The setting is the fictional town Maycomb, Alabama, in the 1930s. It is a small town. Maycomb is connected to national and international news only through newspapers and radio. It is nothing like any town is today. So, Maycomb is largely self-contained, with some residual antebellum attitudes. And for a child like Scout, it is the only world she knows. From her perspective, if Maycomb operates a certain way, so must the world. In the first chapter, she describes how slow and isolated the town is: "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."
Scout has a kind of inner moral compass and an inherent sense of justice. Her young naivety and innocence is cultivated by having Atticus as a father and moral guide. She is very open-minded. In chapter 23, Jem decides that he's decoded the social structure, noting that there are different kinds of folks: "There’s the ordinary kind like us and the neighbors, there’s the kind like the Cunninghams out in the woods, the kind like the Ewells down at the dump, and the Negroes." In her innocence, Scout disagrees, saying "Naw, Jem, I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks." But Jem challenges her again, asking why folks don't get along. Throughout the novel, Scout must contemplate why "folks" are separate in some ways. She sees this when Calpurnia takes her to the First Purchase African M.E. Church, where she sees how Calpurnia leads a double life. She sees this when Atticus is nearly attacked at the jail. Walter Cunningham Sr., Atticus's supposed friend, was in that mob. She learns why the Ewells have been ostracized and why Boo Radley has been even more unfairly outcast by gossip. And, of course, we have the injustice of Tom Robinson's conviction. The racism in this small town made it impossible for Tom to get a fair trial.
So, Scout grows up open-minded, with a youthful innocence, and these traits are cultivated by her father. But she does learn that while all folks are just folks, Maycomb's adults grow to accept social codes and traditions. These traditions include racist attitudes and the kind of social class system Jem alludes to. Scout learns to accept that people are complicated. For example, Walter Cunningham Sr. is considered a good man by some, but he is quick to condemn Tom Robinson and almost attack Atticus. Boo Radley is misunderstood. Mayella, for all the harm she's done, is a victim in some ways as well. Lastly, Scout learns that complicated people (even in a small, sleepy town like Maycomb) can condemn an innocent man.
The setting is a microcosm of the constant oppression of minorities at the time. As Scout got older, she stopped accepting everything she saw and started to question the problems going on in the town. And in such a small town, it was inevitable that she would eventually learn that not all of her neighbors are kind people. While she may have believed rumors and stereotypes in the first half of the book, especially concerning Boo Radley, by the end she has learned to judge each person on their individual merit.
It's this maturing of thought that brings her from the little girl who trusted everyone to someone who has seen the dark side of people. By the end, she knows there are evils in the world where she might least expect them.
As the protagonist and narrator of the novel, Scout’s naivety and curiosity give the reader a chance to view Maycomb from an unbiased perspective. Because of her upbringing and respect for Atticus, she’s one of the select few that recognizes the injustices in Maycomb. By the end of the book, Scout is capable of understanding the good and evil in people, looking past appearances, and being compassionate to those around her.
It’s important to note that the setting in To Kill a Mockingbird is saturated with racial tension. Tom’s inevitable conviction, despite the evidence, illustrates the racism in the town. The rampant racism affects Scout and the Finch family as they face the backlash from the community when Atticus decides to defend Tom. Once Boo Radley, another outsider in Maycomb, saves Scout from being killed by Bob, Scout realizes that it is best to judge someone by their character.
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