Attitudes And Values Of Maycomb County Presented By Harper Lee

How are the attitudes and values of Maycomb County Presented by Harper Lee?

The novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee is set in the early 1900’s and is based around the Finch family and their life in their home county of Maycomb, Alabama. The attitudes and values of Macomb County are presented through the expectations of the Maycomb society, and also the actions of the people of Maycomb and how these contrast or match eachother.

The social behaviour that the Maycomb society expects of people is depicted through the criticism of the Radley family. An example of the Maycomb society criticizing the Radleys is how Scout describes the doors of the Radley residence being closed on Sundays, as she says this practice was “…alien to Maycomb’s

It is said Jem gets most of his information about the Radleys from Miss Stephanie Crawford, who is recognised as the town gossip, and the reader can infer that Jem’s dialogue

An example is how southern hospitality is displayed. The first clear indication of southern hospitality is witnessed by the reader when Calpurnia reprimands Scout during lunch with Walter Cunningham. Scout announces that she thinks it is strange that Walter pours molasses all over his food. Calpurnia tells Scout “That boy’s yo comp’ny and if he wants to eat up the table cloth you let him”. This dialogue not only establishes Calpurnia’s morals but also the standards expected of hosts in their society, as it was rude to embarrass or degrade your guests. But this theme is contrasted many times in the book, an example of this can be found in the Ewells, and Burris Ewell’s behaviour at school. Burris Ewell is clearly shown as a rude and disrespectful character through his treatment of Miss Caroline. This behaviour is a blatant difference to Little Chuck Little’s gentlemanly behaviour. When Miss Caroline gets upset about Burris’s ‘cootie’ Chuck tries to calm her down and even escorts her to the front of the classroom. This is stated b Scout when she says “he was born a gentleman.” And the adjectives “gentle” and “calmly” used when describing Chuck’s actions give the reader the idea of him being a helpful, kid person, not at all similar to the negative adjectives used to describe the Ewells such as “hulking”