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Examples Of Macrocosm In To Kill A Mockingbird

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Examples Of Macrocosm In To Kill A Mockingbird
To what extent is ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ a critique of the values promoted in Maycomb society?

Maycomb County is its own little world, made of real people but it reflects the wider world of America in terms of its attitudes, issues and characters. It, the microcosm which reflects the macrocosm of America, such as the way blacks are regarded and treated.

The story is told from a viewpoint of a growing 6 year old child, Scout Finch. So we are seeing situations from an innocent ‘eye’, ‘she looked and smelled like a peppermint drop’ after the misinforming way the child regards adults and the way they act and talk. This sober judgement is a truth to be understood by all young people because they don’t understand certain things in life.
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This again highlights her innocence and that she’ll soon learn to discover that things change in life and one must accept them.
Scout represents how people develop attitudes because of a lack of knowledge. For example, she imagines Boo Radley being a ‘malevolent phantom’ which is based purely on hearsay. She comes to learn that people can be different yet there need be no prejudice against them. This is shown by the way she grew to understand Boo Radley and really she’s teaching a lesson to the community through the words and visions of the writer. This idea is portrayed in the New Testament where children, without prejudging through their innocence, show adults the way they should
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One lady in particular was singled out for a critical portrait and that was the schoolteacher of Scout who should have known better. Mrs. Caroline Fisher objected that Scout had been taught to read at home and therefore wanted her to start afresh than building on whatever had been done. ‘When Miss. Caroline threatened…’
The ‘ladies’ will become an increasing influence on Scout on the absence of her mother; they mean well and wish to be of use, but they find it difficult to move away from their traditional attitudes of the South, which saw slavery as an unchallenged way of life and white superiority is the norm.
This has been so true of school teachers over the years, who don’t want parents to interfere with education and it is only recently that a more open attitude has been shown by the education profession where they will encourage and build on skills for the more


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