Throughout to To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, geographic location, cultural and social values impacted the way people live. As the story is set in Maycomb, Alabama in the late 1930’s, following the great depression the way people lived had to change to adapt to the new living situations. Geographic location, economic and cultural values played a huge role in adapting. Racism is still a huge part of society today, but throughout To Kill a Mockingbird, the racism shown, just shows how bad it can really get. Maycomb Alabama is in the deep south. With slavery just becoming illegal, blacks were not treated the best way. The tom Robinson trial is a perfect example of this. Tom Robinson was a black man living in Maycomb that was accused of …show more content…
Economical influences were shown throughout the text. All of the characters in To Kill a Mockingbird show how the city of Maycomb Alabama really functioned. Maycomb was a small town and everyone knew everyone, but it was not a very joyful place to live. Everyone was rude to each other and no one really respected the well being of each other, except for the Finches. The Finch family was one of the few families that was respectful to anyone that gave them respect in return. Atticus Finch was “the man”. Anything you needed, Atticus would get it done. Another family just like this was the Cunninghams. The Cunninghams were not the richest people. They would only take what they know they could pay back. The Cunninghams were hit hardest by the depression, because of this, they had little to no money. When Walter Jr. was in school and his teacher offered to loan him money, Scout had to explain to her teacher what was happening. Scout was trying to explain their state in class one day during lunch to Ms. Caroline, “He didn’t forget his lunch, he didn’t have any. He had none today nor would he have any tomorrow or the next day. He had probably never seen three quarters together at the same time in his life.”(Lee) Ms. Caroline did not understand. Later that night, Scout was talking to her dad, Atticus about the Cunningham family and their well being, and social stand. Atticus went on to explain, “Not exactly. The Cunninghams are country folks, farmers, and the crash hit them hardest.” (Lee, 20) People in Maycomb understand that everyone lives differently and they are in different economic standings, but that does not always change the way people