Alternativer Bildtext:

play 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 Mrs. Radley; the incident gives Jem the idea for their next game: "Boo Radley" (Scout 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 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