If a poisoned seed is planted, an unhealthy plant will grow. Its offspring will be rooted in poison, and if it is not destroyed, nothing healthy will grow. Maycomb is like a poisonous plant, raising its young to hate each other and divide into castes. The city is not willing to destroy the old, to create beauty and peace from the ruins. Harper Lee's 1960 Pulitzer Prize-winning historical fiction novel To Kill a Mockingbird describes the life of a young Southern woman in the 1930s and the many obstacles she and her family face. Her father is one of the few citizens who are trying to cure Maycomb of its illness by defending Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a white woman. Lee's tale incorporates how Maycomb's caste system affects the town and the ostracization of Arthur "Boo" Radley, Dolphus Raymond, and Walter Cunningham Jr., because they challenge the mainstream of what society expects of them . It also describes the lesson that Jem, the Scouts' older brother, and she learn about how ideas planted in town are morally wrong. As Maycomb seeks to accommodate the values ​​of ancient Southern traditions, the city is slowly being torn apart by the inescapable constraints of the social caste system, racism that clouds the judgment of the most well-intentioned citizens, lapses in judgment, and cruelty toward strangers . Southern traditions were the glue that held Maycomb together; however, although they consolidated Maycomb society, they separated equals in character into unjust social classes. The existence of a social order to separate blacks from whites or social elites from trash is not original, but the existence of these systems indicates Maycomb's refusal to let go of the past (Erisman 42). Lee describes how the associates…at the heart of the paper…totally disagreed with what the mercenary women were saying about Atticus. She didn't scream or make a scene, but simply kept her mouth shut and gave them a steely look, thus ending the conversation. Scout learned that sometimes when a person "wants to learn there's nothing you can do but keep your mouth shut or speak their language" (Lee 143). The scout understands that a class or a voice does not define a person but his character towards others He knows that there is no difference between citizens because "there is only one kind of people. The people" (Lee 259) Also if the scout realizes that the world is not a perfect place, he tries to perfect it by keeping everyone within the limits of equality. Scout is one of the first to begin planting new roots for the city of Maycomb so that future generations can follow in her and Atticus' footsteps and slowly make a change..