To Kill A Mockingbird Southern Hospitality Analysis

Enveloping with Hospitality

People all over the world define “Southern Hospitality” as sweet, warm and welcoming. They view southern people enveloping visitors with love and kindness. In To Kill a Mockingbird, the author Harper E Lee portrays Maycomb, Alabama as a friendly, open town. She presents different example of southern hospitality through different characters in everyday circumstances. Embracing this trait, she adds southern hospitality to each of her main character in different ways. In Maycomb, Alabama, southern hospitality shines through, Atticus feeding and housing Jem and Scout’s friends, the black community thanking Atticus, and Miss Maudie generosity towards Jem, Scout and Dill.

Atticus demonstrates southern hospitality

with Jem and Scout’s little friends. He causes them to feel welcomed into his house by his friendly manners, and treats them with respect despite from their background. In one part of the story, Jem invites Walter Cunningham, who comes from a very poor family, to his house for lunch. “While Walter piled food on his plate, he and Atticus talked like two men” (32). Here Harper Lee creates a great example of how Atticus shows southern hospitality. He not only allows the kids to bring home friends, but he also converses with them as if they were friends. With many others examples throughout the book, Atticus demonstrates southern hospitality.

In Maycomb, the black community also demonstrates southern hospitality.

They treat everybody with respect and they sometimes go above and beyond what is expected of them. The following morning, after the court convicted Tom Robinson, Atticus walks into the kitchen and finds a lovely surprise. First he finds his table full of food given to him by the black community. Then Calpurnia says, “This is all ‘round the back steps” (286). This clearly shows some southern hospitality because even though Atticus did not win the trial, the black community was thankful for all his work. Through other examples with different people, the black community in To Kill a Mockingbird provides great examples of southern hospitality.

Another person with southern hospitality is Miss Maudie. She is a neighbor to the Finches, and she shows hospitality to Scout, Jem and Dill with extreme generosity. She allows them to play around in her yard and always has special treats for them. Scout says, “Jem and I had always enjoyed the free run of Miss Maudie’s yard” (56). Here is one example of how she allows that children to play in her yard when all of the other neighbors would not. With other acts of generosity, Miss Maudie proves to have southern

hospitality.

Atticus, the black community, and Miss Maudie all show different ways to portray southern hospitality. Whether it is from feeding and entertaining kids, or thanking somebody for trying their best, to even something small like allowing kids to play in their garden, Maycomb, Alabama folks really grasp the essence of southern hospitality. They treat others warmly and give the town a really friendly feeling. In the South there is a saying that goes, “In the South, we envelope you with hospitality”. This saying really hits the mark with small town Maycomb with everybody trying to show Southern Hospitality. With all the different people and races in Macomb, Alabama each person brings a different aspect of hospitality to this town and book.