“A growing group of Americans spoke out against inequality and injustice during the 1950s… about the struggle against racism and segregation that entered the mainstream of American life” (“The Civil Rights Movement”). We see this being reflected in the mood Harper Lee uses in her novel To Kill a Mockingbird. In this book, Harper Lee uses setting to create a range of moods for the reader throughout Scout's journey that ranged from tense to mystifying, and finally thrilling.
In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee used a more tense setting to reflect the mood of the novel. She portrayed a tense setting with the scene of the trial, a major moment that created lots of tension. Before the days of the trial there was a night when a group of men were standing outside of Atticus’s house. Lee wrote,
I wondered who had died. Jem and I went to the front door, but Atticus called, Go back in the house. Jem turned out the living room lights and pressed his nose to a window screen. Aunt Alexandra protested. Just for
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I stood on tiptoe, hastily looked around once more, reached into the hole, and withdrew two pieces of chewing gum minus their outer wrappers…When Jem came home he asked me where I got such a wad. I told him I found it…It was sticking in that tree yonder, the one comin‘ from school…Jem stamped his foot. Don’t you know you’re not supposed to even touch the trees over there? You’ll get killed if you do! (Lee 33-34).
The knot-hole was the kids' way of communicating with Boo, even if they didnt know it yet. They didn't know who was placing the items in the knot-hole and it became a fun mystery for them. That is how Harper Lee created a mystifying setting to place the mood of the book.
Lastly Harper Lee creates a thrilling setting in certain parts of her novel. She introduces a thrilling atmosphere with the kids' mission to place a note on Boo Radley’s window. She