Provincialism in to Kill A Mockingird

The 1930s was a time when the U.S. was undergoing major changes. As well as the economic depression which was being felt so sharply; it was the years where clashes between certain ethnic groups occured. The happenings of those days have been reflected upon literature as well. Most of the authors often take racism as their theme, as their main idea. However,"Harper Lee"'s book, To Kill A Mockingbird, was different than the other books because Harper Lee created the theme of "provincialism" which added great variety to his book. The book is about a six-year-old called Scout who is reacting to the provincial events in her town, Maycomb County in Southern Alabama. Harper Lee classifies the types of provincialism in three major parts such as; distrust of others who are different, evidence of different levels of society and finally racial intolerance.

Firstly, Harper Lee uses the general attitude of Maycomb people towards some persons who they think are untrustworthy; to show a face of provincialism. The first example is the town's perception of Miss Maudie, an old lady whose hobby is to look after her flowers and keep her garden neat. The town thinks that if she went inside the house to read the bible she might have done something better. One day she tells Scout: "Did you know some of them came out of the woods one day and told me that me and my flowers were gonna go to hell, they thought I spent too much time God's outdoors but not enough time in the house reading the Bible."(p.50) The town perceives Mrs. Maudie as a person who has gone mad and yet enforce her to become religious like the rest of the town. The second example is Atticus who the town once saw as their pride but suddenly lost all his dignity by defending a black man in the court. "I guess it ain't your fault if Uncle Atticus is a nigger lover besides but it certainly does mortify the rest of the family"(p.89)says Francis to Scout on the night when they are celebrating Christmas. Atticus's attempt is