Maycomb County is a microcosm of the social structure of America. Discuss how Harper Lee achieves this through her characterisation and social groupings.

never heard, and had no choice but to stand down to the white people. Although slavery was abolished, it was still very difficult for black people to be accepted into a white mans society, which they had already experienced through generations before. It was highly unlikely for a black person to be given the opportunity to speak out and defend themselves and Harper Lee gives them a chance to stand up by allowing them to talk through a man who wouldn't be ignored, a white man, Atticus Finch.   In order to get the reader more involved in the novel, Harper Lee uses the character of Scout to narrate the story. Scout is six years old and is a likeable, simple character who the reader can relate to easily. When a child is young they have little knowledge of the world and behave how they see fit. Their responses and attitudes are very frank, yet they never mean to cause any intentional harm when voicing their opinions, it is simply their way of expressing themselves. Looking at the world through a child's eyes is never really concentrated on, so Harper Lee's use of Scout as the narrator, gives the reader a chance to view things from the eyes of an innocent, honest, young girl.  Harper Lee has obviously used Scout as a means of portraying her own childhood, which may have given her ideas on how to present Scout to the reader. She shows Scout as a loyal girl, slowly maturing and learning from her mistakes. Her innocence is shown throughout the book, an example being when she referred to a hermaphrodite as a morphodite. The reader can actually see Scout maturing emotionally and morally, observing her town and the goings on within it.  The Family and social groupings in Maycomb are shown like a hierarchy. There is the black community, based in the outskirts of the town where they have less of a voice and are less educated. Their jobs pay little and are not considered to be very important positions, such as cooks, dustbin men and minders. They are constantly racially insulted and seen as criminals who do not deserve a fair trial.Next are the Ewell's, a low class, immoral family who are considered to be "white trash." Even so, when Tom Robinson is accused of raping Mayella Ewell, the majority of the townsfolk side with Bob Ewell because he is a white man after all. Mayella Ewell is physically and emotionally bullied by her father, yet her efforts to be different have been seen in the book. Scout compares Mayella to a "mixed child" who belongs nowhere. She is not given any sort of affection or educational teachings so she becomes desperate for a man's affection, even if he is a black man, Tom Robinson.The next family grouping is the Cunningham's. They are farmers and poor. They don't want to be felt sorry for so they don't take what they cannot give back. This is shown in the beginning of the book where Mr Cunningham is paying him entailment to Atticus through bags of hickory nuts and so on. Towards the centre of the text are characters such as the Radleys, Miss Stephanie Crawford, Miss Maudie and the Finches. Arthur "Boo" Radley is the victim of a proud father, who sacrifices his own son's physical and emotional health to his own prejudices and so he is shut of from all other human contact becoming lonely and remaining as a child in his isolation. Although he does try and attempt to make contact with the Finch children that is quickly cut off by his older brother Nathan.The Finches are a good respectable family. They are well educated and have a very good, well known background. Harper Lee portrays Atticus to be a truly civilised man and a gentleman at that.