To Kill A Mocking Bird Theme of prejudice

Portrayal of Maycomb as an isolated and insular town is important in helping the reader to understand the racism of the town. “Atticus was related by blood or marriage to nearly every family in the town” This shows how rural the town of Maycomb is and how the opinions of people and views are not influenced by outsiders

“This says I am Miss Caroline Fisher. I am from North Alabama, from Winston County. The class murmured apprehensively, should she prove to harbour her share of the peculiarities indigenous to that region” The civil war the north and south of the United States has caused a divided view will cause tension between Miss Caroline and the people of Maycomb because she is from the North. Continued

decision to set the novel during the great depression aids the readers understanding of Maycomb as an impoverished town with no immediate future prospects. “there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County”  Maycomb is a town which typically of the time did not have much excitement. it was so badly hit by the depression that if there were attractions and events to liven it up few would have the finances to take advantage of it. This highlights that the people who live in Maycomb are bored and starved of activity, which is significant because it means that the trial of Tom Robinson is such an important event

“A tired old town where the courthouse sagged in the square”  This is an indication of the rundown nature of Maycomb and the town is clearly suffering as a result of the great depression. Continued

the fearful nature of Maycomb and its people leads them to desperately cling to the superiority they have over the black people of the town. “After the American Civil War the southerners had been stripped of everything but their land and their impotent fury”  The class of white in the confederate states were extremely resistant to change and in particular harboured great resentment of the new found freedom of black citizens.  It is the desperation of the white people in Maycomb to maintain a feeling or sense of superiority over black people

“He’d never seen such scary folks as the ones in Maycomb” Scout is referring to the black people in the town which shows how the prejudice against black people because the town is so rural. Continued

the racist attitudes about the inferiority and dehumanisation of blacks are passed down from adults to children. “Every passing negro laughing in the night was Boo Radley loose and after us” Scout compares her fear of Boo which we know is great to that of black people. This highlights that black people were the subject of nightmares and even Scout as one of the sensible characters in the novel demonstrates a fear and ignorance

Continued “ announced in the schoolyard…that Scout Finch’s daddy defended niggers” This makes it more difficult for Atticus in his efforts to overcome racist attitudes and opinions in the town.