be by race, class or gender, Lee shows that this divide is out of ignorance of the “other’s” reality. Accordingly, she also shows that the only cure for this ignorance is the enlightenment found in individuality. She uses the characters and their lives to shape, and point out the bigotry behind many of the social structures and norms, while at the same time pointing towards this solution. Most of all, Lee shows how this is an evident truth for all