Harper Lee uses the clock tower in her description of the May-comb County courthouse to symbolize and show the fact that May-comb is stuck in its past and unable to move forward towards racial and stereotypes to even slavery.

As well linking to this another quote comes in “The May comb County courthouse was faintly reminiscent of Arlington in one respect: the concrete pillars supporting its south roof were too heavy for their light burden.

I was thinking that the south roof meant the southern side of the US, and the southerners wanted to keep their old views about African Americans.