To Kill a Mockingbird
by Harper Lee
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To Kill a Mockingbird: Setting 1 key example

Definition of Setting

Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or it can be an imagined... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the... read full definition

Key Examples in To Kill a Mockingbird

Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis:

To Kill a Mockingbird is set in Southern Alabama during the 1930s, at the height of the Great Depression. Maycomb, Alabama, which is where the majority of the novel takes place, is a small, rural farming town fraught with period-typical racism.

Multiple physical locations within the novel have important symbolic meaning. The Radley House, for instance, represents the prejudice and bias that are often dealt out in ignorance. The house itself is derelict, leading people to believe that anything inside must be similarly problematic.