According to Shackleford, "The novel depicts a young girl's love for her father and brother and the experience of childhood during the Great Depression in a racist and segregated society, which uses superficial and materialistic values ​​to judge outsiders, including the powerful character Boo Radley” (Shackelford). The main character has a close relationship with his father as he is the superior role model in his life. The death of her mother when she was very young caused her father to become a single parent, leading him to hire an aide to help him with the children. (Shackleford). For example, Atticus hired Calpurnia, the black housekeeper, as a surrogate mother for the children (Lee 3). Lee describes racism in his novel To Kill a Mockingbird. According to Felty, "Lee, however, limits his social criticism in the novel, directing it almost entirely at the Finch family rather than at Tom Robinson and his family. This focus makes sense given the novel's point of view, but it still keeps the Robinson family at a distance from the reader” (Felty). Lee bases the reader's view of racism through the eyes of Scout and Atticus, the white characters, instead of Tom Robinson and the black characters. In the South, segregation was mutually unpleasant because even in the justice system, racism was still evident. According to Johnson, "Atticus' heroism is a quality that the black population of Maycomb fully recognizes. In the novel's most carefully crafted and emotionally charged moment, as Atticus leaves the courtroom after his defeat, Scout simultaneously realizes that all the spectators present on the balcony are standing and is pushed to stand up. by the black preacher: “`Miss Jean Louise, get up. Your father's passi ...... middle of paper ...... on DC: Beacham Publishing, Inc., 1990. 1367-1374. Rep. in Youth Literature Review. Ed. Jelena Krstovic. Flight. 169. Detroit: Gale, 2012. Gale Library Resources. Internet. January 14, 2014. Felty, Darren. “A Preview of To Kill a Mockingbird.” Literary Resource Center. Detroit: Gale, 2014. Gale Library Resources. Internet. January 14, 2014. Lee, Harper. To kill a mockingbird. New York: Grand Central Publishing, 1960. Print.Saney, Isaac. “The Case Against Killing a Mockingbird.” Race & Class 45.1 (July-September 2003): 99-110. Rep. in contemporary literary criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter. Flight. 194. Detroit: Gale, 2005. Gale Library Resources. Internet. January 14, 2014.Shackelford, Dean. “The female voice in To Kill a Mockingbird: narrative strategies in the cinema and in the novel.” The Mississippi Quarterly 50.1 (1996): 101+. Gale Literary Resources. Internet. January 14. 2014.