If a reader can't imagine sharing any of the same concerns as a character, I think they lose sympathy for that character. And without that emotional connection, you don't have a story anyone will keep reading. Even villains must evoke this sense of identification. You need to give your hero someone to talk to, and a place he's never been. Since he chooses to notice these things, the reader understands that these things aren't true about Melior's home.
Contrast can also work when a character is on familiar turf.
When I'm in Ruth's POV, she's looking at the familiar Manhattan setting and trying to imagine how it looks to someone who's never even seen a really big city before, so Ruth is also looking at New York with fresh eyes. It's her leap of imagination that gives the reader a way to understand her character. How a character handles action is another way to reveal that character. All these answers come out of what you know about your character's personality, and to know that, you have to know his background. Even if you don't tell the reader what that background is, the reader should get a sense of internal consistency from your character that will pull him into your story.