To Kill a Mockingbird - ausführliche Szenenzusammenfassung (alle Szenen)

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at the school) 29. way home + attack + first time to see Arthur "Boo" Radley 30. Heck Tate and Atticus argue 31. Scout brings Boo home narrator: Jean Louise Finch (nickname: Scout) born 1927 four years older brother (Jeremy) Jem (born 1923) broke his arm many years ago first of her ancestors to come to America was a fur trader and apothecary named Simon Finch (fled England to escape religious persecution and established a successful farm "Finch's Landing" on the banks of Alabama River) → farm supported the family for many years → first one to make a living away from the farm was Scout's father Atticus Finch (became a lawyer in the nearby town of Maycomb) and his brother Jack Finch (went to medical school in Boston), their sister Alexandra Finch stayed to run the Landing 1 Atticus is a successful lawyer, who makes a solid living in Maycomb (a tired, poor, old town in the grips of the Great Depression). He lives with Jem and Scout (and their cook Calpurnia (Cal)(an old black woman) who helps to raise the children and keep the house) on Maycomb's main residential street Jem and Scout's mother died when Scout was two (doesn't remember her well); Jem was six at that time so he sometimes has memories of her, which sometimes makes him unhappy neighbor: Miss Rachel Haverford (her nephew Charles Baker Harris ("Dill") stays for the summer with his aunt (summer of 1933) Dill: a very talkative and extremely intelligent boy (doesn't like to talk about his father's absence from his life) → quickly became the Finch children's chief playmate (they act out various stories that they have read) mysterious neighbor: Arthur "Boo" Radley (lives in the run-down Radley Place) → hasn't seen outside in years (as a boy he got in trouble with the law and his father imprisoned him in the house as punishment) and he wasn't heard from until fifteen years later when he stabbed his father with a pair of scissors. People suggested that Boo was crazy but his father refused to have his son committed to an asylum. When his father died, Boo's brother, Nathan, came to live in the house with Boo but he continued to stay inside. Dill is fascinated by Boo and tries to convince the Finch children to help him lure the phantom of Maycomb outside → he dares Jem to run over and touch the house (but still no movement in the house although Scout thinks she sees a shutter move slightly as if someone were peeking out) Chapter 2: Dill leaves Maycomb in September to return to Meridian Scout prepares to go to school for the first time (eagerly anticipated by her) Scout thinks that her teacher Miss Caroline Fisher deals poorly with children → concludes that Atticus must have taught her to read, becomes very displeased and makes her feel guilty for being educated Walter Cunningham (a boy in Scout's class) hasn't brought lunch and Miss Caroline offers him a quarter (offers him that he can pay her back tomorrow) → Walter refuses it → Scout attempts to explain that the Cunninghams are very poor and that they don't accept anything that they can't pay back → Miss Caroline fails to understand and grows so frustrated that she slaps Scout's hand with a ruler Mr. Walter Cunningham (from old Sarum) is a client of Atticus (they pay him with hickory nuts, turnip greens, or other goods when they need legal help) Scout complains to Jem at recess but he says that Miss Caroline is just trying out a new method of teaching (what Jem called the "Dewy Decimal System") 2 Chapter 3: Scout rubs Walter's nose in the dirt for getting her in trouble → Jem intervenes and invites Walter to lunch (here called dinner) Walter and Atticus discuss farm conditions "like two men" Walter puts molasses all over his meat and vegetables → Scout is criticizing it → Cal calls her into the kitchen to scold her and slaps her as she returns to the dining room, telling her to be a better hostess Scout retrieved her plate and finished lunch in the kitchen (turns out that Cal taught her how to write) on the way to school, Scout advises Atticus of Cal's iniquities (Atticus is thankful to have Cal) Miss Caroline becomes terrified when a tiny bug ("cootie") crawls out of Burris Ewell's hair → a student in the class "Little Chuck Little" helped her to calm down and catch the bug Miss Caroline sends him home to get rid of the cooties (lice) and to get clean Burris only comes to school the first day of every school year (just to avoid trouble with the law); (the Ewell's is even poorer than the Cunningham's) Burris leaves the classroom making enough vicious remarks to make Miss Caroline cry back home Cal tells Scout that she missed her today so she made her crackling bread (as a surprise) and she kisses her (Scout thinks because she wants to make up to her for being too hard) Scout tells Atticus that she is not feeling well and that she does not think she will go to school anymore and suggests that Atticus could teach her himself at home (like his father did) Atticus replies that the law demands that she go to school and that he has to make a living Scout compares it with Ewell (Atticus explains that the Ewells had been the disgrace of Maycomb for three generations) "they are an exclusive society made up of Ewells → Atticus: "You (Scout) are of the common folk and have to obey the law" Atticus tells Scout a trick to understand the actions of people better: "You really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." agreement: if Scout keeps going to school they will keep on reading every night Chapter 4: Scout is frustrated in class for the rest of the school year because her curriculum moves too slowly → "the Dewy Decimal System" was school-wide by the end of her first school year after school one day she passes the Radley Place and sees some tin-foil sticking in a knot-hole in one of the oaks (that stood on the edge of the Radley Place) → reaches into the hole and withdrew two pieces of chewing gum → chews them →→ tells Jem about it (he made her spit it out) Scout's first year of school wrought a great change in the relationship of Cal and her: her tyranny and unfairness →gentle grumblings of general disapproval 3 on the last day of school before the summer holidays, Jem and Scout find two old "Indian-head" pennies (Jem says they make you have luck) hidden in the same knothole (they decided to keep them) neighbor: Cecil Jacobs (lived at the far end of the street) walks a total mile to get to school just to avoid the Radley Place and Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose (lived two doors up the street from the Finch's) who is "the meanest old woman who ever lived" Dill arrived two days later (he had ridden the train by himself from Meridian to Maycomb Junction = the nearest train station in Abbott County) Dill's father was president of the L&N Railroad Dill tells Jem and Scout that he can smell when somebody is going to die (which he does while they are playing in the front yard and he is looking to the Radley Place) Jem paid Scout back by pushing the tyre, she was in, with all the force in his body it rolled in front of the Radley steps (Jem panicked) → Scout runs back to the front porch of the Finch's and Jem have to get the tyre out of the Radley's front yard the incident gives Jem the idea for their next game: "Boo Radley" (Scout = Mrs. Radley; Dill Mr. Radley; Jem = Boo → as the summer progressed, so did their game → it becomes more complicated until they are acting out an entire Radley family melodrama called "One Man's family" (when Mr. Nathan Radley passed them they would stand still and silent) Scout has two reasons why she wants to quit the game: 1. she heard someone inside the house laughing when she rolled in the tyre to the front steps of the Radley House 2. Atticus, who saw them playing and asked if the game has anything to do with the Radleys (which Jem denied → makes Scout assume that it's a secret) Chapter 5: Jem and Dill grow closer → Scout begins to feel left out of their friendship Scout starts spending much of her time with one of their neighbor: Miss Maudie Atkinson (a widow with a talent for gardening and cake baking; a childhood friend of Atticus' brother Jack) (they grew up together at Finch's Landing; she was the daughter of the neighboring landowner Dr. Frank Buford) Miss Maudie tells Scout that Arthur "Boo" (forbid to call him that) Radley is still alive and he just stays in the house she has the theory that old Mr. Radley was a "foot-washing" Baptist and Boo is the victim of his harsh father, who believed that most people are going to hell she adds that Boo was always polite and friendly as a child Meanwhile, Jem and Dill plan to give a note to Boo inviting him out to get ice cream with them Scout finds out that Dill lied about his father (he is confused if he has a beard or not → he didn't see him at the train (what he claimed at his arrival in Maycomb)) they try to stick the note in a window of the Radley Place with a fishing pole → Atticus catches them and orders them to "stop tormenting that man" with the notes and the "Boo Radley" game 4 Chapter 6: Jem and Dill obey Atticus until Dill's last day/evening in Maycomb, when they plan to sneak over to the Radley Place and peek in through a loose shutter (they told Scout to either go home and shut up or to accompany them (which she did) so they creep around the house, peering in through various windows → they see the shadow of a man with a hat on → they flee and hear a shotgun go off behind them (Jem's pants get caught on the fence and he has to kick them off in order to free himself) when they return home a collection of neighbors are standing in a circle at the Radley front gate (including Atticus, Mr. Nathan Radley, Miss Maudie, and Miss Stephanie Crawford) Miss Maudie informs them that Mr. Nathan Radley shot at "a Negro" in his yard when Atticus asks Jem where his pants are, Dill interjects that he won Jem's pants in a game of strip poker →→ Atticus asks them if they were playing cards and Jem responds that they were just playing with matches (playing cards is considered being a sin in Maycomb) Scout worries that every sound she hears is Boo Radley coming to wreak his revenge Jem sneaks out to the Radley Place again to retrieve his pants (comes back with them) ● Chapter 7: a few days later (after the first day of school in the new year) Jem told Scout on their way home that he didn't tell her everything that happened that night when he retrieved his pants → his pants were mended and folded across the fence as if they were expecting him they find another present in the knothole: a ball of grey twine (they left it there for three days, but no one takes it, so Jem pocketed it) from now on everything they find in the knothole is their property unsurprisingly, Scout is as unhappy in second grade as she was in first → Jem promises her that school gets better the farther along one goes (not valuable until sixths grade) Late that fall, another present appears in the knothole: two figures carved in soap (turns out to resemble Jem and Scout) less than two weeks later: a whole package of chewing gum the following week: a tarnished spelling bee medal four days later: an old pocket watch they wrote a letter to thank the person for the presents next morning they wanted to put the note into the knothole but it has been filled with cement turns out it was Mr. Radley (Nathan) because the tree is dying Jem asks Atticus if he thinks that the tree is dying → Atticus thinks the tree is healthy (but he thinks that Nathan know more about it) Jem seems to be very sad for any reason (even cries on the porch until nightfall) 5 Chapter 8: for the first time in years, Maycomb endures a real winter (coldest weather since 1885) → Mr. Avery (an unpleasant neighbor) said that bad children like Jem and Scout would make the seasons change = (Rosetta Stone) ● ● Eula May (Maycomb's leading telephone operator): "As it has not snowed in Maycomb County since 1885, there will be no school today." Jem and Scout haul as much snow as they could from Miss Maudie's yard to their own since there is not enough snow, they build a small figure out of dirt and cover it with snow they make the snowman look like Mr. Arthur (Atticus demands that they disguise it) Atticus is proud of Jem → Jem places Miss Maudie's sunhat on its head and sticks her hedge clippers in its handy; much to her chagrin (=Ärgernis) "Atticus you will never raise 'em" that night; Atticus wakes Scout (a little after 1 am) and helps her put on her bathrobe and coat and goes outside with her and Jem Miss Maudie's house is on fire → Atticus told Jem to look out for Scout and to stand in front of the Radley Place (the fire truck arrives) the fire truck was killed by the cold (it had to get pushed to a hydrant) and its hose burst the house burns to the ground Mr. Avery was upstairs and while climbing out he was wedged tightly (he got out) the men stopped carrying out the furniture because the fire was out of control and has spread to the second floor → the fire truck from Abbotsville arrived (pumps water on the FInch's house) → another fire truck appears a bit later (came from Clark's Ferry) Atticus asks Scout later on who the blanket is from that is hanging over Scout's shoulder (she doesn't know → Jem later finds out that it was Boo Radley Jem tells Atticus the whole story of the knothole, the presents and the mended pants Atticus tells them to keep it to themselves Scout nearly throws up from the thought that Boo was just behind her the next day Atticus says that they don't need to go to school today despite having lost her house, Miss Maudie is cheerful the next day (she is staying at Miss Stephanie Crawford's house for the beginning) she tells Jem and Scout, while they returned the sunhat and the hedge-clippers, how much she hated her old home and that she always wanted a smaller house with a bigger yard Miss Maudie's suspects that the flue in her kitchen was the reason for the fire she says that she wishes she had been there when Boo put the blanket on Scout to catch him in the act 6 Chapter 9: at school, Scout nearly starts a fight with a classmate named Cecil Jacobs after he declares that "Scout Finch's daddy defends niggers." Atticus has been asked to defend Tom Robinson (a black man accused of raping a white woman named Mayella Ewell). It is a case he cannot hope to win, but he tells Scout that he must argue it to uphold his sense of justice and self-respect Cousin Ike Finch was Maycomb County's sole surviving Confederate veteran Atticus says: "you just hold your head high and keep those fists down." (he wants to teach her the lesson that true bravery is when you keep fighting and persevering even when you know you can't win the next day Scout walks away from a fight with Cecil after he said: "Scout's a coward!" (she was proud) ● ● ● at Christmastime Uncle Jack Finch comes to stays with the Finch's to stay a week with them Uncle Jimmy = Aunt Alexandra's husband (they have a son named Henry, who left home as soon as humanly possible; married and has a son named Francis Hancock (8 years old); he is at his grandparents' every Christmas; he enjoys everything Scout disapproved of) the Finch's went to Finch's Landing every Christmas since Scout can remember Scout believes that Alexandra has been swapped at birth (that she is a Crawford instead of a Finch) Scout generally gets along well with Uncle Jack, but when he arrives in Maycomb, she begins cursing in front of him (Atticus tells Jack that's a habit that she has recently picked up) After supper, Jack has Scout sit on his lap and he warns her not to curse in his presence (it's going to get her in trouble; he also says that Scout is more like her mother than Atticus) Jem and Scout got an air rifle for Christmas →→ he and Jack take them to Finch's Landing (a rambling old house in the country where Alexandra and Jimmy) There, Scout endures Francis, who she thinks is the most "boring" child she has ever met Scout also has to put up Alexandra, who says that she is supposed to wear a dress as a lady and not pants; Scout also has to sit alone at the little table at Christmas dinner (Atticus tells her that they are guests and that they have to sit where the host tells them to) Scout says that her brilliant cooking makes everything up Francis tells Scout that Dill is a runt and that he hasn't got a home and gets passed around from relative to relative and calls Atticus a "nigger-lover" and that he is ruining the family Scout curses him and beat him up → Francis lies about what happened Jack spanks Scout without hearing her side of the story After they return to Maycomb, Scout tells Jack what Francis said and Jack becomes furious Scout makes him promise not to tell Atticus, however, because Atticus had asked her not to fight anyone over what is said about him → Jack promises and keeps his word Scout overhears Atticus telling Jack that Tom Robinson is innocent but doomed since it's inconceivable that an all-white jury would ever acquit him 7 Chapter 10: Scout says that Atticus is somewhat older than most of the other fathers in her school; he is nearly fifty and doesn't do anything that could possibly arouse the admiration of anyone; he also wears glasses and reads instead of doing something active → but he isn't as inconspicuous as they wished him to (that year the school buzzed with talk about him defending Tom Robinson; none of which was complimentary) Atticus said to Jem one day: "...Shoot all the bluejays you want ... but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." → Miss Maudie agrees and says that mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy... but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird. Harry Johnson = drove the mobile bus; lived on the southern edge of town (Tim Johnson = his dog) ● Tom Johnson appears in the main street and is wandering toward the Finches' house Calpurnia says it's a mad dog and calls Atticus and warns all the other neighbors Atticus returns home with Heck Tate (the sheriff of Maycomb), who brought a rifle and asks Atticus to shoot the dog (to Jem and Scout's amazement, Atticus does so) → hitting the dog with his first shot despite his considerable distance from the dog Zeebo turned up with his garbage truck and gingerly lifted Tim up and pitched him on the truck Later, Miss Maudie tells Jem and Scout that, as a young man, Atticus was the best shot in the county → his nickname as a boy: "One-shot Finch" Scout is eager to brag about this in school, but Jem tells her to keep it a secret because if Atticus wanted them to know, he would have told them Chapter 11: On the way to the business district in Maycomb is the house of Mrs. Dubose (a cantankerous (=streitsüchtig) old lady who always shouts at Jem and Scout as they pass by) Atticus warns Jem to be a gentleman to her because she is old and sick but one day she tells the children that Atticus is not better than the "niggers and trash he works for" and Jem loses his temper → he takes a baton from Scout and destroys all of Mrs. Dubose's camellia bushes Jessie is Mrs. Dubose's black nurse As punishment, Jem must go to her house every day for a month and read to her and Scout accompanies him (they endure her abuse and peculiar fits, which occur at the end of every reading session) each session is longer than the one before (the alarm clock was the signal for their release but Mrs. Dubose set the alarm a few minutes later every day) she wanted them to come for one week longer (so Jem had to come for more than just a month) One Day Scout asks Atticus what "nigger-lover" means and he says that that's someone who's favoring Negroes over and above themselves and that he certainly is one himself; he also 8 teaches her that it's not always an insult to be called what somebody thinks is a bad name (it just shows how poor that person is) Mrs. Dubose dies a little more than a month after Jem's punishment ends →→ Atticus reveals to Jem that she was addicted to morphine and that the reading was part of her successful effort to combat this addiction Atticus gives Jem a box that Mrs. Dubose had given him for Jem; in it lies a single white camellia Chapter 12: By this time, Jem has reached the age of twelve and he begins to demand that Scout "stop pestering him" and act more like a girl (at that time she is 8) Scout becomes upset and looks forward desperately to Dill's arrival in the summer m → to Scout's disappointment, however, Dill does not come to Maycomb this year Dill sends a letter saying that he has a new father (presumably, his mother has remarried) and therefore has to stay in Meridian because they planned to build a fishing boat; but he said that he will love Scout forever and will come and marry her as soon as he got enough money together (Scout says that with him, life was routine, without him, life was unbearable) to make matter worse, the state legislature was called into emergency session, forcing Atticus to leave for two weeks one morning Scout sees a cartoon of Atticus in the Montgomery Advertiser above the caption "Maycomb's Finch" → Jem explains that it is a compliment and shows that Atticus spends his time doing things that wouldn't get done if nobody did them Cal decides to take the children to her church, a "colored" church, that Sunday (the First Purchase African M.E. Church is called that way because it was ought with the first earnings of freed slaves) Cal made sure that the children look very neat (dress and suit) One woman, Lula, criticizes Cal for bringing white children to church, but the congregation (Gemeinde) is generally friendly → Reverend Sykes welcomes them (saying that everybody knows their father) Reverend Sykes begins to speak and says that Tom Robinson has been a faithful member of First Purchase since he was a little boy and that the collection was taken up today and for the next three Sundays will go to Helen (Tom Robinson's wife) to help her out at home because she can't leave her kids home alone to go to work while Tom is in jail and she cannot find work the church has no money for hymnals (and only a few of the parishioners (=Gemeindemitglieder) can read), so they sing by echoing the words Zeebo (Cal's eldest son and the town garbage collector) read from their only hymnal (it's called "lining") Calpurnia is one of four folks in First Purchase who can read (Miss Maudie Atkinson's aunt, old Miss Buford, taught her) but Reverend Sykes empties the can and says that it's not enough (they need ten dollars) and he wants everyone with no children to make a sacrifice and give one more dime. Then they'll have it (...he called Carlow Richardson because he hasn't seen him up the aisle yet) → Slowly, painfully, ten dollars collected and church was over 9 Chapter 13: Aunt Alexandra explains that she and Atticus decided that she should stay with the children for a while, to give them a "feminine influence" ("Aunty had a way of declaring What Is Best For The Family"); (Uncle Jimmy is staying at the Landing) Maycomb gives her a fine welcome: various ladies in the town bake her cakes and have her over for coffee → she soon becomes an integral part of the town's social life Alexandra is extremely proud of the Finches and spends much of her time discussing the characters of the various families in Maycomb (this "family consciousness" is an integral part of the life in Maycomb, an old town where the same families have lived for generations, where every family has its quirks and eccentricities). Aunty's theory: the longer a family had been squatting on one patch of land the finer it was (→ makes the Ewell's a fine folk) Maycomb's unique history impacted the families and future generations. (Scout explains that Maycomb was located twenty miles inland from Finch's Landing because Sinkfield, a tavern owner who sold ammunition to Indians and settlers, wittingly convinced surveyors to establish Maycomb's seat of government around his tavern.) ● After the service, Scout learns that Tom Robinson has been accused by Bob Ewell and cannot understand why anyone would believe the Ewell's word and she learns from Cal on their way home that Cal grew up between the Buford Place and Finch's Landing and that she used to work for both of them and that she moved to Maycomb when Atticus and Jem/Scout's mom married; Scout asks why Cal talks nigger-talk to her folks when she knows it better and Cal says that that is out of respect When they return home, they find Aunt Alexandra sitting on their porch in a rocking chair ● Aunty introduced Cousin Lily Brooke to Scout (she didn't know about her existence) Jem and Scout lack if the pride that Aunty considers commensurate with being a Finch because Atticus had neglected to tell them about the Finch Family and to instill any pride into the children Aunty orders Atticus to lecture them on the subject of their ancestry (that they are the product of several generations' gentle breeding and that they should try and live up to their name) He makes a valiant attempt but succeeds only in making Scout cry (because she thinks that Aunty had put Atticus up to something and that Atticus would never think this way) → Atticus catches him again when he realizes that this isn't what he expects of his children → he asks if he gets more like Cousin Joshua every day (who tried to shoot the president and it cost the family five hundred dollars to get him out of that) Chapter 14: the impending trial of Tom Robinson and Atticus' role as his defense lawyer make Jem and Scout the object of whispers and glances whenever they go to town Scout asks Atticus what "rape" is and the subject of the children's trip with Cal to her church came up; when Scout asks Atticus if she may go to Cal's house next Sunday Aunty forbid it 10 ● Scout says that she didn't ask her but Atticus → Atticus insists that she apologizes to Alexandra Atticus makes clear that Scout has to obey Cal then Atticus and then Aunty (which makes Aunty the most powerful one in the house as long as she is with them) Later Aunty tries to convince Atticus to get rid of Cal, saying that they no longer need her Atticus refuses, saying that it's good for the children to have her ("she is not leaving the house until she wants to") that night, Jem tells Scout not to antagonize Aunty, because Atticus has a lot on his mind at the moment (the Tom Robinson case) → Scout gets angry at being lectured → fist-fight became a brawl → Atticus separates them and sends them to bed Scout discovers something under her bed; she calls Jem in and they discover Dill hiding there Dill has run away from home because his mother and new father did not pay enough attention to him → he took a train from Meridian to Maycomb Junction (fourteen miles away) and covered the remaining distance on foot and on the back of a cotton wagon Jem calls Atticus, who reacts composedly (asks Scout to get more food for Dill) and plans to go next door to tell Dill's aunt, Miss Rachel, of his whereabouts Dill eats, then gets into Jem's bed to sleep, but soon climbs over to Scout's bed to talk things over (the reason why Dill ran off; how to get a baby; why Boo Radley never ran off) Chapter 15: a week after Dill's arrival, a group of men (including Tom Robinson's employer, Mr. Link Deas) led by Heck Tate come to Atticus' house in the evening telling Atticus as Tom's trial is nearing, Tom Robinson is to be moved to the Maycomb jail (Heck Tate is worried that they will have trouble from the Old Sarum bunch, and he doesn't want anything to happen to Tom Robinson before the trial) Atticus and Alexandra have been arguing about the trial (she nearly accused him of bringing disgrace on the family) Mr. Sam Levy is a member of the Levy family (who met all criteria for being Fine Folks) Mr. Braxton Underwood is the sole owner, editor, and printer of Maycomb Tribune (he rarely gathered new; people brought it to him) the following evening, Atticus takes the car into town. At about ten o'clock, Jem (accompanied by Scout and Dill) sneaks out of the house and follows his father to the town center from a distance, they see Atticus sitting in front of the Maycomb jail, reading a newspaper (sits outside of Tom Robinson's cell because he expects that the Old Sarum bunch might attempt to harm Tom the night before the trial) Jem suggests that they not disturb Atticus and return home. At that moment, four cars came in from the Meridian highway and park near the jail a group of men gets out, and one demands that Atticus move away from the jailhouse door Atticus refuses and Scout runs out of their hiding place to Atticus, only to realize that this group of men differs from the group that came to their house the previous night. 11 ● Jem and Dill follow her, and Atticus orders Jem to go home → Jem refuse, and one of the men tells Atticus that he has fifteen seconds to get his children to leave Meanwhile, Scout looks around the group and recognizes Mr. Cunningham, the father of her classmate Walter Cunningham → she starts talking to him about his legal entailments and his son and asks him to tell his son "hey" → all of the men stare at her. Mr. Cunningham, suddenly ashamed, squats down and tells Scout that he will tell his son "hey" for her, and then tells his companions to clear out → they departed Chapter 16: the next morning, Aunty is looking at them with disgrace; Atticus says that Braxton despises Negroes (Aunty doesn't find it ok that he said that in front of Cal) ● Scout asks Atticus if they can go home now (he nodded). Then a soft husky voice came from the darkness above (it was Tom, asking if they are gone now) → Atticus says that he should go sleep now → another voice from a different direction cut through the night (it was Mr. Underwood leaning out of his window above the Maycomb Tribune office with a double-barrelled shotgun) saying "Had you covered all the time, Atticus" Atticus and Mr. Underwood talk for a while and then Atticus takes the children home Atticus explains to Scout that Mr. Cunningham is a friend of theirs and he basically is a good man even though he wanted to hurt Atticus last night ("he just has his blind spots along with the rest of us."; "A mob is always made up of people, no matter what."; "A gang of wild animals can be stopped, simply because they're human.") → The children made Walter Cunningham stand in Atticus' shoes for a minute. That was enough. what happened last night was all over town the trial begins that day an people from all over county flood the town (everybody makes an appearance in the courtroom, from Miss Stephanie Crawford to Mr. Dolphus Raymond) only Miss Maudie refuses to go, saying that watching someone on trial for his life is like attending a Roman carnival → she even says that Stephanie should be careful because she seems to know a lot about the case she might as well be called on to testify the vast crowd camps in the court-house square to eat lunch (the Negroes sat in the far corner; including Mr. Raymond; Jem says that he likes them better than them) → Jem explains to scout that you can only figure out who an in-between (mixed child) is by knowing it Afterward, Jem, Scout, and Dill wait for most of the crowd to enter the courthouse so that they can slip in at the back and thus prevent Atticus from noticing them Atticus has to defend Tom Robinson (even if he wouldn't want to) because the court appointed him to defend him However, because they wait too long, they succeed in getting seats only when Reverend Sykes lets them sit in the balcony where black people are required to sit in order to watch the trial → from these seats, they can see the whole courtroom Judge Taylor, a white-haired old man with a reputation for running his court in an informal fashion, presides over the case 12 Chapter 17: Mr. Heck Tate is the first one to testify → Mr. Gilmer was the "solicitor" (prosecutor = Staatsanwaltschaft) and questioned Heck Tate, who recounts how, on the night of November 21, Bob Ewell urged him to go to the Ewell house and told him that his daughter Mayella had been raped. When Tate got there, he found Mayella bruised and beaten, and she told him that Tom Robinson had raped her. Atticus cross-examines the witness, who admits that no doctor was summoned, and tells Atticus that Mayella's bruises were concentrated on the right side of her face. Tate leaves the stand, and Bob Ewell is called → he testifies that on the evening in question he was coming out of the woods with a load of kindling when he heard his daughter yelling. When he reached the house, he looked in the window and saw Tom Robinson raping her. Robinson fled, and Ewell went into the house, saw that his daughter was all right, and ran for the sheriff. Atticus's cross-examination is brief: he asks Mr. Ewell why no doctor was called → answered that it was too expensive and there was no need + has the witness write his name → the jury sees that Bob Ewell is left-handed (and a left-handed man would be more likely to leave bruises on the right side of a girl's face.) Scout also tells the reader that "never ask a witness a question you don't already know the answer to" is a tenet she absorbed with her baby-foot (she trusts Atticus with his questions) Chapter 18: Mayella Violet Ewell was the next one to testify (she is a reasonably clean-by the Ewell's standards-and obviously terrifies nineteen-year-old girl) she says that she called Tom Robinson inside the fence that evening and offered him a nickel to break up a dresser ("chiffarobe") for her and that once he got inside the house he grabbed her and took advantage of her In Atticus's cross-examination, Mayella reveals that her life consists of seven unhelpful siblings, a drunken father, and no friends Atticus then examines her testimony and asks why she didn't put up a better fight, why her screams didn't bring the other children running, and, most important, how Tom Robinson managed the crime: how he bruised the right side of her face with his useless left hand (which was torn apart by a cotton gin when he was a boy) Atticus pleads with Mayella to admit that there was no rape, that her father beat her → she shouts at him and yells that the courtroom would have to be a bunch of cowards not to convict Tom Robinson; she then bursts into tears, refusing to answer any more questions. In the recess that follows, Mr. Underwood notices the children up in the balcony → Jem tells Scout that the newspaper editor won't tell Atticus about their being there (although he might put it on the social side of Tribune) The prosecution rests, and Atticus calls only one witness - Tom Robinson 13 Chapter 19: Tom Robinson was the next one to testify → Atticus first of all makes clear that Tom has nothing to hide (Atticus asks about the one time Tom had been in trouble with the law: a man tried to cut him and Tom couldn't pay the fine → Tom received thirty days for disorderly conduct) Tom testifies that he always passed the Ewell house on the way to work (field of Mr. Link Deas) and that Mayella often asked him to do chores for her (way last spring she asked him to break up the chiffarobe → he did it and went home afterward); he said that he (would) never set a foot on the Ewell's property without permission On the evening in question, he recounts, she asked him to come inside the house and fix a door. When he got inside, there was nothing wrong with the door, and he noticed that the other children were gone. (Mayella told him she had saved her money and sent them all to buy ice cream.) Then she asked him to lift a box down from a dresser. → When Tom climbed on a chair, she grabbed his legs, scaring him so much that he jumped down. She then hugged him around the waist and asked him to kiss her. As she struggled, her father appeared at the window, calling Mayella a whore and threatening to kill her. → Tom fled. Link Deas (Tom's white employer) rosed from the audience and declares that in eight years of work, he has never had any trouble from Tom → Judge Taylor furiously expels Deas from the courtroom for interrupting ● Mr. Gilmer gets up and cross-examines Tom. The prosecutor points out that the defendant was once arrested for disorderly conduct and gets Tom to admit that he has the strength, even with one hand, to choke the breath out of a woman and sling her to the floor. He begins to badger the witness, asking about his motives for always helping Mayella with her chores, until Tom declares that he felt sorry for her. This statement puts the courtroom ill at ease-in Maycomb, black people aren't supposed to feel sorry for a white person. → Mr. Gilmer reviews Mayella's testimony, accusing Tom of lying about everything. Dill begins to cry, and Scout takes him out of the courtroom. Outside the courtroom, Dill complains to Scout about Mr. Gilmer's rude treatment of Tom Robinson during the questioning. → Mr. Dolphus Raymond (the rich white man with the colored mistress and mulatto children) says that he understands Dill Chapter 20: Mr. Dolphus Raymond commiserates with Dill and offers him a sip of his drink from his paper bag → Dill slurps up some of the liquid and Scout warns him not to take much, but Dill reveals to her that the drink isn't alcoholic-it's only Coca-Cola Mr. Raymond tells the children that he pretends to be a drunk to provide the other white people with an explanation for his lifestyle (he tries to give them a reason. “It helps folks if they can latch onto a reason."), when, in fact, he simply prefers black people to whites. When Dill and Scout return to the courtroom, Atticus is making his closing remarks. He has finished going over the evidence and now makes a personal appeal to the jury. 14 Atticus points out that the prosecution has produced no medical evidence of the crime and has presented only the shaky testimony of two unreliable witnesses; moreover, the physical evidence suggests that Bob Ewell, not Tom Robinson, beat Mayella. Atticus then offers his own version of events, describing how Mayella, lonely and unhappy, committed the unmentionable act of lusting after a black man and then concealed her shame by accusing him of rape after being caught (she must destroy the evidence of her offense, which in this case was Tom Robinson - her daily reminder of what she did) Atticus begs the jury to avoid the state's assumption that all black people are criminals and to deliver justice by freeing Tom Robinson. As soon as Atticus finishes, Calpurnia comes into the courtroom Chapter 21: Cal has an envelope in her hand (it has nothing to do with the trial and is from Alexandra) Judge Taylor if she can give it to Atticus → Atticus reads it (it says that the children are missing) → asks Mr. Underwood says that Jem and Scout have been in the colored balcony the entire time Atticus tells them to go home with Cal and have supper → they eg him to be allowed to hear the verdict; Atticus says that they can return after supper, though he knows that the jury will likely have returned before then Cal marches Jem, Scout, and Dill home → They eat quickly and return to find the courtroom almost exactly how they left it (an hour ago) Evening comes, night falls, and the jury continues to deliberate. (Jem is confident of victory) Finally, after eleven that night, the jury enters. Scout remembers that a jury never looks at a man it has convicted, and she notices that the twelve men do not look at Tom Robinson as they file in and deliver a guilty verdict. The courtroom begins to empty, and as Atticus goes out, everyone in the colored balcony rises in a gesture of respect. Chapter 22: That night, Jem cries, railing against the injustice of the verdict. they learn that the world is unfair; about the evil side of their community and that even the justice system is tainted by unfairness The next day, Maycomb's black population delivers an avalanche of food to the Finch household. (it shows their appreciation for what he did for Tom) Outside, Miss Stephanie Crawford is gossiping with Mr. Avery and Miss Maudie, and she tries to question Jem and Scout about the trial. Miss Maudie rescues the children by inviting them in for some cake. Jem complains that his illusions about Maycomb have been shattered: he thought that these people were the best in the world, but, having seen the trial, he doesn't think so anymore. 15 Chapter 23: Bob Ewell's threats are worrisome to everyone except Atticus. He tells Jem and Scout to stand in Bob Ewell's shoes for a minute →→ Because Atticus made Ewell look like a fool, Ewell needed to get revenge. Now that Ewell has gotten that vengefulness out of his system, Atticus expects no more trouble. → only Aunty remains worried Meanwhile, Tom Robinson has been sent to the Enfield Prison Farm seventy miles away (in Chester County) while his appeal winds through the court system. Atticus feels that his client has a good chance of being pardoned or least a new trial. When Scout asks what will happen if Tom loses, Atticus replies that Tom will go to the electric chair, as rape is a capital offense in Alabama. Jem and Atticus discuss the justice of executing men for rape. The subject then turns to jury trials and to how all twelve men could have convicted Tom. Atticus tells Jem that in an Alabama court of law, a white man's word always beats a black man's and that they were lucky to have the jury out so long. In fact, one man on the jury wanted to acquit-amazingly, it was one of the Cunninghams. ● ● Miss Maudie points out that there were people who tried to help, like Judge Taylor, who appointed Atticus to the case instead of the regular public defender (to Maxwell Green) She adds that the jury's staying out so long constitutes a sign of progress in race relations. As the children leave Miss Maudie's house, Miss Stephanie runs over to tell them that Bob Ewell accosted their father that morning, spat on him, and swore revenge. ● Upon hearing this revelation, Scout announces that she wants to invite young Walter Cunningham to dinner, but Aunt Alexandra expressly forbids it, telling her that the Finches do not associate with trash. → Scout grows furious, and Jem hastily takes her out of the room. In his bedroom, Jem reveals his minimal growth of chest hair and tells Scout that he is going to try out for the football team in the fall. They discuss the class system-why their aunt despises the Cunninghams, why the Cunninghams look down on the Ewells, who hate black people, and other such matters. After being unable to figure out why people go out of their way to despise each other, Jem suggests Boo Radley does not come out of his house because he does not want to leave it. Chapter 24: One day in August, Aunt Alexandra invites her missionary circle to tea. (Scout, wearing a dress, helps Calpurnia bring in the tea, and Alexandra invites Scout to stay with the ladies.) Scout listens to the missionary circle (including Mrs. Grace Merriweather) first discuss the plight of the poor Mrunas (a benighted African tribe being converted to Christianity) and then talk about how their own black 16 servants have behaved badly ever since Tom Robinson's trial. (Helen Robinson's (=Tom Robinson's wife) situation is a point of discussion) Miss Maudie shuts up their prattle with icy remarks. Suddenly, Atticus appears and calls Alexandra to the kitchen. There he tells her, Scout, Calpurnia, and Miss Maudie that Tom Robinson attempted to escape and was shot seventeen times. He takes Calpurnia with him to tell the Robinson family of Tom's death Alexandra asks Miss Maudie how the town can allow Atticus to wreck himself in pursuit of justice. Maudie replies that the town trusts him to do right. They return with Scout to the missionary circle, managing to act as if nothing is wrong Chapter 25: September has begun and Jem and Scout are on the back porch when Scout notices a roly-poly bug. She is about to mash it with her hand when Jem tells her not to. She dutifully places the bug outside. When she asks Jem why she shouldn't have mashed it, he replies that the bug didn't do anything to harm her. Scout observes that it is Jem, not she, who is becoming more and more like a girl. Her thoughts turn to Dill, and she remembers him telling her that he and Jem ran into Atticus as they started home from swimming during the last two days of August. Jem had convinced Atticus to let them accompany him to Helen Robinson's house, where they saw her collapse even before Atticus could say that her husband, Tom, was dead. Meanwhile, the news occupies Maycomb's attention for about two days, and everyone agrees that it is typical for a black man to do something irrational like try to escape. Mr. Underwood writes a long editorial condemning Tom's death as the murder of an innocent man. The only other significant reaction comes when Bob Ewell is overheard saying that Tom's death makes "one down and about two more to go." Summer ends and Dill leaves. Chapter 26: School starts, Jem now is in seventh grade in high school and Scout now is in third grade → their routines are very different now: they walk together to school but Jem goes out for football (but he is too young/slender to join the team, so he only carries the water buckets for the team (with enthusiasm)) daily trips past the Radley Place but they are now too old to be frightened by it but Scout still wistfully wishes to see Boo Radley just once Meanwhile, the shadow of the trial still hangs over her. Once a week, Scout has a Current Event Period, where the children have to present a current event → one day Cecil Jacobs presents the class the wickedness of Hitler's persecution of the Jews → another student asks Miss Gates (the teacher) how he was able to do this without the government intervening → answer: Hitler is the government 17 ● ● Miss Gates lectures the class on democracy (America) and dictatorship (Germany) Scout listens and later asks Jem how Miss Gates can preach about equality when she came out of the courthouse after the trial and told Miss Stephanie Crawford that it was about time that someone taught the blacks in town a lesson. → Jem becomes furious and tells Scout never to mention the trial to him again Scout is upset and goes to Atticus for comfort, who tells her: "don't let Jem get you down." He just wants to forget something but what he really is doing is storing it away, until he has a clear head again and can sort things out (then he is going to be the old Jem again) Chapter 27: by the middle of October, three small things out of the ordinary happened in Maycomb 1. Mr. Bob Ewell gets a job with the WPA (one of the Depression job programs) and loses it a few days later. Ruth Jones (the welfare lady) says that Ewell blames Atticus for "getting" his job. Judge Taylor is home alone and hears someone prowling around; when he goes to investigate, he finds his screen door open and sees a shadow creeping away. Bob Ewell then begins to follow Helen Robinson to work, keeping his distance but whispering obscenities at her. Deas sees Ewell and threatens to have him arrested if he doesn't leave Helen alone; he gives her no further trouble. → 2. 3. these events worry Aunt Alexandra, who points out that Ewell seems to have a grudge against everyone connected with the case (Atticus suspects that very few people in Maycomb believe his yarns) When Cecil asks Jem if Atticus is a radical Atticus says he's "about as radical as Cotton Tom Heflin" (a white supremacist senator and member of the KKK.) Maycomb was itself again (the same as the years before) → two minor changes 1. People had removed the stickers (saying NRA - WE DO OUR PART) from their windows and automobiles because the National Recovery Act was dead (nine old men killed it) = laut Atticus to avoid Halloween being a completely unorganized affair like the last years (including the prank on the Barber ladies*), the Maycomb ladies decided that Halloween would be different this year (an organized event at the highschool) → the town sponsors a party and play at the school Jem considered himself too old for Halloween and Scout has to be a part of the play, where every child portrays a food → Scout is a ham (Mrs. Crenshaw, the local seamstress, made the costumes) Both Atticus and Aunt Alexandra are too tired to attend the festivities (Scout gave a little preview of the play in the living-room for them) after that Jem took Scout to the school Chapter 28: Scout doesn't understand why she can't go alone to the schoolhouse and Jem explains that Atticus would never allow that and that the yard is a mighty long place for a little girl to cross at night all by herself It was pitch black when they enter the schoolyard, and Cecil Jacobs jumps out and frightens Jem and Scout. Jem is happy that Cecil and Scout are now together so that he can hang out with people his age Jem gave Scout thirty cents to visit some booths (which she and Cecil did, who also had thirty cents) 2. 18 The pageant nears its start and all of the children go backstage. Scout, however, has fallen asleep and consequently misses her entrance. She runs onstage at the end, prompting Judge Taylor and many others to burst out laughing. → The woman in charge of the pageant accuses Scout of ruining it. → Scout is so ashamed that she and Jem wait backstage until the crowd is gone before they make their way home. → Scout forgot her Shoes behind the stage so she's barefoot On the walk back home, Jem hears noises behind him and Scout. They think it must be Cecil Jacobs trying to frighten them again, but when they call out to him, they hear no reply. They have almost reached the road when their pursuer begins running after them. → Jem screams for Scout to run, but in the dark, hampered by her costume, she loses her balance and falls. Jem drags Scout almost all the way to the road before their assailant pulls him back. Scout hears a crunching sound and Jem screams; she runs toward him and is grabbed and squeezed. Suddenly, her attacker is pulled away. Once the noise of struggling has ceased, Scout feels on the ground for Jem, finding only the prone figure of an unshaven man smelling of whiskey. She stumbles toward home, and sees, in the light of the streetlamp, a man carrying Jem toward her house. ● Scout reaches home, and Aunt Alexandra goes to call Dr. Reynolds. Atticus calls Heck Tate, telling him that someone has attacked his children. Alexandra removes Scout's costume and tells her that Jem is only unconscious, not dead. (Aunty is very worried and even brought Scout the overall she most despises) Dr. Reynolds then arrives and goes into Jem's room. When he emerges, he informs Scout that Jem has a broken arm and a bump on his head, but that he will be alright. Scout goes in to see Jem. (The man who carried him home is in the room, but she does not recognize him.) Heck Tate appears and tells Atticus that Bob Ewell is lying under a tree, dead, with a knife stuck under his ribs. Chapter 29: Mr Tate asks Scout to tell them what happened (because it's still fresh in mind) - → Aunty doesn't want to hear it and blames herself for the incident (because she says she had a feeling that night) Scout tells them everything she saw and heard Heck Tate inspects her costume and it shows a mark on it where a knife slashed and was stopped by the wire the costume saved her life → When Scout gets to the point in the story where Jem was picked up and carried home, she turns to the man in the corner and really looks at him for the first time → He is pale, with torn clothes and a thin, pinched face and colorless eyes. She realizes that it is Boo Radley Chapter 30: Scout takes Boo-"Mr. Arthur"-down to the porch, and they sit in shadow listening to Atticus and Heck Tate argue. Heck insists on calling the death an accident, but Atticus, thinking that Jem killed Bob Ewell, doesn't want his son protected from the law. 19 Chapter 31: Scout takes Boo upstairs to say goodnight to Jem and then walks him home. He goes inside his house, and she never sees him again. But, for just a moment, she imagines the world from his perspective. → Atticus was right when he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough. She returns home and finds Atticus sitting in Jem's room. He reads one of Jem's books to her until she falls asleep. 1. 2. 3. Heck corrects him-Ewell fell on his knife; Jem didn't kill him. Although he knows that Boo is the one who stabbed Ewell, Heck wants to hush up the whole affair, saying that Boo doesn't need the attention of the neighborhood brought to his door. (they never mentioned Boo specifically) Tom Robinson died for no reason, he says, and now the man responsible is dead: “Let the dead bury the dead." Mr. Tate leaves and Atticus is forced to accept it the way Mr. Tate said it → tells Scout that it happened this way (Bob Ewell fell on his knife) Scout reassures him that this is the right thing to do and tells Atticus: "it'd be sort of like shootin' a mockingbird, wouldn't it?" 4. Lessons: Keep fighting even if you know you'll lose true fighting and persevering even when you know you can't win (Atticus doesn't want them to fight the other kids but to try to keep calm and keep their heads up in the face of adversity) (chapter 9, 20) Don't kill a mockingbird → metaphorical meaning: anyone who is weak and defenseless → to kill a mockingbird in that sense means that you take advantage of someone weaker than you (chapter 10, 30) Put yourself in other people's shoes you don't understand someone until you put yourself in their shoes and see the situation out of their perspective (Chapter 16, 31) The world is very unfair → the children are crushed by Tom Robinson's conviction and learn that about the evil society that they live in (Chapter 21) 20 Characters Scout Finch is the narrator and protagonist of the story. Jean Louise "Scout" Finch lives with her father, Atticus, her brother, Jem, and their black cook, Calpurnia, in Maycomb. Scout is who she is because of the way Atticus has raised her. He has nurtured her mind, conscience, and individuality without bogging her down in fussy social hypocrisies and notions of propriety. She is intelligent and, by the standards of her time and place, a tomboy. Scout is a very unusual little girl, both in her own qualities and in her social position. She is unusually intelligent (she learns to read before beginning school), unusually confident (she fights boys without fear), unusually thoughtful (she worries about the essential goodness and evil of mankind), and unusually good (she always acts with the best intentions). Scout has a combative streak and a basic faith in the goodness of the people in her community. As the novel progresses, this faith is tested by the hatred and prejudice that emerge during Tom Robinson's trial. Scout eventually develops a more grown-up perspective that enables her to appreciate human goodness without ignoring human evil. Jem Finch is Scout's brother and constant playmate at the beginning of the story. Jeremy Atticus "Jem" Finch is something of a typical American boy, refusing to back down from dares and fantasizing about playing football. Four years older than Scout, he gradually separates himself from her games, but he remains her close companion and protector throughout the novel. Jem moves into adolescence during the story, and his ideals are shaken badly by the evil and injustice that he perceives during the trial of Tom Robinson. After seeing the unfair destruction of Tom Robinson, Jem now wants to protect the fragile and harmless. His disillusionment upon seeing that justice does not always prevail leaves him vulnerable and confused at a critical, formative point in his life. Nevertheless, he admirably upholds the commitment to justice that Atticus instilled in him and maintains it with deep conviction throughout the novel. Simon Finch is the founder of Finch's Landing. He is referred to in the first chapter of the book, being a direct ancestor of Atticus. He is a Cornish Methodist and emigrated from England to avoid religious persecution, landing in Philadelphia before settling in Alabama. He was married, with one son, eight daughters. He is also an apothecary. Atticus Finch is Scout and Jem's father, a lawyer in Maycomb descended from an old local family. A widower with a dry sense of humor, Atticus has instilled in his children his strong sense of morality and justice. Atticus practices the ethic of sympathy and understanding that he preaches to Scout and Jem and never holds a grudge against the people of Maycomb. He is one of the few residents of Maycomb committed to racial equality. When he agrees to defend Tom Robinson, a black man charged with raping a white woman, he exposes himself and his family to the anger of the white community. With his strongly held convictions, wisdom, and empathy, Atticus functions as the novel's moral backbone. Because of his penetrating intelligence, calm wisdom, and exemplary behavior, Atticus is respected by everyone, including the very poor. Uncle (John Hale) "Jack" Finch is Atticus' and Alexandra's younger brother. (He is about 40, which is 10 years younger than Atticus.) Jack smells like alcohol and something sweet, and is said that he and Alexandra have similar features. Jack is a childless doctor who can always make Scout and Jem laugh, and they adore him. He and Miss Maudie are close to the same age; he frequently teases her with marriage proposals, which she always declines. Aunt Alexandra (Hancock) is Atticus' and Jack's sister, married to James "Uncle Jimmy" Hancock. The children's mother is dead and she has come to give them some "feminine influence". She also was concerned that the children know the importance of their heritage. She is a strong-willed woman with a fierce devotion to her family. Alexandra is the perfect Southern lady, and her commitment to propriety and tradition often leads her to clash with Scout. She has a son named Henry and a very spoiled grandson named Francis. Around the middle of the book, Aunt Alexandra decides to leave her husband at Finch's Landing, the Finch family homestead to come stay with the Finches. Aunt Alexandra doesn't consider the black Calpurnia to be a very pod motherly figure for Jem and Scout; she disapproves of Scout being a tomboy and wants to make Scout into a southern belle (encouraging her to act more 'lady like'). This is the cause of many conflicts between Scout and Alexandra throughout the course of the novel. However, as the trial progresses, Scout comes to see how much her aunt cares for her father and what a strong woman she is. This especially evidenced by a tea party when Scout is horrified by the 21 racism displayed, and her aunt and Miss Maudie help her deal with her feelings. By the end of the book, it's clear that Alexandra cares very much for her niece and nephew, though she and Scout will probably never really get along. Calpurnia (Cal) is the Finches' black cook, whom the children love and Atticus deeply respects (he remarks in her defense that she "never indulged [the children] like most colored nurses"). She is highly regarded by Atticus. She is an important figure in Scout's life, providing discipline, instruction, and love. She also fills the maternal role for the children after their mother's death. Calpurnia is a mother herself and raised her son, Zeebo, to adulthood. Calpurnia is one of the few black characters in the novel who is able to read and write and it is she who taught Scout to write. (She learned how to read from Miss Maudie's aunt, Miss Buford, who taught her how to read out of Blackstone's Commentaries, a book given to her.) Aunt Alexandra despised Calpurnia because Alexandra believed that Calpurnia was not a "maternal figure" for Jem and Scout, especially for Scout. Calpurnia is a member of the First Purchase M.E. African Church in Maycomb. While Scout always hears her speak proper English, she is surprised to learn that Calpurnia does not do so at church, especially with the uneducated members of the congregation. Miss Rachel Haverford is Dill's aunt and the Finches' next door neighbor. Even though she can be very hard to deal with, she truly does love her nephew. Her family name, in the legends of Maycomb County, is synonymous with jackass. She is also a Southern Belle. Charles Baker "Dill" Harris is a short, smart boy who visits Maycomb every summer from Meridian, Mississippi, and stays with his Aunt Rachel. Dill is a diminutive, confident boy with an active imagination. He becomes fascinated with Boo Radley and represents the perspective of childhood innocence throughout the novel. Unlike Scout and Jem, Dill lacks the security of family support. Arthur "Boo" Radley is a recluse who never sets foot outside his house, Boo dominates the imaginations of Jem, Scout, and Dill. He is a powerful symbol of goodness swathed in an initial shroud of creepiness, (leaving little presents for Scout and Jem and emerging at an opportune moment to save the children.) An intelligent child emotionally damaged by his cruel father, Boo provides an example of the threat that evil poses to innocence and goodness. He is one of the novel's "mockingbirds," a good person injured by the evil of mankind. Nathan Radley is the brother of Arthur "Boo" Radley and another difficult character to understand in To Kill a Mockingbird. He is more present than his brother but equally mysterious. Miss Caroline Fisher is Scout's first grade teacher and is new to Maycomb, Alabama and its ways. Miss Caroline has good intentions but proves quite incompetent as a teacher. She is also very sensitive and gets emotionally hurt quite easily. After the Burris Ewell incident, Miss Caroline is seldom seen and soon forgotten. Walter Cunningham Jr. is a child who is almost as old as Jem but is in Scout's class. He lives on a farm. He is too poor to even pay off a 25-cent debt because the Great Depression hit his poor family hard. Walter is invited over to the Finches' house once, after engaging in a fight with Scout, where he covers up all of his dinner with molasses (he didn't learn table manners), much to Scout's vocal dismay. This teaches Scout a lesson in humility and compassion. Walter Cunningham Sr. is Walter Cunningham Jr.'s father. He appears only twice, once at the beginning of the story when he has to pay off the debt to Atticus (Walter Cunningham Sr. was his client) by giving him firewood, vegetables, and other supplies. He also leads the mob that comes to lynch Tom Robinson the night before the trial. Walter Cunningham Sr. is an honorable but poor man, and after his interaction with Scout (the day before Tom's trial), he realizes it is not right to hurt people. Burris Ewell is a son of Bob Ewell and a younger sibling of Mayella Ewell as well as the first antagonist of the novel. Burris is described as being chiefly antagonistic of Little Chuck Little and his teacher Miss Caroline Fisher; like his father, he is very belligerent. He behaves rudely when Miss Caroline Fisher tells him to go home, wash his hair, and come back clean the next day. He refuses, and a student explains to Miss Caroline that Ewell children don't attend school. As of Scout's first year of school (the first grade), Burris has repeated the first grade three times. 22 Little Chuck Little (Charles) is a student in Scout's first-grade class who has the mindset of an adult. He is depicted as chiefly antagonistic of Burris Ewell. He warned Miss Caroline that if Burris wasn't released from class, he might try something that would put their classmates at risk. He has a gentlemanly attitude. Little Chuck may be even more intelligent than originally meets the eye, as he is bluffing with the knife to save the teacher from Burris. Cecil Jacobs is a neighbor kid, who walks a total mile to get to school just to avoid the Radley Place and Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose. He teases Scout and Jem at school. Scout almost gets into a fight with Cecil over the trial of Tom Robinson. Scout beats up Cecil Jacobs because he says Atticus is a "Nigger Lover." He gives a current event presentation on Adolf Hitler and later frightens Scout and Jem on their way to the Halloween pageant. He and Scout then pair up at the carnival. He hints that black people are not as good as white people while talking about Hitler during current events. Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose is an elderly woman who lives near the Finches. She is hated by the children, who run by her house to avoid her. Scout describes Mrs. Dubose as "plain hell." Jem has to read to her for a month as a punishment. She is a virulent racist, she calls Atticus a "nigger-lover" to his children's faces. Atticus tells Jem that Mrs. Dubose was the bravest person he ever knew, and she was trying to teach Jem the importance of bravery and true courage to endure anything when the situation is hopeless, as in her morphine addiction. Miss Maudie Atkinson is the Finches' neighbor, a sharp-tongued widow, and an old friend of the family. She shares Atticus's passion for justice and is the children's best friend among Maycomb's adults. She had known the Finches for many years because she is a childhood friend of Atticus' brother Jack and they grew up together at Finch's Landing; she was the daughter of the neighboring landowner Dr. Frank Buford. Miss Atkinson's aunt Old Mrs. Buford taught Calpurnia how to read. She is described as a woman of about 40 (about the same age as Jack Finch who she has known since birth and who always asks to marry him) who enjoys baking and gardening. However, she is frequently harassed by devout "Foot-Washing Baptists", who tell her that her enjoyment of gardening is a sin. Miss Maudie describes herself as a Baptist and she befriends Scout and Jem and tells them stories about Atticus as a boy. It is strongly implied that she and Atticus have a more than a platonic relationship. Also, she is one of the few adults that Jem and Scout hold in high regard and respect. She does not act condescendingly towards them, even though they are young children. When her house burns down she shows remarkable courage. She is not prejudiced, though she talks caustically to Miss Stephanie Crawford, unlike many of her Southern neighbors, and teaches Scout important lessons about racism and human nature. It is important to note that Miss Maudie fully explains that "it is a sin to kill a mockingbird", whereas Atticus Finch initially brings up the subject but doesn't go into depth. When Jem gets older and doesn't want to be bothered by Scout, Miss Maudie keeps her from getting angry. Miss Maudie was the female version of Atticus Finch. Stephanie Crawford is the neighborhood gossip and because of that, it is unwise to think of anything she says as true because most of the time it is not. She is a friend of Alexandra Hancock. She lets Miss Maudie live with her when the latter's house burns down, supposedly in order to steal Miss Maudie's Lane cake recipe, she is the opposite of Miss Maudie who tries to avoid drama. Mr. Avery is an overweight unpleasant neighbor, who tells Jem and Scout that dramatic changes in the weather are caused by disobedient and misbehaving children. Jem watched Avery urinating from his front porch in an impressive arc. After it snows, they build a snowman to resemble him. Atticus disapproved of the snowman, so the children made it look like Miss Maudie instead. Mr. Avery pushes a mattress out of the window when Miss Maudie's house catches fire. Eula May is Maycomb's most prominent telephone operator. She sends out public announcements, invitations, and activates the fire alarm. She announced the closing of schools when it snowed and announced the rabid dog that entered Maycomb. Her job allows her to know everybody in town. Thomas ("Tom") Robinson is an African-American who has three children with his wife, Helen. He is accused and put on trial for the rape of a white woman, Mayella Ewell. Tom's left arm is crippled and useless, the result of an accident with a cotton gin when he was a child. (Atticus uses this fact as the cornerstone of his defense strategy, pointing out that the nature of Mayella's facial injuries strongly suggests a left-handed assailant.) Tom testifies that he had frequently helped Mayella with household chores 23 because he felt sorry for her and the family's difficult life - a statement that shocks the all-white, male jury. Despite Atticus' skilled defense, the jury's racial prejudices lead them to find Tom guilty. Atticus plans to appeal the verdict, but before he can do so, Tom is shot and killed while trying to escape the prison where he is being held. Tom is one of the novel's "mockingbirds," an important symbol of innocence destroyed by evil. Mayella Ewell, 19, is the oldest of the eight Ewell children. She is Bob Ewell's abused, lonely, unhappy daughter. Due to her family's living situation, Mayella has no opportunity for human contact or love. She eventually gets so desperate that she attempts to seduce a black man, Tom Robinson. When Atticus asks her if she has any friends, she becomes confused because she doesn't know what a friend is. During her testimony, she is confused by Atticus' polite speech and thinks that his use of "Miss Mayella" is meant to mock her. She testifies against Tom Robinson. She also cries and makes it clear to everyone that she is lying. Though one can pity Mayella because of her overbearing father, one cannot pardon her for her shameful indictment of Tom Robinson. Cousin Ike Finch was Maycomb County's sole surviving Confederate veteran. He wore a General Hood type beard of which he was inordinately vain. At least once a year Atticus, Jem and I called on him, and I would have to kiss him. Uncle Jimmy is Aunt Alexandra's husband. Therefore, he is not a "blood" Finch but married into the family. Alexandra and Jimmy live at "Finch's Landing," which is the family plot of land. Aunt Alexandra and Uncle Jimmy have one son: Henry. Henry is grown up, gone from home, married, with a son of his own: Francis. Francis Hancock, 8, is the spoiled grandson of Aunt Alexandra. (The son of her son, Henry Hancock.) Every Christmas, Henry and his wife drop Francis at Finch's Landing, which is the only time Scout and Jem see him. Francis lives in Mobile, Alabama, and is a bit of a tattle-tale. He gets along well with Jem but often spars with Scout. Tim Johnson is a dog belonging to Harry Johnson (a character in the book who is mentioned once but is never seen). He is infected by rabies in chapter 10 and goes mad, putting everyone in the town at risk. Atticus is forced to shoot Tim Johnson before he reaches the Radley House or attacks anyone. When Atticus shoots the dog, his excellent marksmanship is revealed to Scout and Jem (his nickname used to be One-Shot Finch). The dog's body is collected by Zeebo. Zeebo is Calpurnia's mature son. Calpurnia taught her son how to read. Zeebo is one of just four people in First Purchase Church who can read, so he is the vocal leader, leading hymns in their church by "lining" (reading a line of verse and having the congregation repeat it.) He is also the garbage man of Maycomb and took away the dead rabid dog, Tim Johnson. When Lula, a fellow church member tries to make Scout and Jem feel bad for attending church with Calpurnia, Zeebo welcomes them with open arms. Lula is an African-American woman with a dislike for white people. She doesn't like the idea of Calpurnia bringing Atticus Finch's children, Jem and Scout, with her to church and tells her so but is overruled by the other congregants. According to Calpurnia's son Zeebo, Lula's said to be, "a troublemaker from way back, with fancy ideas and haughty ways." She's threatened with being "churched" (subjected to church discipline) by Reverend Sykes. Mr. Heck Tate (42) is a friend of Atticus and also the sheriff of Maycomb County. He believes in protecting the innocent although he doesn't usually show it. At the end of the book, Atticus and Heck argue over whether Jem or Boo Radley should be held responsible for the death of Bob Ewell. Heck eventually persuades Atticus to accept the theory that Ewell accidentally fell on his own knife, thus saving the harmless, reclusive Boo from the public exposure of a criminal trial. Carlow Richardson is being called by Reverend Sykes shortly after the church service because he hasn't donated anything yet. Reverend Sykes is the reverend of the First Purchase M.E. African Church in Maycomb County, where most if not all of the African-American characters go to church. Reverend Sykes forces the congregation to donate 10 dollars for Tom Robinson's family since at the time, Tom's wife, Helen, was having trouble finding work. During the trial, when the courtroom was too 24 packed for the children to find seats, Reverend Sykes lets the kids sit with him up in the colored balcony and even saves their seats for them. Robert E. Lee "Bob" Ewell is the main antagonist of To Kill a Mockingbird. He has a daughter named Mayella and a younger son named Burris, as well as six other unnamed children, who all live behind the town garbage dump in a tin-roofed cabin with a yard full of trash. He is an alcoholic, poaching game to feed his family because he spends whatever money they legally gain via government "relief checks" on alcohol. It is implied, and his left-handedness suggests, that he was the one who abused his daughter Mayella, not Tom Robinson. Mostly everyone in town knows that the Ewells are a disgrace ("the Ewell's have been the disgrace of Maycomb for three generations") and are not to be trusted. Considered human trash by the Maycomb community, the Ewells live in a shotgun shack out by the dump. Ewell has no ambition to improve his life, or the lives of his motherless children; instead, he spends his welfare checks on whiskey and lets the local landowners turn a blind eye to his poaching activities out of pity for his hungry children. He is a drunken, mostly unemployed member of Maycomb's poorest family. Ewell represents the dark side of the South: ignorance, poverty, squalor, and hate-filled racial prejudice. Sinkfield (Maycomb's unique history impacted the families and future generations. (Scout explains that Maycomb was located twenty miles inland from Finch's Landing) a tavern owner who sold ammunition to Indians and settlers, wittingly convinced surveyors to establish Maycomb's seat of government around his tavern.) Cousin Lily Brooke is Scout's cousin, she didn't know of. Cousin Joshua is Aunt Alexandra's and Atticus's cousin, not a contemporary of Jem and Scout. We meet Cousin Joshua in chapter 13 of the novel, and of course, Aunt Alexandra is the one who brings him up. Joshua once tried to shoot the president and it cost the family five hundred dollars to get him out of that. Atticus is worried to become more like him every day. Mr. Link Deas owns cotton fields and a store in Maycomb; he employs Tom Robinson and later Helen, as she is not accepted by any other employer in the county due to Tom's accusation of rape. He announces to the court (in defense of Tom) at one point in the trial that he had not "had a speck o' trouble outta him" in the eight years Tom had been working for him, and is sent out by Judge John Taylor for his outburst. When Bob Ewell starts threatening Helen after the trial, Mr. Deas fiercely defends her and threatens to have Mr. Ewell arrested if he keeps bothering her. He is on Tom Robinson's side during the trial and remains loyal to the family afterward. Mr. Sam Levy is a member of the Levy family, who met all criteria for being Fine Folks. Mr. Braxton (Bragg) Underwood is the sole owner, editor, and printer of Maycomb Tribune (he rarely gathered new; people brought it to him). He is also a friend of Atticus. Being a racist, he disagrees with Atticus on principle. He also has a strong belief in justice, as exemplified when he defends Atticus from the Cunningham mob by having his double barrel shotgun loaded and ready to shoot them. He also demonstrates some humanity when he publishes a scathing editorial comparing the killing of Tom Robinson (a cripple) to "the senseless slaughter of songbirds by hunters and children." Mr. Dolphus Raymond is a wealthy white man who owns one whole side of the riverbank. He is from an old family but lives with his colored partner and their mixed children. (He is jaded by the hypocrisy of the white society and prefers to live among black folks.) He was engaged to marry a woman named Spencer, who committed suicide on their wedding day, and some say it was because she found out that he had an affair with a black woman. He is understood to be a chronic alcoholic but he is only pretending to be an alcoholic by drinking Coca Cola out of a brown paper bag. He lets the people of Maycomb believe it's alcohol and acts drunk to put them at ease and give them a reason to understand the way he is. He knows they will not understand why he lives as he does, so by pretending he is a drunk, he makes life easier for himself. → he is also an example of a mockingbird: he's a better human being than they are and because of their prejudice, they can't, and don't, understand him. Judge John Taylor: Scout calls Judge Taylor "a sleepy old shark", and the description suits him well. Judge Taylor is a white-haired old man with a reputation for running his court in an informal fashion, where he shows great respect for Atticus and great distaste for the Ewells. Although Judge Taylor is relatively relaxed and fair, his personal views on 25 the Robinson case come out in subtle ways. Judge Taylor appoints Atticus as Tom's defense council even when the job should have gone to Maxwell Green. Despite these attempts to influence the outcome of the case, Judge Taylor is ultimately powerless to prevent the jury from finding Tom guilty on circumstantial evidence. Like Atticus, he works within the system, but it seems that ultimately he can't overcome the ways in which the system itself is broken. Mr.X Billups who is seen only once in the book, going to the trial, is described as a "funny man." X is his name, and not his initial. He was asked repeated times what his name was until he signed it. X was the name he had been given when he was born because his parents marked his birth certificate with an X instead of a name. Mr. Horace Gilmer is the prosecutor of the Tom Robinson trial (the lawyer of the Ewells). He provides a contrast to Atticus as he is opposing him in court. Mr. Gilmer represents the traditional racist values and attributes of the South at the time the story is set. Gilmer is an outsider - he comes from Abbotsville. Scout notes that he seemed to gain an advantage over others as he had a 'slight cast' in one eye, which meant that one could not be sure of where he was looking, or at whom - Thus he was hell on juries and witnesses. Scout feels for Mr. Gilmer as his witness, Mr. Ewell, is flippant in the witness box. She notices that he has a particular approach to questioning: Just-in-your-own-words was Mr. Gilmer's trademark. He is not sharp/smart enough to follow Atticus's line of questioning. Bert is the court reporter (he writes everything down that has been said in the trial). Maxwell Green is the new lawyer in town. He is normally the judicially-assigned defense attorney (usually received court-appointed cases) but Judge Taylor assigned Tom Robinson's case to Atticus to give Tom Robinson a better chance. Mrs. Grace Merriweather is a part of the missionary circle. She is also the producer of the play in which Scout plays as a ham. She is mostly known for her devotion to the church and is widely held as the most devout lady in Maycomb; however, like many of her peers, she is very hypocritical and loves to gossip with all the other women. Mrs. Gertrude Farrow is a lady in the missionary circle, who visits the Finch house occasionally. Gertrude does not care that Tom Robinson was wrongly convicted. She does not see Negroes as people. She treats them like children and considers them children. Helen Robinson is the wife of Tom Robinson and the mother of their three children. She is spoken about a few times. Employed by Link Deas following the death of her husband, she is repeatedly harassed by Bob Ewell when traveling to work. Upon learning of this, Deas threatens Ewell, forcing him to stop. She is an example of how one person's actions can have an effect on a lot of people and she elucidates the hardships (= verdeutlicht das Elend) that surround the Tom Robinson case. Miss Gates is a third-grade teacher at Scout's school who insists that America isn't prejudiced like Hitler's Germany. Despite this, Scout has heard her say that the blacks need to be taught a lesson after Tom's trial. Her dual nature of hating Hitler and his prejudice while simultaneously being prejudiced against African Americans in her own community illustrates the hypocrisy present in Maycomb. Ruth Jones is the welfare lady, mentioned in Chapter 27. ? Ann Taylor is Judge Taylor's fat nondescript dog, mentioned in Chapter 27. Dr. Reynolds is the Maycomb doctor. He is well known to Scout and Jem. Scout says that he "had brought Jem and me into the world, had led us through every childhood disease known to man including the time Jem fell out of the treehouse, and he had never lost our friendship. Dr. Reynolds said that if we were boil-prone things would have been different..." (ch. 28) He inspects Jem's broken arm and Scout's minor bruises after the attack from Bob Ewell under the tree. The Barber Sisters (Miss Sarah, nicknamed "Tutti" and Miss Frances, nicknamed "Frutti") are maiden sisters who live in the only house in Maycomb with a cellar. They were originally from Clanton, Alabama; and are rumored to be Republicans. 26 Besides their Yankee ways, both sisters are deaf (Tutti completely deaf; Frutti uses an ear trumpet), and had a Halloween prank pulled on them by some "wicked" schoolchildren (Scout claims she was not included) who put all of their furniture in their cellar. mentioned real-life character: The Foot-Washing Baptists believe anything that's a pleasure is a sin. They also believe that women are a sin "by definition". "Cotton Tom Heflin" (James Thomas Heflin) war ein US-amerikanischer Jurist und Politiker. Er war "a white supremacist senator and member of the KKK". Henry W. (Woodfin) Grady war ein Journalist und Redner, der dazu beitrug, die Staaten der Konföderation nach dem amerikanischen Bürgerkrieg wieder in die Union zu integrieren. (Chapter 15) 27