What literary element is maycomb county had recently been told that it had nothing to fear but fear itself?

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself" was said by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in his 1933 presidential inaugural address. The country was in the depths of the Great Depression, and Roosevelt was elected in the hopes that he would be able to lift the country our of the Depression. He inaugural address is inspiring, including the above line.

When Scout describes Maycomb, she gives minute details regarding the look and feel of the town. In order to put the town, and therefore the events and book into a larger time frame, the author (Harper Lee) makes this reference to Roosevelt's speech. It also sets the stage for some frightening events that will occur in Maycomb and as foreshadowing that everything will be all right if the characters can remain brave.