To Kill a Mockingbird

In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, the setting impacted on most of the actions taken by the major characters. Specifically, the altercations between the major characters were a direct result of the beliefs held by the people in the South during the 1930's. We see that this holds true in real life as well. Wherever people live, their setting influences most of the actions they make and how they act towards other people.

One place where the setting has most impacted on people is down South. In the South during the 1930's the setting impacted on everyone who lived there. According to Johnson, white people down south loathed and were very resentful of the colored people. They thought of the black race as God's curse. [20-21] Johnson gives us an excellent illustration of how everything was segregated in the Southern society. If white people were getting onto a bus, they would have to let them get on first.

President George W. Bush awards the Presidential M...

Screenshot of To Kill a Mockingbird(an American mo...

[Portrait of Bunk Johnson, Leadbelly, George Lewis...

In addition, if there were only one seat left on the bus, the black person would have to get up and give it to the white person. That problem rarely arose because they also had a separate section of the bus where blacks had to sit. If they sat in a white section they would be beaten.[15-17]

Johnson also tells us that they had separate water fountains. Everything was supposed to be "separate but equal", but that was not the case. The white man's water fountain was filtered and clean, however the black person's fountain would shoot out brown dirty water that was not sanitary in the least.[19] Johnson also shows us how the classrooms in a black school were inferior to the classrooms in a white school. A white child's classroom would be clean and have...