Cultures in Harper Lees To Kill A Mockingbird :: Harper Lee Kill Mockingbird Essays

To Kill A Mockingbird is a brilliantly written novel by Harper Lee.The novel is set in Alabama, USA, in the 1930s and tells the story ofa lawyer who defends a wrong accused black man while trying to raisehis 2 children, Scout and Jem, as they go through childhood andadolescence, lifes most active learning stages. The book is writtenthrough the look of Atticus nave young daughter, Scout, and gray ways enhance the speckle of the story to give it a realistic andhistorical perspective. The portrayal of southern culture is shown inan array of subjects. Family, racism, hypocrisy, poverty and hatredare plainly some of many.The novel is set in the sleepy townsfolkship of Maycomb, which, although afictional town, is based on Monroeville, Alabama and is a perfectmicrocosm of the ways and culture of people during the 1930sDepression. Maycomb was not on any major routes. It was an island ina patchwork sea of cotton fields and lumber Harper Lee describesMaycomb as a Tired old town. The often-humid climate made summersalmost unbearable, and the seasons couldnt clearly be distinguished.It didnt rain or snow often, (it hadnt snowed since 1885). When itrained the streets turned to red slop. The town basically consisted ofan oak tree-lined square with one main street. there was a courthouse,which sagged in the square and a jail a miniature black letter joke onecell wide and two cells high. There was also a newspaper office, afew general stores and a school, which was mainly populated bychildren from outlying farms. The coloured neighbourhood was freighterthe town dump, completely separated from the white community.People rarely came and go forth Maycomb, because it was not on any majorroutes. It was the administrative centre of Maycomb County, solely toofar from the river to grow from commercial wealth.The town grew inward accord to Harper Lee, which, by 1933, led toa caste system in which people had become utterly predictable toeach other. Atticus doesnt believe o ne should judge people on whattheir backgrounds are like, and tries to con Jem and Scout this. Butwhen Aunt Alexandra arrived she fitted into the world of Maycomb likea script into a glove.Some families in town were respectable, and others werent. Forexample, no matter how inadequate the Cunninghams were, they still hadstandards. If they borrowed some money, or someone did a job for them,they would invariably pay them back. If they could not afford to pay themin money, they would pay them in kind. For example, when Atticus