Setting and Atmosphere in the novel

Objective: To understand how setting and atmosphere contribute to the novel

What do we learn about Maycomb?

Setting Maycomb is a microcosm of American society in the 1930s. It is wrapped up in its own problems. Many of the characters are very insular, wanting to protect what they have got, both in terms of wealth and social status. They are afraid of change and of the effect it might have on their lives. Many families have lived in the same area for several generations.

Atticus is trying to change views which are deeply ingrained Atticus is trying to change views which are deeply ingrained. He is aware of the difficulty of doing so, but will not give up. In spite of the negative outcome of Tom Robinsons trial, characters like Miss Maudie, Jem and Scout provide hope for the future, as do other characters such as Dolphus Raymond and Link Deas.

Setting- DIY! Read the following extracts and analyse them: We will do the first one together. Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop, grass grew on the sidewalks, the courthouse sagged in the square... Ladies bathed before noon, after their three o’ clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft tea-cakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum.

People moved slowly then People moved slowly then. They ambled across the square, shuffled in and out of the stores around it, took their time about everything. A day was twenty-four hours long but seemed longer. There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County. But it was a time of vague optimism for some of the people; Maycomb County had recently been told that there was nothing to fear but fear itself.

How does the writer use description to create a sense of place? Harper Lee shows the reader that Maycomb is poor and run down. How? ‘tired old town’ ‘the court house sagged in the square’ ‘there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with’ ‘A day was twenty-four hours long but seemed longer’

Setting- The Radley Place The Radley place jutted into a sharp curve beyond our house. Walking south, one faced its porch; the sidewalk turned and ran beside the lot. The house was low, was once white with a deep front porch and green shutters, but had long ago darkened to the colour of the slate-grey yard around it. Rain-rotten shingles drooped over the eaves of the veranda; oak trees kept the sun away. The remains of a picket drunkenly guarded the front yard.

Setting – The Negro Cemetery The churchyard was brick-hard clay, as was the cemetery beside it. If someone died during a dry spell the body was covered with chunks of ice until rain softened the earth. A few graves in the cemetery were marked with crumbling tombstones; newer ones were outlined with brightly coloured glass and broken Coca-Cola bottles. Lightening rods guarding some graves denoted dead who rested uneasily; stumps of burned out candles stood at the heads of infant graves. It was a happy cemetery.

Setting- The Ewells’ House Maycomb’s Ewells lived behind the town garbage dump in what was once a negro cabin. The cabin’s plank walls were supplemented with sheets of corrugated iron, its roof shingled with tin cans hammered flat... Square, with four tiny rooms opening on to a shotgun hall, the cabin rested uneasily upon four irregular lumps of limestone. Its windows were merely open spaces in the walls, which in the summer-time were covered with greasy strips of cheese-cloth to keep out the varmints that feasted on Maycomb’s refuse.

Setting- The Negro Settlement A dirt road ran from the highway past the dump, down to a small Negro settlement some five hundred yards beyond the Ewells’. It was necessary either to back out to the highway or go the full length of the road and turn around; most people turned around on the Negroes’ front yards. In the frosty December dusk, their cabins looked neat and snug with pale smoke rising from the chimneys and doorways glowing amber from the fires inside. There were delicious smells about...

Atmosphere Then I saw the shadow. It was the shadow of a man with a hat on. At first I thought it was a tree, but there was no wind blowing, and tree trunks never walked. The black porch was bathed in moonlight, and the shadow, crisp as toast, moved across the porch towards Jem. Dill saw it next. He put his hands to his face. When it crossed Jem, Jem saw it. He put his arms over his head and went rigid. The shadow stopped about a foot beyond Jem. Its arm came out from its side , dropped and was still.

Atmosphere The south side of the square was deserted. Giant monkey- puzzle bushes bristled on each corner, and between them an iron hitching rail glistened under the streetlights. A light shone in the county toilet, otherwise that side of the court-house was dark. A larger square of stores surrounded the court- house square, dim lights burned from deep within them

What word choices create atmosphere and why?