Final answer:
Harper Lee uses a simile in her description, comparing the women of Maycomb to 'soft teacakes with frostings,' to illustrate their delicate, ornamental role and the societal expectations of domesticity and appearance.
Step-by-step explanation:
Harper Lee uses simile as a type of figurative language in the description "Ladies bathed before noon, after their three-o’clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum." By likening the women of Maycomb to "soft teacakes with frostings," Lee suggests that they are delicate, fragile, and expected to look appealing, which sheds light on the expected role of women in the Maycomb society to be mainly concerned with their appearance and to adhere to a certain level of domesticity and propriety. This imagery imparts both the climate of the South and the societal expectations placed upon these women, highlighting an environment that can be stifling and the traditional domestic roles that they are expected to fulfill.