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The tree was a single and ancient oak.

To Kill a Mockingbird - Setting

In To Kill a Mockingbird, the setting of Maycomb shapes every event. This quiz explores how streets, houses and public spaces reveal prejudice, community and change.

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Fascinating Fact:

The courthouse and its balcony become central locations during the trial, with the balcony showing the physical separation of Black and white citizens.

In GCSE English Literature, you are expected to explain how setting supports themes in To Kill a Mockingbird. Maycomb’s streets, homes, school and courthouse all reflect tradition, inequality and the possibility of change, so careful analysis of where scenes take place can strengthen your exam answers.

Key Terms

Setting: The time and place in which a story happens, including locations, climate and social conditions.
Social context: The background of customs, attitudes and power structures that shape how people think and behave.
Symbolism: When a place, object or detail stands for an idea, such as justice, innocence or division.

Frequently Asked Questions (Click to see answers)

How does the setting of Maycomb affect the story?

Maycomb is a small Southern town with fixed routines and long-held prejudices. Its slow pace and close-knit community make it hard for people to challenge racist beliefs or social rules.

Why is the courthouse setting important in To Kill a Mockingbird?

The courthouse is the public centre of Maycomb, where the trial of Tom Robinson takes place. It becomes a stage for justice, injustice and the community’s reactions to both.

How can I analyse setting in my GCSE essay on To Kill a Mockingbird?

Choose a key location, describe how it is shown, then link it to a theme. Explain how details of Maycomb’s streets, homes or public spaces reflect prejudice, courage or change.

Try These Related Quizzes

1 .

Which of the following is true of Jem and Scout's neighbours?

Only the children who live on there have an interest in the lives of their neighbours

Most people on the Finch's street do not know one another

The neighbours politely keep themselves to themselves

The neighbours expect to know everything about one another's lives and personal histories

Mrs Radley's neglect of neighbourly duties such as visiting and stopping for chats provokes gossip amongst the surprised townspeople

2 .

Which of the following does NOT describe the mood of the courthouse during Tom Robinson's trial?

Despairing

Anxious

Expectant

Tense

Tom Robinson's many supporters have faith that Atticus will successfully defend the innocent man

3 .

Scout narrates the story from an unspecified time in her adulthood. When do the events of the novel take place?

1910s

1930s

1950s

1970s

Like Scout, Harper Lee lived in a small Alabama town during her childhood in the 1930s

4 .

"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 court-house sagged in the square." What impression does this description of the town give the reader?

Maycomb is modern and urban

Maycomb is a wealthy town

Maycomb is full of civic pride

Maycomb is poor

The streets are unpaved and no one is employed for the upkeep of the pavements and buildings. The town has declined over the years

5 .

"The back of the Radley house was less inviting than the front: a ramshackle porch ran the width of the house; there were two doors and two dark windows between the doors. Instead of a column, a rough two-by-four supported one end of the roof." Which of the following words or phrases is here used ironically?

Less inviting

Ramshackle

Two dark windows

Supported

The front of the Radley house is not exactly "inviting" and the back of the house is especially spooky to the children

6 .

What is the name given to the series of economic events which further impoverishes the poor and struggling farmers and agricultural labourers in the novel?

The Great Famine

The Great Recession

The Great Depression

The Women's Suffrage Movement

Poverty is widespread and public in Maycomb. When Miss Caroline tries to insist that Walter Cunningham borrow money for lunch, not realising he could never repay her, she shows how little she knows about the poverty of her pupils

7 .

Which of the following is NOT true of the Ewell's cabin?

It has grubby glass windows

It is near the town's rubbish tip

Its roof is covered with tin cans which have been flattened to make shingles

It has no foundation and rests crookedly on four large rocks

The Ewells are extremely poor. The windows of their cabin are just open holes in the outer walls

8 .

The schoolchildren are mistrustful of Miss Caroline because she is from North Alabama. Their mistrust dates back to which historical event?

The Gold Rush

The Revolutionary War

The Civil War

The Great Depression

The children know that the county where Miss Caroline is from was disloyal to the state of Alabama when it broke away (seceded) from the Union at the beginning of the Civil War. This episode shows the power that historical events and the disagreements of the past still have over the imaginations of the people of Maycomb and which the adults pass down to their children

9 .

Where is To Kill a Mockingbird set?

Texas

Alabama

Washington D. C.

New York

The fictional Maycomb County is located in Alabama, one of the southern states of the U.S.

10 .

"We had slowed to a cautious gait, and were feeling our way forward so as not to bump into the trees. The tree was a single and ancient oak; two children could not reach around its trunk and touch hands. It was far away from teachers, their spies, and curious neighbours: it was near the Radley lot, but the Radleys were not curious." What happens to break the spooky spell of this passage?

Capurnia calls for Jem and Scout to return home

Jem and Scout reach the schoolhouse

A friend leaps out of hiding to scare Scout and Jem

Boo Radley comes out of his house to watch Scout and Jem go past

The release of tension after Jem and Scout are spooked on their way to the schoolhouse lulls the reader into a sense of complacency

You can find more about this topic by visiting BBC Bitesize - To Kill a Mockingbird

Author: Sheri Smith (PhD English Literature, English Teacher & Quiz Writer)