This passage of To Kill a Mockingbird is different to most of the book as it involves the older scout speaking, which can be inferred from the maturity and deepness of the discription. It is definitely not the discription of a 9 year old girl.
The passage contains lots of symbolism often referring to the social systems of Maycomb county “The concrete pillars supporting the south roof were to heavy for their burden”. This quote is talking about how the parts of the building built after the courthouse burned down are much weaker then the older parts and the pillars appear unnecessarily strong for the the weak roof above. However if you look deeper into this quote you can begin to notice that some of the things described are linked to other elements of the book. For example the concrete pillars represent the old ideals of the greeks and their supposedly perfect democracy. The roof shows how the society in Maycomb is an attempt to match up to the old ideals and form of democracy but clearly from this quote alone you can tell that it is failing. Despite theur attempts to stay in the past they can not co.pco.pare the stone pillars are to heavy for their burden. It is impossible for this level of deep symbolism and language to be said by a child so we can connote that this is said by older scout or possibly even Harper Lee coming through herself.
“Greek revival columns clashed with a nineteenth century clock tower housing a rusty unreliable instrument” This other quote is more direct however there is still a lot to analyse in it. The first part of the quote shows how the two eras clash and we can tell from this that the attempt to conserve the past is not going as well as they think. Their desperation to live in the past directly relates to the racism and other dated views like the roles of women in the book. The second part of the quote talks about the clock. It is referred to as a rusty unreliable instrument which is ironic seeing as it is part of the new renovations. I can see that this is sayong how flawed their society is and how it is beginning to break down very quickly. I personally think this is more interesting as it is a clock that is being talked about, when there are so many references to the past. I interpret that this is saying their attempts to latch on to old traditions are failing, hence the clock failing.
React!