Setting...
A short cultural, geographical and historical outline of 'To Kill a Mockingbird'...
Setting...
To Kill a Mockingbird is set in the small fictional town of Maycomb County, in southern Alabama, during the 1930's. America is still recovering from the recent civil war. The people are very much cut off from the rest of the world and their lives revolve around the happenings in Maycomb. The county is surrounded by farmland and ghettos . There is very much a class system in Maycomb. The negroes around Maycomb County are discriminated against and have no rights.
The Finch's live in the town and are much higher in the class system than negroes or white farmer's.
"There's four kinds of folks in the world. There's the ordinary kind like us and the neighbors, there's the kind like the Cunninghams out in the woods, the kind like the Ewells down at the dump, and the Negroes." (chapter 23) For such a tough time (The Great Depression) the Finch family are very well off and live quite well. They live in the town centre and have access to the resources they need. Many people living in the town surrounds are very poor and rely on their farm produce and natural resources surrounding them eg. wood for heat, hunting for food and growing their own produce.
Maycomb County is an isolated town, where time seems to pass slowly and lazily. "A day was twenty-four hours long but seemed longer. There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County.'(pg. 10 TKAM) Most of the people living in Maycomb are oblivious to current world events and to what's happening around them. The families of Maycomb are generations old, no-one new moves to Maycomb and no one moves away. Each family has its set ways and habits, these are all known to everyone within the county. There is a lot of deep history woven beneath the layers of the town. Because of this, no one breaks the old routines and habits and people are set in their ways.
There is no communication with the outside world and people in Maycomb don't travel. Because their lives are in the town, they don't communicate with people outside of Maycomb.o. The usually sleepy town comes together when an important event or complication arises, this then becomes a main focus for the people living in the town.
To Kill a Mockingbird is set in the small fictional town of Maycomb County, in southern Alabama, during the 1930's. America is still recovering from the recent civil war. The people are very much cut off from the rest of the world and their lives revolve around the happenings in Maycomb. The county is surrounded by farmland and ghettos . There is very much a class system in Maycomb. The negroes around Maycomb County are discriminated against and have no rights.
The Finch's live in the town and are much higher in the class system than negroes or white farmer's.
"There's four kinds of folks in the world. There's the ordinary kind like us and the neighbors, there's the kind like the Cunninghams out in the woods, the kind like the Ewells down at the dump, and the Negroes." (chapter 23) For such a tough time (The Great Depression) the Finch family are very well off and live quite well. They live in the town centre and have access to the resources they need. Many people living in the town surrounds are very poor and rely on their farm produce and natural resources surrounding them eg. wood for heat, hunting for food and growing their own produce.
Maycomb County is an isolated town, where time seems to pass slowly and lazily. "A day was twenty-four hours long but seemed longer. There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County.'(pg. 10 TKAM) Most of the people living in Maycomb are oblivious to current world events and to what's happening around them. The families of Maycomb are generations old, no-one new moves to Maycomb and no one moves away. Each family has its set ways and habits, these are all known to everyone within the county. There is a lot of deep history woven beneath the layers of the town. Because of this, no one breaks the old routines and habits and people are set in their ways.
There is no communication with the outside world and people in Maycomb don't travel. Because their lives are in the town, they don't communicate with people outside of Maycomb.o. The usually sleepy town comes together when an important event or complication arises, this then becomes a main focus for the people living in the town.