In the Sight of God and Men

"All his carefully limited fields of activity were related somehow to Mr. Thompson's feeling for the appearance of things, his own appearance in the sight of God and man. 'It don't look right,' was his final reason for not doing anything he did not wish to do."

This preoccupation with public appearance and opinion is clearly Mr. Thompson's defining characteristic, as well as being an issue of concern to just about every character in the story, except for Mr. Helton and the children. Mr. Hatch tries to use this in an attempt to convince Mr. Thompson to participate in Mr. Helton's capture and it seems to be the sole reason Mr. Thompson drives around the county and repeats his story to all of the neighbors, who are similarly preoccupied with it, or at least that's the impression Mr. Thompson gets. This, along with repeated mentions of "minding one's own business"and the dogged use of the honorifics, Mr. and Mrs., for every character strikes me as a clear indication of the collective personality of the area. There is a universally recognized way of being, living, working, eating, etc. and the price of defying that is high. Public judgment is swift, harsh and immutable.

Do you think that the neighbors are actually as immovably judgmental as Mr. Thompson perceives, or is this a method for communicating his paranoia and personal obsession with appearances?