To Kill a Mockingbird

“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 people; Maycomb County had recently been told it had nothing to fear but fear itself.” 

This passage—written from the combined perspectives of a young Scout and an adult Scout, looking back on her life—characterizes the unique dual narration of To Kill A Mockingbird. Here, Scout describes the slow-moving atmosphere of Maycomb in the summer of 1933, explaining that the poverty the Great Depression generated in turn elicited a kind of quiet anxiety in close-knit southern towns. The insinuation of “boundaries” is especially important in this quote, suggesting that the citizens of Maycomb are wary of what resides “outside the boundaries” of the community they know. This line also establishes the idea that Maycomb itself is divided into different social “boundaries” (which—as we later learn—are largely motivated by class and race). The line “Maycomb County had recently been told it had nothing to fear but fear itself” refers to the inaugural address of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the promises he made to agricultural communities—such as Maycomb—with the New Deal. Though the line appears to land in support of Roosevelt’s social and economic goals, the word “vague” hints at a more cynical undertone. This cynical undertone is likely the result of Scout’s experience, both her adult experience—gained over the years—and her childhood experience within the story of To Kill A Mockingbird.