Answer:
Maycomb is, at the beginning of the book, described as quiet. A place where winter is almost nonexistent, and the people are almost as miserable as the summers, suffering from boredom and apathy. After Tom Robinson is found guilty, Maycomb largely settles down from the excitement of the trial, however, not everyone can turn a blind eye so quickly or so easily. Jem is immediately distressed, and although Atticus assures him they'll "...get it on acquittal..." he still cannot forget. The rest of the town, on the other hand, tries to forget, Mrs. Maudie briefly acknowledges the horribleness that Helen Robinson must be suffering through, but she changes the subject as quickly as she can. In the end, this turns out to be destructive. Occasionally, forgetting is helpful. If Mr. Bob Ewell had forgotten which lawyer had defender Mr. Tom Robinson, he wouldn't have attacked the Finches, and subsequently died, but in forgetting Tom, he grew restless, eventually making a break and dying in the process.
(A) stream of consciousness
The stream of consciousness is a relatively new literary technique used by modern writers in which the writer takes a reader into the mind of the character and is allowed insight into his/her conscious and unconscious thoughts and desires. The fragmented sentences are used to represent the way thoughts keep jumping about in our minds.
