Discuss Harper Lee's Presentation of Maycomb Society in to Kill a Mockingbird

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Discuss Harper Lee’s Presentation of Maycomb Society in to Kill a Mockingbird

Maycomb is described as a “tired old town” where the inhabitants had “nowhere to go”. Maycomb is very similar to any small southern town in the 1930’s, sexism, racism and other prejudices are at a peak, and old traditions are carried out regularly.

To Kill a Mockingbird revolves solely around family, community and society, the focus point of the book, the rape trial, would not have occurred if society had not looked down upon the black community.

The society is more the broader, less specific sub category for Maycomb, something more specific would be community. In the 1930’s racism was at large, so ghettos were formed, separation between blacks and whites. It started with smaller, insignificant things. But as time moved on, shops, buses, schools, and even housing areas became white or black only. The whites, no matter how badly they lived, looked down upon the blacks; a good example of this would be the Ewell family. They were possibly the closest thing to white trash in Maycomb, yet could still win a trial against a black man, even though all the evidence was pointing against them.

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The black communities were jovial places; they valued their lives more than their possessions or money, whereas the whites relied on their income to determine how happy they were. Harper Lee’s presentation of this is well portrayed throughout the book, particularly during Mayella’s questioning during the trial, where she recalls that she often managed to get black people to do jobs for no pay, and the black people seemed more than willing to help.

However, racism was not the only problem in Maycomb.

The men of the household were expected to go to work and earn the money, ...

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