To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in a small town called Maycomb (fictional town) in Alabama.

The town’s social structure is characterized by Southern attributes.

This novel is placed in the time period of the 1930’s when racism was still a big issue in the southern states. The South is known as a trustworthy area, such as when we read “The Life You Save My Be Your Own.” The South has the reputation of trusting one another and being close to one another.

While paintings/photographs/song such as the one attached of an “American Dream House,” have depicted the South as a domestic refuge.

To Kill a Mockingbird modifies the Southern Gothic tradition of authors like William Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor to illustrate the dark underbelly of Southern small-town life. The picture depicts what some see as the perfect American Home.

Using the innocent young Scout Finch to narrate her novel, Harper Lee addresses the ways that racism and rape become an integral part of the facade of Southern life. It was a simpler time, things were just basic.

Harper Lee uses her life to create the characters Atticus, Jem and Scout and the town of Maycomb to display her life and her old beliefs. Maycomb is portrayed as a part of southern Alabama from the first settlements, isolated and untouched by the Civil War. If we write something, we should be able to relate to it so that it can have meaning which is what Lee did.

The Finch’s were not your typical American family in this time period. The mother was not in the picture. Scout would have never said this but Calpurnia was what others would have called their slave. The family treated Calpurnia with respect and did not mistreat her, they were grateful to have her around. The Finch’s did not discriminate against the blacks, Atticus raised Jem and Scout that they were people to and they should not be treated any differently because they were not white. The mother figure of the family was Calpurnia, not only did the family care for Calpurnia but the kids were technically being raised by an inter-racial couple.

As the novel progresses, we learn of Tom Robinson, an African American man who has been accused of raping Mayella Ewell a white woman. Not only was the rape in scandalous enough, it was two different skin colors. During this time period, the South saw the color and associated it with bad. They choose not to listen to the case or the details because they had already made up their minds with their racist judgements.

Because of Tom’s skin color, the jury decided that Tom was guilty and the court room was dismissed. The court room was full; it was a scandalous trial. After all of the whites had cleared the room, with the exception of the Finch’s, the African American’s in the room stood up. By them standing, it symbolized their respect for what Atticus did. I believe they were also showing that they knew that it was not his fault of what the circumstances where. They were thanking him for all that he had done.