WHERE DOES IT ALL
HAPPEN?
To kill a Mockingbird
Setting
• The setting in any novel is important in developing the
action and conveying the story’s themes. Scout gives us
lots of details about the town of Maycomb; we learn about
the town’s characters and geography, which are essential
for understanding the key events in the story.
• Set in Alabama, in the deep south of the United states.
• Set in the fictitious town of Maycomb.
Features of a rural Alabama town in the
1930s:
• A small, largely protestant population (lots of Baptist churchgoers)
• A hot subtropical climate with high rainfall.
• People want to know everyone’s business.
• A person’s character or worth is judged by which part of town he/she
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lives in.
Lots of racism.
Huge divide between town folk and country folk.
Most people have got little money (The Depression).
Much of the white population is descended from cotton plantation
slave owners.
Most people are reliant on agriculture.
Separate schools for White and African-American children.
Social and historical factors during 1930s
• Alabama
Southern states, slavery, Civil War.
Segregation between blacks and whites still existed in the
1930s.
Racism.
• Evidence
Separate locality, churches, schools between black and
white communities. Black people are often servants e.g.
Calpurnia. Refer to chapter 12- visit to the First Purchase
and Chapter 15- Ku Klux Klan.
Social and historical factors during 1930s
• 1930s
The depression, poverty, unemployment, The rise of
fascism (and racism) in Germany and elsewhere.
Evidence
Chapter 1- Scout’s reference to Roosevelt’s speech,
“nothing to fear but fear itself…” Chapter 15- Atticus’
comments, “times this hard”. Chap 26- Miss Gates’
discussion of Hitler.
Finch family
• Atticus Finch is an educated man who goes to work in a clean shirt.
The family owns a nice house and can afford a black housekeeper.
They are only well off compared to farm owners, they to have very
little money.
• Poverty made the south more class conscious than other parts of the
country. For example Aunt Alexandra is so concerned with the
importance of family background and ‘gentle breeding’ because these
concepts were just about all that could be counted on to separate a
family like the Finches from the truly poor.
• The characters in the novel take little interest in events outside of
Maycomb. Most kids in Scout’s class don’t even know what a ‘current
event’ is. Even adults seem to take little interest in the presidency of
Franklin D. Roosevelt or the rise of Hitler in Germany. This is because
people never travelled far from home.
MOST IMPORTANT DIFFERENCE
• The most difference between the south now and during the 1930s is
the system of segregation.
• Black and Whites were forbidden to mix in schools, movie theatre or
trains. Black had very little opportunity to get an education. Blacks
were not allowed to vote or serve on juries.
• If a Black person publicly challenged the segregation system would
have been in serious threat of being killed.
• Segregation was so taken for granted during this time, that is not
even described in the novel in so many words. Not even Atticus, who
represents idealism and a devotion to justice, ever attacks the basic
system of segregation.
Class in the South
• What were the five levels in the socio-economic classes in
the south (which characters represent each class?).
• What might be one reason there was such antagonism
towards the Negroes after slavery was abolished?
TODAYS TASK
• Today you will construct a timeline in your books, showing
the major events in the novel and the physical setting of
each one.
• Settings to include:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
The Court house
The School
The Radley’s house
Miss Maudie’s house
Xmas at the Finches
Mrs Dubose’s house
Tom Robinson’s holding cell.
The Pageant
SEXY PARAGRAPH
• You will write a sexy paragraph discussing how one of the
settings in the novel helped to develop a character. Remember
to follow the SEXY formula and use quotes from the text as
examples.
• Eg
The school Scout attends in Harper Lee’s, To Kill a Mockingbird, is a
pivotal setting in the novel. Scout’s experience at school illustrates her
ignorance and naivety and provides the reader with an insight into how she
perceives the world. “Miss Caroline, he’s a Cunningham… I thought I had
made things sufficiently clear. It was clear enough to the rest of us”. As a
consequence of living her entire life in Maycomb, Scout is unaware that her
small town does not represent the whole world and presumes that Miss
Caroline would understand the Cunningham’s situation. It is this ignorance
and naivety that allows Scout to see the world simply, she judges people
for their actions and not their skin colour or social standing. Additionally, by
making the narrator a young naïve girl, Harper Lee is able to explore the
theme of racism through the eyes of someone who have not been blurred
by the prejudice that exists around them.