In the book To Kill A Mockingbird, the courthouse describes the views of the society at the time.
“The concrete pillars supporting its south roof were too heavy for their burden.”
“Greek revival columns clashed with the big nineteenth century clock tower housing a rusty unreliable instrument, a view indicating a people determined to preserve every physical scrap of the past.”
The quotes are saying that the concrete pillars are strong, but too strong for the task it needs to do, whilst there is a unreliable rusty clock.
The concrete pillars, are from the Greek times, were there was a greater, more reliable and less racist than the current justice system in USA during the 1930’s.
The pillars represent, a sustainable, and reliable strong justice system, but the rust old unreliable clock, resembles newer, unjust racist beliefs, that are very unreliable.
“View indicating a people determined to preserve every physical scrap of the past.” This suggests that the people, who are in the courthouse, such as the judges, are determined, to keep every belief of the past, such as the racist beliefs, that black people should not have as many rights as white people, and this is evident as this was the belief of many people at the time.
“The pillars were all that remained standing when the original court-house burned in 1865”
The civil war was during 1865, and was caused due to people in the north wanting black people to be free, but in the south of USA people wanted black people to remain as slaves.
The pillars remaining suggest that the original beliefs, during the ancient Greek times, that were not racist, and a more fair system, was the one that remained standing, whereas the rest of the courthouse gets burned in the civil war.
React!