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, in a manual job or not, the case was the same. The women were supposed to remain at the home, looking after the younger children, and cooking for the older children when they returned from school. Occasionally, in the black community, where they were too poor to survive off one wage, the women would work in the houses, as maids or cooks, similar to Calpurnia. She is fortunate, as Atticus does not treat her as a servant; he treats her as an equal, knowing full well that he could not manage without her. Harper Lee again portrays this very well.
Harper Lee presents Maycomb society as two split communities, attempting to join together, but failing. Every aspect of the book somehow comes down to the society of Maycomb. Also, class and family history is an important part of tradition to many of the people in Maycomb. When Aunt Alexandra comes to visit, she feels it her duty to put upon Scout the importance of her roots. Aunt Alexandra forces Atticus to explain to Scout that she is "not from run-of-the-mill people, but the product of several generations' gentle breeding". Aunt Alexandra feels that people are born into a certain class, and should, therefore, behave accordingly. If you are born into a high class, you will always be considered high class, and if you are born into a low class, there is no use to strive for anything higher. The result is that families are repeated in each generation with similar attitudes and character shadings. The objective is obviously to refine the classes and keep them pure. Aunt Alexandra and many other men and women in Maycomb praise the distinction of class. To them, having high blood is seen as sacred and there is no way to obtain it but by birth.
Harper Lee also presents Maycomb society as a place of gossip. As there was not much to do, in terms of amusements, people would talk and spread rumours about other Maycomb residents. Characters similar to Miss Rachel, the town gossip queen, appear to have nothing better to do than to live through the people that they talk about. The ladies in the Missionary Society would like others to consider that they care about others, but in reality, their meetings soon turn towards the most recent story going around town.
Harper Lee uses everyday occurrences such as the gossiping to allow the reader to relate to Maycomb and its inhabitants with greater ease. When looked into deeper, excluding the racism, Maycomb is not dissimilar to any small town or village today. Every family is known and stereotyped, and those views are maintained through the generations, perhaps passed down in stories and suchlike. Harper Lee uses this similarity between Maycomb and her childhood residence, after all, she is perhaps writing about her childhood experiences and feelings through Scout. This is why Harper Lee’s presentation of Maycomb society is so well portrayed, because the society is based on a real community and the residents embodied in fiction by Harper Lee.