To Kill A Mockingbird: Innocence to Experience Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, focuses on the development of a brother and sister in the "tired old town" of Maycomb, Alabama, in the 1930s. A number of people greatly influence Jem and Scout. The major role model in their lives, their father Atticus, guides Jem and Scout towards their own views about racism. Jem and Scout must come to terms with the racism of their town and how it affects the people in their life. Through their dealings with the people of Maycomb Scout and Jem mature and realize that African Americans are “incapable of living on a footing