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To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in the fictional small Southern town of Maycomb in the 1930s (Tom's trial takes place in 1935). Slavery and the Civil War of the 1860s still loom large in the rearview mirror, but the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s is just a speck on the future horizon. Maycomb, despite its civic importance as the county seat, is a small and stagnant town. It's a place where time seems to stand still. Maycomb is its own little world that doesn't know what's happening elsewhere and doesn't care. Few people move there (not much reason to) and few people leave (why bother). This stagnation means that the same families have been around for generations, and family reputations have entered into the local lore as immovable facts. And the way things have always been is racially segregated. Racism, as Atticus says after he loses the Robinson case, is "just as much Maycomb County as missionary teas" (22.11), and it's displayed even in the geography of the town. The African-Americans have their own settlement on the outskirts of white Maycomb, and their own church and cemetery outside the city limits. At Tom's trial the African-Americans sit on one side of the town square, and the whites on the other. Inside the courtroom, the whites have the good seats on the floor while the African-Americans are up in the balcony. It's like the town is one big middle school dance, except that one side has all the power of teachers and then some, and the other has even more limitations than students. Other than a few border-crosses like Mr. Dolph Raymond, whites and blacks in Maycomb don't live together, pray together, eat together, or even die together. So in this town where separate is definitely not equal, for Atticus to act as if Tom Robinson as just as much right to a fair trial as if his skin were white makes some people angrily upset at having to share their rights with people they think don't deserve it, as if human rights were a cake with a limited number of slices. Others are more disturbed that Bob Ewell is able to make the court enforce his false accusation. While the anti-Tom Maycomb is the dominant one, the tiny pro-Tom faction refuses to be erased from the town community.
it was set in Maycomb County in Alabama, at a time after the Civil War, where the majority of people still supported racism and slavery.
Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930s

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Related Questions

What time period was To Kill a Mockingbird?

To Kill a Mockingbird was set in Southern Alabama in the early 1930's.


In what town was the novel 'To Kill a Mockingbird' set?

Maycomb, Alabama


When is To Kill a Mockingbird set?

"To Kill a Mockingbird" is set during the 1930s in the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama. The story takes place during a time of racial discrimination and social unrest in the southern United States.


Does the story takes place in a small town in the Midwest in the story To Kill a Mockingbird?

No, To Kill a Mockingbird does not take place in the Midwest. It takes place in the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama.


What country is this story mockingbird set?

To Kill A Mockingbird is an outstanding novel of a childhood in a small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the Depression. USA.


What was To Kill a Mockingbird based on?

The story is set in the 1930's, during the Great Depression.


How many chapters are there in To Kill a Mockingbird?

There are 31 chapters in "To Kill a Mockingbird".


What was the Production Budget for To Kill A Mockingbird?

The Production Budget for To Kill A Mockingbird was $2,000,000.


Who directed the film To Kill a Mockingbird?

To Kill a Mockingbird was directed by Robert Mulligan.


When was To Kill a Mockingbird released?

To Kill A Mockingbird was released on 12/25/1962.


Where were the jury from in the book To Kill a Mockingbird?

The jury in the book "To Kill a Mockingbird" was composed of residents from Maycomb County, where the story is set. They were selected from the local community to decide the outcome of the trial of Tom Robinson.


Can you provide the work cited for the book "To Kill a Mockingbird"?

The work cited for the book "To Kill a Mockingbird" is: Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. HarperCollins, 1960.

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