The setting descriptions for locations in Maycomb are scattered throughout the book as Scout only discusses them when they are associated with a specific event. She starts out, however, with the courthouse, which is located in the main square (5). Then, Scout says that her house sits in the middle of one of the main residential streetsbecause it runs up to the Post Office on the corner. From there, all one has to do is...
The setting descriptions for locations in Maycomb are scattered throughout the book as Scout only discusses them when they are associated with a specific event. She starts out, however, with the courthouse, which is located in the main square (5). Then, Scout says that her house sits in the middle of one of the main residential streets because it runs up to the Post Office on the corner. From there, all one has to do is cross the street to get to the courthouse. Also, before Scout starts first grade, she mentions that she would look out with a telescope from the tree house in their backyard and watch the kids at school to learn about it (15).
Next, Scout describes her street as far as summertime boundaries are concerned. The Finches are located in the center of the street. Miss Rachel lives next door to the north of them, followed by Mrs. Dubose. To the south, the Radley's home is three doors down (6).
"Two live oaks stood at the edge of the Radley lot; their roots reached out into the side-road" (33). One of these trees has the knothole from which the children receive gifts. The children walk around the Radley's to get to the school yard behind it. Miss Caroline Fisher teaches at the school and is Scout's first grade teacher, so that is her locale. Also on the corner of the Radley's is a light pole that Dill stands at to look at the creepy house:
"In spite of our warnings and explanations it drew him as the moon draws water, but drew him no nearer than the light-pole on the corner, a safe distance from the Radley gate" (8).
Directly across the street from the Radley's lives Miss Maudie. (We find this out during her house fire in chapter eight.) This places Maudie at the southernmost point of the street across from the Finches; or, three doors down and across the street. To the north of Maudie is Miss Stephanie Crawford; north of her lives Mr. Avery; and north of him lives Cecil Jacobs, a schoolmate of Scout's.
"Cecil Jacobs, who lived at the far end of our street next door to the post office, walked a total of one mile per school day to avoid the Radley Place and old Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose. Mrs. Dubose lived two doors up the street from us" (35).
The above passage shows where Cecil lives and validates Mrs. Dubose's location as noted above. It is Cecil Jacobs who walks the long way around the block and through a deer pasture to get to school, rather than walk down by the Radley's house and enter the school yard from there. So the deer pasture is north-east of their block and close to the school.
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