To Kill a Mockingbird

a few questions help asap

what is the setting and why is it significant? The part i need help whith is why is it significant.

Why is human compassion important?

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To determine the significance of any setting, consider how different the story would be in a different time and place. For example, an alleged rape victim today would be taken to a hospital immediately and examined. Such an examination would clear Tom Robinson immediately.

During the 1930s in the South, racism was huge. Convicting a man of rape based solely on race is not surprizing, while it would be horrific today. For a white attorney to defend a Negro client is hardly noticed today, but it was a big issue for Atticus Finch and his neighbors. A jury today would include women. Then again, if the events of this novel took place a hundred years earlier, Tom would simply have been caught and lynched by the local men--no jury, no trial necessary.

Along with racism is the issue of women's gentleness. A woman in the South is to be protected. Notice that Arthur Radley was charged with "using abusive and profane language in the presence and hearing of a female," a crime not used in the North and not used today. Similarly, Link Deas threatens to get Bob Ewell on the Ladies' Law for harassing Helen, but no such laws were used in the North or are in operation today.

Why is human compassion important? Why is it important anywhere? No one is perfect, that's why.